The Spenders (1960s)

oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] mulberry street quiet eddy in the back waters of a big city's turbulence older residents retired or ready to retire and something sets most of them apart they're thrifty they're solvent ira madden owns this house free and clear ira is a bus driver he and his wife fern worked hard all their lives saved their money paid their bills even helped their sons through school as much as they could they have always believed in living their lives productively it won't start right lousy charcoal the children will be here soon ira no don't worry larry and you they're always late don and jean what with the kids and that old jalopy what grandpa signed a fire we have perfect no car trouble today hello darling how are you we made it hello that's the eldest son don his wife gene their children hi dad went to the university to study engineering surprised everybody by switching to agriculture he met his wife at a campus church retreat eventually gene went to work to help don finish school realize his goal farming it hasn't been easy gene i told you not to bring anything you're guinea pigs for my canning oh not many people do this anymore i'd like to besides it saves money okay oh gina why don't you sit down and take a rest don needs it more than i do hey when do we eat larry is ira's younger son graduate engineer ambitious capable just beginning his career in electronics edith is a secretary in an advertising agency they have no children oh hi mom hello my mother how are you three families each tied closely together by kinship and marriage yet each is different and the thing that accounts for the biggest difference among these three families is the attitude each has toward money i'd love to take her on a shopping spree some weekend that's a very tempting offering lana let's sit down over here okay how lucky you and larry arie death no money problems no dollar stretching kids always needing something wanting something everything they see on tv and it's not fair to say no all the time maybe we should have waited wonder wait mom pretty soon you and kenny go in and wash up come on cammy i hope ours will be a girl i suppose i should be happy but i just don't want to be tied down i know one thing i won't go around wearing a five dollar house dress maybe it's not true i'll know monday i'm glad i haven't told larry yet they call it contract feeding larry i collect so much per head for feeding finishing the stock for a market all this while you're working every day in that machine shop well this is something that lets me work in town that's the kind of thing that ages your fast well a man's got to be happy doing what he's doing dad right and i wouldn't change places with you for a million bucks so why do i envy you because you know what you want and why nice wife [Music] kids i'd give my eye teeth for what is it i'm doing what i like to good money good future pretty wife expensive taste true both of us but [Music] well appearances still a lot of unnecessary things that boat used it three times last summer all those bills where does all the money go last time that question came up we didn't speak for two days trouble is it'll come up again you've been putting in some pretty long hours yourself haven't you larry oh i don't mind it dad i guess my uh my work is my life in a way i guess i can't ask for much more in life than to see my sons happy and successful successful that's debatable i'm in hock up to my ears you're the success dad you and mother you've made good use of everything god gave you you've led such well such responsible lives thanks for starting larry and me off on the right track are those ribs almost done ira everybody's hungry coming right up another tie that holds these families together is their christian faith all our church members some more involved than others come lord jesus be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed amen now let's dig into the spirit of that a mad dispatcher but money problems have a way of intruding even on a pleasant saturday afternoon oh edith if you want to see your folks this afternoon you and larry better start oh i hate to just eat and run mother but dad sounded so strange when he called this morning nobody's sick i hope i don't know we haven't seen them for ages well i thought you saw them at least once a week in church well well larry's been playing golf lately on sunday mornings oh and i don't like to go alone edith's parents frank and grace gregory live in fashionable glenville for years frank has been self-employed a successful commercial artist the gregories have always lived well and before edith their only child married she had everything she ever wanted nobody wants my style anymore i've had very little work for some time now i haven't wanted to drag you kids into it but well i'm concerned haven't you put anything away all we have is the house i just never thought the well had run dry trouble is we're kind of in over our heads too but don't worry we'll help because and me both working we should be able to do something come on cheer up we're going outside larry i um i haven't been able to tell grace appreciate it oh sure sure dad um um i'm gonna have to tell edith though yeah i'll tell her tonight come on look larry they're my responsibilities that's not the point honey what is the point this should be a lesson to us oh i suppose it's all my fault we should have something more than a lot of debts everyone has them honey just just look at what my brother's doing oh i suppose you want to move to a farm too i think it's all so stupid i can envy some of the men at my office for the same reason i envy don i didn't realize you were so unhappy why can't we ever discuss this without quarreling maybe you've married the wrong woman well maybe i did oh i can't have that baby now not now not now [Music] for the first time since his marriage larry is determined to do something when he finishes well your mother and i had our money problems too i think all young folks kind of rebel at the discipline it takes but once you see how important it is to be working towards something toward what dad toward what well a purpose a christian home your children if you have any of course something for your old age dad i know all those things well it's a good christian way to live larry but i know mom i know larry why don't you and edith spend the weekend with don and jean i think don can tell you what your mother and i are trying to say he always seems to be able to say it better