11 Great Depression Era Habits Coming Back In Style: Frugal Skills For Economic Downturn
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- Опубликовано: 14 май 2024
- With so much economic uncertainty, many are turning to the wisdom of Great Depression survivors. Here's why. Click "More" for more resources below!
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• Life on the Plains - R...
• 101-Year-Old Grandmoth...
• Interview with Lewis V...
• Great Depression Cooki...
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0:00-0:40 - Intro
0:41-2:00 - Daily Bread
2:01-3:01 - Save Everything
3:02-4:49 - Gardening
4:50-5:46 - Chickens
5:47-6:33 - Bulk Ingredients
6:34-7:32 - Organization
7:33-8:46 - Repairs
8:47-10:10 - Preserving
10:11-11:21 - Gratitude
11:22-12:45 - Homemade Cleaners
12:46-14:00 - Energy Use
14:01-14:34 - Final Thoughts
We're not experts, so we always recommend talking to the pros for the best advice. This post and comments below contain affiliate links, which may lead to a commission if purchased. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
I’m 75 and I do everyone of these 11 things! From baking bread to hanging clothes outside to canning, dehydrating foods to making all of my cleaning products including tallow soap to being content. My husband of 55 years is my mr. fix it. He just finished making our chickens a wonderful coop and a new back screen door for me all out of reclaimed wood. I barter for raw honey with my whole wheat bread that I grind my own flour for. And on and on…
Woman after my own heart.
I wish all of my neighbors were you and your Mr.
Me too, all 11. I am also 75, my husband 83 and he has just enlarged my chicken coop, built me a walk-in brassica cage, and planted more fruit trees. He does all our mechanical and electrical repairs. I remember the excitement of buying my first bread maker after seeing in demonstrated on a science programme about 40 years ago! I did keep bees for a while, and still have some of the honey, but unfortunately became allergic to their occasional stings. Most of the skills were learned having been brought up in the aftermath of the war, and during rationing.
Im a little younger, and not really as handy as some of my older mentors, but I learned a lot. My 4 year old comes to me with broken things and says “daddy can fix anything” it’s not always possible but she’s gotten a lot more time out of a lot of things her mother would have trashed for the other kids.
We have it soooo much better then most, but we are feeling the current economical issues in Ontario Canada. My 14 year old step son told his foot ball coach the $200 fee for him to ( not play ) the major games would be problem…. We could swing it, but it’s go he sees we don’t just throw money around. We spend, but we invest. The school told him to not worry about the fee (being first year he won’t play the big games that cost the money). We lost a lot of our tomatoes to blight this year (I think from free compost….. wasn’t free eh….. but we still canned half a years worth. We’ve invested both time and money in our future food security…. We won’t have fancy new stuff all the time …. But we won’t be hungry
Wonderfully inspirational share, thank you❤😊
I am 70 and I remember watching my grandfather cut new soles for his shoes every morning out of cardboard before he walked to work. My grandparents lost their business and home during the depression. When grandpa wrote to us he never used a clean sheet of paper, it was always on the back of insurance letters and forms. He would have us sit near him as we used a hammer to straighten nails for him that he was salvaging for projects.. Grandma baked all their bread as well. A huge Saturday treat was Grandmas " fresh from the oven bread", with real butter and honey. Something we took for granted was that for bath time on saturday we all used the same bathwater starting with youngest to oldest. Sounds kind of yucky now but I never gave it a second thought. Oatmeal was every day breakfast, peanut butter was lunch and we ate an awful lot of potatoes. Mom said it filled up the corners of our tummies. Bean soup and cornbread factored heavily as well. Having an orange was a big deal and usually had at holiday time. Saturday night we were treated with popcorn or homemade fudge. On weekends we would have a meat meal whether fried chicken or roast beef. We drank water and milk. We all sat down together for meals both breakfast and supper, we said grace beforehand. I never thought we were poor but by todays standards we definitely were. We went to church on Sunday and every saturday night we polished our shoes and made sure our sunday clothes were in good order. We wore the same clothes until laundry day. We hung clothes on the line to dry and in front of the furnace in winter. Sometimes when coal ran out we burned trash for heat. We had dignity, mom always said we may not have much but that we and our clothes would be clean! 6 children shared a used bike that was our family christmas gift that year. Grandpa was a barber so all our haircuts were done by him or mom. I loved the huge fluffy brush he cleaned us off with after our haircuts, it made me giggle. Mom made dollhouses out of cardboard boxes and bits of wrapping paper and fabric. We were enchanted and thought she was so clever! All in all it was a lovely childhood full of examples of resourcefulness and creativity!
Another memory just occured, my mom told me this. She would be 100 years old this year. She said the market had crashed, everything changed and Grandpa packed everyone up into their old car and they drove from Ohio to Colorado for the promise of a job . The day they arrived emblazoned on the front page of the newspaper was a headline saying the company had gone belly up due to embezzlemant of funds and Grandpas job was gone. They were out of money. Grandpa found a weekend job as a butcher which was enough to bring home groaceries for the week. They found a third floor apartment and Grandpa walked to work and went out each day to job hunt. My mom contracted Scarlet fever and they kept it a secret because they did not want to be quarantined, he needed to work. For Christmas Grandma decorated a coat rack/ hall tree with her necklaceses as a Christmas tree. Mom was 7 and her sisters were 5 and 3 . They nearly starved that winter. In spring they drove to San Antonio and found work. Mom said it felt so wonderful to be warm again. She said that it took awhile before they could eat normally again. They all got sick from eating a rich creamed soup served to them right when they got there. They all survived and lived well into their 90s. Mom passed at 97 and was in good health until the last year. I miss them all, they were tough people with kind good hearts !
Thank you for sharing
Amazing😊
Wow, thanks for sharing this Beautiful story.
Amazing, thank you for sharing!
What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing!
I never met my grandmother on my dad's side, but he said one of her mantras was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." We could all do with a bit more of that mindset.
I saw this mantra a while back! truly something to aspire to.
I grew up with this mantra! It has blessed my life 🙏
@@darcysimental5299 Lived it...
I love that philosophy
Here Here!! 👍🏻😀👌🏻
I made that quote into a wall hanging and use it’s wisdom still 😊
Saving seeds has saved our family a lot of money! My father in law went to a pizza restauraunt and liked the flavor of the pepper flakes he sprinkled on his pizza. He put a few sprinkles on a napkin and took them to plant just to see if they would grow. The red peppers that I grow in my garden came from that experiment that took place about 15 years ago
Way to go. Awesome. 😊❤
I grew up in a large family and we were poor, when I say poor I do mean poor. My dad hired himself and the older children out to local farmers and we lived in an old run down house on the property we farmed. My dad and the older boys were hunters and we would also raise a pig now and then. My mom cooked on a wood burning stove and she made us girls clothes out of flour sacks. Back then 24 lbs of flour came in pretty floral pattern cloth and mom saved up several of the same pattern and without a pattern she would cut out a dress in a few minutes and she would put it together on her peddle type Singer sewing machine. She would buy rolls of ricrac to match and the dresses were very pretty. We always had a big garden and chickens for eggs and meat. Life was simple, we had no TV and we worked hard and slept really good because we were tired at the end of the day. Out of eleven children none of us had more than three children. Mom went to heaven some years ago at the age of 86, she was living proof that hard work won't kill you.
Your story is very similar to my mother’s. My great grandparents had a small farm in northern Texas and three generations lived there during the Depression and the Dust Bowl days. My great grandmother cooked on a wood stove and the sink had a hand pump for water. My mom and aunts picked cotton, helped on the farm, took in sewing and my grandmother did bookkeeping. Any excess from the farm was preserved for leaner times. I have a picture of my mom in a flour sack dress that my grandmother made. Sweaters were crocheted by hand. Unfortunately, not all of the skills were passed on to my generation. By the time I was born times were easier. My great grandmother’s pride and joy was the claw foot tub in the indoor bathroom with indoor plumbing. However, the kitchen sink still had the hand pump until the day they died.
@@FGM013Wish my home had a hand pump! I went without a toilet for 6 mos with broken plumbing. I’d making a plan for an older style kitchen with a table ( no island). Love those slower days.
