Is Practicing the Art of Thrift Dead?

Almost every fight Andrea and Jason had during their first five years of marriage had to do with money--or the lack of it. She created and kept a budget and clipped coupons every week. She stashed cash for a safari vacation and trips to Paris and Acapulco. The couple argued every time she insisted that she practiced the art of thrift, which Jason maintained was dead. He claimed it had died with his grandparents' generation, pointing out that they would never have gone on a safari, no matter how much cash they had.

What Exactly is the Art of Thrift?

An act of thrift is one that achieves an objective while preserving resources. However, the art of thrift is a lot more. It's a way of life.

In the days of extreme couponing, rebates and 401(k) accounts, specific actions that involve changes in financial behavior sometimes masquerade as the art of thrift. Perhaps the most common is pulling the belt a lot tighter for a specific amount of time in order to save for an objective like a summer home, a car for the newest driver in the family or a head-to-toe makeover.

What these actions all have in common is that they're temporary. Once the goal has been achieved, the belt gets loosened. Many people can be thrifty for specific periods of time. However, the art of thrift is part of a lifestyle.

So Who Practices the Art of Thrift?

My parents, both long dead, practiced the art of thrift. Both of them grew up during the Great Depression and never forgot what it was like to be hungry at times. Thrift wasn't a means to save for a luxury, though they set aside funds for yearly vacations as well as potential emergencies. Thrift was something they did 365 days a year.

Pantyhose were the rage when I was still in public school. I remember my mother, a teacher, balking at paying $1.65 for a pair to wear to work. Instead, she kept darning stockings with tears in spots that would be hidden by clothing. Whenever I wore pantyhose to college events, she insisted that after a run in the fabric, I cut out that leg of the hose and wear a combination of two pairs, each with one remaining leg. When I finished college at an expensive school, thanks to scholarships and the art of thrift, I didn't owe a penny.

Two recent examples of people who practice the art of thrift come to mind. Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced decision) is a homemaker and former graphic artist who rocked the publishing world with the homespun newsletter she dubbed the Tightwad Gazette. She published this newsletter from 1991 until she retired, in her early 40s, in 1996 with enough money stashed to send her kids through college. The issues have been collected and sold as several books.

The most remarkable thing about Dacyczyn is not that she reared six kids on next to nothing, that she washed out plastic sandwich bags for reuse or that she achieved 100,000 subscribers to her newsletter. It's that years later, with kids grown, she's still practicing the art of thrift in her renovated Leeds, Maine farmhouse.

Popular author Jeff Yeager in some ways represents another type of individual who practices the art of thrift. The designated "Ultimate Cheapskate" doesn't like to spend money, plain and simple. He proudly purchases cheap wine, decants it and then puts it into bottles of more expensive brands before serving it to guests.

What's Really Behind the Art of Thrift?

While people in past generations often practiced thrift because of necessity, the art of thrift goes to something much deeper. Otherwise, people would stop practicing it whenever they didn't need to do so.

For some, thrift is tied to religious practices of beliefs. In the area of Ohio where I grew up, German families like my own were significantly influenced by practices of our Amish and Mennonite neighbors.

The art of thrift has as one basis the idea of preserving the gifts we're given each day. In that regard, it has strong ties to those whose lives are devoted to ecology and "green" concepts.

Is the art of thrift dead? I don't think so. While we're becoming harder to spot, those of us who practice it are still there. We're the folks who don't sell a car until it reaches a certain mileage, no matter what we earn. Our practice of the art often involves many small actions each day, like using yesterday's pet water to quench thirsty houseplants. What we have in common is this: thrift is a way of life for us rather than a means to accomplish a goal. We live it 365 days a year.

Sources:

http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/interview-with-amy-dacyczyn/

http://ultimatecheapskate.com/index.cgi