If I Have Three Apples And Gave Away Two...

The present has given us some wonderful domestic gadgets that our mothers could only dream of, a fully automatic washing machine, microwave ovens, induction cook tops, not to mention the Internet.

But while Nora is quite happy to admit she was born within the first decade of Generation X, she is astounded by the lack of domestic preparedness in the people who make up the tail end of the demographic and their adult Generation Y siblings.

Today's Nifty Knick Knack is a comparison between the level of real world preparedness that Nora's mother's generation received and the paucity of adult life preparedness experience by today's adult and soon to be adult generation.

It was inspired by reporter Shannon Willoughby's feature on financial planning in today's Gold Coast Bulletin - sorry the paper is too mean to put the feature online so here is a part of an archive retrieval. (Click to Enlarge)

Here is the shocking paragraph:

It is at this point in life, in the mid-20s, when we're encouraged to think about our foundation and our future.

The trouble is, those in their mid-20s, for the most part have no idea how to lay the base and build on it.

In fact, we're usually way behind the eight-ball, strangled by credit card debt, car loans and other 'interest-free' deals that encourage you to spend.

They should teach you at school, somewhere between learning ABC, that signing up for a Visa card with a $5000 limit could get you into strife.

Last year, this was me. I had maxed our my card three times before I was advised to cut it up. What I had wasted on junk was almost enough for a deposit on a unit.

They used to teach you at school. In the days when society held the expectation that a school girl would one day be a wife and mother and that (unless she was bound for university) she would be expected to make her own way in the world by age 17 or 18. Not 25.

I know that this isn't a very light and cheery Nifty Knick Knack but the above article does make the very sharp point that despite advances in some areas with respect to technology, other aspects such as personal responsibility, as one becomes an adult in the eyes of the law, has actually gone backwards.

Fortunately for the teenage girls of 1972 when The Young Homemaker Book Two was published, the answer was at hand.

In this fine home economic volume after section on Nutrition and Cookery was Your Business Head which covered topics that young women (and young men) would be wise to learn today:

-- Money
-- The Family Income
-- Saving
-- Insurance
-- Buying A House
-- Buying Things
-- An Office Corner

What happened? One supposed schools got caught up with the idea of being 'relevant' that being a good housekeeper (whether for oneself or for the husband and kids) was lost in the cacophony of trendy socio-political/busywork school subjects.

So in the interests of educating those who might happen across this humble blog, as well as hopefully to charm, this will be the first of good housekeeping tips.

Remember:

If you spend 99 cents out of every $1.00 you will still have money, but if you spend $1.01, you are broke!, and worse still, in debt.

One wonders if Shannon has learned that lesson yet.