Wisdom from The American Frugal Housewife

The following is a guest post from The Frugal Girl. Thank you very much, Kristen!

I got this free kindle ebook quite some time ago, and while I was on the plane flying to Chicago recently, I used the time to jot down some of my favorite quotes to share with you.

This book was written in 1828, and is full of advice for women on managing their homes…there are recipes, home remedies, and general household management advice.

What fascinates me is that even though much of Child’s practical advice is outdated (I’m not going to be making soap from my fire ashes, or doing anything with pig’s feet, thankyouverymuch), the principles she shares are just as applicable today as they were in 1828. Sometimes we think that overindulgence and overspending are purely modern problems, but clearly, these vices were alive and well in 1828!

Here are a few of my favorite snippets from the book.

-On saving, even when you have only a little to save:

“Every man and every woman should lay up some portion of their income, whether that income be great or small.”

-Advice for those who have recently moved into a new house:

“If you are about to furnish a house, do not spend all your money, be it much or little.  Do not let the beauty of the thing, and the cheapness of that, tempt you to buy unnecessary articles.”

-On thinking DIY is too much work:

“Make your own bread and cake. Some people think it is just as cheap to buy of the baker and confectioner, but it is not half as cheap. It is convenient, but those who are under the necessity of being economical should make convenience a secondary priority.”

Lots of good stuff in that quote. Homemade IS almost always cheaper even than relatively inexpensive prepared food (reference my comparison of uber-cheap squishy bread and homemade bread).  And while convenience is lovely, it should not be a higher priority than living within your means.*

*I’m not saying you must bake bread.  The principle here is what’s important.  See also, You Don’t Have to Make Yogurt

-On keeping up with the Joneses:

“No false pride of foolish ambition to appear as well as others should ever induce a person to live one cent beyond the income of which he is certain.  If you have one dollar a day, do not spend but seventy-five cents.  If you have but half a dollar, do not spend more than forty cents.”

-On why we ought to save:

“The man who is economical is laying up for himself the permanent power of being useful and generous.”

(Dave Ramsey says we should live like no one else so that we can give like no one else, but apparently Lydia Child was saying that long before he was!)

-The last one for now…Child anticipates that some will think her frugal advice is over the top.

“If any person think some of the maxims too rigidly economical, let them inquire how the largest fortunes among us have been made.  They will find that thousands and millions have been accumulated by a scrupulous attention to sums infinitely more minute than $0.60.”

If you’ve got a Kindle and some time to kill, download this book…it’s an entertaining read.  And if you don’t have a Kindle, you may be able to find the paper version at your library.