Lovely story, you may have been poor in money but you were rich in family and experience in life
I remember many of my dresses and always loved them. My grandmother made most of my clothes from the flour sacks and chicken feed sacks.😊
When my father went to the feed store my mother would request that he look for certain prints of feed sacks. When she had enough of a certain fabric, she would make a dress for herself or me.
I'm finally at the point where all the vegetables I grow are grown from seeds I harvested last season, and my fertilizer is just chicken manure from our hens composted down with the fallen leaves and some grass clippings. I am basically at $0 cost to grow a sizeable portion of our food now.
How wonderful that you've been to get to this point. I bet you're frugal in a lot of other ways, too. Diane in NC
Thanks for sharing that - you're inspiring and awesome!
Well done!
❤
Wonderful 😊❤
Hand-me-downs! Use clothing until it is used up. And, I recall having 'good clothes' for school and then changing the minute I got home into 'play clothes' so the good clothes would last longer.
Also, my grandfather had a hardware store in a farming community during the Depression. He only sold brands that would last a long time. The farmers couldn't afford to buy cheap things. Buying quality rather than quantity was the way to go.
Faaacts! Also, school shoes and play shoes. All my kids are grown now, but the fact that they wore uniforms to school growing up was my saving grace as a single parent, bc it meant I only had to buy my three kids five school outfits (and one or two pairs of school shoes) twice every school year, and only that because they grew so fast.
wow ! I had totally forgotten that I used to do that and realized that I still change into old clothes when I return from being out in public. Old habits die hard.
@@KiraBKADestroyerOfWorlds We went barefoot throughout the summer. It always took a bit of time to toughen up the soles of our feet but after a short while we could even walk on gravel without it hurting. We got a new pair of shoes for school and for Easter. (I'm 71.) My grandmother gave us a new dress for the first week of school and for Christmas.
I wore hand me downs. My mother’s friend had a daughter older than me. I got her clothes, then my sister got them from me. Only my brother regularly got new clothes as only boy. My kids wore hand me downs too. I remember boxes of outgrown clothes waiting to be shared.
I though I would add a tip to daily life. As an experience appliance tech, one of the most COMMON issues I see when working with dishwashers or clothes washers is that people OVER SOAP these machines continually ! My advise for your dishwasher is to buy a high quality soap, like a Cascade Complete (liquid or powder) and use FAR FAR LESS then you think you need to. Using the pre-packaged pillows of soap puts plastics into the environment and plastics into the drain system on the machine clogging up the drain motor. On a my dishwasher I use about a TABLESPOON or less of liquid cascade and have no issues, no lasting residue on the side walls of the interior. If your dishwasher is showing signs of a white build up in its interior (major over soaping) and it will take some vinegar and about 6 empty run cycles or more to get rid of all of that soapy buildup that actually never rises out and ends up sticking to your, what looks like clean dishes. On a washing machine, especially with the high efficient front loaders, if you are using a full detergent jug cap of detergent (major over soaping) honestly it only takes about 1/4 cap of the detergent jugs cap OR LESS to clean effectively. Soap manufactures are in the soap selling business, thats how they get rich, the more soap they can sell you the more money they make. Don't be fooled by their false claims USE LESS Detergent, keep the environment and your machines far cleaner and save money in the end.
This could depend on your water...hard or soft.
I only use a teaspoon of powdered dish washing soap in my main wash and a sprinkle in the rinse cycle. I use the numbers on the detergent caps but always do large to x large loads and never put more then the number 3 size of detergent. If the clothes are heavy soiled I add some washing powder. Use vinegar to soften and remove bad smells from clothes. Dryer balls in the dryer.
@@tiffanywake5070I gave up softener when I heard how toxic it was. I thought it would be a hard adjustment, but I don't miss it & have added dryer balls now. They are more of a pain than the lack of softener is. They get caught up in clothing, fall on the floor when taking clothes out of the dryer... I originally switched to homemade cleaning products because of scent intolerance, but the money I've saved was a by-product had been amazing.
The same is true of toothpaste. The form of fluoride they use in toothpaste can actually poison a small
child if they eat too much. In the old days, however, the TV ads showed kids loading up the brush with toothpaste.
@@asc3998 I switched to white vinegar about 20 years ago in the rinse, and only use the dryer for towels and sheets. A dab in the pre-wash cup helps the plain/natural detergent I use. Clothes hung on racks to dry are not crunchy at all, and last a really long time.
My maternal grandmother raised me , she was born in 1924...it's called homesteading now a days, it's always been my way of life. Raised 4 children in this lifestyle, none continued. I have 3 grandchildren who want to live the way we do. I've found it more fulfilling, than anything else I've done over my life.
You should write it all down for your grandkids. It'll be worth so much for them.
I'm 32 and do all these. I was chatting with my 94 year old grandfather, who was born on the day the stock market fell . And he said " The difference between the great depression and the recession we are facing now , is that people don't know how to do anything ! Everyone gardened , everyone preserved food, people would hunt and fish ! Everyone's mother knew how to knitt and sew . If people could learn to be more resourceful, they would experience a very different recession. "
I always think of that, and always try and be more resourceful. I dry my clothes on the line , and will be hanging them up in my washroom to dry during the winter, I garden and do my own canning , I sew, knitt, crochet ! I actually mended my sheets several times until I just tossed them out cause they are finally too worn thin and the rips are too big , today I'm mending 2 pairs of jeans and darning a pair of socks .
We never eat out unless it's a birthday or anniversary, so about twice a year . I'm a pretty good cook and I always try to look for tasty, healthy, affordable meals .
There are things we can learn and do to make a difference! It actually boggles my mind about the amount of waste so many people do.
I take the best parts of my old flannel sheets and cut into squares about 5-6". I use these squares as handkerchiefs. I have a small trash with bleach water in it to put the used handkerchiefs in until washing time. Before tossing in the laundry, I dump the cloths into a lingerie bag so they're easy to find when the cycle done. You can toss the whole bag into the dryer or use clothespins to pin individual squares to hangers for drying. I keep clean ones in a basket covered with a large doily.
My mother was born in 1927. She taught me everything.im now 64 and still use every skill she taught me. My income is low, but I'm ok.Ill always be frugal it's a challenge. Thanks for a great video.
We're not facing a recession
I agree and it is because they are not taught how or don't want to learn. People need to learnt o do with less and do the basics (cooking from scratch, sewing to mend clothes, etc).
Just saw where the "experts" have determined that home gardening is not "green" enough, compared with mass production farming. Which further proves the point that today's generation is clueless. Although I'm pretty sure they can beat me on a survival video game. Does that count?
We are currently living in a disposable-mindset society. Fast fashion, cheap electronics, and being 'social media worthy' has created that mentality. I think many of us are rebelling against that unhealthy mindset by leaning into minimalism, and doing everything we can to be self-sufficient. It's so much more satisfying than constantly buying new things we don't need, and overpaying for what we do need.
YES!!!
And people wonder why they feel so unfulfilled!! I’m 24 and feel like that & all I want is to be able to show my family that something like this is possible
Completely agree!!
It’s a consumer economy that’s what all the big corps want to just consume consume consume and toss throw it out gotta buy new etc etc
Totally agree! The consumerism and materialism are brutal and creating an unhealthy mentality.
Number 12….SHARE and ASSIST community!! If you have something your neighbor doesn’t…like a tool or machine share! Share your abundance, skill and know how, barter and help neighbors or family accomplish tasks they couldn’t alone. Your cake baking could mean they snow blow your driveway….
This is spot on! I remember as a child when snow blowers were a new thing and really expensive, a number of neighbors pooled their money to buy one and share it.
But remember to give it back! And in good shape.
I remember my grandmother saying they really didn't notice a big difference during the depression because in the South most people grew and raised most of the their food anyway. She said the only thing they bought or traded for really was just coffee and flour.
@@joyhicks1332I didn’t notice the 2008 depression. I’m only aware of this one because people keep going on about it…I live below my means so I’m not really being affected by all that’s going on now, even with the higher prices for things…When you don’t need much it makes all the difference!
I live in the UK, it is so interesting to hear about how people in the US survived the 1930's Depression. It is so funny to think, in contrast the 1930's was full of glamour in the movies - apparently for escapism.
My family didn't even know what a depression was. We were too poor.
