Freelance piece by Andy Sutton and Two Cents Contributor CJH
Labor Day weekend has passed, and it is a sign that summer will soon be coming to a close, making way for the crisp signs of fall. The holiday was started in Canada, during the 1870’s, stemming from labor disputes, which had later resulted in creating legislation to protect workers, and organized union activities. It was then adopted in the US in 1882. Legislation in the US was created on the type of public activities that would happen, and how the holiday would be marked. The beginnings were filled with parades showing the strengths of the American workers, and then would end in festivals and picnics with family or friends. It has changed a bit over the years and reflects less the beginning roots of the holiday.
Today the holiday is usually one last effort to preserve summer. The signs were everywhere. People were having picnics with smells of barbeques filling the air, and the Cicadas screaming at night. Children frantically trying to squeeze in as many last trips to the pool as tired parents and stretched budgets will allow. Perhaps it’s a final run to the beach, the amusement park, or other trip for a quick weekend getaway. August is traditionally a time when families are taking the last of their vacations. It’s also a time when the ‘Back to School’ flyers begin arriving en masse on a daily basis.
Which brings us to the current conundrum and forces us to think back to the way things used to be. As people reminisce over a summer of barbecues, sun, and fun, we’re going to reminisce back to yesteryear and the way we used to get ready for school. This is not an essay dedicated to financial markets, the economy, or fiscal issues. It is not about bull or bear markets. It is two friends lamenting the departure of the frugal, fiscally responsible way of living here in America and taking a walk down memory lane. We hope you enjoy it.
As late thirty-somethings, we are probably indicative of the transition generation. We have enough ‘old school’ in us to make us completely uncool to today’s kids, but we are hip enough that they might give us 30 seconds to explain how exactly it is we’re so uncool.
However, uncoolness aside, this year is unlike any we have witnessed in quite some time. By all reasonable measures, the number of unemployed Americans is higher than it has been since at least the 1970’s when the landscape was dotted with ‘inflation gardens’, gas lines, and gold broker advertisements in the Sunday paper. The government is borrowing money faster than any time in history, racking up nearly $5 billion a DAY in deficit spending at the current rate.
At the same time, many consumers, first dealt a vicious slap in 2008 with the loss of a good deal of savings have seen 2009 deliver a follow-up blow of a Friday afternoon pink slip. How did they approach back to school time this year? Probably quite differently than they have in the past. So for the sake of reminiscing, we’re going to recall as best as we can how we and our families approached this sanguine time of year.
Andy Sutton: “I guess I would have to say that school preparation for me depended on what grade level I was at etc, but one constant was that we did an inventory before we shopped. Today it seems as though the inventory stage is skipped in many cases. But I remember going through all my supplies from the prior year. Nothing was ever thrown out, but simply put in a drawer and forgotten from June to August. Old, partially used spiral notebooks became this year’s scratch paper. Binders, instead of being thrown out, were fixed with duct tape if repairs were necessary. Old folders were patched if possible, and thrown out only if necessary. This was the way it was with everything. The same happened for clothing (minus the duct tape repairs!). Everything was inventoried, and only then was any shopping done. We weren’t poor, but we weren’t foolish either. We weren’t cheap, but we didn’t burn money either. Then we’d find the best sales and take care of the items on the shopping list. It was a quick affair, done in a couple of hours on a Friday evening – clothing shopping included. Granted, we didn’t have all the gadgets available back then to complicate our shopping trips, but there were still gadgets. However, they weren’t really marketed as being necessary for school if I remember correctly.”
CJH: “As Andy and I have discussed at various times, our childhood experiences have been quite similar, although we grew up a half a state apart, and didn’t become friends till adulthood. Could it be a cultural thing of the state we lived in, or a passing on of values from another generation? Chances are the latter, since we are both the children of the baby boomers, who had a solid sense of value instilled in them from an early age. After all they are generation whose parents grew up during the Great Depression. What will children garnish from lessons parents are teaching them from these troubling times today? In an optimistic view I might say, that they may begin to make a turn towards simpler values, and see worth in the little things just as Andy and I do. But the pessimistic part of me sees that from the headlines and observations I see everyday, we could be in for a long road till a time of change.
