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Thank you so much for takythe time and putting forth the effort to share these encouraging posts

I always enjoy your posts. I grew up in the Appalachian Mts and have many of the same memories you have… one thing we always did at great-grandma’s was “go for a walk” of the evening after dinner. We would walk the farm and pick wildflowers or herbs, collect an interesting bit of twigs, gather broom sage to make a broom, or watch nature. Sometimes we’d gather wild fruits for a pie. Then we’d sit on the porch “and watch the cars” which meant seeing what the neighbors were doing. If she’d churned, we’d have fresh buttermilk with cornbread for a bedtime snack. It was magical. 

I am enjoying these daily posts.

I had four great aunts who were a real treasure.  One always said that people make their own trouble by not thinking of the consequences.  How right she was!   My Mom had a microwave oven in her kitchen but rarely used it to cook.  Everyone knew that there were yummy things in there and often came in the door and right there to see what was inside.  There was anything from a cake to cookies to a cinnamon roll leftover.  I miss that now that she is gone.  

Once you get back to cooking from scratch you realize how we have been duped into thinking those convenience foods are good.  Real food takes little time if you are used to making it and you have a stocked pantry.   Visitors in our home are often amazed at how quickly a meal can be put on the table with so little effort.  We need to be passing this along to the younger generation.

I saw the first hummingbird of the year today. The columbines in my little front flower garden began blooming a couple of days ago, and here come the hummingbirds! Our Easter bouquet this year was a tiny vase filled with lilies of the valley from that same little flower garden. I love old-fashioned flowers. Outside my kitchen window we put up a trellis and planted a lavender clematis. It's taken four years for it to climb up the trellis far enough to reach the window, but I was patient and it finally made it. Now I get to see clematis blooms smiling at me. :) I planted one hollyhock last year and when it died, we cut up the stalks and put them in the compost pile. We put the compost all around the yard and garden this spring, and hollyhocks are coming up everywhere! 

I am so glad we have each other on this journey to remember a simpler time. Grandma Donna makes me think of a hen with her wings over all the chicks to protect them. 

Aw, I love seeing the kitties!  We share our home with two dogs but without cats because my husband is allergic.  I grew up with cats and do love them.

I go back and forth on being more or less frugal.  I had a few less frugal months where I was thrift shopping and buying some things on eBay (and even bought some new fabric), but more recently I felt the desire to stop even buying used things.  I am glad to have bought many yards of second hand fabric at the thrift store.  But mostly I want to use what I have and not buy things.  I have books to read, fabric to sew with, yarn to knit and crochet with, floss to embroider with, etc.  I’ve hit an age where I realize I don’t really need much at all, and not needing much means we can save more money to be a cushion against home and car repairs, retirement when it comes, and to help out our young adult children as they struggle to make ends meet in this economy (one of them lives at home with us to better stretch his dollars).

We haven’t had a clothes dryer for nearly 2 years now, and not once in that time did we resort to going to a laundromat to use a dryer.  Hanging our laundry has become our norm now, rather than something we only did for certain loads.  Sometimes I have to hang clothes inside the house if I miss-time the weather!  I bought a vintage rack for $5 at the thrift store that hangs on the back of a door and can hold quite a bit of laundry if it is smaller items.  I like this because even in a full week of wet weather I can wash a full load of cleaning towels and such and hang it inside the house.  This might seem like a small thing, choosing not to replace a broken and irreparable clothes dryer and hanging our laundry instead, but to me it is a declaration that we can do without some of the things we’ve been conditioned to think of as necessary.

That has really sparked our creativity in repairing and mending items and figuring out work arounds.  DH already was able to do things like replace a pump in a washing machine, but now we are really trying to find DIY solutions.  I found out my sewing machine has a mending stitch it does with the buttonhole foot and mended a tear in a fitted sheet!  DH replaced a broken running light on our campervan (and when he did he realized the original lights were not LEDs and he is planning to replace the rest of them soon).  He just needed tools, a ladder, the replacement light, and a little knowledge of wiring.  The RV place charges $120 per hour for labor with a one hour minimum.

For a long time we have been out of step with what is common for our generation and the culture of the United States.  We paid off our mortgage and paid cash for our last three cars.  We don’t go into debt for anything anymore.  People look at us and think we don’t live up to our income, but really I think we do — we just don’t live a life that requires debt.  I think our culture makes people overestimate what their income should be able to provide, because debt is considered normal now.