Granny is depression era. If you want Thanksgiving leftovers she'll sent them home with you in old pickle jars, but she expects to get those back when you're finished with them.❤
When the Grazon fiasco destroyed so many gardens last year by making purchased compost toxic I got 2 rabbits for their poop! I asked my neighbor to build me a simple compost bin (from scavanged pallets) next to the rabbit hutches, The same neighbor acquired 6 chickens & they get a lot of my kitchen scraps. The neighbor provides me with eggs & I supply them with clean compost.
I got 4 rabbits for fertilizer. Best decision ever.
If you have the freezer space, keeping a bag for veggie scraps, or meat scraps so you can make your own broth. I've bought maybe.... a quart of broth in the last year (if that), and the resulting broth has gone into everything from soups and stews, to rices, to graveys to making pastas. Onion and garlic ends, carrot peels and tops, leftover tomato ends.... fat trimmings and leftover bones and skins... all turns into loveliness.
citrus peels saved to make marmalade, too. Turning non-edible-portion into food is an art.
Laundry hack: Instead of fabric softener we use white vinegar. In the rinse cycle it breaks down detergent better so your clothes never have a soap residue and it’s a decent fabric softener besides.
Vinegar in the rinse cycle is also great to help remove (dog) hair from their bedding and my clothes. Works great.
We started doing this - it works amazingly! Even better because we have somewhat hard water, and it counteracts some of the effects of the hard water.
I was doing that for a while and one day my daughter commented she thought her clothes smelled like pickles!! I wasn't adding very much.I guess she has a super sensitive nose!
I do the same!!
Great video! I am 52 and do all of these and am content with what I have and this lifestyle. It is very satisfying and I don’t live paycheck to paycheck!
This a great video, and I enjoy reading other people’s comments! So I’ll chime in…. Husband recently built a chicken coop and yard out of lumber he got from a neighbor that was building a house, all from their dumpster. We only had to buy the wire. He had enough material left over to now build a greenhouse using windows from FB Market. Another neighbor keeps our lawnmower running, and if he needs something painted or repaired, we trade, or more like it, just help each other out. I bake all our bread, can, garden, freeze, eat 95% of meals at home. Have no debt, shop at bargain stores, our vehicles are 2001, and 2007. I could go on and on. But the most important thing mentioned was gratitude and being content. I spend most of my days saying thank you, because there’s so much to be grateful for. And, we really don’t have to be this frugal, but it’s really just a rewarding way to live. It takes creativity and that to me is right up there with gratitude!
I'm 63. My dad told us about taking a squirrel sandwich to school for lunch and convincing the rich kid to trade his bologna sandwich for it. My mom was overjoyed one Christmas when the owner of the jewelry store downstairs gave her Mother a music box and her and her siblings each got an orange! Could you imagine a child today being grateful for that!
In GOOD years, My Momma and her baby brother got a nickel 18.2 ounce BIG Hershey bar to share for Christmas, and it'd last to the Fourth of July! She passed two years ago at 93. I terribly miss "taking care" of her and seeing her nearly every day. That same Hershey bar "for cooking" is nearly $15! One year, the whole family (of four) got a fresh apple and an orange for Christmas. Momma saved, her Mother saved, and for her eight birthday she got an "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" mail-order. I still have it, it works PERFECTLY and is brite as a 300 watt light bulb.
Imagine boomers as kids being happy about an orange!
My grandma saved so many things, not huge amounts of them, but just a few for in a pinch. Things like Bread bags, twist ties, rubber bands, pieces of scrap paper, old toothbrushes, just so they could be used until they were worn out. She used a lot of glass storage containers, which last longer than plastic. She used her cast iron skillets for years, and her copper bottom pots that she and my grandpa got when they got married were still in use 55 years later, with glowing copper bottoms on them, looking like new. Her stove was immaculate, despite being 40 years old. If you take care of it, and have pride in it, it will be useful for years. Even something as simple as a few pieces of folded foil, or wax paper. She saved butter wrappers to use on top of her fresh baked bread when it came out, she would smear them on top of the loaf or rolls, just to clean the paper really well before throwing it out. I learned so much from her, and I value that information today. She was a brilliant woman who grew up in a very uncertain and scary time, but her parents survived with 7 kids, just living very simply off their land.
Bread bags are good for cleaning the litter box, outer milk bags since I'm on my own work for kitchen trash bags. Bread bag ties with their different colours can help label plant starts. Toothbrushes are great for cleaning - used to be sterilized in the dishwasher, but now in the washer since I don't have one now. My mom taught me to save butter wrappers in the freezer for greasing cake pans. There are a lot of great resources on RUclips for DIY cleaners. I make my own all purpose, disinfectant, air freshener...
In reading your story I remembered the bread bags etc. and still do that, we even safe the plastic wrap if it is not got food on it. They used to have the plastic ones that looked like shower caps for bowls. I still save my elastic bands, and get the good thicker plastic bags from the produce dept. to seperate meat into bags for the freezer. We even reused the bread bags to pick up our dogs business, and now to collect the rats in the traps these days around the compost and from our neighbours. Thanks for sharing. 69 th year of life and counting.
We still use my grandma's copper bottom pots and my great grandma's cast iron skillet made in 1905- 06!
"Buying in food in bulk to save money and eating that same food over and over" I purchased a 74 acre property with an 1862 farmhouse just as covid hit that I am restoring. I planted a large garden with vegetables I freeze and dehydrate that last me thru the winter months. I also buy whole chickens when on sale locally for $.99 a lb. I boil, crock pot or roast them and eat chicken almost everyday. With the vegetables I have grown and the chicken at such a low cost my cost per meal has dramatically Decreased. Being creative when cooking helps too. Remember during the Great Depression and before that that it was about eating to survive and get nourishment. Today it's all about going to restaurants, getting home delivery and not eating the same thing twice. Knowing the food you eat and where it came from along with the monetary benefits creates a less stressful environment for yourself. Less Stress is good. I'm going to be raising chickens in the spring for eggs and meat. Thanks for all your inspirational videos!
I bet that farmhouse has a cistern under the eaves (probably filled in for safety) and the footprint to where the henhouse sat, the well or wellhouse, the root cellar, the smokehouse... Enjoy your restoration, and best of luck.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!” Was my grandmother’s saying! She raised six children on a pastor’s salary!
your point about "buying" everything is so spot on... People spend hundreds on gardening and think that input to output costs are never worth it.however you can literally get free manure from a farmer, dig dirt from the forest, collect rain water in barrels and use the seeds from last years crop. Its almost hilarious that gardening has a high associated price tag ,when in reality it is probably the cheapest hobby on earth.
My only hang up is I would like to have raised beds because I have lupus and arthritis so I don’t want to have to bend over so far. I don’t mind having to build them I just haven’t figured out the best material to use and what to put in the bottom so it doesn’t take as much dirt.
@@NikiLivi5 I like putting rotten logs in the bottom of raised beds to help fill the space. Not yet rotten logs/branches would work too.
The big cost of gardening for me was buying canning supplies and freezer bags as I had never done any of this. Unfortunately we bought our house in June of 2019 so 2020 was my first year gardening and canning. And it’s only gotten more expensive.
@@NikiLivi5 I have a hard time with bending over to garden as well, But I find a little stool I can sit on or a foam pad on the ground to kneel makes things a lot more accessible.
@@NikiLivi5 I broke my back several years ago. The raised beds are only a foot deep but they do make a difference and I don't get nearly as sore in the raised beds compared to the beds directly in the ground.
Definitely in my humble opinion worth the cost.
However my beds are only small 1meter by maybe 80cm so no stretching across. This also makes a difference for me I feel.
Happy Gardening
My Grandmother use to save bread bags and their twist ties. She would use them to put fresh baked cookies, donuts, popcorn and even homemade bread in. They were much cheaper than buying storage containers or extra bags. All she did was shake the bread crumbs out when the loaf was eaten and then put the empty bag away for whenever she needed one. I do that same thing, even today.
Yes! We re-wash the bags and keep using them until they fall apart.
Me too!
I also save bread bags - any plastic bag. My grandmother washed her bags in the washing machine and hung them on the line. She was rather proud that she had used and washed her bread bags so often that there was no writing on them. Diane in NC
We are kindred spirits, as I do the same. I go one step further and save the bread crumbs. If you bake bread often, they add up. Hate to buy bread crumbs from a store.
