Forget the Joneses

WHEN one considers the definitions given for frugalism, or frugality, you must wonder about the intent of Professor Martin’s opinion piece in Friday’s Mercury (27/1/23).

Even to be frugal, as many of us in the older generations had to be after marriage, doesn’t exist after the first few lines in his suggestions.

To suggest penny pinching, shows a lack of respect for we that survived employing this frugality approach. Perhaps a round table discussion in a nursing home, or even a door knock in the older, outer suburbs of the city, might enlighten him on what it means to be frugal.

The only positive I can gain from the article, is maybe it’s his way of starting the conversation with the young, that we from earlier generations didn’t need, because we grew up with it.

There are alternatives to “new” and the need for five-bedroom, threebathroom new houses.

Homemade is far cheaper than takeaways, and a well-kept secondhand car, can suffice for years. Our seven-year-old Kia Picanto was a demo model.

For his information, we still have items of furniture bought over time, with auction numbers still showing.

In fact, just prior to Christmas, my wife and I bought a craftsman-built, five-piece Blackwood dining setting at auction for less than ten per cent of the new cost.

For youngsters starting out, it’s not penny pinching, it’s using limited funds wisely, so as to create a stressfree environment you can financially afford, and bugger being a showpiece, by keeping up with the Joneses. John Pritchard Claremont