Thank you for keeping up with posting! I do not have many memories of 'what happened during the Depression' although my parents were teenagers during that time. My grandmother was born in 1901 so lived through it all but she came from a more affluent family so I am not sure how much it affected her. My parents just kept going with what they had learned and I recently saw a post of what people ate during that time period and I grew up eating all of that! My husband and I both retired 6 months ago and have been very busy getting our home in order. I would argue that we are experiencing a depression economy in our country and it would be obvious if all the 'props' holding it up were gone, such as EBT cards, credit cards, etc. We are concentrating on organizing, repairing, and getting our garden in. I have always grown food, but now it is very intentional. I was grocery shopping today and saw spiral hams on sale for 75 cents lb and chicken quarters for 65 cents lb. I stocked up along with another woman about my age but noticed so many women with babies in buggies roll right on by us. I was nosy and peaked into their carts and mostly what I saw was what I call pre-made food. It is no wonder they are struggling with their food budget. I am rooting for you and Charles to do the Depression era. I have learned so much from you both and thank you for taking the time to share with all of us. God bless you.

I am so enjoying your daily postings. They are so calming. I agree, totally, that most of the "improvements," have ruined our lives. People are more stressed and angrier than I ever thought they could be. We had an outage here of the internet supplier and the cell phone carrier; both at the same time. It didn't bother me, but some people were going crazy. It lasted ten hours; mostly, throughout the night, so little inconvenience to the ones screaming. People would go more insane than they already are if the entire grid collapsed. It is so nice to read your articles each day, Donna. You are a blessing.

Thank you Grandma Donna, for everything you write.

I have been in a stew since November, I just feel like I could see the writing on the wall and wanted to get ahead of as much as I could.  

It's the property taxes and so many other utility bills that make me a bit worried. I can do without TV but do enjoy watching the old shows and old movies, I can hand wash and line dry anything but I have an electric pump. Just trying to conserve as much power as possible. I have a wood stove but have to buy wood. It is still cheaper than running the propane furnace. So many things to think about. 

This year I will be looking for materials to make window quilts for the windows, I have curtains but window quilts will cut the extreme cold from radiating thru the glass...they are triple paned, but window quilts will help.

I planned this years garden in November, part of it is planted. Nothing is up yet but it is early days. 

I have been living the old ways for so long it seems normal to me. I do love it.

Cleaning and prepping for summer around here, doing home maintenance, keeping my vehicle maintained and doing my yard and garden work. It takes me longer to get things done than if I hired it out but I have time, not as much strength as I used to have but it gets done eventually.

I feel this summer will be a lot of time and family activities at home because of the expense of going anywhere. I don't mind as home feels best to me.

I have a parked camper that we use to gather around in the back acre and we have hot dog roasts/cook outs and the grands like to use it as a play house. If push comes to shove it could be lived in, not saying it would be great but it would be better than nothing.

I know I need to keep going but sometimes all of this thinking ahead makes my brain hurt LOL

JC

Theres a saying "a stitch in time saves nine"

Well I have a top I love to wear and I can tell you the neck that needing fixing was way past "nine" stitches . This morning I got it out, pinned the neck area that needed fixing and hand sewed it and wallah... All fixed like new. The hand sewing was peaceful and therapeutic. While doing it I watched/listened to Kirsty Allsopp on YouTube. She has programmes on restoration, recycle, reuse and also Kirsty's Homemade Christmas  special programmes that are so delightful to watch and cover crafting, cooking, sewing.

In the town we live near all OpShops( Thrift) have been refusing new donations of used clothing, household items. They're overloaded by cheaply made clothing out of poorly man made fabrics. Much is going into landfill

I am loving these daily posts- they are so reaffirming as to how we are getting by these days - and feeling good about it!! Thank you for all your inspiration and recalls of how things were done earlier in time. Although I'm younger than depression era, I do think back to my early “own apartment” days right out of  college: the tv had rabbit ears and the phone was a landline. No bills for cable tv, internet or cell phone. o much simpler and cheaper.  

I'm enjoying these daily updates Donna :) - thankyou! I too love gladiolas. I've managed to kill quite a few bulbs though...sigh..maybe it was the weather? I have a little garden account and accounts for all other categories at the bank and it is such a blessing to know I always have the money there for things that we need. Saving bit by bit makes it easier. You inspired me to be this way !! (thanks) !

