Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking and reading about how folks made do in the Great Depression. With food prices on the rise, employment down and fuel costs obnoxious, well, there is a lot to learn from the generation that made do with what they have.
In an article from the Los Angeles Times back in ’08 entitled “Food Lessons from the Great Depression” a particular line caught my eye:
People who remember what it was like to eat during the Depression talk about thrift, growing their own, sharing with neighbors and learning to cope with what they had. . . in the 1930s, making do was a kitchen art, honed by necessity.
Huh. Sounds a lot like what we talk about here eh?
So how DO we prepare ourselves for economic uncertainty? It’s a topic that has been weighing very heavily on my mind. Right now Yankee Bill and I are doing well–but all it takes is a steep and sudden increase in prices, a job loss or some other catastrophe and suddenly things aren’t so pretty anymore.
In all my thinking I’ve come to a few conculsions:
#1-Food and fuel (heat & automotive) probably aren’t going to get any cheaper.
#2-Having a well stocked pantry is a plus–a couple of weeks, or even months of food is insurance against a temporary job loss or other unexpected impact (can you say “car repair!”) on your budget.
#3-Things cost money-learning skills doesn’t have to. What skills can we all be working on NOW. . . when we have time (and a financial cushion) for making mistakes? Cooking from scratch, gardening, mending/hemming, minor household repairs, even first aid all fall under this category.
#4-You can only cut back so much by keeping everything in your life the same and trying to find it all less expensively. . . there comes a point when you have to make actual changes to how you live your life. Cutting the cable. Eating out less. Using less electricity. Walking or public transportation instead of driving. Less gifts/presents for holidays. I’m sure there are many more.
#5-Community is important. Folks survive in hard times by having family, friends and faith to lean on. Do you know your neighbors? Who they are, what they do, what skills they have? Would you be there to look out for them and they for you? If not, maybe it’s time to start getting to know them. . .
These are just the thoughts that have been rolling around in my mind lately. I’m hoping to start highlighting and discussing some of these kind of issues on Frugal Upstate soon-although probably not till after the holidays (there is just so much to do between now and then)
What do you guys think? Is there any new food for thought here? Have you been considering any of these issues? Do you have personal examples of any of it? I’d love to hear and learn from all of you.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I had to rewrite my response because I went in a completely different area when I began to write. The current economic issues we are all facing in this country, it does affect us all, is a big issue on my mind. I think one of the biggest contributions I could bring to the table is having marketable skills. For myself the issue of changing roles as the primary earner in my family has been a big change. I am currently enrolled in school fulltime, and I have numerous family commitments as well. The focus of saving money and using it wisely, cooking from scratch, and other frugal methods are family involved activities and does require transition for everyone involved. I am greatful I chose (and love) a profession that will always be in demand, healthcare, even though it is not the highest postion within that realm, it certainly does provide for my family’s needs. I think I would add to Jenn’s list is reinventing yourself career wise when necessary and viable.
Hi Jenn,
A topic near to my own heart! There are really two issues here; preparing yourself for “lean times” and preparing yourself for a true emergency. Fortunately one leads to the other.
I say this because the preparation for lean times teaches you some lessons AND is really the only way to getting ready for the emergency. My recent MarketWatch column talked about the difference between an emergency fund and “normal-but-irregular” expenses. Frugality will allow you to build up both a reserve for those irregular expenses as well as the actual emergency fund.
The catastrophic things like major medical or job loss for a year+ are life-changers – and people may simply need to change their expectations for what their life will be like (although they may be protected against in some ways). For the other things, learning as much as you can, both in terms of a possible second career and about money principles, can go along way to helping when they do happen.
Regards,
Trond
You are right-there is a difference between lean times and a true emergency. . . but preparing for one helps prepare for another! Either way, it helps to think ahead and try to consider from various angle how it is best to position yourself and your family to be able to ride out life’s storms.
And knowledge-indeed-is power. You can learn a lot by reading & researching online (which I know you do as voraciously as I) without spending a cent!
I don’t have any profound thoughts, but I would love to read/think more about these issues. (You might want to check out the blog at http://sharonastyk.com/; she thinks about this sort of thing as well, and I believe she’s somewhat in your neck of the woods.)
I’ve used old cookbooks to help me think frugally about cooking. Here’s a post I wrote about it:
http://trialanderrorhomeec.blogspot.com/2009/06/wfmw-old-recipe-books.html
I spend a lot of time trying to learn from the past, especially from my grandmother’s experience of the Dust Bowl, about how to run a household. A lot of my posts center on that theme.