Thank you for the tip.
I think one of the greatest things that has been lost is the sense of community. I may have skills/resources that my neighbor doesn't and vice versa. If things go, as I say, all Mad Max, community becomes even more critical.
That is where things will get ugly. Some people are completely useless and unwilling to do their part. Others have narcissistic, manipulative, or toxic traits they learned growing up with social media and lack of criticism. Others will get trigger-happy with their firearms. Teamwork is a skill that is lacking. Following a leader is another skill that is lacking (besides deciphering who is the best leader in a group). Most people are accustomed to paying for convenience - and they're proud of not needing to "waste time" learning to create or fix things because they're "well off." Dark times will test everyone. I already feel tested being so antisocial. Loners don't actually do so well when SHTF. Tribes thrive.
This is absolutely one of my top priorities. Know the neighbors and know their skills. We've loosely discussed things going pear shaped.
Pam here….my mom saved the heels of her homemade bread for making stuffing for thanksgiving and Xmas. Had a bread bag she kept in the freezer for it.
My mom did that too!
Same
We call them the butt end. :-) They seldom linger long enough to be saved but my son will grab them if no-one is looking as they are his favourite bit of crusty bread.
You don't see many young people talking about gratitude. Nice to hear it.
Bread tip: you can put dough in the fridge in a bag for longer than you expect. I limit to 2 weeks but it would probably be ok for over a month. The longer it's there the more 'sour' it will be. Make a big bulk batch and when you want bread that day leave it on the counter for the morning to wake up the yeast and bake at lunch time. I prefer this over having to buy a bread machine.
I agree! I make a big batch of pizza dough. Weigh it out to usable portions and freeze them on a cookie sheet. Then bag them once frozen. Defrost one at a time when needed.
what an excellent idea! Pizza is the meal i cook when i want something simple to do that night. I've always bought pizza bases but have been wanting to make my own. What has put me off is having to make dough every time. I shall try your method, thanks for the tip.@@aphillips5376
Would you mind sharing your recipe please. That's a wonderful idea
@@aphillips5376
I make 3 times what I need. Bag dry fully mixed ingredients that I don't use that day & freeze rest
Lasts months in freezer...just unfreeze on counter, add milk and or water and oil...cover & raise dough 2x...bake, eat!
Excellent tip! Thank you
I learned from my Mom-Mom who was born in 1920 (still alive, almost 103 😊) how to save everything. I’ve been teased and called a hoarder, but these things come in handy all the time! Waste not, want not!
Twist ties from bread, washing and reusing ziplock baggies, string from anything, old cloth, tin foil that didn’t get too messed up etc. You can even can jams and jellies in leftover glass jars with paraffin wax to create a seal.
Your Mom-Mom has seen so much in her lifetime. That’s amazing. God bless her.
This comment brought tears to my eyes. I called my grandmother zmom- Mom too! It is something I don't hear often. She was born I. 1920 but passed several years ago. How I miss her! I am the same way as you. Bread toes, yogurt containers etc. Teased by family until they need something I have 😂 God Bless your Mom Mom!!
It's not recommended to can jelly and jam with paraffin. The last time I did was when I was a newlywed 50 years ago. My jam molded underneath the wax. The recommended way is now to use canning lids and rings and water bathed for five minutes to kill any mold and yeast.
My grandparents were share croppers in north AL during the depression. During the worst part they ate sorghum syrup and cornbread for two of their meals(family of eight) everyday. One day one of my uncles said “I can’t eat this anymore”. The solution was, they cut stove wood all day and took it to town by mule and wagon and traded it for a bag of flour so they could make biscuits instead of cornbread. When we complain about not having anything that looks good and choosing to eat out, I think about this.
My grand mother saved all the packaging that came into her house.She would wash off aluminum foil,ironing it flat and storing it in a special drawer in her kitchen.That had jars for elastics,string,twist ties etc.Well into her golden years clothes were hung outside to dry.My grandfather took subscriptions to weekly farm newspaper and frequently came home with chickens that had been traded for subscriptions.After awhile they were selling eggs and chickens for people to roast.In the fall grandpa was bringing home bushels of apples,potatoes and carrots.He often said his job selling/bartering subscriptions during the Great Depression fed his family and many of their town neighbours.
A well done video. However, I didn't learn much. I'm 62, all of my relatives were alive during the Depression and passed on their ways to me. I have no need to raise chickens (or ducks) as my neighbors have many eggs and meat birds that I barter for. I am adept at growing herbs and foraging for coveted things. I barter with those items. I learned a lot about bartering from my family. My father taught me a lot of skills...woodworking, plumbing, electric wiring, working on cars, using power and hand tools. I'm sort of a Jill of all trades, but Master of none meaning if I need help, I barter for help. Another "rule" my grandmother taught me was to grow a few extra of every thing I grow for food for bartering or to just help those in need.
I like your last "rule." Having a bit extra for someone else or to trade. (It couldn't hurt.)
Your channel popped upped on my feed, very good. One thing I can tell you about "expired" products all this means is that it is BEST USED by that date, it does NOT mean it has gone bad. Expiration dates started in the early 70's yes I'm quite a bit older than you, LOL. Many woman my age or older don't pay much attention to this date depending on the product that we are using, or how it is packaged. If you want to learn more about this subject there are many older women that can help y'all with this subject. I will tell you that I think it's wonderful to see that young women are going back to traditional ways. Your video was great.
Yes, this is true. If properly canned, food lasts a decade, or more! But, do you really wanna eat carrots that have been soaking for 10 years? Probably not. So, safe but unappetizing perhaps. So don't throw out food based on expiration date if it's simply a few months or a year past for most foods.
I thought the same. Also, I noticed her jelly was stacked on top of each other, which is a major nono. If they are stacked and the food would go bad, you wouldn't have any idea is bad. Leaving without rims and not stacking, if the food goes bad, it will force the lid off and prewarn you.
The only sell by/use by dates I pay attention to are the ones on perishable dairy products and fresh meat. Everything else I ignore. The dates are totally arbitrary and are added onto the products because it's been mandatory since the government started requiring it. Home canned foods last years. I've used some that are 10+ years old and had no problems.
It's very true that home canned foods like jam can go "blah" taste-wise but they're still safe to use. I throw out the ones that go completely tasteless like the carrots you mentioned. They still taste good for 3+ years after canning them. Things without a lot of water stay tasty for a long time--like hamburger.
So, cringe as you may: my mother in law takes my sheltie's hair that I brush out and turns it into yarn. Dog wool should not be used for wearables, but it can be used to make a blanket to keep you warm on a winter's night when the power has gone out.
I reuse glass jars from the store to keep plastic leftover containers out of my kitchen.
I also have taken to saving seeds from my garden. I'll grow one green bean to the point it begins to dry and use the seeds for next year's beans. I do the same with marigolds.
This year I'm going to try wintering my sweet bell pepper plants as they can survive up to four years when allowed to go into dormant phase.
I grew my own sunflowers this year as food for my chickens as well.
Why not get a couple of dairy sheep, then you can spin your own yarn and have creamy milk besides.
For a history class project I had to interview my grandparents, who were in their early 20s during the 30’s. Both farm families. My grandfather told the story of being utterly confused how a stock market crash could affect the whole country - to him he was picturing two stock trains full of cattle crashing. Why would a few dead cows cause people to jump off buildings? I love that imagery and it puts into perspective a lot of things. They didn’t notice of a difference because they were rural and lived life mindful of all resources. Now? Not only is urban-to-rural ratio drastically different as well as being trained to thing disposable is normal (my grandmother saved and washed all ziploc bags, for instance) but the idea of delayed gratification is almost entirely lost.
