Frugal For Life

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS blog feed. Also check out more information on how FFL got started. Thanks for visiting!

“The past is behind, learn from it.
The future is ahead, prepare for it.
The present is here, live it.”
~Thomas S. Monson (LDS Bishop)

I found among the New Deal Network, a batch of stories and lessons learned from those children who grew up during the great depression. (The New Deal Network is an educational guide to the Great Depression of the 1930s.)
From a site with the heading Sevier Country (UT) Remembers the Great Depression- a few snippets

“When I was a child to be frugal was one of the highest virtues. Gifts were carefully opened, hands delicately loosening the tape so the wrap could be neatly removed and folded to be used again. A ball of string graced our kitchen cupboard; it was made up of hundreds of shorter pieces tied together. Thanksgiving week we were never done with the turkey until soup had been made off the bones. Catsup bottles were always turned upside down to coax the final drops out, and even then the residue was rinsed out, the last diluted juice added to a meatloaf or spaghetti. Nylons were never thrown out because of holes: small runs were stopped with clear nail polish, larger holes mended with special nylon thread colored to match the various stocking shades. Cotton and wool socks were stretched over a worn out light bulb and darned to prolong their use. Egg shells were saved to crush and spread in the garden soil. Rags were precious, to be used, spread with mentholatum, to wrap sore throats; or to make rag rugs; better cloth was cut up and used for quilt squares. Printed chicken feed sacks became skirts, flour sacks became underwear. The phrase “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without” was a household aphorism.”

~from Frugality: Legacy of the Great Depression

“I think anyone benefits from having to go without things. Then when you get something, why you really appreciate it and you really learn how to spend your money. Just a little advice to younger generations; I would say they better start saving as soon as they get married so they’ll have something to fall back on if there ever comes a depression.”

“The thing that living through the Depression has done for me is to feel bad for the young people now that they don’t know how to appreciate what they have, and to get along. I think they’re not disciplined enough so that they don’t have their own way so much that it’s sad.”

“I think the one thing you should do is to look ahead. Don’t wait until your last penny is gone before you say oh no we’re out of coal or wood. Save your money for a rainy day, don’t spent it foolishly, buy what you need, save the rest.”
~from Surviving the Depression: Advice from Interviewees