Necessary Times!

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Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor. -Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English author, well know for his Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755.

This week I watched the story of a Wisconsin family severely effected by the closing of the local General Motors plant. The father had lost his job at the plant, and with not many other great opportunities in clear view, the family was reduced financially to surviving on the $36,000 salary of the wife, employed by the Girl Scouts. Talk about your All-American “apple pie” story!

The angle of the expose’ was that of the family’s three boys and how the parents might not to be able to afford putting the boys in the local baseball league. Although the cost of $1,500 for the year for all three to participate now represented a large portion of the family’s income,  they remained resolute in their desire to make it happen.

The father expressed that, although he was a formerly skilled factory employee,  he was not beyond rolling up his sleeves and doing whatever it would take to survive.  The mother’s determination seemed even greater as she expressed that she would simply “find a way”.  The solution included no longer going to restaurants to eat and hand-me-down clothes for the boys would become the staple; oh, and of course no  ”travel team”  baseball anymore!

The story’s seemingly happy ending was that the boys did indeed get to play baseball,  yet there was a much greater story evolving that we’re seeing more often during this recessionary period of 2009.  It’s almost like witnessing the silent majority starting an even more quiet revolution!

The front page of USA Today also featured the story of a young Generation Y couple (20-somethings) that had been told by their banker that they could buy a home for $550,000, but instead they opted for a more conservative approach and bought a comfortable abode in the high 300s!  The story continued with the couple taking a few shots at how consumerism has negatively affected the world.

I would have to pledge my solidarity with these families because I, too,  have been empathizing with these types.  I pulled my own emergency whistle many months ago as I felt the Ponzi scheme being revealed.  I’m not talking about just Bernie Madoff;  he’s just a symbol of the greater scam- the scam we perpetuate on ourselves!

From a business perspective,  I rallied my coaching students (not nearly as much as I was warning myself)  around the phrase to adopt a “mentality of frugality.”  A mantra so much more difficult to live by when the economy is carrying us along like that perfect wave that seems like it’s offering the never-ending ride…until of course it comes crashing down upon us with ruthless and unforgiving force!

So off I went into every line item in my small business and my personal expenses;  like a seasoned captain thrown into a frenzy because he realizes that his boat is loaded with holes and without drastic measures is doomed to sink!  I have been told by fighter pilots that flew missions in Vietnam that the intensity of focus and the complete awareness they achieved at that moment gave them the greatest sense of being alive that they had ever experienced.  Certainly not many of us will know what it’s like to have that level of focus, but I think this economic shift is bringing us in that direction and I feel it!

So what’s really happening here?  You see the financial challenge is making us stand up and be accountable. Are we haphazard in the management of our money?  Have we spent hard-earned cash on those things that never really mattered just assuming that we had to have them because it seemed like everybody else was getting more stuff than we were?  Because of this assumption, we jump right on the treadmill and start running for our lives.

Well, this week I went even further.  My two oldest kids went to the bank with my wife and opened passbook savings accounts…just like my grandmother and mother told me to do when I was their age.  Then, we taught them that for every dollar they earned,  they were to fund their savings account with 50%.  Oh and yes, they are both gainfully employed for the summer at the ages of 12 and 13,  just like I was when I was their age and you know what?  They love it!

Getting back to my business…I will tell you that I have found over $100, 000 per year in expenses that we just don’t need!  Can you believe that?  Incredible, aggravating, exciting, all wrapped into one emotional overload!  Why did this not happen years ago?  I know all the right things to do, but did not do them. Certainly I did some of them, but it took the foresight of this economic twister to re-ground me and many others!

The best part is that times like these are real community builders.  Families are bonding together to share the load. Friends are looking for each other more often for support.  Companies are rallying to survive, with the most committed and unselfish taking pay cuts or even no pay at all!  Even many who were the most irresponsible are stepping up and being accountable-they are actually taking full responsibility, reorganizing and starting again with a fresh outlook even though they have nothing left!

You know why this is happening?  Because the economic tsunami is clearing the slate.  It’s giving us a collective reason to come clean!  We are no longer pretending that we don’t care; we are no longer faking that we can afford what we can’t.  Ultimately, we have been pushed so far backwards that their is no time for pretense, only action!

The thinking tool today is to join the revolution of the silent majority!  Cut out all unnecessary expenses and return to old- fashioned values!  Do whatever it takes to make a financial living and don’t act like you’re beyond any type of job! I get sick when I hear someone refer derogatorily to “flipping burgers”  for a living or “getting dirty”  in the field to feed their family.  The bottom line is that who cares what anyone thinks?  Only the foolish stand on the sidelines and taunt those who are taking action!  So run out and embrace these “necessary times!”  We Can Do This!