I buy grain in bulk 50lb bags. The seeds last forever. I can choose to plant them, sprout them, use them as animal feed, or mill them in a mill I bought, and make my own fresh bread (or like today, homemade tortillas). I recommend the Nutrimill brand milling machine, and the BOSCH electric mixer for kneading the dough quickly without effort (if anyone is interested in trying this). Freshly milled flour from wheat grain mixed with beans are a complete protein, with additional fats. I'd say freshly milled grain is 40 times healthier than store bought bread. With those 2 things (fresh milled bread and beans), you have everything you need to survive. The freshness of the milled grain lasts for only 3 days. After that, the natural oil from the seed you crushed goes rancid. You can keep it in the fridge or freezer for longer, but it will nutritionally be similar to store bought whole wheat bread, only without preservatives or additives, so still healthier than store bought bread. Hard red, or hard white wheat is used for breads, and soft wheat is used for cakes and cookies. Hard Red wheat is the cheapest wheat, and you can buy organic grain in bulk for waaay cheaper than any cheap, unhealthy flour from the store. I buy 50lbs of hard red wheat for only $36, and that easily makes enough bread to feed a family of 6 for an entire month (if you make 2 loaves a day, but we don't do that, I did it every 3 days like clockwork for a month, though, we had a lot of sandwiches, meatloaf, and stuffing 😅). Did you know that shelf-stable wheat flour is missing 40 out of 43 nutrients it should have? The only reason it even has 3, is because it's fortified. It's fortified because there was a nutritional epidemic in our nation when we began eating the "dead" flour. Beri beri was an epidemic in the 40s because of mass flour production. They sold the good part of the flour to farmers for feed. When the epidemic hit, it was suggested that we undo what we did, but millers were making too much money splitting the product, and making double profit. Farmers pointed out if cows ate the flour we do, they'd die. If we try to "live" off of dead flour, we'd also die. Start milling fresh grain into flour, and you don't have to worry about your health tanking. 🤗
All true. One of the big economic drivers for white flour is the shelf life. Fresh ground whole grain flour does not work with the modern distribution pipeline. It would have a 3 to 5 day sell-by date and have to be handled like fresh orange juice.
I live in Ohio - I refuse to turn the furnace until November - then I leave it on 62 degrees. That really made a big difference last year in cost. I have a wood burning stove - that keeps the den, kitchen and living room spaces warm enough!
Lmao , my girlfriend : throw on a sweatshirt add some socks , slippers . Still cold ? Here's a quilt . No furnace til mid or towards the end of November. We use sleeping bags on the bed during the winter . Iowa
62 by day and 60 overnight for us!
Brrrrrrrrrr. I hate being cold
I live in Southern California. NO insulation in the walls of our 1950s home. Natural gas tripled in price, the winter of 2022. Our house went down to 55 degrees at night. I refused to turn on the heater. Wasn't going to give that greedy utility company more money. Wood burning fireplace in the evening for the family room. Leggings, undershirt, long sleeve shirt and hoodie to sleep in, with two comforters. Much like life in Punjab. Adapt, adapt, adapt. During summer, no air conditioner running in our house. Ceiling fans, floor fans. Also, using blinds and curtains to keep the heat out during the day and open windows to let in cool air in the evening. I share food with my neighbor and she shares with me. Cuts waste and more variety. Cook at home. Better tasting, healthier food, for a fraction of the cost. I can make many delicious meals for less than a dollar a serving. The tip at a restaurant costs more than food for two full days of meals for the two of us. I do treat myself to a very yummy latte once a week at a local coffee roaster, on the way to the beach to walk and enjoy the sun, sand and water. So for $5.29, plus the price of gasoline I enjoy a heavenly latte and nature.
Ohio as well. We don’t have any wood burning capabilities and I turned the heat on 64 last week. But we have a 1 yr old and she can’t sleep with a blanket. Have since turned it up to 66 because she is still having trouble staying asleep.
Solid! In the depression days, families were more geared toward "producing" things over just "consuming" things...............we can do it again for sure.
We periodically allow our chickens into our orchard. They fertilize the entire area and we have found less bug damage on our fruit so they must go after bug larva on the ground. Our orchard is growing like crazy. We do limit the amount of time because chicken poop has high nitrogen and that supports green growth. We don’t want more leaves than fruit. We’ve found the balance by limiting their access and the chickens just love it. We also use the chicken yard for composting. Our girls love having the job to do and they turn the compost, eat any bugs and our feed budget is less because they have as much veg and fruit to eat as they want. They add fertility to the compost as they scratch through it too. Our eggs have the orangest yolks and they are not runny like store bought eggs.
Spent my early days with Grandma Emma. She was born in 1884 and came to Oregon from Kansas city in 1892. She taught me everything I know when it comes to homelife. Emma would be proud to see young people doing these things again.
Pam here…my parents made freezer jam. They saved all the Olive jars, salsa jars or any small jars with a sealable lid on it. Cleaned well and they would seal, but to be extra safe they put in the freezer. They made gifts for the kids, grandkids, friends, neighbors….was their form of generousity.
It's best to save the savory jars for pickles as they can taint your jam with pickle flavours.
17 years ago we sold our 3000 sf home and moved to a 50' houseboat. We gave away so much of our belongings that were just "stuff". Life was very easy living with less. We now live in a 1400 sf home and live somewhat minimally. I love to hang out my clothes on the line, garden (it's my therapy), and can much of what we grow. I used to buy zip lock baggies about every month, now I buy them about once a year. I wash, hang-dry and reuse . I have a life time supply of pure beeswax candles so I've been making waxed wraps to wrap over food, bowls, etc. It's my hobby to try to reuse and save money.
If we get Chinese food occasionally, I save the little pieces of metal that form the handles on the paper containers! They are flexible and strong for times when you need a small piece of wire for something! Very handy! I also save the flip tops from Worstershire Sauce or Frank's Hot Sauce because they fit on quart vinegar bottles so you can shake rather than pour! (and other quart bottles) God Bless!
Good ideas, thanks for sharing!
I live off grid and am totally dependent on solar. Because of this, I have very few appliances in the kitchen that require electricity, so, no bread machine(or microwave)! I love to make bread by hand but it is time consuming so I found a recipe for bread that requires no kneading, everything is mixed all at one time into a container, allowed to rise for a couple hours and then can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks, not that it will last that long. When you want bread, take a lump out of the container form it into what ever shape you want, bake and eat. It is very versatile as well, you could add things to the bread to fancy it up a little. To bake, we use an outdoor barbecue or cook on the top of our wood stove by turning a large roasting pan upside down on the wood stove and turning it into an oven. We also don’t have an air conditioner and we live in a hot, dry area with low relative humidity and high elevation. I have MS and if I get hot I don’t do well. I have found that wetting a t-shirt that I am wearing helps cool my core and because we now have a regular sized fridge that runs on propane, I can have all the ice water I want!
Could you share your bread recipe? Thank you!
Great job! Very impressed with your flexibility & skills.
last year I started to make my own cheese and I'll never go back to store bought. It's better with age, and freeing knowing I have a stock and variety for every recipe. I save the plastic spinach containers to age, which protects but lets air in, and keeps some humidity in. Homemade cheese can happen in 20 minutes, mozzarella and ricotta, to extensive others, but raw milk is a true gamechanger.
I'm 53, and I've been implementing every one of these ideas, one by one, over the last four years. The pandemic really stepped up the feeling of urgency to reclaim lost self sufficiency skills, but I'd been feeling the need to do so for some time. RUclips has been a great resource for skill building, and our family of seven have all done their part together to make it all happen. I remind myself daily to remain simple in my desires for the day and hopeful for the future, and frequently stop to say a heartfelt thank you to God for helping us learn and grow. By the way, a great laundry detergent recipe I've found is cheap, easy, and isn't too harsh for my clothes or our machines. It's one fels naptha bar grated fine and blended with one cup mule team borax and one cup super washing soda. It leaves no residue, cleans beautifully, and doesn't leave our clothes too perfumey. It only takes a half teaspoon per load, so it lasts forever. Thank you for all the great tips, they only serve to reinforce my determination to continue on a self sufficient path. It has enriched our lives so very much.
I make my own too! I make BIG BATCHES to last a while. I also add baking soda, Purex crystals and sometime generic oxy clean. Works fantastic using so little!
I make my own too! I make BIG BATCHES to last a while. I also add baking soda, Purex crystals and sometime generic oxy clean. Works fantastic using so little!
Can that be used in a HE front loader washer?
You go girl
yes! I use my own homemade soap in mine@@angelasauer4644
When I was born, I had 6 great grand parents. They all were born in the 1800's. So, I was raised with all the things you mentioned, plus the added concept of always asking - how can I make that? It is amazing how much better life is once you realize you don't need much to survive, and very little more to thrive. Remember, a human made, harvested, or grew everything you buy.
