Page 34 - Benjamin Franklin\'s The Way to Wealth: A 52 brilliant ideas interpretation - PDFDrive.com

Franklin was a great proponent of the make-do-and-mend philosophy of
anti-consumerism, an attitude that has more recently come back into vogue
partly as a backlash to the rampant consumerism of the 80s and 90s, and
partly as a very common-sense response to the soaring levels of personal
debt across most of the West. The generation which is old enough to
remember rationing or double-digit interest rates almost automatically
understands the make-do-and-mend approach as a way of life. The problem
is that those of us who have lived through neither tend to see both credit
and resources as limitless.

It matters little whether you decide to curb your consumerism on the basis
of morals or budget (or budget disguised as morals), the simple truth is that
a few months down the line you will almost certainly thank yourself for
holding back on spending on goods that you knew, in your heart of hearts,
you did not need.

HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU…
You want something, but you won’t expire if you don’t buy it. Impose a
twenty-eight-day moratorium. Take out your diary, write the object and
the price on today’s date, and a note reminding you about it twenty-
eight days later. If it still seems desirable then, perhaps it’s worthwhile.
You’re more likely to have forgotten about it.