Good Ole' Uncle Arturo

I had an Uncle who was such a spendthrift that he “squeaked” (just kidding) when he walked.  Uncle Arturo (or “Art” as we called him – he even skimped on his name!) was a rare breed.  He cut his own hair – “why pay a barber?” he would say.  He cut his wife’s and two daughters’ hair (although many times they cried with the end results).  “Why pay a hairdresser?” he would say.  He even took toilet paper from public restrooms.  “Why BUY toilet paper when I can get it for free?”.  I can tell you some stories about Uncle Art that would put hair on your chest.  He wouldn’t buy his family a TV – “Why should I?  I have a perfectly good radio and can listen to radio for free!”.  Uncle Art didn’t even believe in washing towels (and their towels were so dingy we were afraid to even touch them!) – his theory was “One is CLEAN when one uses a towel, so why waste water and soap to wash it??”

He put a 5-minute timer on the shower and if one showered longer than that, one was rudely awakened by ice cold water.  Again…..it was to save money.  Lights out by 10:00 p.m. because he didn’t want a high electric bill.  He rode a bicycle to work (“Hey!  Why should I spend perfectly good money on gasoline when I can get my exercise and save money at the same time?). 

But there is a really sad ending to the story.  I don’t really know WHAT he was saving all that money FOR.  He and his wife were sadly killed in a car accident and their 2 daughters (then in their early twenties) inherited all their money.  LET me TELL you……those two girls went through their Dad & Mum’s life-savings in about 6 months!!!!….and it was a fortune they were left!  They ran out and bought expensive cars, homes well beyond their eventual means (they didn’t THINK about property taxes, etc.)  They had their nails manicured and feet pedicured….at a very costly price.  They went to hair salons that charged $40 a haircut.

SADLY – I thought about Uncle Art.  He was a good man who lived a very honest life (as did Aunt Maria).  But what did all that scrimping and saving achieve???   Their daughters lost their houses to bankruptcy and had not a penny in their accounts when all was said and done.

I compared Uncle Art’s life to our own.  Yes, I know how to cut my husband’s hair and my daughter’s hair (although both screamed when I cut it the first time) – but we are in an economic recession – so I save money (for whom when I die?) and make a barber and hair salon go out of business because I’ve not given them any business??  Doesn’t the economy depend on consumer spending?

Sure, I could get a roll of toilet paper from every public toilet I visited, but that would be STEALING, and I don’t mind spending on that and keeping some toilet-paper industry employees in jobs.  I could ride a bicycle to work and back to save money – but how would that be helping the economy?

There comes a time when we have to WEIGH what we contribute to the economy vs. what we can do for free.  Of course we can do many things for free – but where does that leave the economy?  There has to be BALANCE in what we do.  Fanaticism to any degree doesn’t work and since tomorrow is never PROMISED to us – we never know…..a car accident COULD take our lives, then perhaps all we’d scrimped and saved would go (perhaps in trust if it’s a minor) to our offspring…..but they may decide to use it to put in CRYSTAL stairways and golden doors.  We don’t know what they’ll do.

After knowing the story of Uncle Art my theory is – it’s perfectly OK to do “green” things like grow one’s own garden with veggies.  And it’s not a bad idea (although we would never set the timer for that) to limit showers to 10 minutes to save water.  But the rest???  We have to let others make a living or our whole economy goes DOWN.  And that might mean a hairdresser or barber or gas (petrol) station closes because of lack of customers.  Everything has a chain reaction.  We want the economy to go up?  We want our investments to increase?  Then we'd best contribute to getting the economy on its feet again by helping keep jobs alive and well. 

I AM still upset over dishwashing detergents and how they are gradually making it impossible to open the tops, but MOSTLY because of ecology…..I don’t want to throw plastic bottles away!  Our recycling won’t accept such plastic bottles unless they’re RINSED and CLEAN – but how does one rinse and clean if the top won’t come off??

There is a MIDDLE road for everything in life.  We can’t follow Uncle Art because we will see that his heirs spend their money on nonsense.  Yes, the MIDDLE road is good.