My grandpa on my dad's side of the family was tighter than Dwight Yoakam's jeans. He always told me before I paid any of my debtors, I should first pay myself. That's sound advice. What he really meant was I should sock some cash away for my personal rainy-day fund, even though he could never lead by example. Obviously, he was a great saver, but he would never spend money on a rainy day. Even an F-5 tornado rolling across the plains of Kansas would drive a wedge between he and his wallet. Grandpa suffered from the old dust bowl disease known as "I'm scared to death I could outlive my money." But trust me when I tell you it beats the heck out of the alternative. Back when dad was still in this world, he and I would often compare notes about who was tighter, grandpa or grandma. As near as I could tell it was a tie. Although if it had ever turned into a cage match grandpa would have been in trouble because grandma was mean as a snake and she was also out of the old man's weight class. Grandpa was no bigger than a bar of soap, in fact in the late 80's he was convinced he was getting fat because his waist size had gone from a 28" to a 29. I told him he should consider himself lucky because the last time I'd seen a 29" waist was during the Carter administration and I was all of ten years old.
But kidding aside for a moment saving is no easy task, is it? When trying to get up the gumption to save our pennies we are sometimes faced with the thought: "what if tomorrow never gets here?" Trust me when I tell you that is a common thought and that is why it requires thinking outside the box and a bit of intestinal fortitude. It also requires some strength of character. The first line of thinking that will help you in your endeavor is to remember that it's just stuff and you won't be allowed to take it with you. That's sounds like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many folks have to be reminded of that fact. A statistical fact says that nearly 25% of Melenials have no savings. That's scary! It would seem that most of their disposable income is going to Starbucks.
There is something about the everyday American financial dynamic that tells us that we are obliged to spend every penny we make. I have but one question, WHY? Can anyone give a decent answer to the question why should we squander our hard-earned money on things we don't need? One possible reason is because of ludicrous traditions like Black Friday spending money needlessly is sewn into our DNA. We have told forever that shopping is relaxing, but is it really? Sometimes it just feels like a second job. Do you think it's accidental that President's Day Sales fall right around tax return time? The last time you were at the grocery store and the little old woman in front of you with a fist full of coupons big enough to choke a rented mule, did that relax you? The last time that happened to me the woman had so many coupons the store owed her fifteen cents when her transaction was complete, true story!
Today on the radio I heard grumblings in the news about the debt ceiling. The program was described on this show in the following manner: "a way for congress and presidents of the past to finance current legal obligations." Only the AMERICAN federal government would start out any financial premise as using past or future money to sustain current financial responsibilities. Now here is a little finance #101, that's not how responsible spending works. If every generation charged whatever in the heck, they felt like on the backs of the last generations good name nothing would ever get paid for. Everything in life costs money. Keep in mind that if you go scuba diving you will even be obliged to pay for air, allow that to sink in. Do we as a nation really think that we will be allowed to charge things forever without the bill ever coming due? Who do we think we are Burney Sanders? It's really no different from racking up charges on a credit card we know we will never be able to pay off. We are the richest country in the world shouldn't we at least have enough cash on hand to pay our bills? That seems like a small ask to me.
This also seems like an opportune time to remind all my fellow Americans that we owe China 870 billion dead presidents. I'll ask that all important question again, WHY? In the secondary part of this radio show I heard this phrase (and I quote) "failing to increase the debt limit would have catastrophic economic consequences." Well, my question of the day then would be this, isn't that a bit like continuing to print money with nothing to back it up? I fully understand thar curtailing our current tax and spend practices might push the governmental status quo out of their comfort zone but nothing worth doing is ever easy. The way the feds should cut the budget is no different than when you and I visit the grocery store only just on a larger scale. Just remember that basic items can be purchased on the generic brand, and nobody will ever be the wiser. For instance, I have been washing my hair with the same shampoo for the past twenty years, it's effective, it smells like coconuts, and it cost less than a dollar for a huge bottle. You can buy a dressed-up version that touts ingredients like essence of rosemary and mink placenta, (which by the way seems like a big ask from a mink) but why? They all accomplish the same task. Also never forget that items like salt, pepper, mayonnaise, milk, flour, and eggs are not brand exchangeable. That is to say you "can" buy any brand, but it is basically all the same stuff.
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