Spendthrift

“ Though trade has invariably its cycles of good and bad years, like the lean and fat kine in Pharaoh's dream—its bursts of prosperity, followed by glut, panic, and distress—the thoughtless and spendthrift take no heed of experience, and make no better provision for the future. ”

“ I must own, however, that there had long been a desire in my mind to trace, in some work or other, the strange and secret ways through which that Arch-ruler of Civilization, familiarly called “Money,” insinuates itself into our thoughts and motives, our hearts and actions; affecting those who undervalue as those who overestimate its importance; ruining virtues in the spendthrift no less than engendering vices in the miser. ”

“ By arranging work properly, by doing everything at the right time, with a view to the economy of labour, a large amount of business can be accomplished. Muddle flies before method; and hugger-mugger disappears. There is also a method in spending—in laying out money,—which is as valuable to the housewife, as method is in accomplishing her work. Money slips through the fingers of some people like quicksilver. We have already seen that many men are spendthrifts. But many women are the same. At least they do not know how to expend their husband's earnings to the best advantage. ”

“ But I am not going to be hoodwinked by the thirty thousand francs to be made by spoiling good canvas. Money that is lightly earned is lightly spent. Did I not hear that hare-brained youngster declare this evening that money was made round that it might roll. If it is round for spendthrifts, it is flat for saving folks who pile it up. ”

“ But even if they lack the means—and the desire—to be extravagant, they yet make their purchases heedlessly or fail to count their linguistic change. The degree of our thrift, not the amount of our income or resources, is what marks us as being or not being verbal spendthrifts. The frugal manager buys his ideas at exactly the purchase price. He does not expend a twenty-dollar bill for a box of matches.
Have words by all means, the more of them the better, but use them temperately, sparingly. Do not think that a passage to be admirable must be studded with ostentatious terms. ”

“ The prudent economist spends what he can afford for comfort and enjoyment, and saves a surplus for some future time. The avaricious person makes gold his idol: it is his molten calf, before which he constantly bows down; whereas the thrifty person regards it as a useful instrument, and as a means of promoting his own happiness and the happiness of those who are dependent upon him. The miser is never satisfied. He amasses wealth that he can never consume, but leaves it to be squandered by others, probably by spendthrifts ”

“ One of the primary elements of thrift is to spend less than you earn, to save something however small from the salary received, to lay aside at regular intervals when possible some part of the money earned or made, in provision for the future.
"Every boy should realize, in starting out, that he can never accumulate money unless he acquires the habit of saving," said Russell Sage. "Even if he can save only a few cents at the beginning, it is better than saving nothing at all; and he will find, as the months go on, that it becomes easier for him to lay by a part of his earnings. ”

“ It is not so much for the money, as for what it means to have earned and saved money; it is the idea of thrift. If we have not been thrifty, if we have not saved anything, the world will look upon us as good for nothing, as partial failures, as either lazy, slipshod, or extravagant. They regard us as either not having been able to make money, or if we have, not being able to save it.
But let it be remembered that thrift is not parsimony not miserliness. It often means very liberal spending. It is a perpetual protest against putting the emphasis on the wrong thing. ”

“ Thrift is measured not by the pound but by the penny, not by the dollar but by the cent. Thus any person in receipt of an income or salary however small finds it in his power to practise thrift and to lay the foundation of prosperity.
The word thrift in its origin means the grasping or holding fast the things that we have. It implies economy, carefulness, as opposed to waste and extravagance. It involves self-denial and frugal living for the time being, until the prosperity which grows out of thrift permits the more liberal indulgence of natural desires. ”

“ Give the American woman lessons in thrift along the modern lines of income 15 and expenditure, and she will work out her splendid salvation. Throw light on food values, on fabrics and their adulteration. Teach the woman how to buy as well as how to utilize what she buys, and she will be able to solve, in her own way, the much discussed problem of the high cost of living. ”

“ After money has been earned, thrift shows itself first of all in the way the money is spent; and many of us have the spending of the money that some one else has earned. Every time we spend a nickel or a dollar we make a choice—we choose to spend or not to spend, how much we shall spend, for what we shall spend. ”

“ By saving his money he promotes thrift,—the most valued of all habits. Thrift is the great fortune-maker. It draws the line between the savage and the civilized man. Thrift not only develops the fortune, but it develops, also, the man's character."
The savings bank is one of the greatest encouragements to thrift, because it pays a premium on deposits in the form of interest on savings. ”

“ Pine Top is at 162d Street and Edgecombe Road, in the upper part of New York city, and the festival is under the auspices of the Misses Schrenkeisen, Dey, and Hubert. The admission is ten and five cents, and all are invited.
Saving on Age.
Thrift is an admirable trait. The way to acquire it is to cultivate it. The way to cultivate it is to deny yourself, and faithfully lay by the money you were tempted to spend. Of course you do not lay the money by for the sake of having it to spend later on. People save money for the money, it is true. ”

“ You turn and you twist, you warm up and you conjure new dishes out of next to nothing, and, still, at the end of the year, you realize how little money has gone into the savings bank, or how much is still due on the mortgage. You wonder if you will ever be able to buy a complete new dress; whether you can ever spare enough money for 26 Nellie to go to dancing school, or for you and your husband to hear a good concert. ”

“ Their Appeal to Collectors.—Anything that appeals to collectors, whether it be Morland's colour prints or Wheatley's Cries of London, old Sheffield plate, Stuart cane-back chairs or Sheraton tea-caddies, pays the usual tribute which the antique pays to posterity. As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, a thousand replicas start up to supply a demand. The man of taste says that such and such a thing is unique in its art-appeal to him. The man of money seeks to prove that it is not unique and buys as many uniques and antiques as his distended banking account will allow. ”

