Book: Thrifty by Majorie Harris

I just finished this book called Thrifty by Majorie Harris. It's written by a Canadian author who apparently is rather well known as a gardening writer (I've never heard of her). At first I was intrigued. I am always on the look out for refreshing material that keeps me on the frugal track and helps me reassessed my priorities. I am a very frugal person by nature but I find reading and re-reading certain books on frugality to be a good recharge for my batteries. The Tightwad Gazette complete series is one I often return to again and again.

This book started off with the author praising Margaret Atwood for her frugalness. I am not an Atwood fan but I didn't want to judge the book off of that and continued reading. There are the standard tips and hints on finding the best deals, doing research before purchasing a high ticket item and how to attack garage sales. All in all, they were the usual comments that anyone with a slim wallet would inherently know only this writer presented them as if they were the greatest secret this century.

She warned against second hand stores but promoted higher priced consignment shops. She bragged about buying artwork and only ever purchasing organic. As much as she wanted to be thrifty and imagined her self to be thrifty I could tell she was just a normal consumer doing a few things to save some bucks. She believes she is more thrifty than she is, that much was obvious. Her way of promoting thrift with style is a stark contrast to Amy Dacyzyn's how-to's on dumpster diving and making meals for pennies.

It's all about perspective. If you have money saving money becomes less important. Everyone wants to save money but if you are truly hard up for cash, truly one paycheck away from ruin organic vegetables would be too much of a luxury to contemplate. However if you have money, and have a comfortable living then thrift takes on a whole new meaning.

The English language should invent two separate words for thrift with money and thrift because you have to make ends meet...but then if we did that one would take on a derogatory meaning and no one would admit to being in that circumstance. No matter. In the end, thrift is thrift and there is no true way to be thrifty, only degrees therein and who are we to judge?