My family has an amazing collection of letters from one of my ancestors, Jesse Rolston Jr., a Confederate soldier. He wrote to his wife Mary, who was at home running their Virginia farm advising her on things like how much to pay for clover seed. Sometimes, he made modest requests: salt or a pair of suspenders.
In one letter, he mentioned coffee, which was increasingly a luxury. He told Mary not to “scant” herself ó assuring her that it was OK for her to buy a little from time to time
“You need to live while you do live,” he told her.
And he was right. A life without coffee, or other such pleasures, isn’t much of a life.
Still, too many folks these days haven’t dreamed of “scanting” themselves of anything. Whether it’s Ugg boots, i-Phones or a 4,000 square foot McMansion, we’ve told ourselves that we deserve it.
Now, many are left wondering why they weren’t more careful during the good times.
The good news is that more people seem to be realizing that pulling back on spending doesn’t necessarily mean “scanting” themselves.
Earlier this week on the “Today” show, host Matt Lauer was interviewing “cheapskate” media personality Jeff Yeager. One of Yeager’s money-saving suggestions was ditching the cell phone.I got the sense from Lauer’s reaction that Yeager might as well have been advocating ripping out phone book pages to use as toilet paper ó but Yeager stuck to his guns.
And why not? He practices what he preaches. Yeager cheerfully exists without a cell phone ó and reminded Lauer that not so very long ago, everyone did.
I do have a cell phone, but only because it was a gift from my brother when we were spending a lot of time away from home for my daughter’s medical care. I rarely use it now and could pretty easily give it up. My husband manages without one entirely, as do the two teenagers currently under my roof (including a Brazilian exchange student).
My daughter in college is the only one in my family for whom a cell phone will soon be a necessity, since her university is phasing out land lines in residence halls.
Consider, as Yeager points out, that the average cell phone plan costs about $100 a month. Many families spend more than that.
As the economy worsens and people need to do more with less, we’re all going to need to ask ourselves which budget items add to the quality of our lives and which are luxuries we’ve grown to see as necessities. Maybe a cell phone is a necessity for you. But maybe not.
In my parents’ generation, many families survived nicely with one car. They cooked at home, ate out rarely. They understood household budgeting. They distrusted credit.
At some point, people quit doing the math.
Debt lost its sting.
Saving was for suckers.
We believed advertising hype. We deserved to have “it,” whatever “it” was.
Maybe what we really deserve is the peace of mind that comes from living within our means and saving for a rainy day.
Because as we’re all being reminded, the rainy day will surely come.
Contact Katie Scarvey at kscarvey@salisburypost.com.