It has been cold here with below freezing temperatures. We woke up a few days ago to this heavy frost that looked like snow.
There is so much beauty in winter and since we are doing the 1943 history study of the homefront we have learned how much electrical energy that we have wasted by trying to make our entire home a comfortable temperature in this real time that we live.
A few years ago we purchased a kerosene heater so we would have back up heat if the power went out and we are total electric here at our house. For this history study, we are using this kerosene heater for our main heat and so we have learned to dress warmer inside our home.
A basket of Thyme with frost.
With our ww2 history project, Charles has been in charge of the gasoline and fuel rationing and when we did this ww2 rationing study before we concentrated on food and not gasoline. This time we are literally doing the gasoline ration.
Charles figured out how many gallons we would be allowed and since he is a salesman in real life he would need to apply for the 1943 extra ration. In this 1943 study we decided Charles would take an occupation from 1943.
During ww2 rationing salesmen that traveled for their work, could apply for an extra gasoline ration. So I looked in the microfilms for something that would require for him to drive his personal car and have a territory to work. We decided on the occupation after reading a local 1943 ad in the paper for a Salesman.
(Jergens Lotion Company was founded by Andrew Jergens and we found an ad that read this;)
1943. The Andrew Jergens Company needs a salesman in the Albany-Dothan-Panama city area to call on drug, department and variety store trade. Many selected must have car and be willing and able to use it. This is an opportunity for a man to make a lifetime connection with a leading manufacturer and we want a man whose present home is in this territory. Man must be good on detail and the keeping of records. Replies will be confidential until after interview, so give name of present employer and complete record of your experiences in your reply. It may be two weeks after this ad appears before actual interview. Address Box "A.J." care The Eagle.
So immediately we knew that Charles has all of what is needed to qualify, especially the record keeping, so for our study, Charles is a salesman for Jergens in 1943 of course :)
Waiting for our tooth powder to arrive to go up top. Silver baby cups being used for mouthwash and rinsing because that is what we have and is safer than glass. It actually is very nice and the plastic disposable cups are gone.
We have been working all month on the setting of our home for this 1943 history study of the Homefront. When doing such a study the modern items in the home feel out of place.
This weekend I spent quite a bit of time working in the bathroom to make the bathroom look and feel more like 1943. We do not have the original bottles and packaging of items from the past but we do have a few items that we can use substitute as closely as we can.
The main thing about 1943 is we do not use plastic because plastic was not common. Plastic was beginning in the 1930s but still in the 1940s most items came in glass, tin, ceramic or paper/cardboard. We are setting our home for our real life but resembling 1943 and everything must be practical because we enjoy this era.
A toothbrush would have been bamboo or bone handles with boar bristles or possibly the new nylon bristles that were starting to be manufactured in 1938. Our toothbrushes that we are using for this study are bamboo handles with Nylon bristles and the handle is compostable.
I have spent all four weeks so far cleaning and organizing our home because this study requires us to adjust and organize. There are many benefits of doing such a study and one is the whole house gets cleaned.
I removed every item out of this bathroom and carefully thought out what could go back into the bathroom. We chose Ivory Soap for this year because it is in the 1943 newspaper and we can still purchase it today.
The shelf above the toilet looks much organized now with just the items that I could put back. This Ivory Soap sitting on the shelf pictured above, is a real bar from long ago that I purchased when we were doing our ww2 study before. The bottom left corner is a bar of Ivory from today.
Above, is an real bar of swan soap but we cannot purchase swan soap anymore because it is no longer marketed.
Since this is a history study, I want to show you what the bar looks like.
Back of the bar of soap packaging.
If we read this above we see that just like many bar soaps from long ago they were used for many types of cleaning and for bathing. We read; Grand for face, hands, bath, dishes, fine laundry, cleaning.
This has not changed today for real soap. Many of the Sudsy soaps today are synthetic soap. Real soap will suds too but for cleaning and washing dishes there is a glycerin effect in the dishwater.
This was probably a white or light tan soap long ago.
When we flip it over we see that it has been scored so it can break apart and make two bars. This is the same way the Ivory bar soap. It is sold as a large bar and breaks in the center for two bars.
We break it apart like this...
It says that it floats just like the Ivory says.
It does suds on your hands...
It does float but it barely suds in the water.
It is normal for this soap to not produce suds as the same for most any real bar soap. It will suds when rubbed but in the water like this. I have studied about soap for many years and I have purchased soap from around the world to try the soap. I can make our own soap, and I do make soap, but then I run out and will use purchased soap until I make more. Right now I need to make some more soap to grate for laundry soap.
This cleaned well despite no suds, and rinsed okay but for tackling grease it is not what we are used to with our modern dish soap.
This is why I was excited to find powdered soap as I mentioned in my blog post called Lil's diary week Jan 8 - 14 and dish soap.
It is as close to the past as I can get for powdered soap that will not have the glycerin feel to the water and has a lovely suds.
Our situation with coffee. We still have seven days to go before we can get more coffee beans and all of what we have has been ground. Charles has been having coffee in the morning and only two cups per day. He drinks a cup here at home and takes the other cup in his small thermos. We still have my ration that has not been used since I do not drink coffee. So do we use my ration? Or do we not use the ration for the troops?
There will be a second post coming with the reading of Lil's diary and ration information.
I made a short video to go with this post. Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqvYC-6yU84
Grandma Donna
