At present, society is not so much short of money as a waste of money. It is much easier to make money than to know how to spend it. It is not the money a person earns that constitutes his wealth, but the way he spends and saves money that makes his wealth.
When a person earns more income than the individual and family need through labor, then he can slowly accumulate a small sum of money, and there is no doubt that he will have the foundation for a healthy life in society from now on. These savings may be nothing, but they are enough to make him independent.
It is puzzling why the current high-income wage earners can't save a penny. This is actually a question of self-restraint and personal frugality. In fact, today's major business leaders are directly composed of people from all walks of life. What distinguishes workers from non-workers is the accumulation of experience and skills, which in turn depends on whether the workers themselves are willing to save money or waste it. If he saves money, he will find that he will have enough opportunities to spend it on profitable and useful things.
Saving time is equivalent to saving money. Franklin said, "Time is money." If someone wants to make money, he must use his time correctly. And time can also be used to do many beautiful and noble things. It can be used for study, research, literary and artistic creation and scientific exploration. You can save time in a planned way.
A plan is an arrangement made to achieve a certain purpose so as not to waste time in the process of completing the plan. Anyone who does business must be organized in a planned way. Similarly, every housewife should do the same. Everything should have its place, and every place should also have something to which it belongs. There is time for everything, and everything should be completed in time.
There is no need to repeat to people that thrift is useful. No one can deny that thrift can be practiced. We have seen many such examples. As long as many people do one thing, others can do it. Besides, thrift is not a painful virtue. On the contrary, it can save us from many contempt and insults. It requires us to restrain ourselves, but don't give up the proper enjoyment. It will bring a lot of honest fun, which is taken away from us by extravagance and waste.
Thrift does not require great courage, wisdom or any superhuman virtue. Just need some common sense and the power to resist selfish pleasure.
In fact, frugality is just a common consciousness in daily work behavior. You don't need strong determination, you just need a little patience. As long as you act immediately, you can get immediate results! The longer the habit of thrift lasts, the easier it will be, and this behavior will bring great compensation and reward to self-restraint more quickly.
The question may be raised as follows: when a person needs to spend every penny of his income to support his family, can he save his money in the savings office for such a person with a small income? However, such a fact exists, and this kind of thing happens to many diligent and temperate people. They can really restrain themselves and put their spare-time income in savings offices, and other forms of savings also provide the poor with ways to accumulate. If some people can do this, then all people can do it under similar conditions and will not be deprived of the happiness and happiness they should enjoy at all.
How selfish those rich people are to spend all their income on themselves! Even if he has a family, if he spends a week's income on supporting his family and doesn't save any money, it is also an incomplete disregard for the future.
When we hear that a well-paid person leaves nothing after his death-only his wife and a poor family-at the mercy of fate-whether he is alive or dead-we have to think that this is the most selfish and thrifty behavior in the world.
Although this situation is relatively rare. Maybe someone will advocate donating money. But donations may solve some problems-maybe not at all. Finally, this unfortunate family will fall into poverty and abject poverty.
However, to a large extent, thrift can avoid this result. Reducing any sensory enjoyment and pleasure-such as drinking less beer or smoking less cigars-can make a person save something for others for a period of time instead of wasting it on himself.
In fact, for the poorest people, it is the careful calculation on weekdays, no matter how insignificant, that provides him and his family with emergency measures when they suffer from illness or despair, and this unfortunate situation often comes to them when they least expect it.
Relatively speaking, people who can become rich are only a few after all; But most people have the ability to get rich, that is, the ability to be thrifty and fully meet personal needs. They can have enough savings to cope with the scarcity and poverty they face in their old age.
However, in the process of thrift, what is lacking is not opportunity, but willpower. A person may work tirelessly, but they still can't avoid spending money lavishly and living a high-consumption life.
Most people would rather enjoy happiness than restrain themselves. They often spend all their income and have no money left. Not only are there profligate people among ordinary working people, but we have also heard stories about some people who squander their hard-earned income for many years in one year. Such a person died suddenly, leaving no money for his children. Everyone knows such an example. When they died, even the property right of the house they had wasted belonged to others, because they had to sell it to pay for his funeral expenses and repay the heavy debts he had borne during his lifetime because of unrestrained extravagance and waste.
Money represents many purposes that have no value or practical use; But money also represents something that is still extremely expensive, and that is self-reliance. In this sense, it has great moral significance.
As a guarantee of self-reliance, frugality, the simplest and most common quality, can be immediately sublimated into one of the most commendable virtues. "Don't despise money," said Bawell, "because money reflects a person's character."
