Describe diligent and thrifty housekeeping

About frugality:

Ancient Poetry

Two Songs of Compassion for Farmers

Li Shen

It is noon on the day of hoeing , Sweat drips from the soil.

Who knows that every meal on the plate is hard work.

One grain of millet is planted in spring, and ten thousand grains are harvested in autumn.

There is no idle land in the world, and farmers are still starving to death.

Ode to History

——Li Shangyin

Looking at the virtuous countries and families in the past, success was achieved through diligence and frugality, and luxury was destroyed.

Everything in the world is often accomplished by diligence and frugality but failed by luxury. --Lu You

Sentence:

A gentleman uses frugality to overcome difficulties.

Source

"Book of Changes·Fu"

A careless gentleman uses the virtue of frugality to avoid danger.

Be diligent in your country and frugal in your family.

Source

"Shang Shu Dayu Mo"

The general idea is to be diligent in national affairs and frugal in family life.

Frugality is the greatest virtue; extravagance is the greatest evil.

Source

"Zuo Zhuan·Twenty-four Years of Duke Zhuang"

Thrift is the greatest virtue among good deeds; luxury is the greatest evil among evil deeds. evil.

People's livelihood depends on diligence, and diligence will not lead to shortage.

Source

"Zuo Zhuan·Xuan Gong Twelve Years"

The general idea is that the livelihood of ordinary people depends on hard work. Only by working hard can there be no shortage of property. .

Frugality leads to prosperity, while immorality leads to ruin.

Source

"Mozi·Ci Guo"

Thrift will lead to prosperity, and indulgence in pleasure will lead to ruin.

The story of diligence and thrift:

The story of Ji Wenzi

Ji

Wenzi was born in a family with three generations of ministers. A nobleman and famous diplomat from the State of Lu, he served as an official for more than 30 years.

He lived a frugal life, taking frugality as the foundation of his life, and asked his family to live a frugal life. He only wanted to dress simply and neatly.

He didn't have many decent clothes except court clothes. Every time he went out, he rode in extremely simple carriages and horses. Seeing that he was so frugal, a man named Zhongsunzi advised Ji Wenzi: "As a minister, you are highly virtuous and respected, but I heard that you don't allow your wives and concubines to wear silk clothes at home. Feed the horses with food. You don’t pay attention to your appearance and clothing. Wouldn’t it make you look too shabby and make people from other countries laugh at you? Doing so will also harm the dignity of our country. People will say that you are from Lu

What kind of life is your life like? Why don't you change this way of life? It will be beneficial to yourself and the country, so why not do it?" After hearing this, Ji Wenzi smiled calmly and said to the man. Seriously: "I

also hope to decorate my home luxuriously and elegantly, but look at the people in our country. There are still many people who eat food that is too rough to swallow and wear shabby clothes. There are still people who are suffering from cold and starvation. Thinking of this, how can I have the heart to buy property for myself? If the common people are wearing coarse tea and poor clothes, and I dress up as a wife and concubine and raise grain and horses intensively, what will happen to me? Where is the conscience of being an official? Besides, I heard that the strength and glory of a country can only be shown by the noble conduct of its subjects, not by the fact that they have beautiful wives and concubines and good horses. In this case, how can I accept your suggestion? Guang's words made Zhongsun look ashamed, and at the same time, he felt even more sorry for Ji Wenzi. Respect. After that, he also followed Ji Wenzi's example and paid great attention to the simplicity of life. His wives and concubines only wore clothes made of ordinary cloth, and the horses at home were fed with grain chaff and weeds.

Selling dogs. Married Daughter

Eastern Jin Dynasty

There was a high-ranking official in the Jin Dynasty named Wu Yinzhi. He lost his father when he was young and lived with his mother in a difficult way. He developed the habit of being diligent, thrifty and simple after becoming an official. He hated luxury and refused to move into the official residence prepared for him by the court. For many years, his family only lived in a few thatched cottages. Later, when his daughter got married, people thought he would take care of it. Unexpectedly, on this great day, the Wu family would still be deserted.

General Xie Shi's housekeeper came to congratulate him and saw a servant walking out with a dog. The housekeeper asked: "Your young lady is getting married today, why are there no preparations at all?" The servant frowned and said, "Don't mention it, my master is too frugal. The young lady is getting married today. Master I just ordered it to be prepared last night. I thought that this time the owner would spend some money, but the owner actually asked me to go to the market this morning to sell the dog and use the money from the sale. Buy things. How much can a dog be sold for? I think ordinary people marry their daughters more elegantly than me." The housekeeper sighed: "Everyone says Mr. Wu is rare. An upright official seems to have lived up to his reputation."

Money hanging from the roof beams

Tang Dynasty

Su Shi, one of the Eight Great Scholars of the Song Dynasty, was awarded Jinshi at the age of 21. He has been an official for 40 years. During his tenure as an official, he always paid attention to frugality and often lived a careful life. In 1080 AD, Su Shi was demoted and came to Huangzhou. As his salary was reduced a lot, he was too poor to survive. Later, with the help of friends, he got a piece of land and farmed it by himself. stand up. In order not to spend a penny indiscriminately, he also implemented a planned expenditure: first calculate all the money, and then divide it equally into 12 parts, and use one part every month; each part was evenly divided into 30 small parts , only use a small portion each day. After all the money is divided, it is hung on the beams according to portions, and one bag is taken out every morning to be used as living expenses for the whole day. After getting a small amount of money, he has to carefully weigh it. He will not buy anything that he can afford, and he is only allowed to have leftovers and no overspending. Su Shi kept the money he saved in a bamboo tube to prepare for unexpected needs.

There is such a folk story: Once upon a time, at the foot of Funiu Mountain in the Central Plains, there lived a farmer named Wu Cheng. He was diligent and thrifty throughout his life and lived a carefree and happy life. It is said that before his death, he gave his two sons a horizontal plaque with the word "diligence and thrift" written on it, and warned them: "If you want to avoid hunger all your life, you must follow the rules." These two brothers will do it." Later, when the two brothers separated, they saw the plaque in half. The eldest brother got the word "diligence" and the second brother got the word "frugality". The boss hangs the word "diligence" respectfully in his home, and "works at sunrise and rests at sunrise" every day, and has a bumper harvest every year. However, his wife lived a lavish life, and the children often took two bites of the white buns and then threw them away. As time went by, there was no food left at home. Since the second child got half of the plaque, he also regarded the word "jian" as an "oracle" and placed it in the middle hall, but forgot the word "qin" out of the sky. He neglected farming and refused to cultivate intensively.