Cash on the Barrel - A Lesson from Little House

My family has watched a lot of Little House on the Prairie lately.  Call it a phase or whatever, we are slowly buying a season here and a season there.  So far we have the first three.  It's nice to watch a show that is wholesome and so packed full of lessons and values that have kind of been forgotten in our world today.  The fact that the kids LOVE the show is wonderful.  I grew up with the show, and now I feel I can share it with my children.

As we've watched the first couple of seasons, I've caught one lesson that smacked straight in the face of our economy today.  The Ingalls family tried hard, despite not having much, to live off cash.  "Cash on the Barrel" they called it on the show.  In other words, even when credit was available, they tried not to live off of it or use it at all.  That didn't mean they didn't take a loan to expand the farm.  When they did incur debt, the whole family worked to pay it off. 

I can't see many families doing that today.  (Child Labor laws might have a fit if Mary sewed every day to help make money for her family in this day and age.)  Yet, the family pulled together.  To me, that says something about how money can bring a family closer.  Today a child asked to contribute to the family would probably feel like they had to tell a shrink how unfairly they had been treated. Not only did they have to work, but then to give their check away to pay a bill instead of being able to buy the newest of whatever they thought they needed... Unheard of.

I'm being a little cynical and jaded, I know.  Many kids and teens would help their families if they could.  Those stories aren't shared often.  Usually, all you see and hear about are the negative stories. 

Cash on the Barrel.  To me that means paying cash for what you need and want.  It means not buying things you can't afford.  It means being frugal.  It means being responsible.  It means being a good steward of the finances God blesses you with.  Today it has been made popular by Dave Ramsey, and for good reason.  Don't buy what you can't pay for...NOW.  It doesn't mean buy and pay later.  It means buy and pay immediately.  If you pay for it right now, don't buy it.

Our adventure with debt reduction and frugal living is just beginning. We've never been a family that had a lot of money.  However, we are a family that hasn't always used the best judgment in some of our choices.  We are slowly learning and growing, just the same as we are learning and growing in Christ.  If watching examples of living 'Cash on the Barrel' style in a thirty-some year old television show helps me and gives my kids a model to follow later in life, I'll take it.   The sweet story of the family pulling together is just icing on the cake.