OK, granted that Mr. Bennet is being wildly irresponsible, we might be being a little too hard on him. Asking him to save 500 a year is asking him to cut his expenditures down to 3/4 of their former size. That's a big chop for anybody, then or now. According to the figures we've been talking about earlier, he would actually need 2100 a year to maintain his family at a genteel standard of living (300 per person per year times 7 family members), so he's not exactly crazy.
That said, it does seem like he probably could have economized a lot more at the beginning of their marriage, when the children were fewer. A few thousands squirreled away then would have grown, and he could have hoped to give each of his daughters a thousand pounds when he died in addition to their mother's fortune, which would have at least ensured that they didn't starve in the hedges and could maintain themselves in genteel poverty, if unmarried.
That said, it does seem like he probably could have economized a lot more at the beginning of their marriage, when the children were fewer. A few thousands squirreled away then would have grown, and he could have hoped to give each of his daughters a thousand pounds when he died in addition to their mother's fortune, which would have at least ensured that they didn't starve in the hedges and could maintain themselves in genteel poverty, if unmarried.