Posted on 01/10/2009 10:15:55 PM PST by Lorianne
Thrift is the “miracle cure” for the economic ills of our society, according to David Blankenhorn, author of a new book about the misunderstood word. “Thrift: A Cyclopedia,” is a collection of historical quotes and images — many of which pay homage to a word that today is narrowly defined by Americans to mean “to be cheap” or “to save.”
Many misguided consumers think of thrift in a negative light. To them, thrift reminds them of secondhand stores you shop at if you are poor and unfashionable. Being thrifty is being tight with money like your Uncle Al who lived through the Great Depression.
But that’s not the word’s entire meaning. In fact, being stingy is not being thrifty at all, according to a 1920 speech by Harvard economist T.N. Carver that’s included in Blankenhorn’s book: “The thrifty person is not a miser. He is one who spends money just as freely as the extravagant man, but he spends it wisely.”
Look back in history, and thrift had many positive definitions, including growth, good fortune and prosperity. The Treasury Department in 1918 even referred to thrift as “practical patriotism.”
So how did we transform from a culture that celebrated the virtues of thrift with a “National Thrift Week” to a culture that’s all about keeping up with the Joneses using borrowed money?
A report written by the Commission on Thrift — a diverse group of scholars and think-tank folks — says that the shift took place as payday lenders and fee-laden credit cards multiplied and low-income earners began playing the lottery instead of saving their nickels at “thrift institutions,” or banks and credit unions.
Over time, the stigma attached to being in debt gave way to the sense that overindebtedness is commonplace and therefore, acceptable, the report’s authors say.
Unfortunately, it took millions of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure, fat-cat credit-card companies raking in billions in sneaky fees and trillions lost in the stock market for us to realize that being a society of debtors is unacceptable.
It’s time for a change. The authors call for a national re-education campaign for thrift as well as a revival of National Thrift Week, which started in 1917 and ended in 1966. They also have several policy suggestions listed at their Web site, www.newthrift.org.
To be sure, we have a long way to go before we can say we’ve returned to our thrifty roots, and getting our mall-centric society there will be painful.
But it will be worth it. The root of the word “thrift,” Blankenhorn points out in his book, is “thrive.” Sounds pretty good to me.
(exerpted)
BTTT
My 88 year old mother lived through the “Great Depression” and still exists with the mindset derived from that experience...and she is doing quite well because of it.
“Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without!”
isn't it shameful what we have done to our society and our country?....to allow things to get this bad, to have the mindless minions actually elect an empty suit from Mob town......
sometimes, I am glad my folks aren't here to see this.....
and we never threw single socks away either.....in the winter, we didn’t have great gloves, so we would wear socks on our hands, and we would come in to get another pair when the first ones got wet......we thought nothing of it...
Savings and thrift are no longer valued by Americans by and large. It’s a shame really.
I don’t think that my mother or my grandmother would be very surprised. I think that their experience with politicians was not much better. They would be saddened, but not surprised.
Those people that are of advanced years right now have enjoyed the easiest existence of any humans who have ever lived. Yet look at the range of their lives. We offspring are experiencing the arrogance of ignorance.
Covetousness: which is why the fantasy that we can keep it up, personally and nationally, lead to Obama being elected.
Thrifty people are boring? How many big spenders have that opinion, at the same time that they are wallowing in a mud puddle of debt?
Those who are determined to spend wisely can usually afford to pay for any needs which arise (and the unexpected DOES hit us pretty often).
They don’t need to own every high-end commodity that comes on the market. They’re not out to impress anyone else.
And, yes, they have the money to spend on family vacations, and a new car when needed. Not a BMW or a Hummer, e.g., but a car they can rely upon.
The missing word here is “frugal”, which appears in the definition of “thrifty” : “thriving by industry and frugality”
“frugal” is probably a better term for the Depression Era mentality, since it reflects the ingrained habit more than any motivating strategy.
I myself have a strong tendency towards frugality, possibly from an upbringing by parents raised in the Depression Era, ( and I heard all about, believe me. )
They've turned out to be useful for storing and transporting breakables.
Thanks to some 60s high school courses, I'm very handy and make a game out of being frugal: Yard sales have become my latest avocation.
Unfortunately, modern automobiles and appliances are generally too complex for repairs by most folks. :(
Small Investments With Major Returns
by Brett Arends
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
There’s no such thing as a hot stock tip right now, but these small investments could add thousands to your bottom line.
Everybody wants a hot tip. At this time of year the media’s filled with forecasts and recommendations. Hope springs eternal.
Meh.
History says few people ever beat the market consistently. And even those who do don’t beat the market by much.
So what’s the best you can expect? Wall Street’s best year, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, was 1915. The index rocketed 82%. The second best year was 1933. It jumped 66%.
Any tip that comes close to that would have to be remarkable. Here are seven that will do better. Yes, they will produce a greater return on investment than Wall Street’s greatest boom year.
And, unlike your typical investment tip, these returns are pretty much guaranteed. What’s more, you won’t have to call your broker to make any of these moves:
Buy a bread maker. You can buy one for $55. If it saves you just $4 a week on store-bought bread, that’s $208 a year. A 280% return.
Get a credit card with a great sign-up bonus. Like the AirTran Visa card. Cost: The $40 annual fee. After your first purchase you get enough reward miles for a free flight, saving maybe $250. Then cancel the card. Return: 525%.
Take out a local library card. Cost: Nothing. If it saves you $10 a month on books, that’s $120 a year. Return: Infinite. Note: Some libraries now let you borrow electronic books over the Internet as well.
Replace your premium cable package with a Netflix subscription and a $100 set-top box. You can download movies and TV programs as well getting DVDs through the mail. Cost: $100 for the cheapest set-top box, plus $17 a month for a three-movie subscription. If it replaces a $50-a-month cable package, that’s a 98% return on investment.
Order a packet of seeds and plant them in a window box or garden. Growing your own herbs, spices, and even vegetables – depending on the amount of space you have – is a great investment. If you spent just $10 on seeds and saved a mere $50 in the year, that’s a 400% ROI.
Switch to a prepaid cellphone. Cost: $20 for the phone, and maybe $100 a year for minutes. Move the rest of your talk-time to free Internet calls, and stop hemorrhaging $60 a month on a cellular plan. ROI: 500%
Start making your own coffee to take to work each morning. Cost: $20 for a Thermos, $10 for a filter and papers, and $60 a year for ground coffee. Then skip the $4 a day drive-thru. If that saves you $1,000 a year, the return is more than 1,000 %.
Write to Brett Arends at brett.arends@wsj.com
Copyrighted, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
I tried the growing spices thing. My Cilantro died after first thriving, the Sage is doing okay, and so is Texas Tarragon. But that’s it. 2 spices survived, 10 died. Negative return on that “investment”.
One way people are making huge returns is with Intrade. When they see something they know is true or ain’t true and put their money down, they make big returns. It’s a lot of fun. Also, it works great as an emotional hedge. Knowing that Obama takes the election might be less vomit-inducing when you got money for that happening... and if he were to have lost you just paid money to make that happen.
Terrific idea! They can also be used for dusting, cleaning, etc.
Were it not for single socks, I’d have had no place to store the soap I used to beat my siblings!
I love our old bread maker. We bought ours long before it was a thrift thing. We paid 4X the price shown here.
I have been working on a thrift invention: Beer Syrup. It turns crappy tasting beer into good tasting beer. It isn’t that cheap, and scaling it up in production quantities would be an exercise in corporate penny pinching. That’s why cheap beer tastes crummy — the stuff that makes it taste good is expensive.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.