Penny-wise and pound-foolish’ is the epithet
applied to that man who is very’ unwilling to spend small sums of money with
the result that he is obliged to spend a larger sum that it would have been
necessary if he had not been so miserly in the beginning. Such a policy is
usually followed by men who are either or miserly or short-sighted.
In these days of keen economical struggle. The
majority of men have to struggle hard and they earn perhaps just sufficient to
make both ends meet. Under the pressure of their financial circumstances, those
people are naturally led to adopt a penny-wise and pounding foolish policy. The
temptation of being able to do by spending little for the time being makes them
blind to the consequences of such a policy. They think that they will
eventually find to their amazement that, as a matter of fact, that have had to
spend more than it would have beer necessary had they been a little more
far sighted.
Every moment of our lives we find illustrations of
this fact. For instance, penny-wise and pound-foolish persons, when they have
to purchase the necessaries of life, always look at cheapness of the article
without paying any attention to its durability or good quality. The inevitable
result is that the article in question does not last long, and where one of
good and durable quality would have sufficed, he has to buy several. Thus, by
spending a little more in the first instance, he would have been spared the
subsequent drain of money. But foolish men of this type have never the heart to
do it.
The proper method is to exercise prudence and foresight
in all cases. If some necessity arises, this requires being satisfied at once. It
should be so satisfied immediately. Unless this is a done, the necessity. Might
grow so urgent with the lapse of time, that not only shall we be able to avoid
it but we shall have to spend more to meet its demands. This must necessarily
have increased on account of the delay. To take a homely example: a man suing
six piece of cloth finds that one of them is worn out and unfit for use. If he
be a prudent man he will at once replace this worn-out cloth by a new one. This
will make the other clothes last longer and save him from the difficulty of
having to buy several clothes all at once. But if he be a short-sighted man, he
will think it unnecessary to spend money in buying a new piece of cloth when he
still possesses five pieces. Being put to more use than formerly, these five
pieces will wear our sooner and in trying to save the cost of one cloth, he
will have to spend money for more than one. It is false economy not to meet
immediate necessities. If a person does not do a thing early, he will be compelled
to do it later and that at a great sacrifice. A penny spent in proper time will
save the expenditure of a pound at a later time. The wisest method therefore is
not to grudge spending a small amount of my at beginning, for that will mean
the saving of a large sum of money in the long run.
Seeing that it is not at all safe to be penny-wise
and pound polishing it should be our motto in life not to yield to the
temptation of apparent economy. Such economy is always misleading and only
leads us into the pitfall of extravagance, which brings want and woe. But from
this it must not be supposed that one should not be economic. Economical we
must be by all means. But we should always guard ourselves against false
economy, which is never paying.