-Rachel
Great post! I like the reminders of how to make sure you aren’t wasting food-scraping the bowls, not letting leftovers spoil, not wasting the last little bit of milk. Great frugal food for thought.
in the last several months, both my income and outgo have been cut to the bone by necessity. For 2-3 months, I ate what was in the freezer (which was actually pretty darn good: salmon and other fish, hamburger, skinless boneless chicken breasts, etc) and in the pantry (soup, tuna, chili, top ramen, etc).
I am on food stamps, 200.00 per month which sounds like a lot but never seems to stretch far enough, especially since (bad me) I buy pre-made salads. I find that I actually EAT those pre-made salads, whereas when I buy salad ingredients they go bad in the crisper.
I sold my vehicle earlier this year because it was having a lot of problems which I couldn’t afford to fix. This has made me reliant on the city bus (a stop 5 minutes from my house, and the major transfer station is 5 minutes in one direction from the grocery store I use–5 minutes in the other direction from the bank I use and also 5 minutes from my doctors office).
The packrat habits of my parents (depression-era babies, born in 1927 and 1929 respectively) and my grandparents (in their early 20′s when the depression started) may not have rubbed off on me, but the things they saved so diligently were things I could turn into cash. Vintage glassware, antique furniture, collectible and vintage jewelry, tools (hand and power), silver coins, even my grandmothers gold tooth–just to name a few–helped me kick the wolf (who came pounding on my door much too often for my liking!) to the curb quite a few times. What really helped is the surprise factor; by that I mean much of the smaller stuff I did not even know I had.
The jewelry business I am starting also owes much to my stepmother and both grandmothers as they collected beads and good quality costume jewelry that can be repurposed.
Since I am now working part-time at home, I don’t need to buy clothes for work which is another savings.
My stepmother owned a well-known restaurant and when she sold it, she brought home many of the supplies. I haven’t had to buy foil, waxed paper, or saran wrap in 6+ years.
Susan-what an inspiring story! I’m so glad to hear that your pantry was “deep” enough to help you through what I’m sure has been a very tough time. Thank you for sharing with us all-and keep your chin up! You can do this!
I just studied this with my kids…biggest take home? The community aspect. People helping people. Giving what they had, when they could. When did we lose that? More importantly, how do we get it back?
I think that the sense of community changed a lot both when women started working outside the home (there wasn’t time or need to get to know the neighbors) and when we started being a much more mobile society (ie didn’t necessarily live near folks we had known our whole lives). The topic of how to regain that sense of community is a large one. I have ideas-some of which I’ve tried, some not. . .all of which will make a great post one of these days! The biggest point, regardless, is that it takes WORK to build a community. Someone has to start interacting, and folks have to put a bit of time and effort into building and maintaining relationships. They rarely just “happen”.
Jenn, I think that community is a big, big help. We are in a rural area, and our neighbours are a big part of our life. We share things like rides to town, extra fruits, vegetables, plants, ideas. We help each other get in our wood, cutting it. One neighbour comes and rotor tills the garden with his farm tractor , while DH uses our smaller tractor to plough out friends driveways in the winter. We also watch each others homes and yards especially if they are away for a period of time.
DH grew up in the depression, and we have always mended and repaired things. He learned many skills that he still uses, like welding, fixing his vehicles, repairing and re manufacturing things. He will make new handles and other items to fix a broken item even when we are told you can’t get a replacement for an item. His attitude is if someone made this in the first place, then I can take it apart and put it back together so it will work. Most of the time he can. Also items that are older and still useful are usually better made ( or they still wouldn’t be useful). So many things we use are not electric. As an example I have an electric can opener, but I use the old hand held one, because to me it opens the cans easier and works every time! Now I must admit I like convenience and my food processor is my main love in that department. It takes small amount of cooked meat and with a few swishes a dash of pickles ( or the juice from the pickles) a little mayo, and there is beautiful sandwich spread, out of a little leftovers that don’t seem to be enough to even keep.
A kitchen full of good smells , bread or buns baking, doesn’t cost much, use what you have soups, stews, make great meals and feelings of happiness and contentment. That goes a long way in helping you through tough times, and keeps family and friends around , because they “feel good” at your home. We always have people dropping in, the coffee pot is on just about steady, and we don’t have a lot and never have had. But we are happy, content, and that is to us the main thing.
Great topic. We do alot of swapping. Our neighbor cuts hair, so we mow her lawn in exchange for hair cuts for the family. Same with our youngest daughters clothes, a guy I work with has an older daughter and a younger one, so we pass Ava’s clothes down to his youngest, and he passes down his older daughter’s clothes to Ava. We also have our furnace checked before Winter every year and have our electri company come and check to see if there are any prts of the house that could use more insulation, they do a check of lots of things that will save us money in the long run on our heating bill.
I so agree with you that family, friends and faith are so very important in today’s world to get by hard times. Thanks for posting this, enjoyed it.