Hoorah for Thrift!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thrift - In Search of the Art of Living
There is a group trying to revive "National Thrift Week" - which seems to be next week - (See the note at the left sidebar of Thriftyfun.com today, January 14, 2008.)
What a great idea! It really coalesces what I have been thinking about for the last few months. On the one hand I was raised by a daughter of an immigrant who grew up in the Depression and the family handed around children's clothes,and baby furniture and plant cuttings, etc. - and in elementary school I had a little savings passbook and a tin bank shaped like a cash register. (Wish I stil had that.)
Then in the mid-60's there was somehow a big disconnect! I ended up gravitating toward the hippies and counterculture and environmentalists, because they shared some off my values - And I honed my thrifty skills because as an artiste, my purse was always slender! We lived as perpetual college students, with a few perks. And I never really did put it all away and "sell out" - and my thrift allowed me to continue in my artistic pursuits.
But what is this thrift we are all talking about anyway? The organization (www.newthrift.org) which is sponsoring the revival of National Thrift Week describes it in the brochure to their new traveling exhibit entitled Thrift and the Art of Living Well as:
"Put most simply, thrift is the moral discipline of wisest use. It suggests a set of principles and ethical guidelines intended to orient us toward the best use of our resources. Thrift concerns not only the material world—the world of material goods and the money to buy them—but also the natural, spiritual, and aesthetic worlds."
So, it comes down to taking good care of all of your resources. The farmer couldn't eat the seed corn or there would be no crop the next season and then, no food! Embedded in this is a sense of stewardship - that we are here to manage what we have for the best for ourselves and for OTHERS - as it isn't a selfish thing (That declines into being a miserand Midas starved because even his food turned to gold!)
It recognizes that we are interconnected, all part of a community. As I saw on a PBS program on money last night, the savings of Chinese workers are being lent to the U.S. to shore up its finances! So let's confess that it's been a boom time. And in boom times there are certain sorts who cash in BIG without any regard for any havoc they may be wreaking - economically or environmentally. We have just seen out own "Gay 90's" and our own particular robber barons.
But we know that there are people out there who DO care and want to be part of a thriving community, not a society with insanely rich folks partying in the castle, while the people below go hungry and lack medical care.
That's why I think I put my blog posts in the "Better Living" category....
For me it's about living wholly and well and responsibly and making my own small contribution. In my housewife role, I can promote thrift and financial management - I can continue to learn and to investigate my financial choices. I don't think I will ever make a killing. Very unlikely. But my life is quite satisfactory, thank you very much - and I have worked to make it that way.
Ok - so much for philosophy - altho I will come back to this. On the make-use front, I finally took all the fragrance strips from the free magazines I have been getting and put them up to make paper potpourri. Put 1/2 in a basket on top of the TV hoping that the slight bit of heat will help the scent get out there - and 1/2 in the bathroom. (It does help to mix around the paper bits occasionally - and you could throw in some pods, etc. on top for looks....) Smelled great last night. This place can get stuffy.
So, life with all of its challenges go on - And is it just me, or....when I saw that program The Ascent of Money - modern "finance" looked like big time legalized gambling to me! With as many bells & whistles as a slot machine. Sure we can take calculated risks - but let's not ever be lulled into a sense that the risk isn't THERE.
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Nat'l Thrift Week Coming Back
"A penny saved is a penny earned" B. Franklin
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