What makes some people spendthrifts and others tightwads? My undergraduate biology degree requires that I frame the question in terms of “Nature or Nurture?” I wonder about my grandmother who lived through the depression? Did a frugal nature simply allow her and others like her to survive it? Or did the circumstance itself create the financially disciplined woman I knew? [Continue Reading at SavingAdvice.com]
Part of my thriftiness is driven by a calling I got in 5th grade (in 1969) to save the environment.
Lucky for me!
Great article. I would have to say it all comes down to how your parents were spending the money. Mine were very tight which taught me the value of a dollar.
At some point in my life, I realized how wasteful my parents were with money and found out how poorly they were doing financially despite my dad’s above average income. I took it as a lesson on what NOT to do, and it’s worked well for me.
I wondered about the same thing. I meet siblings where one is frugal and the other spends money wildly. I’d admit growing poor made me appreciate money.
You raised a very compelling point. The fact is, numerous studies have shown us that our financial behavior is most often inherited from our parents.
Barbara Stanny, author “Overcoming Underearning”
Excellent article. I’m thinking my being the oldest child and oldest grandchild in the family had something to do with my responsible attitude. I saw more. I’m kind of a throwback compared to my generation. Both grandmothers were thrifty, never drove, kept decent homes and knew how to work with what they had. The men all worked hard and brought their paychecks home to their wives. Mom and dad were looser, worked hard but dad drank and mom is/was childish in regard to money. They fought about money and mom worked full time when I reached high school, which meant I had to be more responsible in regard to watching the younger kids. I frankly have greater admiration for my grandparents and their generation than my folks and was more like my grannies from the time I was a kid, more serious. I stayed with my grannies a lot and found them far more interesting to listen and talk to. They had had it rougher as kids and were grateful for what they had. Mom and dad always seemed to want something (thanks to the media, probably, who knows?) I’m 52 and remember the pincurls (shoot, I do that myself sometimes) and picking fruit to make a pie. I love striving toward self-sufficiency and never wanted to be like my generation, hated being a teenager, could hardly wait to be on my own and had my own house by the time I was 23. I try to instill what little I know in my grandnephews when I babysit with them, doing things the old fashioned way, cooking from scratch instead of running them to Mickey D’s, playing board games instead of those violent video games and we hit the park regularly. They seem fascinated by hands-on activities and figuring out how to have fun with pennies instead of dollars, and in particular, they thrive on the attention and the slower pace, I think.
I think my greatest influence on being thrifty had to be my grandmother. I used to listen to her stories about living through the Depression and how tight money was, and it used to scare me to death! She would tell about all these families who would get put out on the streets or get their stuff repossessed because they couldn’t pay their bills. I don’t know if there is any genetic link, because my mom was the polar opposite, running up huge credit card debts. I do try and teach my kids the importance of saving, but it’s not working on my daughter. She is definately a spendy.