Fugality

An excerpt from a letter Tony G wrote to Neil on his 65th birthday. Steve's golf club story below is part golf and part frugality for sure.

FRUGALITY

I have to recognize that you help me gain a better and profound understanding of life. For instance, I did not really understand the true meaning of the world frugality. Thanks to you, now I know that is a discipline, a behavior that you must practice every day, anytime and apply it to all aspects of life regardless of the financial value. You have convinced me that one could gain pleasure by holding up tight to anything you own without spending lots of money on new things. You further explained that to practice frugality you have to have a serious commitment and adhere to your motto, that "old is good."

The best thing about your frugality is that you do not hide it; in fact you carry it on your sleeve with so much pride and swank. It is like veneration, a religious cult that is admirable.

In fact, you practice such discipline when playing gold so well with clubs dated back to the 70s and prior. Recently, you cleaned your 37 year old golf bag in an effort to use it for 5-10 more years. Also you just refurbished your banged-up metal woods by polishing and repainting them. You went further, and painted them with the leftover silver paint you bought 10 years ago for your Lumina Chevy. Now your metal woods look like new and the woods are not ashamed of the fancy clubs that other golfers exhibit when they join us on the golf course.

Talking about your silver Lumina, I like your swagger when you labeled it "a family heirloom". Such love and pride for your Lumina have encouraged me to preserve the 85 Mercedes that I brought from Puerto Rico 13 years ago. I am feeling so much pride for my car now that it has become family heirloom too. Now I realized the actual value of such a relic and feel grateful to you for such eduction.

When you really taught me such discipline, was when you restored the old golf shoes that were so badly cracked and scratched. Such technique of using bathtub caulking to fill out the cracks and scratches is unique and innovative. If golfers disover that, the golf shoes manufacturers are going broke. You may consider patenting it and therefore make lots of money. I'll be your partner in that project.

(more to come later on this post)