How Personal Finance Advice Would've Sounded in Pre-revolutionary France

No need for pitchforks if you’ve got a budget, says this royally-appointed personal finance expert.

By Myriam Robinson-Puche

Published April 26, 1789. Presented in the public square by your local village orator.

1789 has been tough for many French commoners. Radical acts, like bread “protests” — that often turn into bread riots — may feel like your only option. But riots both terrorize innocent nobles and do nothing to improve your finances. So don’t let a hangry attitude push you, and our glorious kingdom, towards unproductive extremes.

Instead, try these money-making and budget-saving hacks. The king believes that managing your money responsibly is the most revolutionary thing you can do.

Scarlet Stitch poses

Tip 1: Stretch your groceries further

The average peasant now spends 88% of their wages on bread. In the face of rising prices, a practical approach is the best option for your wallet.

And don’t worry. No one is going to tell you to “eat cake,” because (1) no one ever said that and (2) that would be ridiculous!

Try bulking up your bread flour with sawdust before your next trip to the village communal oven to save money for the bakehouse toll. Hay is another great addition to your daily loaf if you want more veggies in your diet.

Take these wise words from the paper magnate Jean-Baptiste Réveillon, who reportedly said, “The working man can live on black bread and lentils. Wheat is not for the likes of him.”

Remember, you must set aside at least one-tenth of your crops for the church. Budget in your tithe throughout the growing season so you won’t be hit with a surprise tithe bill later.

Whatever you do, don’t even think about hunting wild game like rabbit, quail, deer, or boar. Game hunting is a sport for nobles, not food for peasants! If a noble was hunting it and you got it first, they may come after you next. What’s worse, your life insurance policy definitely won’t cover a death like that, which would really wreck your goal to build generational wealth.

Over 200 years later, if you can’t eat on a budget, the Wall Street Journal will tell you not to eat…

Commoners’ response in 1775 to high bread costs had a little more oomph (and history shows they weren’t kidding)

“Placards insulting the King and his ministers which were pasted up at Versailles, containing threats to execute the King the day after his coronation, and even to exterminate the whole of the royal family if bread remained at the same price.”

—Peter Kropotkin, The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793

Tip 2: Make do with what you already have

You can always sell a tooth or two, whether yours or that of a family member who has passed on and no longer needs their dental assets. The royal court is missing plenty of teeth but owns plenty of handkerchiefs to conceal it. Still, the bourgeoisie would be happy to snag a few of your pearly whites.

That money, if it isn’t used immediately, could go into your emergency fund. Talk about a way to famine-proof your finances!

For the madames and mademoiselles, your hair could be a great source of extra coins, too.

Additionally, if you’re tight on livres, your landlord might generously accept your furniture as rent payment. In fact, many kind landlords have taken up this alternative unprompted for their tenants’ benefit, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Meanwhile, in the 21st century there’s still “innovative” ways to cover your bills from Debt.com

But during the States-General meeting in May 1789, commoners had a different solution to high rents

“The orators who harangued openly in the streets, standing on a chair in front of a café, already spoke of seizing upon the palaces and chateaux of the noble landlords. One heard already, like the rumbling of a coming storm, threatening of the coming Terror, while at Versailles the people collected at the doors of the Assembly to insult the aristocrats.”

—Peter Kropotkin, The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793

Tip 3: Don’t protest taxes — plan for them

Though there are lots of tax types, let’s focus on salt taxes, or gabelle, which can vary based on where you live. You might be tempted to buy salt from faux-sauniers on the black market to skip out on your tax duty as you fulfill your “salt duty” (remember: everyone eight years old and up has to meet their salt-buying quota).

But as you probably know, customs enforcement agents, les gabelous, are swift in their crackdowns. Last year, 3,500 salty criminals were sent to the galleys, if not executed for their wrongdoing. In short, justice will always prevail.

You can salt-tax-proof your finances by making sure you don’t spill any. If, God forbid, you do, definitely don’t throw more of that white gold over your shoulder.

Nowadays, like the gabelle, regressive taxes on basic consumer goods are in store under Trump’s ‘External Revenue Service’

But in the spring of 1789, French villagers and townspeople stood up to high taxes

“Here and there the mob pillaged the houses of officials whose duty was to levy the taxes [...] The prices of provisions were reduced [...] and when the gentlemen of the upper middle classes protested, the mob replied by stoning them, or else a trench was dug before their eyes which might serve for their grave. Sometimes even a coffin was brought out [...] All this took place in April 1789, without the shedding of a drop of blood. [...] The reports from the governors and municipalities [said,] “The people still declare that they will pay nothing, neither taxes, nor dues, nor debts.”

—Peter Kropotkin, The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793

Tip 4: Practice gratitude

While you may feel like you’re struggling, you have access to so many luxuries. Think of all the time you save from those mills (Still, as was the case with the aforementioned communal oven, you’ll have to make room in your budget for the mill toll.)

Scarlet Stitch

Even in 2011, the plebs better still be grateful, this time for basic household appliances, according to a Heritage Foundation report

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau as taken from various government reports:

80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. In 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

92 percent of poor households have a microwave.

However, peasants didn’t exactly thank their overlords in the first half of 1789

“At Amiens ‘the people are arranging to pillage and perhaps burn the houses of two merchants, who have built labor-saving mills.’ Restrained by the soldiers, they confine themselves to breaking windows; but other "groups come to destroy or plunder the houses of two or three persons whom they suspect of being monopolists."

—Hippolyte A. Taine, The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2

Stop the hysterics, you’ll be fine

Don’t join the criminals who have used economic pain as an excuse to revolt. With a little careful financial planning, you and your family can both know your place and thrive within it. Until next time…long live the king!

Conclusion: real talk for the 21st century

Personal finance tells you that you can “recession-proof” your finances. Perhaps how to tariff-proof your finances, too. Don’t. Fall. For. It.

Today’s economic system is working as intended: to hoard wealth at the top and screw over everyone else. No amount of budgeting or financial planning can fix a system that must manufacture economic crises to function, even if some temporarily win the rigged game.

French commoners saw this and resisted their exploitation. They took back food hoarded by the wealthy when prices were too high. They proudly exclaimed their intent to create good trouble if they didn’t get lower rents or taxes. They skirted high prices via the black market. And they refused to pay their debts as they reclaimed public goods.

But the French Revolution didn’t see it through to all its ideals. That’s partially because bourgeois members of the non-nobility wanted to ensure that what came after the ancien regime would make them richer — not equal to their fellow commoners. So maybe we plebs in the U.S. could do it a little better during our next revolution.

Myriam Robinson-Puche (she/her) is a personal finance freelance writer and a member of Debt Collective's Media, Art and Design team. Myriam has written for Morning Brew, MarketWatch, Bankrate and more. She also previously worked as a financial coach.