One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 90

#90 -  “Keep a $50 bill hidden in your billfold just in case of an emergency.”

Mom was a consummate penny-pincher. As you know, I’m always curious about words so I googled ‘penny-pincher,’ and synonyms that popped up were “skinflint, stingy and niggard.” None of those words defined mom because she wasn’t stingy. So I googled ‘frugal’ thinking that was a better word for mom’s ability to stretch a dollar. Interestingly, thesauras.com makes the point that, “frugal refers more to practicing economy in the course of shopping for goods or services; whereas thrifty applies more to the preservation of funds.” By the way, the antonyms of frugal are generous, lavish, uneconomical, wasteful and SueAnn.

Mom was both frugal and thrifty. Dad, on the other hand, invested in racehorses, goldmines and oil wells. I think I’m the apple that didn’t fall far from dad’s tree. On the other-other hand, the things that I invest in (heavily) aren’t all that crazy: my grandkids’ whims, my children’s needs or enjoyment, my husband’s health, friendships, books, travel and food. I’m certain that I’m spoiling my grandchildren, and although that probably isn’t good for them, I am just a victim of my own heritage. I didn’t have any grandparents and always wanted them. I know, I know, grandparents are supposed to impart wisdom and love, not DS’s, Androids, Nikes and ice cream, but I never got presents from grandparents so I am also a victim of the backlash effect. But enough rationalizing, let’s return to mom’s emergency $50. CLICK ON READ MORE BELOW...

Back when mom was hiding $50 bills in her billfold (which was actually her shoe and where she kept all her cash), there was no such thing as credit cards. Actually, there were credits cards, but not in my mom’s world. Mom never, ever owned a credit card.

The history of credit cards is pretty interesting. The first recorded reference was in 1887, but the reference was to spending one’s assets, not borrowing. The first widespread use of credit cards was for auto fuel in the 1920’s. Then in the 1930-50’s charging really began to sink it’s teeth into us with the “Charga-Plate” that could be used by any merchant that wanted to extend credit to their customers. Then the airlines jumped in to lure travelers. Diners Club, Carte Blanche and American Express soon followed, and as they say, “The rest is history.” Good for creditors; bad for creditees (yes, I know that isn't a real word).

I think the core lesson from mom was to have cash on hand, which I try to do. But it seems that an awful lot of my cash on hand ends up going to pay for the interest on my sins of the past (overindulgence). But the good news is that as I scooch towards retirement, target date 2018, my goal is to eliminate the frivolous so I can live comfortably on my retirement income. For example, I recently gave up my acrylic nails. That’s $60 a month, or $3,960 I can save between now and retirement. Next is hair color, which won’t save me much as I do my own color.

The big thing is to give up credit. My worst fear is to die suddenly and my kids having to use some of my life insurance money to pay off my debts! So I must pay off all my debt (which really isn’t a lot) and not accumulate additional debt.

I’ve also been thinking seriously about giving up my car. I could buy a Vespa and join Austin’s car2go (car sharing), and occasionally rent a luxury car for long trips. I suspect that would save me a ton when you count car payments, gasoline and insurance.

So I guess I am following mom’s lesson of keeping a $50 bill in my billfold, by planning to keep more money in my bank. Maybe I’m not so unlike my mom after all.