What brought about the worst economic downturn in modern history?

The Great Depression was the most severe economic decline in modern history. Sparked by the stock market crash of 1929, the depression spanned much of the world and was one of the factors leading up to World War II. It permanently changed the role that the government took in the…

This post will take you on a journey to explore the thrifty habits developed during the Great Depression, a period of significant economic hardship that left

The Great Depression was the most severe economic decline in modern history. Sparked by the stock market crash of 1929, the depression spanned much of the world and was one of the factors leading up to World War II. It permanently changed the role that the government took in the…

Nobody could tell exactly when it began and nobody could predict when it would end. At the outset, they didn’t even call it a depression. At worst it was a…

13 old-fashioned homemaking skills that are still useful for modern homemakers to learn and practice in their own homes.

This collection of pictures of the Great Depression offers a glimpse into the lives of Americans who suffered through it.

October 29th marks the anniversary of the start of The Great Depression.

In 1932-1933, at the worst point in the Great Depression years, unemployment rates in the United States reached almost 25%, with more than 11 million people looking for work. Farmers…

There are certain old-school recipes that used to be really popular, especially during the Great Depression. Here are six vintage recipes.

"Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits." ~ Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797) My daughter and I just finished reading the Seasons of the Heart series together by Janette Oke. The final book in the series, Spring's Gentle Promise landed the newly married couple right in the beginning of the Great Depression. As a result, the novel included a few gems on how women made do during the lean times. The author herself grew up as a child during the Depression Era. Perhaps these are the frugal homemaking lessons she learned from her mother. I would like to pass them down to you... inspired by the excerpts written by Janette Oke from her gentle story. Note: This was a really sweet (and often humorous) coming of age novel. It is told from the point of view of a young boy growing up an orphan on the farm with his elderly grandfather, uncle and young aunt. The set of four stories takes him all the way to manhood and with a family of his own. I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone who has not read it so I am going to remove his wife's name from the quotes and replace it with "her" and "she" in order to keep the suspense for a future reader. #1. Economize '"Anything I can do?" I could have said, "Economize. Watch each dollar. Skimp all you can." But I didn't need to say those things. I knew she would do that without me asking." ~ Janette Oke, Spring's Gentle Promise "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" was the famous mantra of the Depression Era. If we scrutinized every dollar and decision with those words in mind, we would benefit greatly. Do I really need this? Most likely you have gone thus far without it and you can continue to if your budget is breaking. The word "skimp" is rarely said in this modern culture of abundance but it is the foundation of frugal living. Make a list before you go out and buy only what you truly need. For example, if you were to purchase something in the dollar bin because it was such a "great deal" and yet you really did not NEED it, you are not practicing a frugal lifestyle. It only means you have just spent a hard earned dollar. Many dollars make up 20's and many 20's will make up hundreds! Buy groceries from bargain food outlets, look for scratch/dent specials, discounted day-old bread and marked down dairy about to expire (they are still good past the due date and whatever can not be consumed in time can be made into meals and frozen). Cook recipes with thrifty ingredients that don't require butter, eggs or milk (such as this crazy carrot cake). Accept hand-me-down clothes and shop exclusively at second hand stores, garage sales and estate sales. Cancel subscriptions to magazines, cable and the newspaper if necessary and utilize your local library instead. Invest in reusable products when possible. Consider handkerchiefs instead of tissue paper, fabric towels instead of paper towels, fabric napkins in lieu of throw-aways, cloth diapers versus disposable and cloth bags instead of paying for the store bought ones. The other aspect of economy would be services. Are you paying for things you can do yourself such as manicures, yard maintenance, gym memberships (running and jogging are free forms of exercise), making your own meals, baking your own bread and so forth? Consider budget cuts in these areas when the times are lean. Here is our guide to Prudent Living the Pretty Way. It does take willpower and work to achieve these things but your household will be significantly blessed by your efforts! "... he that gathereth by labour shall increase." ~ Proverbs 13:11b #2. Grow and Preserve Your Own Food "All summer long she fought to save her garden. With our finances as they were, it was even more important that she have produce to can or store in the nearby root cellar. Day by day she carried water by the pail and dumped it on her plants, coaxing them, imploring them to bring forth fruit." ~ Janette Oke, Spring's Gentle Promise I think this lesson is quite obvious. There is nothing more frugal than growing and preserving your own food. Freezing and dehydrating are great options if canning is not feasible. I would also like to point out that this is the only way we can afford to eat organic which is an added benefit! "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." ~ Genesis 2:15 #3. Save Your Seeds "She planted her garden too. She had carefully kept every possible seed so she wouldn't need to buy any. She even exchanged some with the neighborhood women..." ~ Janette Oke, Spring's Gentle Promise Once you have the gardening and preserving in action, it is time to take it to the next level. Seed saving is not only a thrifty step but a self-sustainable one. If you have an abundance of certain seeds, trading