I have a couple things.

Those thick rubber bands that used to come on fruit...do they still? Cut them in half or thirds to make rubber bands you can use. We use plastic shopping bags for every small garbage can in the house. Do people still use old newspaper to clean windows?

That's what I can think of now.

Sarah

I love this thread....

Both of my grandmothers cooked and baked EVERYTHING from scratch. They both had HUGE gardens, and canned everything under the sun! They raised hogs for meat, how cows for milk, butter, and meat, had chickens for eggs and meat, and ALL the men hunted and fished. They both made all of their children's clothing (my mom is the youngest of 15, and my dad is one of 6), and most of their toys were handmade as well. My maternal grandma made all the clothes for my mom's baby doll. She also had a large root cellar, where she stored her potato crops and all of her home canned foods. It was hand dug my my grandpa and uncles, into the hillside behind their house, and eventually, they built onto the house, and "connected" the house and the root cellar. They had and used oil lamps for light, and used wood and coal for heat & cooking.

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~*~ Angie~*~
Wife to Brian
SAHM to Sarah & Andy 2/11/2000

My grandma knew nothing about makeing do. She just depended on welfair

NOw my fil he was a depresson area kid and let me tell you that man could squeeze the poop out of a buffalo nickel.

I remember he had a pair of shark skin shoes he bought at a thrift store in the 70's. He had them repaired twice and by the third time he wrapped duck tape around them to hold them together and wore them as house shoes. The last time I saw them was at the front door in 1997 when he died.

Oh and he left us something in his will. Origianl stock from the coca cola company, he paid something like 2 cents a shair. I wont tell you how much it was worth but when still have the origanl ticket that they use to give you when you bought stock and its hand signed.

My mom and stepmother did the bacon grease thing. I'm pretty sure my stepmother still does. I have no idea how that tin kept it from going rancid!!!

Does anyone recall the paperdolls that were always in the McCalls magazines? I would be so excited when my mom got one of those mags and finished reading it. I also cut out the furniture from ads and pasted them to cardboard to make dollhouse furniture. A child's mind can be so creative if it needs to be, or is allowed to be.

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Make someone's heart smile today.

My dad was born during the depression and still does alot of things. He still uses the bacon grease to fry things, keeps screws, nails and whatever else he can think of in cans and jars in his garage. He has rusting out vehicles sitting around just because he might use them. He still has a huge garden that produces more than him and my Dm can use. We get alot of tomatoes and cucumbers, beets , cabbage and things that I share with the neighbor. They still buy a beef and deer hunt every fall even though they can't possibly use all that meat. Both of my parents don't get rid of clothing, plastic containers, magazines etc, sometimes it becomes a hazard. I have however convinced my DM to start getting rid of things little by little. Whenever I visit I get a trunk load of stuff and then donate what is donatable, recycle the recyclable stuff, donate the cloth after buttons are taken off to be used for quilts by the older ladies in my church. My DDs love to play with buttons so that's a plus side for me. I also have to go through there fridge and medicine cabinet and get rid of things. They had medicine in there from the early 90's .

My MIL hoards everything but I don't think it is much of a tip since she doesn't use any of it. It sits around collecting dust. My husband has tried to convince her to get rid of things but she gets very nasty.

I work in a nursing home and I talk to some of the people about the depression sometimes. One thing a lady told me is that they would burn matches and use them as eye liner and eye brow pencils. Growing their own foods and using everything was what my great grandma did. She used every part of a cow, pig or chicken. Head cheese, pickeled pigs feet, chicken feet. Then she canned the rest. When she died she had a cellar full of canned foods. My mom can name more stuff than I can. She made her own soap. She lived off her farm until she died 15 years ago. They took care of things so they would not have to be replaced. They would sew or knit things they needed and reused old clothes to make new things. My husbands grandma still reuses her tin foil and wraps, she hates to throw them away. That generation was not very wasteful at all. I remember they used newpaper in the walls to insulate their houses too.

I was reading the "Depression Era Tips" Thread located hereDepression era tips
and was thinking about some of the stuff that my grandma and grandpa still do, and that i do a lot of what they do. and i was wondering, do you any of you do a lot of the depression era things?

such as, this is what i do...
Save bacon fat (to make dog biscuits)
Save containers(for leftovers
Drying rack(i don't air dry ALL of our clothes, but pretty close)
Powdered milk (my grandma didn't do this, but i LOVE it for cooking!!)
buy cow and pig to have killed and always have meat available.


How about you guys?

__________________
My choices yesterday create my today. My choices today create my tomorrow.

I was reading the "Depression Era Tips" Thread located hereDepression era tips
and was thinking about some of the stuff that my grandma and grandpa still do, and that i do a lot of what they do. and i was wondering, do you any of you do a lot of the depression era things?

such as, this is what i do...
Save bacon fat (to make dog biscuits)
Save containers(for leftovers
Drying rack(i don't air dry ALL of our clothes, but pretty close)
Powdered milk (my grandma didn't do this, but i LOVE it for cooking!!)
buy cow and pig to have killed and always have meat available.


How about you guys?

__________________
My choices yesterday create my today. My choices today create my tomorrow.

I am 30, but I do a lot of the depression era tips. My husband was practically raised by his grandmother who died this yr at 98. She taught me how to freeze fresh veges and how to cook THE BEST green beans with bacon grease.

My grandmother taught me how to make pear preserves from our pear tree. It takes all day, but we have like 40+ jars of it by the end!

I also pick wild berries every year with my mom and grandmother. they taught me how to make berry cobbler.

I reuse margarine and cool whip containers, etc for leftovers and for my husband's lunch for work. he usually brings leftovers and the heat up fine in them!

I know there is a lot more, but I have to feed my 2 mth old baby!!!