The Great Depression

[2BNTV]

I thought it might be interesting to note what lingering effect the great depression had on your parents.

I remember my mom still straightening out aluminum foil to be reused.

When I asked why she was doing this as we weren't poor, she replied, "shut-up, you didn't have to stand out in the cold for four hours to get a block of cheese".

What memories do you have?

[Bill-n-Brillo]

If something was "fixable", my dad would take a stab at it. When the pockets in his trousers would eventually wear thin on the inside, he'd patch them up with some tape. When the soles of his shoes would wear through, he'd go to Woolworth's and buy some stick-on shoe soles.

First car I ever had......first day I had it...............................I got in a wreck. Nice. The entire left side of the car got banged up. The at-fault party's insurance paid $60 for the claim - old car.....that we'd only paid $50 for. :) But it definitely needed fixed. Body shop? "We don't need no stinkin' body shop"!!! Lots of hammering, pounding, and Bondo later and the thing looked like - - - - - - - well - - - - it looked like my dad hammered and pounded and Bondo'd the car all up! Then he painted the entire car with enamel using.......(wait for it).........a brush! :shocked: Actually, the paint job looked pretty good. He and I always joked that the side of the car looked like a waffle after it was all said and done.

Not being critical at all of my father - he was a great person and my best friend once I grew into adulthood. He was my Best Man when Sandy and I got married. But experiences in his past - The Great Depression, WWII, etc. - drove a lot of his mentality about being frugal.

Bill :)

[blue72]

GREAT STORY
Thank you Bill.

[Ecuadog]

About the only thing that carried over to our generation was "the clean-plate club." We weren't allowed to leave anything on our plates.

[2BNTV]

About the only thing that carried over to our generation was "the clean-plate club." We weren't allowed to leave anything on our plates.

I like "the clean plate club". I wish I belong to "I wish I had a hundred dollars for every time I heard club", you know how many people are starving in the world?, when you tried to leave food on your plate.

[DDoug]

When I was a kid we lived on a farm raised our oun food only had meat on sunday and that was chicken. Couldnt kill off the chickens to fast wouldnt have any eggs and for get the cows no milk so we eat a lot of vegs. Went to work in the garden at 5 years old. (5 acer garden) My parents didnt have much and held on to everything they got. My dad would tell stories of emptying a coal rail car for a dollar just to help buy food,him and another man.Wonder if it could go back to that, if our money becomes waste paper. Read about what happened in Germany after the first world war that would scare anyone. The young people today have never seen hard hard times and dont understand what could happen. I hope some how the world gets it back together. We sure are lucky today. So far

[sueandskip]

My father never talked about it ,but my grandfather had told me stories of his life during the BIG D ! Growing there own vegetables , shareing food with neighbors, mending there clothes, going without dinner so the kids could eat, medicine was unheard of except for home remedies, walking down the railroad tracks picking up coal that fell off so they could cook and maybe heat the house a little....but till the day he died he never had another bank account....

[jblum315]

I was born just before World War II. My father owned a general store in rural Virginia. He still had "due bills" in ledgers from the Depression and he never tried to collect on them or cut those people off because they were still poor as dirt. I remember the ration books during the war and my thrifty Mom became even thriftier. Everything was recycled to make do - paper bags, aluminum foil (they called it tinfoil), clothing was patched up or made into quilts, Bell canning jars were used over and over again.

[justjim]

My Mom mixed bread crumbs with hamburger to make it go further. She said thats what they had to do during the depression. She said they had many meals without any meat and lots of beans and potatoes. One of my favorite meals, is ham & beans with fried corn bread. I was an older teenager before I had a burger without bread mixed in it. I thought that was the way a burger was suppose to taste. Mom & Dad always had a big garden with lots of vegetables. I remember my grandmother growing and cultivating a big garden way into her 80's and she "canned" so she had vegetables during the winter months. When my wife and I went to visit, she loaded us up with fresh vegetables during the summer and canned "stuff" during the winter. Those were the good ol' days!

[CaptJohn]

I like "the clean plate club". I wish I belong to "I wish I had a hundred dollars for every time I heard club", you know how many people are starving in the world?, when you tried to leave food on your plate.

