About retrenching

Have you read Jane Austen's book Persuasion? Or if you're not an avid reader, have you seen one of the movies made of that story?

If you have, you might remember the bit at the beginning where Sir Walter Elliot considers leaving Kellynch Hall.

In case you don't know this story, I'll explain about the bit I mean.

Sir Walter Elliot, a pretentious English gentleman, presides over a household that has been living beyond its means. They come to a point where the stew has hit the fan, as it were, and necessity to cut back on expenditure becomes not only evident but actually urgent.

Their sensible family friend Lady Russell is on the case — gloriously described as being "of sound rather than quick abilities". She concludes this:

They must retrench; that did not admit of a doubt. But she was very anxious to have it done with the least possible pain to him...

So Lady Russell consults with Sir Walter's daughter Anne (the heroine of the novel), and Anne has some far-reaching cuts in mind. Lady Russell proposes a more diluted way forward, but even her gentler scheme is received with horror:

How Anne's more rigid requisitions might have been taken is of little consequence. Lady Russell's had no success at all: could not be put up with, were not to be borne. 'What! Every comfort of life knocked off! Journeys, London, servants, horses, table, — contractions and restrictions every where. To live no longer with the decencies even of a private gentleman! No, he would sooner quit Kellynch Hall at once, than remain in it on such disgraceful terms.'

Coming back now from Persuasion (it's a good book — I recommend!) to the present day, my guess is that 'retrenching' will be on a lot of people's minds.

From the day I was born right up to the present moment, I have never had a large income. This of itself has been an absolute blessing, because my mother and her mother and her mother were the people who ran their household budgets, and my word, did they know how to make the money stretch!

So I've never had a lot of money, but never did the money I had buy less than it does right now. I am assuming this is also true for you, regardless of your level of income. But with all that's going on in the world, I think we can safely conclude that present circumstances are only the beginning.

This is where retrenching comes in.

Back in 2009 I wrote a book called In Celebration of Simplicity, which was exactly what it says on the tin — about living simply and why it's a good thing. It's out of print now and will remain so, because my editor had a rush of blood to the head and made its layout so complicated that I don't think our self-publishing programme can handle it. But second-hand copies are still around. 

Then ten years after I'd written that book, it dawned on me that I'd overlooked a vital component. Living simply is powerful and effective, but there's a prerequisite (the part Sir Walter Elliot couldn't stomach): what Jane Austen called retrenchment and I've called relinquishment. So I wrote a second book, Relinquishment, about the art of letting go, which — once I'd thought about it — I realised was an essential first step of practicing simplicity.

The thing about retrenchment or relinquishment is that it can't be done fast. People cling tenaciously to their habits and their comforts and their expectations, and detaching oneself from all the nice things one is used to enjoying is hard to do and impossible to do overnight.

Why I'm saying this is to flag up that this may be the season to retrench, to relinquish. As the cost of living goes up like a rocket, prices rise and income shrinks and taxes increase, obviously we have to be able to manage on less — and my experience suggests this can only be done incrementally. As we gradually progress in managing without things we've always had and assumed we always would have, we become more adept at finding alternatives — cabbage not avocado, for example, or a homemade omelette not a store-bought quiche, or a friend round for a cup of tea in the back garden rather than meeting up at a café in town. But it's slow, it's gradual, and what makes it especially hard is that we take for granted what we habitually do, and our expectations have conditioned us; we are at first blind to the possibilities and alternatives.

So I'm thinking that now is the time to start. Even if you think you're already good at it, look again, re-evaluate. Keep a ledger if you don't already, and review your expenditure regularly and often. Take advantage of the many books and YouTube videos that talk about living frugally; even if you know it all anyway, it psychs you up to whatever needs addressing next. Then you will keep ahead of the curve and not be caught out by hard times.

Retrenchment, and therefore relinquishment, I suspect may be the order of the day. And I do recommend Persuasion, whether the book or one of the movies made from it. Excellent story.