Call me frugal, tight, skinflint, thrifty, penny-pinching and I answer to them all. Even though it may sting a little at times, I usually laugh and go about my penny-pinching ways.

A lifetime of checking gas prices, milk prices, turning off lights, delaying air conditioning until late in the summer, and heat in the fall, has only contributed to my well-earned reputation.

I think about my stern German father’s training in my savings habit and feel grateful for his teaching. As one can imagine, these ruminations are caused by the financial havoc that our nation is experiencing today.

I did not live through the depression of the 30s, but the recession in the 80s was enough to confirm my faith in the good habit of saving money for a “rainy day.”

Thank you, Dad, for teaching me to live within my means and to save money. That advice has help my family on several occasions during my married life when things did not go as I had planned and the money just did not come it.

Does anyone else remember the banks opening accounts for kids through the schools and every week we would bring in our dimes or dollars to be deposited and entered into a little brown savings book? There was such a feeling of accomplishment in watching the balances grow.

Those lessons of fiscal responsibility formed my early habits and they have served me well throughout my life. I was encouraged by chatting with a young father at our church the other day who said, “All my life prosperity was the name of the game — and income only went up – now for the first time, times are hard and I’m caught without anything in reserve to get my family through. You can bet that won’t happen to me again!” I could just see the resolve in his face to begin saving for his next “rainy day.”

This vignette give me hope that as a nation, we will regain our senses and live within our means, spend only what income allows, and cut back when times demand it. That kind of thinking would never have created this mortgage mess we are in to-day, and Congress would have reigned in the dangerous lending practices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back in 2006 when a number of senators warned against them.

There is blame enough to go around, but blaming doesn’t fix anything, only prudent practices will do that. It is time to bite the bullet and practice them in our homes, teach them to our children, and demand them of our elected officials.

Art Hall, publisher