Some excellent qualities of human beings depend on the correct use of money-such as generosity. Kindness, justice, honesty and foresight. Many bad qualities of human beings also stem from the abuse of money-such as greed, meanness, loyalty, luxury and short-sighted behavior that only cares about the present and ignores the future.
No class that spends as much as it earns has ever achieved anything great. Those who spend as much as they earn will always hang themselves on the edge of extreme poverty. Such people must be weak-enslaved by time and environment. They have kept themselves in poverty. He lost respect and self-esteem for others. It is impossible for such a person to stand on his own two feet. Spending money is enough to take away all one's perseverance and virtue.
However, if a person saves something, no matter how small, his status will change immediately. The little money he saved will always be the source of his strength. He is no longer a joke of time and fate. From then on. He can face the world with his head held high. To some extent, he became his own master. He can control his own destiny. He will neither be bought nor betrayed. When he is old, he can live a comfortable and happy old age with hope.
When people become wise and good at thinking, they will become far-sighted and frugal. A man without brains, like a savage, has spent all his income. He doesn't think about the future at all. He doesn't consider the needs of difficult times or the demands of those who have to rely on his help. And smart people will plan for the future; When he is lucky, he will make some preparations for the misfortunes that may befall his family and himself in the future, and he will also seriously make some plans for those close to him.
Most people will think carefully and ask for opinions and ideas from all sides before buying valuables such as cars or fur coats. The reason why people always think twice when buying expensive items is that they can't make a quick decision. This kind of anxiety is about whether you regret spending money, or whether it is worth spending, and this emotion is often directly proportional to the amount of money.
Before deciding to give a large sum of money, people will experience some struggles, mainly because they can't live without themselves. In other words, what you buy has become a part of yourself. Once someone criticizes something, it's like criticizing yourself.
In view of this situation, financial experts suggest that it is best to consult others before making a decision before taking out huge sums of money, but other people's suggestions only play a reference role and cannot be blindly followed.
For a married man, what an important responsibility he has to bear! Not many people have seriously considered this responsibility. Perhaps this responsibility has long been wisely arranged by God. Because when one escapes from marriage and its responsibilities, many serious thoughts above will not exist. Once a man gets married, he must be psychologically prepared in advance. As long as he can, he should never let poverty patronize his family life. Even after he retires from the stage of life and labor, his children should not become a burden to society.
It is a very important responsibility to be diligent and thrifty for this. Without thrift, no one can be upright-no one can be honest. For women and children, it is cruel to have no foresight and not consider the future, and this cruelty comes from ignorance. A father spends a little extra money to get drunk and has no extra savings. After his death, he left a poor family to the society. What kind of cruelty can surpass this cruelty?
However, this reckless lifestyle, which only cares about eating, drinking and having fun, has a considerable market in every class. The upper and middle classes, like the lower classes, feel guilty about this because their lives are beyond their financial resources. They live a luxurious and wasteful life, and do their best to show off, be frivolous and enjoy themselves. They desperately want to be rich, so they may get the financial resources they need to spend-drinking high-end wine and eating delicious food.
Many people work very hard to make money, but they don't know how to save the money they earn or how to spend it. They have enough skills and diligence to do the former well, but lack the necessary wisdom to do the latter.
The impulse to eat, drink and be merry captured us, and I gave in to our impulse before considering the consequences. Of course, this may be the result of forgetfulness. People can control this phenomenon through strong willpower, or avoid this unexpected expenditure through strong means.
In most cases, the habit of thrift is mainly to improve the social situation, improve the social situation of those who want us, and improve the social situation of those who want us.
Save every unnecessary expense and avoid any extravagant lifestyle. If a purchase transaction is redundant, no matter how low the price is, it is also expensive. Small expenses can be a big expense!
We always buy things we don't need, and over time we will form the bad habit of being generous in other ways.
Cicero said, "Don't fall into the shopping frenzy, so you will enjoy an intangible benefit from it." Many people are carried away by the habit of buying cheap goods. "This is really an amazing bargain: let's buy it." "What's the use of buying it?" "No, not yet; But it will definitely be in the future; Come in handy at some point. "
Fashion has also contributed to this shopping habit. Some people buy old ceramic utensils-almost all of them are used to decorate ceramic shops. Others buy some old calligraphy and painting-old furniture-old wine-all cheap! As long as these transactions are not made at the expense of the connoisseur's creditors, buying these old things will not be chosen as any harm. Horace Hooper said, "I hope this kind of business will not happen to me, because I don't have an inch of space or a quarter penny to sell."