Just finished canning apple sauce from free apples from my neighbour's tree. The apples looked pretty badly spotted, but most were just on the skin so easily peeled off.
My next job is to preserve the beets we grew in our garden this year. Takes a lot of work but you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour for the rest of the year.
It always tastes better too. JUst had a fresh Bowen mango from my dad's tree. Tasted absolutely delicious.
Pallets! If you can get these, you can build just about anything out of them or their pieces👍
I was lucky enough to have a close relationship with my great grandparents who grew up during the depression. My grandma always had tons of canned food and a garden. She taught me how to quilt which is a skill I have not passed down to my daughters yet. But my mom is also a sewer so I taught my daughters various sewing skills they can also can crochet blankets/hats/ etc and my middle daughter I taught some basic embroidery skills and knitting. My grandma used to make quilts and sell them as a supplement income. I made her a matching pillow and throw she was so proud of me continuing her skill that only my pillow and throw was always on her favorite recliner. She was always proud out of all the great grand kids I was the only one to learn. I have so many fond memories spending the summer with them for a few wks. Being a 100% city girl I was shocked when at about 8yrs old I discovered potatoes came out of the ground😂.
I love this! So many people look at me like I'm a space alien when I tell them I make my own. I mean I make almost everything. Btw when you bake bread, bake at least 2 loaves at a time to save time and freeze one. I make yogurt, salad dressing, soaps, body creams, facial oil, anti inflammatory cream, medicinal teas, household cleaners, bagels, all bread products, bone broth, ect... Keeping a garden is essential!!
I don’t know where or when it originated, but “the rule of halves” is a good one. Instead of using the recommended amount of something eg laundry detergent, try using half the recommended amount. If that still works, halve the amount again. If that still works, halve it again etc. until you actually find the amount that you need to use. The amount you actually need to use is probably VASTLY, VASTLY less than the recommended amount.
I had a normal sized box of laundry detergent that literally lasted seven years, because I discovered that a very small amount was enough. (My clothes are rarely stained or marked, and just need freshening up.) And yes I do wash my clothes and no my clothes do not smell!
Some time ago, I also was searching for stories on how folks made it through the great depression. I like you picked on some worth while tips and suggestions. But the takeaway I got from viewing a bunch of those videos was, none of the folks in the videos were bitter or angry , and even had a smile on their face as they described their experiences! Maybe that could be the best lesson we could learn from the greatest generation!
You don't have to buy starter pots... You can use anything, milk, juice, and yogurt containers.
I like using the large red plastic Solo cups for tomatoes with a few holes poked in the bottom for drainage. I start the tomato seeds in about an inch of soil and keep adding it as the plants grow. By the time it's warm enough outside to transplant the tomatoes they already have roots all along the buried stem which makes for sturdy plants.
Great thoughts! I began using the empty fifty-pound feed bags from the hogs and chickens on my small farm as garbage bags a year ago. It might not seem like that much of a savings, but adds up to a couple hundred bucks by year's end, and is a great way to recycle and respect the planet. Hogs + chickens= free garbage bags
We always use our old dog food bags as trash bags in our laundry/utility room, and I was surprised to realize that wasn't really a thing for many people. At least everyone uses old grocery bags for the little trash cans, right?
In NJ they do not give out plastic or paper bags anymore. I always used as my garbage bags. I looked at the prices of the boxes of kitchen bags etc. I called the local restaurant supply and paper Co and asked how much the plastic bags were. I got 1000 and a couple of pennies per bag. What a savings. I also get a carton on toilet paper delivered. This time I am adding small Sterno to my to order. That is in case we lose electricity if the grid goes down.
It's stunning to me that people in the states don't usually hang their laundry outside. I only know one person who uses a drier most often. I have never even owned a drier, and I live in quite a cold and rainy area 😊 it's an interesting cultural difference to me.
Do you end up drying your clothes indoors during the cold months? Any suggestions or tips on how to do that? I’m not used to doing that, we have a dryer and always have. How you you keep the wrinkles out?Also I notice that the clothes are not soft typically. Would love to know how.
I agree using dryers and having heating/coming in most of the year in the US just blows my mind. I'm in Australia, so the weather is generally good for drying clothes, but even when it's not, we dry the clothes inside.
Would love to hang my clothes outside in the sunshine, but due to age (86) and a small apartment, I just have to remember when I could do that
@@jenniferdruery8661I hang mine on racks over the heating vents...it dries them and puts valuable moisture in the air that we need during the dry winter months. It may not look pretty around the house for a bit but it's worth it!
@@jenniferdruery8661oh! And I either put them in the dryer for about ten minutes to get the wrinkles out or do a vinegar rinse in the washing machine. Both work very well.
My great grandparents were both children in the great depression, but has completely different experiences. My Grandfather was raised in town. His family would buy rotten potatoes and boil out the worms. My Grandmother was raised on a farm and didn't even know about the depression until high school history class.
My mother was born during the Depression and the Dust Bowl days in northern Texas. My great grandparents were farmers and three generations lived on the farm. I remember sitting on the back stoop shelling peas or snapping beans for that day’s meals. Every meal consisted of potatoes, a green vegetable and bread. Occasionally there was ham (from my great aunt’s hog farm) or chicken depending on the availability. Corn or beans added some variety. Everyone up through my parents generation had gardens and preserved food in some fashion. I’m the only one of my generation in my family to garden and preserve food. I lost my small urban home with a yard and outdoor garden to a fire three years ago and now live in a small urban condo. Unfortunately, the extreme heat and drought conditions have been disastrous on my summer patio garden. I’ve adapted by adding multiple hydroponic systems indoors. I have five closets and have converted the walk-in to a grow room. Smaller tabletop systems share the shelf with my house plants. Some of the components, like the empty frosting buckets, were free from the bakery. I grow small, compact varieties of cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and a variety of lettuces and herbs. This year I’m adding celery and zucchini , mushrooms, garlic and onions to my repertoire this year. I buy in bulk when I can and I dehydrate any excess produce. My soon has a client that barters venison and elk in exchange for estate planning services. He gave me some of the meat and I dehydrated the rest as jerky for him. I dehydrate a lot of fruit that I share with my adult children. It tastes better, is healthier and costs less than the store bought versions.
I do my own home repairs. I replaced the furniture lost in the fire with discards of quality pieces left at the dumpster. They are solid wood with great design but need a little TLC. I stabilized the wobbly legs but the finish is a bit rough. I look forward to restoring them in the near future. (After I’ve finished restoring the kitchen!). I know how to sew and crochet but I don’t do much of that these days.
With a little creativity and a willingness to learn, anyone can live a simpler, more frugal, more sustainable and healthier life, anywhere.
Very impressive! Diane in NC
Wow! That's amazing! Thank you for the inspiration!
I took time during the Covid lockdown to learn some new skills. I started making homemade cleaners, cooking daily, growing a garden etc. The lockdown was tough, but we came out the other side of it much more self sufficient…..and happier!!!!!
I save jars, pickles, salsa coconut oil jars etc. primarily for dry food storage and recently for seed saving
Baby food jars are perfect for saving seeds!
Such a fine line between saving things and clutter. I do have a button box - which I use, a collection of elastic bands, keep a set of glass jars, etc... But I've to remind myself when I've enough and that's when I've to recycle.
Please share that reminder, real loud. Stuff can run the house after awhile and years can pass quickly as the clutter grows
I only save something that I have a very specific use for and that I know when I will use it. Like you said, keeping everything that “could” be useful is just going to fill your house with trash. People often don’t realize that space is a resource too don’t waste it
I'm thinking I'll be contributing my stuff in barter at the local "country store" after the "excitement" of the next few years settles down and the rebuilding needs doing.
Also, it’s hard to be organized if you have too much stuff, so there is definitely a balance
I don't use homemade laundry detergent but I use about 1/4 the recommended amount. By the smell of people around me, they're using WAY too much detergent. My boys were hockey players and their clothes were always fresh. One other thing people did in days gone by was to live together. No shuffling off to retirement communities. Fewer couples left home. When you married, many times your spouse would move in with the family. And everyone had their tasks.
