How to Be Wealthy

If you are afraid to use your money, if you are close, saving and skinflinty, in word, thought or deed, you are laying the foundation for unhappiness and poverty. The miser is not really rich, he is poor, poor, POOR.” (W. E. T.) “I put it there because I want to be reminded of it all the time,—it has set me to thinking lots. I don’t know where to draw the line between ‘economy’ and ‘skinflinty,’ and it gives me constant trouble to decide. It is awfully easy, I find, to follow out the economy bent till it becomes ‘closeness,’—at the same time, it would be very easy to give myself the rein the other way, and ‘just let her go’ into extravagance. I suppose it might be said ‘Draw the middle line,’ but it is very hard to know where or what is the middle line,—and hence the question arises, on which side shall we err? My present opinion is that I had better err on the ‘Let her go’ side, as I am by nature strongly inclined to economy and self-denial. I am inclined to think that Economy with me would soon lead to penuriousness, and that therefore I should pursue the other tack. Besides what do these texts mean, if not that? ‘Give and it shall be given unto you,—good measure, etc.,’ and, ‘If a man ask of you a coat, give him twain’ (or something to that effect,)—give him twice what he asks for. As I look at the great God of Nature. He is extravagance itself,—the grain of wheat is multiplied many-fold,—the air we breathe, the water to drink are all in riotous profusion. And everything else till Man gets a hold of it, and surrounds it with his ‘little fence,’ and says, ‘Thus far and no further.’”—Pigott.

It is not what you spend, nor what you spend it for, which makes the difference between wealth, opulence, and skinflintiness. Skinflintiness all lies in the attitude of mind which is constantly straining ahead to make a dollar buy more than a dollar’s worth. The bargain counter conduces to skinflintiness, but it is a result and not a cause of it.

The man who, desiring a certain thing and having the dollar to pay for it, yet “hates to spend it,” and thinks of a dozen other things he would like to have “thrown in” for the dollar,—such a man is a skinflint. He is not spending like a lord.

The man who, desiring a certain thing and having the dollar to pay, parts willingly with the dollar, even if it is a last one, and goes rejoicing on his way with the new purchase,—this man spends as he should. He is willing to pay full price, and he enjoys his purchase.

The skinflint’s is spoiled with visions of a dozen other things he would like to have squeezed out of that dollar. He, of course, expresses it this way; “I’ve parted with that dollar for this thing, but there are a dozen other things I ‘ought’ to have, too.” You see, “ought” is a great word with a skinflint. I used to be one and I know the vernacular. He thinks he “ought” to be “saving” and “economical.”

When he is a confirmed skinflint he always thinks the other fellow “ought” to come down on his price, and he parts with his dollar only because he MUST in order to get that thing. Sometimes he will wear out $2 worth of shoe leather travelling around town trying to find that article for ninety-nine cents. The skinflint is always nearsighted. He looks so closely at that dollar in his grasping fist that he fails to see his shoe leather and his time and energy expended in trying to crawl out of paying a full dollar. He “hates to do it.” No matter how many other dollars he has he “hates” to pay out this one for this particular thing.

All this “tendeth to poverty” and it likewise generally attends poverty; though there are well-to-do folks who are skinflints—and on the road to penury.

We are most of us skinflinty in spots, especially when our income is shrinking and coal sky-rocketing. I used to be skinflinty in large spots, because I thought I had to to live at all And the closer I got the “tighter” money grew with me.

At last I “caught on” to the knack of spending like an opulent queen what I did have to spend, and from that day things began to get better. I do not mean that all at once I went to spending recklessly for all sorts of things I happened to fancy at the moment—a glass of ice-cream soda, or a new ribbon I saw in the window, a new shirtwaist I thought pretty—I still denied myself all “luxuries.”

And right here I want to tell you that it is these little wishes of the moment which are the real leakages that keep our pocketbooks flat. Not only that, but the gratifying of every momentary whim depletes your stock of Desire just so much. The cutting off of these little leaks permits the tide of desire to rise higher within you, for the accomplishment of things worth while. In the same way it permits the rising of the money tide in your purse. Cogitate this well.

I not only did not fly into all sorts of momentary indulgences, but I began to put more thought than ever into each expenditure I made. I bought nothing that was not necessary, and I always “slept on it” before I decided that it was necessary. Then I consulted my cash and decided what was “the limit” I could use for this purpose. Then I went over in my mind all the things I couldn’t have if I bought this. I let go definitely of each one of these. I said, “Get thee behind me—I choose this one thing and you may go away into forgetfulness—I do not want you.” Then I went down town and “looked around” until I found just the right thing to suit me. Sometimes it was on the bargain counter, sometimes among the new goods at highest price; but when I found it I was pleased with it, and I paid gladly for it, and took it home and enjoyed it forever after.

I used to be a great hand to be “sorry I hadn’t got something else,” but I never made a purchase in this new way which I did not enjoy fully until it was worn to shreds.

This was the beginning of opulence for me. After a time I found my desires growing stronger and more definite AND LESS NUMEROUS. And at the same time I began to discover more money in my purse, AND FEWER DRAINS UPON IT. I know by right of discovery and experience, that this is the road to wealth. And I know that what I have done in this line every one of you can do if you will. It will take you a longer or shorter time to accomplish just in proportion as you work faithfully at it all the time, or just spasmodically once in a while.

It is all a matter of establishing a right habit of thought. A few thoughts once in a while will not do it, but persistent effort will. Anybody with gumption enough to learn to read can learn to think opulently. And as soon as the habit is formed he will find that he has plenty for all his desires. More than this, spending will be a pleasure to him, and the thing bought a joy forever.