Before setting off for the back to school shopping my family took stock in what was needed for us kids. Always having a keen eye focused on the year to come and what we could use from the previous school year. More often than not the previous school supplies had been used over the summer to keep myself, my sister, and friends occupied with art projects. Mostly though if it could be reused it was. Generally things didn’t need much repair since I was held responsible for keeping my things in good condition. If binders or folders were in heavily worn condition they would be evaluated, and moved to other home use if they could be. But we would always have backups ready for a moments notice. Of course there was always the question of “why can’t I get this new…” or having siblings there might be the squabbles that may have come from one seeing other get more supplies than they were. But all in all my family tried to always make sure we had what we would need for school and such. It wasn’t always new, but we had what we needed.
The school clothes would be evaluated, clothes in good condition were generally relegated to a drawer for next year if they would fit, or kept aside to go to Sunday services, or other family functions. The jeans or sneakers that showed some wear were either reserved for the hours after the school day, or the school field trips that would probably end in me totally ruining something that my parents worked hard to provide. Just part of being a child I guess. At the beginning of the year I always had some new stuff, but was just as happy to wear the things that I had. In all honesty as a kid I would have been totally happy wearing the ripped play clothes to school. After all I worked hard at breaking them in to make them comfortable. One thing that stands out in my childhood memories is the usual summer trip to the fabric outlet store. This was different than the trips at other times of the year, for supplies for my mother’s business. This trip was usually for just some supplies that would be used to make clothes for my sister, and I in our childhood. I guess this is one of the benefits of having a grandmother that lived with us, who was a retired professional seamstress, and a Mom who is also very skilled with the sewing machine. During her early life, a grandmother having a job like this was very common, but seems as though this is a rarity nowadays. But that could be a whole feature in the future. As I got older, more into my mid elementary school days, school clothes such as shirts and things being made were less, but the needle and thread were always ready and waiting for repairs. The sewing was relegated to more of the Halloween costume duties, and special things.
Thinking back on some of those times, I realize that the values and stories passed from my grandparent’s generation, to their children and then to me by both generations should be something to be treasured. I’m sure anyone who reads this will have at least a few of those stories or encounters, and hopefully they look upon them fondly.”
Andy Sutton: “As teenagers of the 1980’s we really lived in a transitory generation. Electronic gadgets were starting to come to market with the advent in inexpensive integrated circuit technology. The Sony Walkman, Atari, and boom boxes started appearing in living rooms around the country for about $150 a clip. $150 in the 1980’s was quite a bit of money especially considering that credit cards were still relatively non-existent in their current role in society. These items were extremely discretionary in nature, and were certainly not ubiquitous in Middle America. The compact disc would not become popular until the early 1990’s, and the DVD was still nearly a decade off. The same can be said for home computers by and large. The computers of the 1980’s were large clunkers that ran on floppy disks and weren’t useful for much more than typing up a report then putting on ear protection when you used the printer. Mobile phones could be installed in cars, but were prohibitively expensive to use. All of these items were exclusively wants my 1980’s existence. Needs were staple goods. When we turned 16, our best hope for transportation was to find a ‘clunker’ that still ran, buy it cheap and hope it got you from point A to point B. To this day, I have never owned a new vehicle nor will I buy a vehicle on credit unless I absolutely have to. I early on got into the habit of making a car payment to myself each month, then earmarking those funds for when I actually needed one. For us, it was mostly about needs and very little about wants. That paradigm has been turned on its head in the last decade. When you really think about it, we had a lot of the same stuff 20 years ago. Granted it wasn’t as small, as fast, or as cool, but we had it. Today, the line between needs and wants has been shattered by years of clever marketing campaigns, painless purchasing thanks to credit cards, and this instilled mentality that if we don’t have these things that we are somehow unsuccessful in life. Perhaps that sounds a little bit callous, but if you take a step back and look at things, I believe you’ll agree that’s exactly where we are at.”
CJH: “I do agree things have changed so drastically in the way people approach “needs vs. wants”. I had the opportunity the other day, to hear a conversation on the train heading into work late morning. We had stopped at the airport, picking up passengers going into Washington, DC. The chat was between 2 ladies, who seemed to be acquaintances, and one had her children nearby. They were tourists headed in for the September 11, memorials, and other sight seeing. These ladies were just talking and the one looked at the other’s teenage daughter and said “you must be a spoiled girl, with all those electronics.” The girl’s mother quickly snapped to her defense and said “NO, she is not, we did not buy those things for her.” The girl turned and said, “Nope, I bought them all with my own money that I saved.” There was a second or two of silence, and she then said, “I make money babysitting.” This perked my interest but I didn’t speak up, and just closed my eyes again enjoying the ride, thinking to myself, “This kid really gets what being responsible is all about”. The 2 women went back to talking about what they were planning on seeing, and other things. Then one of the kids started to panic thinking they had lost their cell phone, and the conversation circled into talk about cell phones, and such. I thought to myself, “Why or how, have people become so dependent on the convenience of having all these things so close at hand?” I don’t have answer for my own question.