than we can i wonder if i can get edith to go honey i'm sorry oh baby where were you i was so worried i went to see mother and dad and i i got an awful lot to tell you now come on you sit right down there and listen dad felt that well maybe going out to the farm and talking it over with don and gene might help well it's worth a try we've got to do something the following weekend larry and edith were a welcome sight [Music] preparing vegetables for canning and freezing could also use some help take it easy on her gene she hasn't been feeling well all week we almost changed our minds about coming [Music] there we are it's just so easy to let things ride until something like my father-in-law's problem explodes in our faces well it was same with us in a way larry oh come on now sure this farming kick you know it's pretty tough to go into farming today a lot of people are getting out of it but this is what i wanted and i went over my head in debt you yep well i thought i saw a way out jim wilson down at the bank is a member of our church good connection i figured and frankly i was going to take advantage of it well he wanted to see my books books i was doing my bookkeeping on the backs of old envelopes well anyway i showed him what i could and here's the joker now this guy is the chairman of our church's stewardship committee uh-huh so he says uh well i have a good idea of the income i can see what you're spending but you haven't shown me any record of what you're giving giving i almost laughed in his face but what he had to say made me examine my my whole attitude toward toward why i was doing what i was doing you see it was uh it was important to me to own land to touch it people belong to me and no one else but jim set me straight everything is really god's larry and since that's the way it is we ought to be pretty careful about how we handle what we have it's up to us to make the most of what he gives us everything time ability land money no matter what our line of work and now my land my life it all has a new meaning when jim helped me see that that i really belong to christ i realized that my life had to have a purpose beyond the boundaries of this little farm what is that purpose done to spend it for god on other people come on let's get back to the house [Music] gene larry and i are in trouble we're in debt way over our heads what he is i thought welcome to the club well i know we should be more careful and keep track of everything but budgeting is such a nuisance not when you look at it as something more than an exercise in financial housekeeping what do you mean well don and i feel that what we do with our money reflects what we believe [Music] a lot of our expenses didn't have much meaning when we took that attitude it uh it made it easier to do without some of the things we're being pressured to buy but just where do you begin oh there's no mystery about it i'll show you how don and i started what's up gene is going to give me a lesson in family budgeting mind if i listen absolutely not budgeting sessions have to include all members of the family that's right kids too just a few basic steps really first figure your total annual income say it's uh six thousand dollars then we begin with what we give every week to the church and add to this are fixed expenses fixed expenses yeah things like uh things like insurance mortgage loan payments taxes say these come to uh 2 400. subtract from your income and divide by 12 leaving 300 a month for variable expenses a variable such as food clothing entertainment transportation education for the kids and this is where you have to decide what your goals are what comes first and what can be given up what you're working for and whom you're working for our plan breaks all our expenses down on a monthly basis yeah and our allowance is two say that don't you think it's about time for another raid [Laughter] we'll talk about that the next time we sit down and uh revise our plan huh well this plan you've been talking about is this the actual budget breakdown yeah i'll show it to you you children go wash up we're always watching and you too young lady okay don and jean keep monthly spending records to compare against their planned expenses these are vital to successful money management they help plug leaks make additional money available for important goals one of don's first goals was debt repayment he found those finance charges were a big leak in his spending plan another goal was an emergency fund for unexpected expenses making our plan work means careful shopping we shop for everything even interest rates but you'd be amazed how it all adds up oh yes and as you know we're do-it-yourselfers it's all part of what we were talking about in the field larry how well we manage what what god has given us how did you ever get started with your plant you remember jim wilson at the bank huh well he was very helpful but there are other places to get help too oh sure you've got your credit unions bank saving association life insurance companies oh haven't you seen the new money management material our church just put out uh no we uh we haven't i'll get them now you'll also find that you always have to keep your budget up to date conditions change from month to month here we are this gives you the reasons why and this tells you how uh that handbook also contains your record forms looks complicated to me oh not really and besides our church has special meetings to explain and discuss these materials never thought the church was interested in things like this yeah well speaking of church sunday mornings come early around here now you look those over and we'll talk about them some more tomorrow all right mm-hmm i got to go out and check the stock okay now i'll be back as soon as i look in on the children glad we came i guess so what's the matter honey oh i just feel that we've been wasting so much and missing so much the following morning out of their dedication to christ don and his family give freely and generously [Music] all of a sudden i want that baby very much [Music] here you are honey honey we'll sit down with your folks and try to show them how we'll get ourselves out of this mess they'll have to try the same thing anyway with the both of us working we should marry we can't count on my working very long i went to the doctor this week and he [Applause] and larry are starting out on a new adventure in christian family living they are beginning to recognize the need to earn spend save give as christian stewards [Applause] [Music] you