Amish Thrift Teaches Author How To Save

By Erin Albanese
Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The old Lorilee Craker would have picked up a couple of $16 children's shirts without a second thought, ordered a $20 pizza without checking what's in the fridge, and sent out her bills a few days late.

The Amish-makeover Lorilee peruses garage sales and finds a lovely $5 oil painting of pears to match her home decor; a $5 bird cage she envisions spray-painted a metallic color, and a $2 Pier 1 Imports bowl, originally priced at $24.99. She then barters to pay a total of $10 for all three items.

She makes pizza-chili with ingredients on hand and is sure to send her payments on time to avoid late fees (which she equates to money tossed into a creek).

While not ready to go off the electric grid or don a bonnet, Craker said living like the Amish financially makes a lot of sense and saves a lot of cents.

Craker, 43, researched her new book, "Money Secrets of the Amish," by visiting communities of Amish folk in Lancaster, Pa. Soon, she was rethinking her modern-day clotheshorse, latte-loving, cash-frittering ways.

"I still love to buy things, but I'm much more careful with what I buy," she said. "I also think when I'm about to buy something, 'Is it worth it?'"

In her book, released recently by Thomas Nelson Publishers, Craker, of Grand Rapids, explores the Amish culture and its propensity to sock away cash while living simply but abundantly.

This subject is at the other end of the spectrum from her New York Times bestseller "Through the Storm," written with Britney Spears' mother, Lynne Spears.

The new book has already been featured in Time magazine and the Chicago Tribune.

Craker, a mother of three, found her cash flow drying up during the economic downturn. Her husband Doyle's job as a computer programmer was secure, but her income, used for the family's "extras," had taken a big hit.

A National Public Radio program on Bill O'Brien, "Banker Bill," a Lancaster County banker whose clients are 95 percent Amish, told of how the Plain community had weathered the recession very well. He oversees $100 million of their loans, and in 2008 his bank, HomeTowne Heritage Bank, had its best year ever.

Propelled by her Mennonite roots, Craker set out to interview the Amish and learn the secrets of their financial aptitude. One remarkable example is Amos, an Amish father of 14, who saved $400,000 for a down payment for a farm.

She describes families where parents and children work hard, value what they have, and practice self-restraint and delayed gratification. "Our culture seems to have the patience of a drooling 4-year-old. OK, so I have the patience of a drooling 4-year-old," she writes.

Since then, Craker has regularly flexed her thrift muscle, as she calls it, and always thinks twice before a purchase. As a result, she's given her savings a huge boost.

"My mindset is so much more thrifty," she said. "There is money now when I do want to buy a new item."

Craker now sees the value in consignment shopping and garage sales. The former last-minute Christmas shopper already has presents bought for two of her family members. She stocks up on hardcover books, unique items and downright bargains. Recently she found deals at former Congressman Vern Ehler's yard sale.

The book offers tips from Craker and her frugal friends on reusing household items for crafts and activities, shopping one's own closet, getting the best bang for your buck at the grocery store, de-spoiling the kids, bartering and enjoying the simple things in life, like family time spent around a board game.

Her thriftiness has rubbed off on her children Jonah, 13, Ezra, 10 and Phoebe, 6, who often tag along to garage sales.

"They love thrift shopping because I'm a lot more apt to buy them a goody at a thrift shop than at Target or something," she said.

Comments

[4granted]

02:17 PM on 07/19/2011

I read this book this summer and totally loved it. I recommend it if you're not the type who normally would read a financial advice book, but you ought to be! the author, Lorilee Craker, tells of her own "Amish money makeover" in a humorous, engaging way. The book is easy to read, funny, but has lots of helpful advice!

[JOHNSPEAKS]

09:48 AM on 07/11/2011

Are there any -Gay- Amish and how do they handle this preverted behaviour???

[HotelDrama]

11:25 AM on 07/11/2011

Of course, and they either bail during rumpsringa or they probably hide their sexuality and fit in with the crowd.

[JOHNSPEAKS]

11:52 AM on 07/11/2011

So if this is true then the -Gay- population in general can learn -Discipline- and this will solve all the problems with their sexuality???

[ThinkCreeps]

04:28 AM on 07/11/2011

Put it in the egg ledger under 1854, Jeremiah.

Nonsense. You don't have to be a fruitloop to buy items on sale and avoid late fees.

I guess we can be happy that these amish bargain hunters won't be outbidding us on ebay.

[Just My Thoughts 2011]

11:00 PM on 07/10/2011

I live in Amish country, and I can tell you that the preconceived ideas many people have about them are wrong.

First of all, there is nothing quaint about being stuck behind a buggy on the highway. They are a real pain and a real danger, not to mention the messes that the horses leave behind.

They are shrewd shoppers. They want top dollar for their own wares, but won't pay a fair price for yours.

Once their children turn 16 they go completely off the rails. They can be a real menace. They are known for their drunk driving and wild parties. During the work week the young girls dress in their Amish garb, but once the weekend hits you would never recognize them.

The little children won't learn to speak English until they start school.

They won't buy a vehicle, but they like riding in one as much as the next person. They think nothing of paying to hire a driver to take them on their errands and vacations.

They may not have electricity, but they all have cell phones.

That said, their houses and yards are pristine, they still plow their fields with a horse, and hang their clothes on a line to dry.

[Merckx]

06:34 AM on 07/11/2011

The buggies are only a danger if you are a gawd awful automobile driver.

[westral]

10:32 PM on 07/10/2011

"Families where parents and children work hard, value what they have, and practice self-restraint" - I thought that was what America was supposed to be all about.

