Posted on 12/28/2023 1:15:18 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Everyone always has new hacks and tips on how to save money. But it isn’t necessary to reinvent the wheel to change your financial situation. Instead, you can look to the frugal living tips from the Great Depression that a lot of our grandparents used.
The Great Depression from 1929 to 1939, was the gravest economic downtown in U.S. history. The stock market crashed; the unemployment rate reached new heights; and industrial production was severely impacted.
During the Depression, everyone had to learn how to scrimp and save and there’s a lot we can learn from that era today. Even if you’re not in dire straits, following frugal tips from the Great Depression can help you cut your expenses and save money.
That said, here are 27 great depression frugal living tips and ideas we can all learn from:
1. Make your own soap
2. Wear clothes more than once before washing
3. Keep warm with a hot water bottle at night
4. Learn a few sewing skills
5. Do all your errands one day a week or less
6. Track your spending
7. Make a herb garden
8. Cook with leftovers
9. Look through the pantry before going to the store
10. Purchase a whole chicken
11. Eat less meat
12. Buy reusable products
13. Start a vegetable garden
14. Invest in quality
15. Upcycle furniture instead of buying
16. Buy things second hand
17. Make your own cleaning products
18. Share with your neighbors
19. Learn how to store and preserve produce
20. Learn to DIY around the house
21. Use less electricity
22. Relax by candlelight
23. Just a dab will do ya
24. Use things up before replacing
25. Go to restaurants less often
27. Make payments in cash
Details at link. :)
One of the best ideas from the Depression is to grow your own food. Start a garden, learn about preserving and canning, and find ways to stretch your grocery budget further.
Travel by freight train instead of by air.
Why use cash? I use a card that gives me 1.5% back and pay it off weekly.
I get back hundreds.
I buy trail walking shoes. When I buy regular runners, they will often be beyond repair within a year. But my trail walking shoes have been going strong for 18 months and they still look half decent.
26. Raise ze bugs.
28. Eat ze bugs.
Bread, donuts or cakes replace about half the flour with potato. You can grow potatoes in your garden.
They will actually taste better and cut down on your grocery bill.
These new shoes that are fabric based, Skechers, et al, nowadays are crap. They last about three months with me..................
Re: #4. I already have few sewing skills...
1. The time it takes to do some of these things would be better spent working a second job.
2. For many commonly used household items, it costs MORE to fix it than replace it.
In my Michigan, you can legally tag and harvest up to 10 white tail deer in many areas of that state. Hunter numbers have been declining and milder winters have increased the population in many counties. Plus is if you learn to process the meat yourself, rather than pay the $70.00 or so per deer to have it processed and handed to you in packages to freeze.
Great tip! I usually have two pair of tennies going at any given time.
One is for gardening and barn work, the other is ‘Presentable in Public’ for running errands, actual WALKING, etc.
When the ‘Presentable in Public’ shoes are too ratty, they go to the garden/barn and I invest in a new pair. I like New Balance.
Though, your suggestion makes me think I’d get even more mileage out of trail walkers. Thanks! :)
I did a security shift at a Saint Laurents a couple of days ago. That’s a very high end fashion shop, if you don’t know. Their runners between $1000 and $2000. Their high heeled shoes were about the same. They had a lady’s slip for $1700. A blazer jacket for $5,000.
I am telling you that their quality was no better than what you or I might by. The only reason to buy this stuff there, as opposed to a Target, is as a statement that you can afford to overspend on the same stuff that you or I buy.
In 1929-'39, most people's refrigerators had an extremely small freezer compartment INSIDE of it, so people shopped for food daily or every other day or two.
Candle light instead of electricity? NO! But they did shut of the lights when they left a room and never left light on for no reason, as anyone who grew up with a parent/parents who had been kids during that time, well knows!
People of every class, had forever, darned socks, repaired slight tears in clothing, turned men's shirts collars and cuffs when they began to fray, or had a servant do it for them and yes, some people still had servants during the Depression.
And there was DEFLATION during that time, so prices, for EVERYTHING, was lower than they had been ! So while people, even very well off ones, cut back, there were many things that people continued to do, that saved money, that had been done before the Great Depression hit!
trail walkers can be heavy!!
I buy stuff at Goodwills in Ritzy areas.............😉
I bought the Arc’teryx Aerios Aura Trail Running Shoes from Mountain equipment Coop.
Use it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do
Or do without.
Great tip! Any meat-related skills you have, either hunting or butchering or taking what others give you and knowing what to DO with it, are great skills to have. :)
We have raised a beef steer for each of the past 5 years, now and this fall bought 1/2 a hog from a neighbor who raises them. HUGE savings for meat-eaters.
I’d like to eat less meat, but Beau insists upon it every breakfast and supper. And he’s an amazing hunter and fisherman, so it’s really not a problem within our personal food budget.
I don’t hunt anymore, but I’m not squeamish about butchering in the least. I used to play ‘Deer CSI’ with my kids, LOL! They learned a lot about anatomy and The Circle of Life, for sure. ;)
My parents and grandparents made it through the Depression and then won World War 2.
But like many such young couples they gradually worked their way into the middle class and provided a comfortable and secure life for their kids and themselves.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.