is a wonderful option for building up a collection. Seeds also make nice and frugal gifts (visit here for an idea)! "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. ~ Genesis 1:29 #4. Conserve "She knew better than to even start drawing water from the well. There simply wasn't enough there. She saved every bit of dishwater and wash water that was used, though, and carefully doled it out to her plants." ~ Janette Oke, Spring's Gentle Promise Learning to conserve water and energy will not only save you money, but will also prove a valuable skill during hard times. If any item is not in use, unplug it! The plug itself will leach a certain amount of energy (called energy vampires). All our electronic equipment is hooked up to a power cord and I unplug it every evening before bed to conveniently reduce consumption. Unscrew excess lightbulbs in ceiling fans during the day that are not necessary and keep all lights and fans off in rooms where no one is present. Water should not be taken for granted either. During a crisis, it may not even be available. When our well ran dry, we collected the water in the shower that got wasted as we waited for the hot water to run through the pipes (it took that for us to value this resource!). Do you wash your dishes and brush your teeth as the water runs? In the old days, baths were once a week on the evening before church and the same water was used for everyone in the home! I am not saying we all should do this but how seriously do we conserve? Do you catch rainwater? Every ounce counts as it is a precious commodity. It may be wise to re-evaluate the conservation efforts of water and energy in your home today. "Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet?" ~ Ezekiel 34:18 #5. Smaller Servings and Stretch Your Suppers "It was another of the things we had learned to do without. Coffee -- weak coffee-- was reserved for breakfast, and each of us was allowed only one cup a day... She sliced some bread and spread some of her carefully hoarded strawberry jam over it -- thinly, I might point out. She set this on the table to go with the coffee." ~ Janette Oke, Spring's Gentle Promise Stretching your provisions by adding oatmeal (or legumes) to a pound of hamburger, watering down coffee or tea, limiting your daily "cups", rationing your special foods or simply serving up smaller portions will positively impact the budget during lean times. Making large batches of soup and stews will stretch vegetables and meats and create multiple meals. Serve with filling foods such as simple muffins or biscuits. Purchase a whole chicken (it is more economical) and roast it or pressure cook it. Remove the meat from the bones and use it to prepare many meals such as chicken pot pie, chicken and dumplings, chicken casseroles, chili, chicken n' biscuits, etc. Take the remaining chicken bones and boil them for a rich, nutritious soup and/or rice base which in turn has created more meals. If you butchered the chicken yourself, the feet can be boiled into a nutrient-rich broth and even the feathers were made into bedding during the Great Depression. When living with my great aunt who grew up in that era, I found that she would take the oil that she fried her foods in and once warm, she would filter it back into a clean bottle. This oil would be used again and again in her cooking (for safety, give it a 3-month shelf life). Serving your food on a smaller plate will give you the sense of abundance when a reduction is in order. Cutting toast into triangles also helps with the bountiful table image. Serve water with meals, iced/hot teas or herbal tisanes for frugal beverage options (mint is easy to grow and is a very healthy, tasty drink). I would also like to add something about children's servings. I notice that so much is placed on their plates and 3/4 of it gets thrown away (it grieves me so!). There is no shame in starting off with smaller portions. They can always ask for more! But to give them so much and then to dismiss them from the remains is a grave amount of waste. And finally, don't forget to save your food scraps! Vegetable scraps can be boiled down into a tasty stock which can be drunk as a healthy, hot, beverage in the winter or used as a base for rice, soups and stews. The scraps can also be fed to chickens or composted. Fruit scraps are especially fun to work with and can be made into many useful household products! Remember, "waste not, want not." "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." ~ John 6:12b #6. Seek Comfort in the Psalms "I took my Bible and began to leaf through it, looking for some kind of comfort in its pages. I read a number of Psalms and they helped..." ~ Janette Oke, Spring's Gentle Promise Many sad souls turn to the bottle during hardships which brings them into deeper debt and despair but the believer drinks in the Living Water. The Word of God is free comfort food for the soul! Whenever challenging times come, the Almighty has provided us with promises to sooth our sorrows (some may fulfill in your lifetime while others may fulfill in the eternal life to come). When in need, go to the Psalms. Whatever distress, hopelessness or agonizing trials, you will find solace from every affliction in those pages. This is what has kept the faithful homemaker's of the past afloat when they felt like they were drowning in heartache. "My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." ~ Psalm 73:26 Thank you for taking the time to visit here today -- Part 2 is shared HERE. If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in Titus 2 Homemaking Lessons Inspired by Jane Austen and Titus 2 Encouragement Inspired by Louisa May Alcott. Have a lovely week and happy frugal homemaking to you! SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave SaveArt of Home-Making Mondays All the fine print. This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Good Morning Mondays, The Scoop, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop, Wow Us Wednesdays, Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, Awesome Life Friday Link Up and Create, Bake, Grow & Gather. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these. This post may contain affiliate links (which are merchant links that help to support this site at no additional cost to you if you purchase an item through them).

