Yes, we are moving up to the year "1948".
As some of you know we have been doing a one year history project living as they did in 1943. We have been at this 8 months now. We have stalled out because we are doing the same things over and over because we can only simulate the rationing as much as we can read about. We have read and talked with many people and what we found out is that quite a few families moved in together during ww2 for several reasons. Men going off to war leaving the women behind and also a housing shortage, the need to combine efforts and simple life was quite a bit different back then where families could pool their ration stamps. They could not share them but they could go together and combine their food.
We cannot do that and we feel we are not really eating as they did because we do not know what was not available, what the shortages were.
We have learned so much from living like 1943 for 8 months. We have cut back on so many things I cannot remember to put it all into words. Our gasoline rationing, electrical rationing, our victory garden, our sugar, coffee and meat rationing. No television, no clothes dryer, no hair conditioner. My husband riding his bike to the store.
We have enjoyed our 1943 experiences but we are advancing to 1948 for a reason. We want to stay in the 1940's because we like it in this era.
We will have a few extras in 1948
1948 ad for a Bendix clothes dryer. Granted, there were most likely not many around but we could possibly have afforded one. And if I need to use the clothes dryer due to illness or constant rain I would have an option. I like using our clothesline but now I have a new option.
If I wanted to use the dishwasher I could do so even though I am very comfortable with my hand washing dishes but if there was a reason needed I could use the dishwasher.
Just a peak at the new cars.....
They were now manufacturing and selling window air conditioners as well as television. I do not have pictures for those but I have done the research. I also realize that just because they were sold did not mean many people had them back in 1948 and even if you had a television there were not many television stations to receive a signal. Most stations anywhere around us did not come about until 1954/55.
What we were doing with our television this past 8 months? We had a curtain over it and on Friday nights we go to the movie as they did in 1940s only we pulled our curtain back and plug the television in and used our dvd to play a movie. We made popcorn and really enjoy our movies.
So about our move to 1948......
hummmm.... wool velvet rugs now at the store :)
We have been doing some research and have learned that grease was still being sold back to the grocery store so the government could purchase it from the grocer. They are even recommending that the housewife skim the top off of the gravy to save the small amount of grease on the top. There was a very big need for the grease in 1948 because of manufacturing and low supplies.
Also even though rationing had stopped in the usa in 1948 there were still food shortages and they had eggless Thursdays, Poultryless Thursdays and meatless Tuesdays. The Poultryless Tuesdays had stopped in November 1947 and the Eggless Thursdays were stopping the first part of 1948 due to an increase of egg laying. But the government started back up the machines to print new ration stamps for meat if necessary as a serious meat shortage was possibly looming for the spring of 1948. So meatless Tuesdays were going to continue. So we still have some rationing to do only without stamps.
We are reading the daily newspaper from our town in 1948 so we know what is going on during that time. We know what movies are being shown at the theater this week even though that theater does not exist anymore and new theaters were built. We read the radio schedule for the week, we know what is on sale at the grocery store, we know that there is a shortage on sewing machines and that sewing classes are backed up because so many women want to sew due to the high cost of ready made goods.
If you are interested in doing this kind of research search your public library research room to see if they have microfilms.
Hemlines have gone back down because the government is no longer asking for less material to be used in clothing. Also we learned that our town is considering dial up telephones. Right now in 1948 in our town when you make a call you pick up the phone and an operator will ask what number you want to call. If you need to call the grocer you would tell the operator number 1426 or a family member might be a three digit number and the operator would plug the connector to that number. So they had telephones but quite different than ours.
1948 could be a interesting year, I feel it will be more familiar and it will be interesting to read the daily paper and get to know the community as it was during that time. Our home will be much the same and we will be living in a more sensible time, still slower paced but we will have a few new bonus items, especially wanted is the window air conditioning. We will continue our victory garden because those were still encouraged. I am excited to start our new year. Grandma Donna