We are also trying to be thrifty here at our little home. We have an old shed where the piles had gone on one side and it looked very saggy and sad. I think many people would have pulled it down...but my husband just repaired the whole thing ! I was so proud of him. We don't actually have a garage, so that shed is essential for storing a lot of things.

Also I wanted to share a few good You Tube channels (if that's ok), that cook/garden from scratch, which I thought would fit in here. 1. Homegrown Handgathered, 2. From Scratch Farmstead, 3. Early American, 4. Frontier Patriot  (the last two sort of go together). I have gleaned some good ideas from these channels.

I agree with other comments, we are living in uncertain times, and its good to live simply. I'm keeping our meals very basic and not wasting a single thing !! 

Many blessings ~ Linda

I've been interested in sewing my own clothes for a while and had started a bit a couple years ago, but it is difficult for me to find enough time in a row to learn. I have very basic skills that I want to improve. I have made it more of a priority this year and I am making progress! I wear dresses I've seen myself at least a couple of days each week. I work full-time but remote, so I figure it's a good time to learn. I can put on the standard work clothes if I have to go in to the office. 

My main motivation, other than just wanting to know how to do everything myself, is that comfortable, well made clothes in decent fabrics are simply not available at a price I'm willing to pay. I have bought notions and thread at thrift stores, and a few clothing items that I'm hoping to remake into something else. A great find a couple of weeks ago was a silk skirt, at least twice as big as my size (and I'm not small!) Not sure what it will become, but that's a lot of silk for $2.50. 

I have purchased wonderful fabric online that is pre-owned. There are at least several retailers that do this. It's fabric that other people bought and never used, or their excess leftover. The great thing is that it's often older, which typically means better quality. You do have to choose from whatever they have in at a given time but that's kind of fun. The one I've bought from several times is called Swanson's. 

Now I just need to keep learning. There are a number of women on YouTube who teach how to make basic patterns and adjust existing patterns. Fortunately I like very simple styles. 

On the garden front, our two blueberry bushes have so many berries and they are starting to ripen! By the weekend I might have enough for a small pie. Cherry tomato plants are small but producing pretty steadily, and hydroponic lettuce keeps going. Lots of squash plants of various types and have gotten some, but the pests and fungi are getting quite a few. (We are in Florida.) My husband spends a lot of time watering and such, we've had hardly any rain in a while. 

Thank you Grandma Donna for the time you spend creating your posts and being willing to share. You have such a gift for creating calm with your words and are very encouraging. So much appreciated.

Grandma Donna, your garden is looking so beautiful and productive. I really like the paths. I hadn't realised your new fencing was homemade. Your husband does such a marvellous job building things for your home and garden. The gladiolus are very lovely and old-fashioned. I haven't seen any in gardens here in Australia for a long time.

When I was at school, uniforms were very expensive and we always purchased second hand. They would often have seams that could be let out, particularly the bottom hem of the skirts and dresses. The uniforms would fade in the sun on the clothesline and when you let the hem down, the newly revealed extra length would often be a much brighter shade. Still like new! 

I have never owned a dryer. We have a rotary clothes line which is probably nearly as old as me. When it rains I use a clothes rack upstairs and hang coat hangers all over the house to accommodate the washing. It gets the job done.

I've been using eucalyptus oil at home for cleaning and disinfecting. I've been using a capful of eucalyptus oil in the wash with the dogs bedding and then hanging it in the sun to dry. It leaves everything smelling fresh and clean. I use it to mop my floors, clean counters and sinks, remove stains and to spray on bedding. 

I really worry about the stress my children are under with the cost of living and affording to buy a home. We try to help them where we can.

Your dinner of Mac cheese, hotdogs and vegetables is fantastic. There are so many things you can make with a base of mac cheese. 

My favourite memories of visiting family were firstly hoping they would be there, because we didn't have phones. I also used to be really excited thinking about what flavour cordial they might have. It was  always a big disappointment if they only had sarsaparilla. Food wise, my favourite lunch when visiting was ham and tomato sandwiches on fresh white bread with real butter. I thought they were luxury! My mother only bought margarine at home and cheap luncheon meat as we were poor. 

Stephanie G., how wonderful to have volunteer hollyhocks. I've got some crimson hollyhocks coming up at the moment. I hope at least one does well.