My favorite thing to do right now is to learn Herbalism so I don't have to depend on medications. I'll still go to the ER if needed. When I can afford a canner I would love to do my own canning for meats and things like that, but I know how to do water-bath canning if needed. I also have Fire Cider for when I get sick that I made. It works really well! I can't wait to have my own home so that I can do a homestead and raise chickens, have a garden for food & medicine, and raise bees. I can then try to trade with neighbors. I hate clutter so I periodically go through all my belongings to get rid of things, especially clothes that I realize I don't wear hardly at all, etc. I stopped using hairspray and gel for my hair and learned how to make herbal infused oils and I'd bought a thing of honeycomb one day and after I drained out the honey to use for later (delicious!) I rendered down the honeycomb for the beeswax. It was just a small amount but it was enough for two salves. The salve I made also with coconut butter for added Vitamin E content and I made it to where it was more soft. Used it for my skincare as well as to smooth my hair and it worked really well! I'm currently infusing more oil to make new salves. I'm on EBT/Food stamps and also use food bank every now and then so yes -- even its possible when super broke to try to be healthy.
Making long lasting candles with mostly food stamps: Buy some 6" wicks (the pencil lead size) and the 3 lb. tubs of Crisco. Put the wick in the tub upside down and snip off the silver tab. And voilá. And the grease left on the sides is WAY easier to scoop out into a glass quart canning jar to make another candle than re-melting wax. (The 6" wicks also are the perfect length for the quart jars). I use pretty paper or fabric to cover the tubs so it doesn't look like I have Crisco tubs all over the house. 😁
One addition (or addiction for me) is using vintage sewing machines - saves electricity. Treadles are great, hand cranks are also a great backup and portable, although very heavy. You don't need to take them for servicing as you can do that yourself and learn how they work at the same time.
Yeah, also something that is working after 90 years will probably work for another 50. Modern machines survive one month past the guarantee intervals so an expected lifespan of 13 months typically.
Dr. Bronner’s can be used for laundry machines :) I buy that in bulk and use it for EVERYTHING
We've been making our own laundry detergent for years. 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda and 1 bar of ivory soap grated up. Works for us.
My recipe is similar! I've been making it for years and my machines are great, no damage
What is ivory soup? I'm in Australia and maybe it goes by another name here
My recipe is similar, but with Fels Naptha instead of Ivory. My front-loader seems to like it :)
@@michellenorris211ivory soap is a brand. The marketing for it back in the day was 99 point 44. As in percent pure
@@michellenorris211 it's a name brand here in the U.S. Been around since 1879....it's white in color & free of dyes and heavy perfumes.
I started making my own laundry detergent and have been so pleased with the results. I save so much money and the ingredients are non-toxic. I have a 1:1 power mix of borax and washing soda and add 2 TBSP of this per load. I also add 1 TBSP of liquid Castile soap per load. It cleans my clothes better than the toxic fancy detergent I used before and I’ve already saved so much money.
Super! Thank you for this info! And thus doesn't harm your machine in any way as she mentioned in the video? How long have you been using this?
My mother grew up during the Depression, so she taught me a lot. I still make the bread recipe she re-created from a recipe she cut out of the newspaper in 1944. It makes 6 loaves (the original recipe made 24!), and it is the best bread ever. As a kid, I shared a room with my grandmother (my mother's mother) who also taught me Depression Era habits that I still use today. And, yes, I do save everything.
Would love to see that recipe!
@zzydny would love that bread recipe!
@@dawnnagy5282
Would you share the bread recipe?
Back then there were no credit credit cards. You paid cash or opened a tab and made monthly payments. Example - up until the day my mom passed she was so proud of her Singer sewing machine. Her and dad bought it in 1953 brand new off the Singer show room in town. They made payments for 2 years. A sewing machine was like a piece of furniture back then. I still have her machine and sew with it. Runs smoother and quieter than my 17 year old machine. During the lockdown I learned how to work on singers. I bought a 500 that I love. But I learned how to take it apart and clean it. I bought a few more that needed repairs and sold them. Now I have people asking me to keep an eye out for certain machines. I don’t work full time but this has become a side business during the lockdown. Did I make any money? Not really when you count in parts and time. But these machines have a new life and will keep humming right along.
Keep in mind that just because a can or jar says “sell by” or “best by” does NOT mean expired. If the can is not bulging, leaking or rusty, the date only means the taste & nutrients are not optimal. When a jar of something is not bulging or leaking & isn’t bubbling, cloudy or moldy, & when opened it smells good, it isn’t bad. Far too much very good food is wasted because of the misconception that there is some miraculous way of predicting that after date x, the food is no longer good or safe.
TRUE....USDA says this on their webiste
I have recently started repurposing my chicken feed bags as grocery/gift/everyday bags.
I've got a lot of chicken feed bags... I was thinking of using them for tarps to kill weeds to prep some garden beds.
@FelixTheAnimator they work great as weed controllers.
Also, I save chicken bones and skin, pork chop bones, beef bones and make my own bone broth. I preserve it for future use as well
I have been using my own laundry detergent for 37 years. Simple 3 ingredients, a bar or soap(I use my own homemade) washing soda and borax. My kids have all started using it in their own homes because they do not want the smells or other chemicals especially on their children.
I am 62 & was raised by parents that worked several jobs so that they didn’t have to do these things that their parents who grew up through the Great Depression & did all of these things! I get great satisfaction from trying these things … gardening, chickens, quail, baking bread, reusing, recycling, not throwing things away, using leaves & grass cuttings in my garden, being a good steward, etc… it puts me in mind of being with my grandparents, the older times & all of the things that I’ve grown to love & miss. Thanks!❤
My grandmother had 17 children and they survived throughout the depression. They lived off the land. And mother showed me were too find all her childhood wild eatibles. I still eat the dandelion,poke greens,wild lettuce, voilets, I freeze my poke greens for winter meals,curly dock,burdock and harvest the seeds for bread. And I've started my food forest from all of mothers food forest. The best 3 fruits are rhubarb,black raspberry,thornless black berries,elderberry and 2 trees peach and pawpaw . But this year my neighbor sprayed my rhubarb and black raspberries so rhubarb is gone and half of my black raspberries.
Th key with home made laundry cleaners is how are you washing them? If you’re washing by hand, with actual scrubbing, then soap like felsnaptha is fine. However, soaps need hand friction to release them from the fabric or it builds up over time causing smells and discoloration, and a film. Detergent is not soap. It works by dissolving the dirt in the water with very little agitation which is why it is used in washing machines. You do not want to use soap based laundry cleaners in a washing machine. This is what causes the clogging issues and dingy stinky laundry over time. Even vinegar can cause a smell to get trapped in fabric over time. There’s also the benefit of hanging clothes out in the sun, that has been lost. The sun is a natural stain reducer, deodorizer, and bacteria killer. Way more effective and useful than a drier.
Starting a garden has been the best investment that I have made for my mental health as well as growing healthy, organic food! You can't beat it! 🙌🏻💚
My mother lived during the great depression and I learned so much from her that I use today about saving and reusing. My father grew up on a farm and Mom lived in the city and she talked about that time so much as she was a young girl from a large family it empacked her life forever , Dad never said much I think it was because he lived out and they always lived of the land.
Neither of my parents finished high school because they had to go to work and help their families. They were the hardest workers I have ever known. Now I am in my 70's and I can say that each day I find that I think of my Mom and Dad and thank them from the bottom of my heart for their love and knowledge of living.
My grandmother would wash and reuse ziploc bags, we reused anything we could. Paper bags were used to cover our school books. Grandma would also dry and reused paper towels.
I just told health with a woman who is 103 years old she always told me to save every jar that use them to reprocess food into them, store gardening seeds, and even organize You're home. Plus anything that you happened to think of I don't ever get rid of glass it an expensive manufacturing item.
Learn to eat seasonally. Fruits, vegetables and even meats are not only cheaper but also more nutrients dense when they are bought in season, especially locally. Don't forget to take advantage of the preserving skills and buy extra.
Bread loaf bags from sandwich bags work well to store scallionsn carrots, celery etc. I use a hole punch to make a few holes so things don't mold quickly.
