Uncle Walter's Rants: Thrifty and Cheap Are Not Bad Words

I want you to think back in time to a period where the world's economy was in collapse. A time called The Great Depression. This was the bell-weather event to which all other economic crises are compared to. Never has it been so bad and never has it impacted our lives so much. Herbert Hoover was the president when it began and bared the brunt of the blame. Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) was elected pushing his "New Deal" to revitalize the economy. During this period of great economic unrest the we became thrifty and penny pinchers. Our efforts helped to keep us alive until we began to emerge from the crisis. Then, we had Perl Harbor.

WWII was the catalyst of change beyond measure throughout he United States. Companies that were struggling to survive found their factories fully utilized to drive the war engine. New factories sprang up, and we everyone became part of the effort. The people maintained their thrifty ways and the US economy grew, basically on a massive federal stimulus package called war. Then the unthinkable happened, the war ended.

Economists across the United States gritted their teeth and prepared for the worst. We had built up a huge manufacturing base, and our only customer was leaving. On top of that people were still set in their depression era ways and were reluctant to spend. It was a new depression looming on the horizon. Things needed to change, and change they did.

I would like to introduce you to Scrooge McDuck, created in 1947, he was the embodiment of what the public hated about the depression wealthy and projected the same thrifty values that everyone held dear. He is one example of the public view changed to one that through of thrifty and cheap as bad words. And Scrooge along with the other pressures to public view made an impact and changed the way we thought. Now buying the new car was patriotic, and fixing things was cheap and wasteful. Why keep that old thing going when a new one was only a few dollars more in the long run. It wasn't long until a new post WWII invention made it's debut and changed the way we spent money.

The year was 1950 and Diners Club changed the world with the first credit card. Now we began on a path of borrowing that we feel today. Buying became easier and easier and bigger was better. Our cars of the 50s and 60s exemplify that with their size and scope. Not to mention our collective ignorance of the threat foreign auto makers were to the American makers. The 70s changed some things with recessions and oil embargoes which set the stage for the foreign makers to take over. But we did see recession gardens, a throwback from the victory gardens of WWII. Thrifty seemed to have a chance again, until the 80s hit. The bottom line is we boomed, grew and changed. Debt soared, but it wasn't such a big concern. We had $$$ we had cars, we had massive buffets. We grew larger. The old mentality of new is better and spending is patriotic spread to our foods. We spent more, we ate more, we consumed more. And it was all OK, because this was the American dream. Eating a lot meant you were successful and American. K-Mart was for losers, because it was cheap, I got my clothes at the gap. How often have you heard someone say I'm doing my part for the economy by buying a new washing machine? It was a wonderful consuming time and we loved it. Then the world changed...

The dot-com boom was a sign of what a massive collapse would feel like. 9/11 changed our attitudes and people began to think of self-reliance again out of fear of the loss of public services. But, cheap and thrifty were still bad words. After all everyone was buying houses, things were great! Then...

The housing bubble crashed. The American dream began to fall apart for millions. Finally, we began to assess just what the American dream was. And at last thrifty began to become a good thing, or at least I hope so. People are learning to keep their clothes longer. Used isn't cheap, it is smart. My dishwasher stopped working the other day, so I fixed it. I hope everyone does that. Yes, we will not buy as much, but it is time we learn to do more with what we have and make a change for the better by being thrifty.

Sadly there is a legacy we need to overcome. Many baby boomers learned the ways of repair from their parents, but those skills were not passed on as the next generation (my generation) went out on their own. We were raised on the beliefs that buying is better, and you need to pay someone to fix everything. We have a gap of experience and knowledge that we need to defeat. Thankfully the internet provides many resources for the do-it-yourselfer. Check out www.instructibles.com

One final note, I encourage everyone to look at your life and belongings and see every item for more than it currently is. Those old jeans that are falling apart and be used to patch other clothes. The dishwasher is easy to fix with a little elbow grease. The economy will thank you when you are self-reliant rather than borrowing and the environment will thank you for preventing the manufacture of another appliance or garment that we didn't really need in the first place. Remember it is better to reuse than recycle (with a few minor exceptions to efficiency). And above all remember that thrift and cheap are good words you should be proud to have attached to you.

-Uncle Walter