Karen, I agree that we would have a much picture of the economy if people couldn’t use credit for things like groceries, doctors and prescriptions, property taxes, etc.  We wouldn’t even have to take away social programs to see how bad it is.  We always hear how affluent Americans are but I think so much of it is because of the deep debt people are in.  We are in an economy that favors corporation over people and it doesn’t even matter what side of the political divide a person is on, a country that is “successful” because its citizens (which it now refers to mostly as “consumers”) are deeply in debt is a country in trouble.  Yes, we’ve lost many skills and have become accustomed to convenience, but this is because it is what’s best for corporations.  When you lower wages and eliminate the living wage, families with two parents have to send them both out to work just to pay the bills (if that).  Single parents have it even harder.  How will those people have time to learn to cook from scratch, especially in a country where they’ve been told that convenience foods will make their lives easier?  It takes either a measure of affluence to have the time, or it takes having had a strong ancestral background in passing along the skills.  I was fortunate that my husband’s income covered our expenses, probably because we knew how to live below our means.  I didn’t learn cooking or baking skills from my parents or grandparents, but I had time.  I didn’t learn to mend and sew or to knit and crochet from them.  Luckily I did learn to thrift and make do.  But those younger women you saw in the store bypassing the sale meats?  Maybe they don’t have the time to learn to cook the chicken, or time to look up recipes.  Maybe they don’t know how to heat a ham and use it in many dishes.  Maybe they’ve bought sale meats before and had them go bad in the refrigerator because they didn’t have time.  Maybe they wouldn’t struggle with the food budget if childcare was more affordable.  I don’t like to blame people for living the way this culture has taught them to live, because I think it takes a lot to break away.  

I love your gladiolus. My grandmother had a large garden of them and I planted 12 bulbs this year. They are growing and I can’t wait for them to bloom.

I don’t know how widespread this is but in some counties in my state, outside clotheslines are banned. I’m lucky to have a big glassed in porch. I forgot who said it, but yes, dryers shorten the life of your clothes. That’s what all the lint in your dryer filter is. My friend and I had matching sweatshirts. I used a dryer, she did not. One day we both wore them and hers looked brand new while mine was all faded. 
 
As always, thank you for the daily posts 

Oh this is so true!  Our “TV’ was actually DH’s computer monitor hooked up to a VCR a friend gave us.  Not only was the phone a landline, but calling my mother 30 miles away was a toll call and with both of us low income we didn’t talk on the phone much.  The apartment had solar hot water so we only paid rent and electricity (water/trash/sewer were part of the rent price, I’m sure).  No cable bill, no cell phone bill, no streaming services and their bills, no internet bill, no gym memberships.  Our grocery budget was $80 - $100 per month and that was everything from one store — food, toiletries, cleaners.  And it was simpler too, we would just shop at one grocery store and not at other kinds of stores.  There were fewer things pulling on our attention too — TV shows would have reruns and daytime TV was kind of boring.  No websites to visit, no YouTube, no social media, no apps.  We’d wake up to an alarm clock and not have a phone to start staring at right away

Community is such a wonderful thing whether it’s family or otherwise. One thing that came to mind as I was reading was they were happy without spending money.  We’ve been sold the idea of having something new will make us happy. We don’t need more things we just need someone to share our smiles with to be happy ???? 

I like the peek week so far 

Thank you for another thoughtful post, Grandma Donna. "become who they learn from..."

Reading the posts, I can hear that many people are concerned about the younger generations and the pressures on their time and money.

My source of hope is that our example stays in the back of our children's minds, ready to draw on when needed.

My eldest daughter recently told me that, while growing up she often wished she had the latest this or that, or that we went out for dinner more often as a family, or whatever. 

I was a "stay at home Mum", which was not the norm where we live. We didn't spend a lot of money.

But she's now appreciative and is able to draw on that upbringing to make her own life full of beauty and fun, but within modest means. And get friends interested too! A big group of them had a Pot Luck lunch at Easter, and she came around to look at my collection of cake tins as she's planning to bake a special cake for her boyfriend's birthday.

These young people have not grown up in a bit of a Golden Age, as I feel I did as a child of the 1970s. Here in Australia, as elsewhere, housing and the cost of living are real concerns now. But they're happy to do more with less, to share resources ... I feel like they will somehow be OK.