[Konnie]

09:08 PM on 07/10/2011

just to put this in perspective: they are exempt from social security and medicare. nor do they have life insurance, health insurance and of course no vehicle insurance (they are never blamed for accidents)
they don't have home mortgages or utility bills, their kids don't require school fees or higher education. most farmers also have an outside job, as do some of the women............i could save a boatload of cash too.

could i live the life. absolutely not. i live in amish country. no one works harder or longer. there is
no retirement. they do whatever they can for the family for as long as they can. i shop
at their stores, buy their hormone/antibotic free meat and fowl, baked goods and cheese, and
flowers. if one is inclined to decorate in the country style, their variety stores are one of a kind.
(don't let them all off the hook, there are rotten apples in every barrel) but on the whole, their
farms are pristene and they are generally a friendly lot to the other locals. need alterations,
child, elder, nursing care - they are a Godsend. offer a skill of your own, and you will receive
priceless teaching in return.

[c-tom]

07:45 PM on 07/10/2011

"...finds a lovely $5 oil painting of pears to match her home decor; a $5 bird cage she envisions spray-painted a metallic color, and a $2 Pier 1 Imports bowl, originally priced at $24.99."

The Amish I know would have kept the $10 and done without such frivolities. They are called the plain people for good reason.

[montanadan]

12:39 PM on 07/11/2011

Amen, tom!

"... a $5 bird case ..." You're aware that birds are capable of making their own houses out of sticks and mud, right?

[ellwood145]

06:42 PM on 07/10/2011

Zippers are quicker :)

[Greg Sureck]

04:37 PM on 07/10/2011

If we all shopped like that it would drive the capitalists crazy and bring the Republicans to their knees

[springchickennot]

03:03 PM on 07/10/2011

Buying at yard sales and thrift stores keeps your money circulating in your local economy. Giving yard sales brings in money to you that you can then stretch by going to yet another yard sale.

Unfortunately, some of the larger thrift store chains, and I won't mention names, have raised their prices so high that poor people can no longer afford their prices. Since I live too far out of town to give yard sales, I now watch for fundraiser yard sales in the paper and drop off my donations to them.

[thebigbike]

04:47 PM on 07/10/2011

Locally at at least the thrift store chain that provides job training programs (and has GW in its name) has kept its clothing prices phenomenally low, and even lowered them just as the current depression really set in. I do have a lot more time to shop there than most, but I buy nearly all of my clothes there except socks and underwear but I also make sure to donate anything usable to them as well, and finding out how much stuff we DON'T need around the house, and having gone is more valuable to us than having it.

Donations are especially important in our seriously depressed area, because the number of shoppers in the thrift stores and fundraiser yard sales . rummage etc, has increased exponentially. Like Mrs Craker, I've been much more mindful of spending, and figuring out what really is worth what., and maintaining a standard of living at the same level of genuine enjoyment.

[CAMBEL]

01:26 PM on 07/10/2011

IT's interesting that normal thrift is so out of fashion that it has to be taught and written about as if it is something surprising and new.

[thoughtmuse]

01:18 AM on 07/11/2011

I have to say, I was thinking the same thing.

[LMPE]

01:19 PM on 07/10/2011

Watching Peter Weir's "Witness", I got the feeling that Weird Al Yankovic must have watched it to get ideas for his song "Amish Paradise".

[Indigo1941]

12:49 PM on 07/10/2011

Good ideas! And writing a book about is an even better idea for pumping up the cash flow. Now what person planning to live thrifty is going to spend money on a book about living thrifty? I'll pass on the book and get a latte instead.

[montanadan]

12:41 PM on 07/11/2011

I'm gonna guess it's the same person who thinks paying only $5 for a bird cage is a deal. How much money would Craker save if she ate the bird?

[Indigo1941]

01:31 PM on 07/11/2011

Bwa-ha-ha!

[Scholastica8]

12:39 PM on 07/10/2011

I'd like to add - as a child I lived in an Old Order Amish area around Goshen, Indiana.

Children are given responsibilities as soon as they can walk. First it is usually feeding the chickens and collecting eggs. As they grow and age, they add chores.... which begin before dawn so that they can be at school around 8 for a school day that is longer than in non-Amish schools.... partly because they still have a study period (since Amish homes have no electricity - the school gives them a chance to do what would be homework elsewhere... maybe something regular schools should try). When they get home, they have more chores and go to bed early. So Amish children are gradually taught real responsibility as full participants in the family's livelihood... not just "help mommy and you get an allowance." Also maybe something non-Amish children should be taught.

[methodman]

12:32 PM on 07/10/2011

Good in Genesis refers to Data sorts. It is Declarative Sets and Concepts. Evalu (not Evil which is made up by the Sheol, Heresy, Evil, Maladyies mad ingrate Rabbi's, Pastors and Priests rabid with an erroneous hate and venomous fangs for brains, mind, intellect, heart, will, body , physicality and consciousness raising. With more praise-worth non-conversation.) Though filling people just aren't welcome and smartly don't want to come. Is imperative Knowledge. It is actually about delineating a system first as combining and dismantling parts from sets becoming concepts and processes. Sorry As an Ex-Evangelical my thoughts and views aren't welcome. and fairy tales are worshiped in place of rational, inspirational, far reaching insights. When Cain says" I am not my brothers keeper" what he really means is survival machines are seized at a later stage by DNA according to the Gospel of Dawkins which I am far more convinced is accurate then your neanderthal misguided malfeasance pastor distortions.