“ These societies have done more to teach the people practical thrift than any known device ever promulgated. Thrift is described as “good husbandry, economical management in regard to property, success and advance in the acquisition of property, increase of worldly goods, vigorous growth, as a plant.”
“He is a good wagoner that can turn in a little room.”—Bishop J. Hall.
“Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty and of ease, and the beautiful sister of temperance, of cheerfulness and health. Without economy none can be rich, and with it few can be poor.”—Dr. ”

“ Apply to your home demonstration agent, or write to States Relations Service, for publications relating to thrift in food, clothing, fuel, etc.
THRIFT IN INVESTMENT (4) Thrift involves a wise use of savings. They may be invested in a home, a wise use because of the satisfaction that a home produces. If the home is well located, well built, and well kept up, it will probably also increase in money value. Savings may be invested in machinery for farming, manufacturing, or mining; in a stock of goods to be sold at a profit; in houses or office buildings to be rented to others ”

“ The material in this book, which is of profound interest to all home-makers present or prospective, is presented in fiction form because the writer, being a housekeeper, realizes that household routine is so much a business of facts and figures that studies in thrift are more acceptable to busy women when brightened by the little touch of romance that goes so far in leavening the day’s work of the home-maker.
A. S. R. vi vii 1
ADVENTURES IN THRIFT CHAPTER I
“Luxury is attained through thrift.” ”

“ All plans for sparing time in intellectual matters ought, however, to proceed upon the principle of thrift, and not upon the principle of avarice. The object of the thrifty man in money matters is so to lay out his money as to get the best possible result from his expenditure; the object of the avaricious man is to spend no more money than he can help. An artist who taught me painting often repeated a piece of advice which is valuable in other things than art, and which I try to remember whenever patience fails. ”

“ And now that the buyers were retiring behind their exhibits, the conference leader once more mounted the platform.
“I know we have all learned a great deal this afternoon about better values for father’s 25 money, and I hope that each one of us will use this knowledge in our homes, not only to save father’s money, but to bring to ourselves greater contentment with our lot, and, in the end, little luxuries which we must now deny ourselves. For in efficiency there is contentment, and through true economy do we attain luxuries. I believe in what is commonly called luxuries. ”

“ While these literary economical truths proclaimed in all ages by wise men, which they themselves very seldom knew how to put into practical use, have no doubt caused millions to think and wonder how to do it, they, altogether, have not built half as many rounds in the practical ladder of “thrift” as the poor workingman who successfully induces his next door neighbor to save one dollar a month out of his waste money, and with it subscribe for one share of stock in a well-managed building society. ”

“ Larry, “for the summing up of our experiences. Thrift for the home-maker to-day means, first, knowing how to buy, and then how to utilize to best advantage what she has bought. In our grandmother’s day the housewife was not a purchaser. Her husband raised and supplied what was needed for the family; her economy consisted 225 of using the supplies to best advantage. To-day she spends the family income and kitchen economy is without value unless she knows her market. ”

“ Nothing is more important than the subject of thrift. “Look after the pence, the pounds will look after themselves” is an old truism, too often neglected. How do people grow rich? There is only one way, and that is to be thrifty and save. Never spend all your income, be it big or little. ”

“ Sometimes a friend of the mother will give the infant daughter a silver spoon, adding duplicates each year after on its birthday or at Christmas until they form a complete set. Books which he will appreciate later may be given. Money in the form of gold pieces or checks is most appropriate and is one of the most popular of gifts. Carriage and toilette accessories, jewelry, etc., are, of course, suitable but one should make sure that there is an actual need for them. Most people nowadays live in a limited amount of space with neither a garret nor a cellar to store things in. ”

“ It is not necessary to show that economy is useful. Nobody denies that thrift may be practised. We see numerous examples of it. What many men have already done, all other men may do. Nor is thrift a painful virtue. On the contrary, it enables us to avoid much contempt and many indignities. It requires us to deny ourselves, but not to abstain from any proper enjoyment. It provides many honest pleasures, of which thriftlessness and extravagance deprive us.
Let no man say that he cannot economize. There are few persons who could not contrive to save a few shillings weekly. ”

“ The effect of the savings and building features in inculcating and encouraging prudence and thrift will be readily recognized by us all, who know by experience that there is more need to learn the art of saving money than of earning it. ”

“ Trinkets such as key chains which come as free bonuses with the purchase of some luxury product, but which end up being traded back and forth as valued collectibles in their own right, reflect a mystical self-abandonment to commodity transcendence. Those who collect the trinkets that have been manufactured for the sole purpose of being collected are accumulating commodity indulgences — glorious tokens of the commodity’s real presence among the faithful. Reified people proudly display the proofs of their intimacy with the commodity. ”

“ Economy."—Cicero.
"Right action is the result of right faith; but a true and right faith cannot be sustained, deepened, extended, save in a course of right action."—M'Combie.
Thrift is the spirit of order applied to domestic management and organization. Its object is to manage frugally the resources of the family; to prevent waste; and avoid useless expenditure. Thrift is under the influence of reason and forethought, and never works by chance or by fits. It endeavours to make the most and the best of everything. It does not save money for saving's sake. ”

“ Sixpence a week, deposited in the savings bank, will amount to forty pounds in twenty years, and seventy pounds in thirty years. It is the habit of economizing and denying oneself that needs to be formed.
Thrift does not require superior courage, nor superior intellect, nor any superhuman virtue. It merely requires common sense, and the power of resisting selfish enjoyments. In fact, thrift is merely common sense in every-day working action. It needs no fervent resolution, but only a little patient self-denial. ”