4 solutions to fight waste: What is a culture of saving?

In the article “Fighting against waste”, the fourth solution that General Secretary To Lam put forward is to build a culture of preventing and combating waste; make the practice of thrift and combating waste become “voluntary”, “self-conscious”, “daily food, water, clothes”; build a culture of thrift and combating waste in agencies and organizations; encourage people to increase the practice of thrift and combating waste, create a habit of appreciating state assets, people’s efforts, collective contributions and the efforts of each individual; consider the practice of thrift and combating waste as a daily task.

Little by little

Our ancestors have a tradition of diligence and thrift. The character of “eating well and dressing well” was formed through thousands of years of fighting against natural disasters and enemies, and this has helped the Vietnamese people overcome many challenges and hardships.

In the treasure trove of Vietnamese folk songs and proverbs, there are many sayings that teach a frugal lifestyle, considering it as a standard: "Eat a bowl, save a bowl" (must know how to be frugal, save); "Tighten your belt" (save, do not spend lavishly); "Pinch your lips and purse your lips" (limit unnecessary spending as much as possible); "Eat wisely to be full, wear wisely to be warm" (know how to spend reasonably, do business with a plan to be full); "Work when you are well, save when you are sick" (when you are young and healthy, you must know how to save for when you are old and weak); "Strengthening small things makes big things" (persisting in saving will make you have enough); "Here a grain of rice falls, out there many beads of sweat soak the field" (earning money is difficult, so you must know how to spend reasonably)...

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Ly, former Director of the Academy of Politics Region III (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics), commented: The ancient Vietnamese paid more attention to saving in consumption than saving in production, saving in personal life than saving in other activities related to the community. Traditional society moves slowly, time is calculated by moon seasons, water shadows... so people do not have the habit of saving time...

The frugal lifestyle comes from the Vietnamese philosophy that each person must be responsible for themselves, their family, society and future generations.

Nowadays, the frugal lifestyle in our nation's tradition needs to be inherited along with innovation in the concept of thrift to suit the life of modern society and the development conditions of the country.

In the current market economy and international integration, raising awareness of saving and accumulating to expand production still plays a positive role in improving labor productivity, increasingly meeting the diverse needs of people's lives.

Saving is not about encouraging the reduction of needs, but rather about increasing the ability to satisfy reasonable human needs with the same amount of money.

According to President Ho Chi Minh, thrift means “not being extravagant, not wasteful, not being indiscriminate” and not being stingy. “When there is something worth doing, something that is beneficial to the people and the Fatherland, no matter how much effort or money it takes, one is happy. That is true thrift. Not spending on something that is worth spending on is stinginess, not thrift.”

Building a lifestyle against waste and extravagance

On the contrary, today a large number of Vietnamese people do not maintain the tradition of thrift but are infected with extravagance and waste, valuing external flashiness, sparing no money to polish their image, satisfy their vanity, and even arrogance.

Lifestyle and cultural traits are formed from the sum of long-term habits. Habits are a series of conditioned reflexes that result from training.

Conditioned reflexes are behaviors and working styles that are repeated many times in life and training. They are behaviors that are shaped in life and are considered second nature to humans. There are good habits and bad habits.

Habits become more and more important in forming the lifestyle of many people and communities because there is also the element of crowd psychology.

Therefore, to form a good lifestyle - a civilized lifestyle or to limit and eliminate an outdated, backward lifestyle, it is necessary to create a crowd effect enough for someone to feel out of place if they do things differently from everyone else.

A culture of saving must start from each individual, be formed in families, schools, offices, businesses and then spread to the whole society.

Cadres and party members must be exemplary and take the lead in building a culture of thrift. Building a culture of integrity and thrift among cadres and party members is one of the key tasks and solutions in Party building and rectification.

Directive No. 27-CT/TW (dated December 25, 2023) of the Politburo on strengthening the Party's leadership in practicing thrift and combating waste requires: Thoroughly grasping and raising awareness; strictly implementing the Party's guidelines, policies and laws of the State on practicing thrift and combating waste is the behavioral culture of each cadre, party member, civil servant, and public employee, especially leaders, leaders and managers.