In youth and middle age, people should accumulate a sum of money and live a comfortable and happy old age. Nothing is more sad and distressing than seeing an old man who has passed his income for most of his life and is now reduced to begging, relying entirely on the pity of his neighbors or the charity given to him by strangers.
Such a tragic situation is bound to arouse people's determination to work hard in the early life and save for the future, not only for themselves, but also for their families' future lives.
In fact, people began to save frugally when they were young. In this way, when they are old, they can cope with their old age as long as their expenses do not exceed their income. Young people have a bright future, and in this process, he is stunned to implement the principle of careful calculation; On his journey to the end of his life, he will not take anything away from this world.
However, this is not the case in real life. Nowadays, young people dare to spend, are eager to spend, and are extravagant, even more generous than his father who is about to end his life, and have no scruples. He started his long life where his father ended his life. His expenses were far greater than those of his father at his age, so he soon found himself in debt. In order to meet his emerging needs, he turned to despicable means and illegal income. He wants to get rich quickly; He speculated and engaged in ultra vires transactions, and the result was hit hard at once. From this, he gained experience and lessons. However, this consequence did not make him turn over a new leaf and concentrate on learning well. The behavior of such people is still full of bad records.
Socrates advised fathers with families to patiently imitate the behavior of their thrifty neighbors-those who spend their money on the most beneficial cutting edge-in order to learn from them.
Diligence is essentially an act in real life, and it is best to teach you through living facts. There is a story that two people each earn $3 a day. In terms of family life and expenses, their situation is very similar. However, one of them said that he would not save, so he never saved a penny; The other said he could save money, so he put it in the savings office regularly. Finally, he became an owner.
Samuel johnson deeply understands the predicament brought by poverty. During a signature process, he wrote his name as "Hunger Striker". He once traveled all over the streets with his friend Savage, but he couldn't find a place to stay because of limited financial resources. Johnson will never forget the poverty he encountered in his early years. He always urges his friends to avoid falling into poverty. Like Cicero, he asserted that the best source of wealth or happiness is thrift, which he called a shrewd daughter, a restrained sister and a free mother.
"Poverty," he said, "not only deprives a person of the right to do charity, but also becomes powerless to resist the temptation of physical and mental evil that could have been avoided through various virtues. Don't borrow money from anyone easily, but make up your mind to get rid of poverty. No matter what you have, you have spent everything you have. Poverty is the enemy of human happiness. It undoubtedly destroys freedom, making some virtues difficult to realize and others empty talk. Thrift is not only the basis of effective and comfortable old age, but also the basis of all good deeds. A person who needs help himself will never help others. We must be self-sufficient before we can give. "
When thrift is regarded as something that must be put into action, people will not feel that it is a burden. Those who have never practiced frugality will one day be surprised to find that saving a few dollars a week actually improves their moral quality, spiritual quality and personal independence.
Every frugal effort will bring every dignity. This kind of behavior gives people a lot of benefits. It shows the power of self-discipline and character enhancement. Will produce a self-managing mind. It cultivates the habit of self-discipline. This makes shrewdness and prudence a distinctive character. It makes virtue the master of self-indulgence. In all this, first of all, it can reassure people and dispel all kinds of troubles, sorrows and pains imposed on us.
Some people may say, "I can't do this." However, everyone has the ability to do something. "Can't do it" is a sign that a person and a nation will fall. In fact, there is nothing more ridiculous than "can't"
An employer advised one of his employees to "keep something for the difficult times that may be faced in the future". Soon, the employer saved many things from his employees. "To be honest, nothing," the employee replied. "I did as you suggested, but it rained so hard yesterday that everything was washed away-I was drunk!"
A person needs to support himself and his family, and does not need to rely on the help of others. This is the minimum embodiment of a person's self-esteem. Anyone who is truly self-reliant should have self-esteem. He is the center of his own little world. His lovers, hobbies, experiences, hopes, troubles-these things can be said to be very small for people, how important they are to him personally! They affect his happiness, his daily life and his life as a person. So he can't just pay attention to personal things or pay full attention to them.
If a person wants to act fairly, he should not only consider himself, but also his responsibility to others. He should not set the goal of life too low and always look down, but should regard man as an "animal just a little lower than an angel" created by the creator. He should think about the higher purpose of life-thinking that he also has some eternal interests-thinking about the great plan of nature and providence-thinking about the wisdom given by the creator-thinking about the power of love given by the creator-thinking about the earth home provided by nature for him; Think about it this way, he won't be narrow-minded and only think of himself. Poor man, you are the core of these two kinds of eternity, and the creator has long fused them together.
