Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, Or do without

I was born in 1951 to parents who both survived the great depression. I am not sure survived is the appropriate verb, since both were scarred in one way or another from the experience. Still their experience and the lessons I learned from them have enabled myself and my family to weather our most challenging times. The sole purpose of this blog is to help others who never had the skill building experience of learning how to improvise, organize and "make do" that I was afforded. My mother is still alive at 82 and has stories about her survival during hard times. She has survived my father. His stories were mostly about deprivation and anger. My mother's were about hardship conquered and challenges met with courage.

She remembers the farm that my grandfather had in Iowa, and the day he cried because there was some small unimportant item that was not on the table at mealtime because it could not be afforded. My grandmother collected rags, any portion of a garment that was not torn, threadbare or stained such as backs of mens shirts, or back of a pant leg. These she fashioned into quilts for warmth. There were no large fabric stores and no fashion quilting fabrics then. My mother remembers happy times, when her family was together. She remembers a greater closeness than we know now in our families. It was a family project to feed and clothe everyone.

My mother was the youngest of 11. Her father had built a beautiful life with a large house and hundreds of drained, fruitful acres, walnut trees, mullberries, apples and a large kitchen garden with rows of sweet corn and green beans, potatoes and more. Bread was made from wheat , grown on the farm, thrashed on the farm, and taken to a nearby mill. Meat was provided by a few pigs in the hold. Milk was from the family cow. What they did not have was money. No money for my mother’s school clothes. Gone were the days that now were only in pictures of my aunts dressed in handmade heirloom white dresses, in lovely carriages. Trips to the city were carefully planned to meet multiple purposes. My mother learned to pinch pennies at a very young age. By the time she was in 8th grade she managed her own wardrobe, updating hand downs from her sisters and getting “new clothes” from second hand stores. By high school she knew how to use old clothes to make new ones, cutting the fabric still usable from other garments. She could take apart a pair of large men’s pants and make a very nice skirt, or a few flour sacks and make a blouse. Truly necessity is the mother of invention. The skills she learned during this time served her well in her later years. When she married my father, a widower with three daughters, she had to know how to make ends meet, how to create something from nothing almost. At 82 years old she still practices the frugality of her earlier years. She has a garden, enough for herself and to share. She drys, freezes and cans vegetables as they come into season and stores them a spare closet she has converted to a pantry. She uses what she stores. She still knits, sews and crochets gifts for her extended family. She keeps a closely monitored check book and will not use a bank card. She has one major credit card and it is for emergencies only. She carries a 0 balance on it monthly.
She has never traveled out the US, except for passing visits through Canada and Mexico. She has never been on a cruise or a vacation with a travel group, and while opportunities have arisen she has always declined. It would ring as wasteful and indulgent. My mother always has money tucked away in bonds or savings accounts. Her home is paid for, still she agonizes over the yearly taxes maybe a throw back to the depression when her father lost most of his farm to taxes. If we all lived as she does we would never have a recession.

The regrettable facts of growing up in the depression, one that we should prevent our own children from having, is the fear to experience. We should strive to enjoy life, not just endure it.
This book is being written by myself, having two contrasting parent’s experience of the great depression, and my still living 82 year old mother will contribute anecdotal reflection. She can still yield a pen and continues to write poetry and prose. The objective of this book is to show ways to “make do”, that is to get along with very limited funds. It is also an example with detail of what we should and should not learn from the current crisis.

I will divide this blog into seasons, for instance, how to economize in the winter on fuel. And spring, how to use all available space for planting a garden that will supplement your diet. Interspersed will be recipes for economical meals, menu planners that have been developed over years of experience and websites that will provide valuable information and skills. I want to invite challenges that some may be having and how to most economically meet them. For instance if you have a child who wants to go to a birthday party, but you have no money for a gift, wrapping or ribbon, should he stay home or are there alternatives that will meet the need?
If you have such a question, please send it to the provided email and I will answer it as quickly as possible. If I do not know the answer I will research and talk to my mother who is quick to come up with solutions. Together we can meet most needs. My mother still makes her own soap and uses it for her laundry, cleaning and dishes.
If you are having a hard time thinking of what to make for dinner with limited ingrediants, tell me what you have and we will give you some ideas.
In all, I would hope this could be a valuable resource, whether you are dealing with lost employment, or you want to save for that house you someday want to live in. Where there is a will, there is a way.
My first chapter will be on Spring..ways to save, what to plant, how to grow almost anything you want, along with recipes and helpful hints.
I plan to post once a week...and gather data and websites between postings. In between I will answer questions. My biggest challenge is I know absolutely nothing about blogs. Your knowledge will help me out there.