My grandparents on my dads side farmed. The depression was pretty much business as usual for them. They did not mechanize until the 50’s, but never lost money once. Their was a lot of direct marketing in their circumstance. Every year they picked up a handful of people who liked something that came from the farm, or a few things. Milk, cheese, eggs, chickens, lamb, beef, and a variety of veggies. The corn and bean products were pretty much raised for on farm use, not to be marketed. They did sell some dry beans, popcorn, blue and red field corn, sweet corn, a lot, and I mean LOT of tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans. Lima’s…
On my moms side, 3 families in 1 house, every square inch of the yard grew food. No money for coal to heat the house, and not much access to enough firewood to heat it. Just enough to feed a stove / oven for 1 burn per day. No running water with pipes to freeze. But dang it, they were happy! At my grandma’s funeral, her confirmation dress was displayed u def glass. A fancy, store bought dress. Quite the treat. Her dad found some work for a few weeks, and bought it for her. It was protected and cherished her whole life. My mom wore it for her confirmation, my oldest sister hers, and my oldest girl just wore it for her own. It’s a family treasure.
The depression forged the greatest generation. They wanted better for their kids, those kids proceeded to raise a measurably worse generation, on down the line. Very hard times will come again, and the nerd will be thinned. I’ve known this for about the past 30 years. I wasn’t wrong just because it hasn’t happened yet, the can is getting kicked further down the road, and each year, and decade we work around it instead of changing our fundamental values, the worse it will be.
If we were hacked and it collapsed the grid for just one week, 10-15% of the population would be lost. We’d be killing each other that quickly. Something harder to fix that took a month to sort out, 30%, 3 months, 50%, a year… 90%.
Society also needs the artists, comedians and mathematicians to thrive.
I feel so sad about the disunity in our country. It's no longer a virtue to treat each other as equals and with respect but, rather by race, political beliefs and income. I mourn for the way it is now and it doesn't bode well for our future as a country.
(Thanks for the comment about artists. I'm an artist. Unfortunately art becomes a luxury and unnecessary during recessions, etc. )
Great video!! I don’t bake bread as we eat less than a loaf a week. My husband is a Type 1 diabetic so we eat a lower carb diet. I grew a very large garden and only invested $30 in 2023 for over 350 cans of food and a large number of frozen items as well because I used leftover seed from prior years. I raise meat chickens and barter with a friend for eggs so I don’t have chickens to care for during the winter. I make a weekly menu with a goal of 0 cost for most weeks of the year. Our family of 2 spends less than $50 a week on groceries and sundry items. At this stage in my life I try to evaluate each and every item we have and I always keep a box in my pantry for donation items from throughout the house and garage. We are gradually narrowing down what we have and that helps me to clean our home quicker.
Granny used to save the foil wrapper from a stick of butter. She would use it to grease a pan to make cornbread. Very frugal
My mother does this, i do as well. I sispect it was just something taught in school home economics classes at one time.
Homemade washing laundry fluid, on our second 20 litre bucket full and it is so amaizing. Washing machine is doing great, one doesn’t need a huge amount per wash.
Can post the recipe if anyone would like it. 3 ingredients.
Love this video, thanks🌿🌱
Please share the recipe? Thank you!
Yes pls post the soap recipe
I would love the recipe. Thank you!
We all had better adopt being frugal, so to survive the future.
Thanks for sharing all you do.❤
My Mother saved string, rubber bands, containers and anything else useful. Canning was very important. No refrigerator, though I still have my Grandmother’s icebox. Great video!
There is a reason old houses have small closets.
Great video & tips! I stumbled on this today and really enjoyed it. My Grandmother use to save the small pieces of soap(we usually discard), collect and put them in an old, saved, mesh bag that onions/potatoes came in. She kept it under the kitchen sink and would use it to use up the small pieces of soap! I don't do that now, but always think of her when I shut off lights, turn off the water while brushing my teeth, not have the water constantly running while doing dishes, save bags to reuse etc. I live in AZ and set a bin out when it rains and collect rain water in water jugs to water my inside plants....guess Grandma still lives on in me. lol
I have used soap nuts for my laundry detergent for years and white vinegar for fabric softener. My husband is sensitive to so many chemicals.
I learned to sew when very young and made much of my own clothes. Having skills that you can use to make money with is very useful.
I just ran across your video and believe you are wise to share what is helpful for others. Thank you!
My Grandparents all lived through the great depression.... So many stories!! My Grandma on my mom"s side was the most crafty. She and grandpa had a 17 acre farm with milk cows, beef cows, chickens , and huge vegetable garden... they also had fruit orchards that included Cherrys, Peaches, apples, prunes, walnuts, filberts and a few various trees. Grandma made all the dog food for my grandpa's hunting hounds... He both hunted and went fishing on a regular basis and taught many grandkids these skills. Grandma always had fresh bread, pies and cookies ... My dad loved going to the kitchen for snacks!! :) Grandma sewed and knitted, crochet, and tatted, also made woven rugs out of everything!! Including plastic bags that in my childhood and youth were amazing for keeping mud out of the mudroom... LOL she would just hose them off when they got dirty. Love this video it really brought up memories... I am 69 so my grandparents have been gone a long time!
If you are able to reroute it, use your gray water for outdoor plants.
My Dad who grew up during the Depression said some German immigrants he knew dug a long narrow hole down into
the ground and lowered a container into the hole with a long string , which container held the family's butter
and milk to keep them cold before the family was able to buy an icebox.
Solid , practical advice. You have done your research very well .
One of the greatest things about homesteading is your work is never finished. Once one project is completed it's off to the next.
I'm 62 and alone now, me and my best friend, a 15 pound little pup who love's to chase. We keep buisy every day.
Currently we are expanding the rabitry. 6 does and two Bucks. They produce enough meat, bone broth and fertilizer to keep us going and then some.
I’m 37 and do most of these things because we live in the country. This is how I was taught from my mother and grandmother. I am blessed to live away from town so I have room to do these things. We raise a milk cow, sheep, rabbits, chickens, garden and bees. We are off grid so no reliance on someone else to give me electricity. One tip that I love- we bought a paper shredder for $25 from a thrift store and we shred all our non shiny paper and thin cardboard like cracker boxes and we use it for mulch or bedding in chicken house or bedding for baby chicks. It’s great! We try to do as much as we can without using electricity. We sundry our veggies and jerky. We dry our clothes on the line outside in summer and inside in winter. We hardly ever buy bread anymore, we just make it or go without. I buy our bulk food from Azure standard once a month and we don’t buy much of anything else during the month. We cook all our meals from scratch, and at least half of the ingredients we grew ourselves. This is just the way it should be. Thank you all for the beautiful comments, I couldn’t stop reading them. I hope more and more people start learning how to be self sufficient. We need to be, it should be our responsibility to keep ourselves and our children fed. Not someone else’s.
My parents went thru the Depression of ‘29 living in NYC. In those days there were still some farms in the city. My mom said she would go and pick beets. Potatoes, corn and cabbage. The old timers In their building taught her how to can and to ferment cabbage. They all helped each other and shared their bounty. They stood outside in food lines for milk, butter and cheese. To this day I ferment my cabbage. 5 lbs cabbage sliced thin. 3 tablespoons Himalayan salt. Mix it all by hand until the salt has wet the cabbage well. Put it firmly into quart canning jars and press down. Put it up to the top of each jar. I sometimes add chopped garlic or caraway seeds and keep them on my countertop for two weeks. Once you open the jar, place in fridge. So easy.
My grandpa was born in 1899 and my grandma in 1902. They lived in the city and were fairly well off. However, they lived more frugally than the poor of today. Yes, they very much did all the things you mentioned. They rarely ate at restaurants, just for very special occasions. Grandma canned a years worth of whatever was in season, even though she bought most of their produce. They did have a garden so in the summer they’d have fresh tomatoes, etc. They never owned more than one car at a time and took good care of it. Actually, they took good care of everything…house, furniture, clothes, tools. What they owned was quality and meant to last a lifetime not like the disposable junk of today. Even though they had money, they were thoughtful about what they bought and repaired rather than replaced. A different time, a better time.
Very little today is made to last.
It's probably why they had plenty of money!
For #2, saving everything, make sure you have an idea of what it looks like (what I’m storing, where, and how much is maximum?), how you will keep it organized, and what boundaries you will set (should I keep dented and deformed tin cans or only ones in good shape). Otherwise you will have so much clutter and mess it will affect your mental health and relationships.