So, let everyone respect themselves-their bodies, their hearts and their personalities. Self-esteem comes from self-love, which inspires people to take the first step of progress. It encourages people to stand up bravely, look up at the sky, develop their intelligence and improve their situation. Self-esteem is the cornerstone of most virtues-innocence, chastity, awe, honesty and temperance. Narrow and selfish thinking about yourself is self-destructive-sometimes even on the verge of notorious disaster.
Everyone can help themselves to some extent. We are not straws thrown into the torrent and let it rise and fall; It is a person who leads the freedom of action, has the ability to go upstream, bravely stands at the forefront, and can choose a direction and path for himself in advance. We can improve each other's moral standards. We should cherish pure thoughts. We want charity, and we can live solemnly and frugally. We can prepare for the unfortunate days in advance. We can read good books, listen to wise teachings, and be influenced by the most sacred on earth. We can be far-sighted, set lofty goals and live for the noblest goals.
"Love for yourself and love for society are not contradictory, but unified with each other." One of our poets once said. People who improve themselves are also improving the world. He is adding a more upright person to all beings. And all sentient beings are made up of everyone. Obviously, if everyone improves and improves himself, the result will be that the whole society will also improve and improve.
Social progress is the result of personal progress. Unless social individuals are pure and noble, the whole society cannot be pure and noble. Society is largely a replica of the personal conditions that make up it. All these words are self-evident, but these self-evident truths often need to be repeated to deepen people's impression of it.
Therefore, on the other hand, a person who improves himself can also improve and improve the people he associates with. His strength began to grow and his vision began to expand. He will see more clearly the defects that exist in others and need treatment. He can provide more active help in improving and improving others. As long as he does his duty, he has greater power to call on others to do the same.
How can a person who is mired in self-indulgence become a promoter of social progress? How can a drunk or dirty person educate others to live a restrained and innocent life? "Doctor, treat yourself first" is a neighbor's answer to the doctor.
Our speech can be summarized as follows: before we are eager for social change or progress, we must first start from ourselves. We must show the truth in our own lives. We must educate ourselves with our own behavior patterns. If you want to improve others, you must first improve yourself. Everyone can show this effect in their own behavior. He can start with self-esteem.
The vagaries of life are a powerful driving force for us to prepare for the bad days in the future. Doing so is not only a moral and social obligation, but also a religious obligation.
But if anyone does this obligation not for himself but for his family, then this belief will be destroyed, which is worse than atheism.
The correctness of impermanence in life is well known. Even the strongest and healthiest people will be knocked down by sudden accidents or diseases. If we pay attention to the complexity and diversity of human life, we will not realize that the vagaries of life are just like the certainty of disability.
We often hear a cry: "Will no one help us?" This is a hopeless cry, and sometimes it is disgusting, despicable and selfish, especially when it comes from those who can help themselves easily through self-restraint, moderation and frugality.
However, many people have not realized that virtue, knowledge, freedom and luck must all come from themselves. Legislation can do nothing for them: it can't make them gentle, intelligent and moral. The root of most people's basic misfortune can be said to have little to do with the laws passed by Congress.
The spendthrift laughed at the legislation of Congress. Alcoholics are indifferent to this, asserting that self-discipline and long-term planning are not needed, and blaming others for their final tragic ending. The demagogues who let "thousands" of people revolve around themselves are completely out of line on this issue. Instead of trying their best to educate their audience to develop the habit of thrift, restraint and self-cultivation, they encouraged the audience to keep shouting, "Will no one help us?"
This kind of yelling will make your mind worse. Help exists in themselves. They were born to help themselves and improve themselves. They must save themselves. The poorest people can do this, why can't others? Courage and enterprising spirit can conquer everything and be invincible.
In expressing the previous views, we are by no means advocating the development of the abject poverty habits of misers and ascetics; Because we hate cheapskates, misers and misers. The main idea we want to express is that people should make plans and prepare for environmental pollution; They should make some preparations for the bad days that may come to them in the future in the beautiful period of ample food and clothing; They should save some things to avoid extreme poverty in the future, just like building flood levees in dry season, and firmly believe that even a little accumulation may be of great use in their later years, which can not only maintain their life and self-esteem in their later years, but also improve their personal comfort and social health.
Thrift is by no means an act of collusion with greed, usury, meanness and selfishness. In fact, it is precisely the opposite of these temperament. The purpose of thrift is to gain independence of personality. Thrift requires wise use of money, not abuse of money-money must be obtained by honest means and used carefully. Such frugality is not to hide money in the vault, nor to be served by servants; But for the sake of independent personal dignity and not being enslaved by others.