Are there any frugal living tips from the great depression that you can still use today?The depression era was a long time ago so perhaps you are thinking those…

This collection of pictures of the Great Depression offers a glimpse into the lives of Americans who suffered through it.

Nobody could tell exactly when it began and nobody could predict when it would end. At the outset, they didn’t even call it a depression. At worst it was a…

Learn about the historical background of the Great Depression and how families survived through frugality and food consciousness.

October 29th marks the anniversary of the start of The Great Depression.

The thirties undoubtedly was one of the most ‘active’ decades of the last century, and certainly, the one with some of the most exciting events unfolding.

Have you ever considered what life was like for housewives in the 1930s? How did these women care for their families in the midst of great difficulties?

Learn about the historical background of the Great Depression and how families survived through frugality and food consciousness.

5 Lessons from Life in the Great Depression - Childhood stories from my mother pass on simple lessons that are still valuable today.

Many comparisons have been drawn between the current state of the U.S. economy and the Great Depression, but do we really know what happened? Today on Eggstack, we go back 90 years Continue reading

October 29th marks the anniversary of the start of The Great Depression.

Looking to the past can teach us a great deal about the future. Check out these 8 Life Lessons Learned from The Great Depression.

If you think we're living through tough times with a bad economy, it's nothing compared to what people lived through during the great depression.

This collection of pictures of the Great Depression offers a glimpse into the lives of Americans who suffered through it.

Hoover Stew was a standard main meal for many during the Great Depression. It used simple and affordable ingredients and was easy to make.

These photographs show a glimpse of what times were like during the 1930's in Oklahoma.

Some economists claim that it’s the best time to be alive. People have access to everything they want and happiness comes at the push of a button, or more accurately the tap of a touch screen.

Who doesn’t like to dance? It’s a great way to express yourself, have some fun, and burn some calories at the same time. Every era has different dance

Article 1: The Great Depression: What We Can Learn from History

Photographer Russell Lee captured rare moments of hardship and joy within the migrant farmer communities that were devastated by the Great Depression and formed refugee communities.

The Ghosts of the Past: Navigating Economic Turmoil through the Lessons of the Great Depression

October 29th marks the anniversary of the start of The Great Depression.

October 29th marks the anniversary of the start of The Great Depression.

Life can be tough nowadays, but most of us are lucky enough to have never known true hardship: the type that our grandparents and great grandparents faced during the years of the Great Depression. But

Do I think currency devaluations will happen in any significant way in the next few years? It is not my highest probability scenario. But imagine a recession that brings the US deficit to $2 trillion, possibly followed by a governmental change that raises taxes and spending.

Some of the most iconic images of the Great Depression were the migrant mother photos of a woman named Florence Thompson, taken by Dorothea Lange. While one picture was famous, there were several other shots taken at the same time. See them here!

Below are images and their description of the Great Depression by renowned photographer of the time, Dorothea Lange (above).

These pictures of the Great Depression in Canada show the pain and desperation of soup kitchens, relief camps, protest marches and drought.

It was the biggest setback to the global economy since the dawn of the modern industrial age. But did the world’s reaction worsen the effects of the 1929 Crash? And have we learned from those mistakes?

Business cycle (economic or stock market cycle) has fluctuations in economic output. Well known cycle phases are recession, depression, recovery, and expansion

The Great Depression is known as one of the hardest times for migrants and settlers in...

Nobody could tell exactly when it began and nobody could predict when it would end. At the outset, they didn’t even call it a depression. At worst it was a…