“All money is both ‘hard’ and ‘easy’—hard to get and easy to spend” is a popular saying about money. “It (money—ed.) is hard to get, and easy to spend” was cited in print in 1860.
 
 
16 June 1860, New York (NY) Ledger, “The Seriousness of Money,” pg. 4, col. 2:
“Money should always be regarded with a certain seriousness, for it is the quintessence, or representative, of the gifts of Providence and the toil of man. It is hard to get, and easy to spend.
 
Google Books
Sharpe’s London Magazine of Entertainment and Instruction for General Reading
London: T.B. Sharpe
1864 (Google Books has 1862, also citing The Ladies’ Companion.—ed.)
Pg. 96:
MONEY.—Money should be regarded with a certain seriousness, or representative, of the gifts of Providence and the toil of man. It is hard to get, and easy to spend.
 
Google Books
8 April 1871, Friends’ Intelligencer (Philadelphia, PA), “The True Use of Wealth,” pg. 95, col. 1:
The idea that money is hard to get and easy to spend, is so thoroughly woven into the minds of men, that they are usually content to put all their serious energies into the former, leaving the latter to follow as a pleasant pastime, or, at the most, giving it but the remnants of their attention.
 
27 September 1891, Trenton (NK) Sunday Advertiser, “What Is Money?: Admirable Definitions Which Contain a Goof Deal of Philosophy,” pg. 5, col. 3:
London “Tid Bits” lately offered a prize for the best definition of “Money.”
(...)
Hard to get, easy to spend, awkward to borrow and unpleasant to lend.
 
Google Books
The Five Children
By Edith Nesbit
New York, NY: The Junior Literary Guild
1930
Pg. 40:
Any grown-up person would tell you that money is hard to get and easy to spend.
 
Google Books
Words of Wisdom, Knowledge and Encouragement
By Samuel W. Abraham
Xulon Press (Xulonpress.com)
2008
Pg. 27:
It is said that money is hard to get but easy to spend. I like to add that it is easier to fall down than to rise up.
 
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Mahak Khandewal‏
@Mahakkhandel  
RT All money is both “hard” and “easy”… hard to get and easy to spend. - Joe Moore #quotes: All money is both “hard” and “easy”… hard to…
10:50 AM - 29 Jul 11