As a teen I had some of the things Andy mentioned, but not everything was a “need to have it” – most were luxury items. Probably the biggest had to have item for a kid in their late adolescence or early teens were the Walkman or an Atari. Most households didn’t have the more than one pc, if they had one at all, or laptops, iPods, etc., like we have today. If a family had any of them it was usually only one of something and the kids shared it, from what I remember. Summers were filled with things like camping, playing ball, skateboarding or riding bikes. I still see these today, but I also see the kids toting all the gadgets with them while they are out. I had a walkman “Knock off”, had the Atari, and other game systems, but not all at once. If I wanted to get a new game system, then I had to sell my other one to get money to put towards the new one and my parents would help if I didn’t have enough to make the purchase. After all that’s what summer yard sales were for. To clear out the old and make room for the new, not just keep accumulating. Buying a car and paying insurance were similar, I had to work, and if I came up short then I would get assistance, but the bulk of the money had to come from me earning it. These were lessons that would eventually prepare me for college.
My summer before going off to college was filled with work and the usual things. Trying to make as much money as possible to be ready to go was a high priority though. I applied for my first credit card, after hearing stories from my parents about their first foray into this when they were young. So I followed suit, and got a Sears card. I seem to remember the task of applying for it was a bit daunting. Staring at the application which had to be at least 3 or more pages with lots of blocks to fill in, and fine print, there was a lot of things left blank. Mostly due to a lack of credit history, since this is what I wanted to actually gain. I recall there being a waiting period, not like today where there are pre-approved account applications that show up in the mail for people to just sign and go.
Once in college, the plan was to find a job and work while in school. Well as circumstances would have it, finding a job was tough, most of the jobs that college kids would have were filled, so I had to make the decision of keep looking for work, or concentrate on school. School won, so the employment would be relegated to the summer between classes. As I spent my first year away from home, I learned the value of budgeting. So in order to budget wisely I learned the tricks of buying things on the cheap. Skipping a few meals wasn’t out the scenario either. But all in all I faired well.
Andy Sutton: “My college experience wasn’t much different really than high school, but just a bit more complex. I was responsible for paying for all of my own supplies, books, and any discretionary items in addition to a large portion of the tuition. I worked part-time throughout college and full-time during the summer to collect the money necessary to pay for car insurance, the above items and meet the interest payments on my student loans until I graduated. There were no Spring Break trips to Cancun, Florida, or even the mall in many cases. Spring Break was a week to work. To be honest, I knew of very few folks that took trips like that throughout my college years. Today, it is commonplace, and is thought to be some sort of birthright. I remember getting my first credit card in college. It was a GM Card, and it had a limit of $250, which was later raised to $500 after I had proven my responsibility by always paying my bills in full each time I used the card. I had an ironclad rule, and that was if I didn’t have the money in my bank account to pay, then I didn’t use the card. I was able to get into this habit because of good coaching by my parents who felt it was best to use the card only for things I would be buying anyway such as college books. At the time, credit cards were not nearly as widely accepted as they are now, and many places like gas stations didn’t accept them at all or if they did, you had to pay a premium above the cash price for your gas. Cash back reward programs were non-existent. So I had my card for the 4 years I was in college, and a year of interning and never made a late payment or carried a balance. I am not bragging, but am emphasizing the value of building good habits early. To this day, I have never once carried a balance on a credit card, and have never paid one thin dime in financing charges on a credit card. That is the old school part of my generation. Most of us were trained to revile debt, and accept it only for major purchases like homes and perhaps cars. The problem is what started out with homes and cars has now transcended into what were formerly regarded as discretionary areas such as consumer electronics, furniture and home improvements. Unfortunately, many of us fell off the wagon so to speak and gave into impulses and the desire to keep up with the Joneses.
In my opinion, it is no accident that predator card companies target young folks going off to college. They know these kids will be the least able to ward off the peer pressure and many will bury themselves in debt. The numbers don’t lie; today’s kids don’t just leave college with student loans; they leave with large credit card bills too.”