I heard that a lot also.
My father said they would move to a different house if they could save 50 cents per month on rent.
My Grandfather on Mother's side did a lot of hunting so meat and fowl was plentiful for them.

[marennorge]

When my father was in high school during the Depression, he trapped muskrats and sold the pelts for 25 cents each. This was in southeastern Massachusetts, not the wilderness woods someplace. But during the 50s, I can remember smoothing out and saving Christmas paper wrap and ribbon, and we weren't poor so that probably was a carry-over from their younger years.

[mrfixit]

......I remember being told.......( In the Early 50's )

.............................Use it up...
..................................Wear it out...
.......................................Make it do...
...........................................Or do without....

Carryover from WWII............

[NIPAS K-9]

Bill txs for sharing that with us.

[Lbmb24101]

Not depression stories, but we left Cuba in the 1960's and we went without a lot for a while.....my grandmother would not throw away plastic egg containers because they could store luttle things....our first xmas out of Cuba our dining table was a door dad unhinched from a room, and the xmas tree was a small tree cut from the yard.
In communist Cuba dad spent a day in jail for having bought food for us in the black market.
I could tell stories...

[hockyb]

I still "paste" what is left of a bar of soap together, so it will be completely used. Soap is harder these days. Remember the "soap saver" we used in the dishpan. And we hung out our clothes to dry. Can you imagine the furror that would cause in TV.

My dad would have the coal dumped in the ditch, by the house. The coal man, Wes Wandell, would leave the chute for us to shovel the coal in the bin. When we were done, we would carry the chute a block and leave it at Wes' house. As I recall it cost $.25/ton to have it shoveled in the bin and we saved $.50.

My dad was principal of a grade school in Curtisville, PA (Allegheny County) and was required to return part of his salary to the board. Think this was circa 1936. (Can you imagine what the teachers union would do today). He understood the need and was glad to have the job. In the summer he worked on a farm or sold Hoover vacuum cleaners.

[Wayne_TN]

My dad's family lost their farm in the depression. When I cleaned our his garage after he died, i found 30 or so gallon milk jugs he was saving in case he wanted them for used motor oil, etc, but the one that really made an impression on me was the one that had written on it "This one has a hole in it." (but he saved it anyway...)

[borjo]

Good thread. It brings tears to my eyes. We had chickens in town for the eggs and meat. got them as babies at Easter when they colored them. Most were roosters though and did they fight!

[BarryRX]

What a great thread. Living through the depression affected our parents in some profound ways. My Mom grew up dirt poor in Brooklyn. Even though my Mom and Dad were fairly well off after WWII, they just could not bring themselves to spend money on luxuries. For years my Mom wouldn't let my Dad get a Cadillac. She said people would not like us and probably charge us more money because we were rich. She also could not eat anything with raisins in it. She said it reminded her of when she was a child and her food would sometimes have bugs in it. Her family was often evicted and she remembers coming home from school to find all the furniture from the apartment out on the street. I just can't imagine the things that forged the person she became.

[2BNTV]

I remember putting cardboard in my shoes because they had holes in them. :eek:

[kentucky blue]

What a great thread. Living through the depression affected our parents in some profound ways. My Mom grew up dirt poor in Brooklyn. Even though my Mom and Dad were fairly well off after WWII, they just could not bring themselves to spend money on luxuries. For years my Mom wouldn't let my Dad get a Cadillac. She said people would not like us and probably charge us more money because we were rich. She also could not eat anything with raisins in it. She said it reminded her of when she was a child and her food would sometimes have bugs in it. Her family was often evicted and she remembers coming home from school to find all the furniture from the apartment out on the street. I just can't imagine the things that forged the person she became.

My mom and dad have invested very well,but the Great Depression is ingrained in every fiber of her body.She still clips coupons,always looking for sales,and buys in bulk to save money.Last time i was home she gave me a shopping list for 2 different grocery stores so she could get the best prices at each store. This is the same woman who is extremely generous with family and friends, and donates thousands to charities each year.When i ask her why she is so frugal,she always tells me it could happen again.If we don't get our spending under control and quit printing money like we are playing a game of monopoly,she might be right.

[CaptJohn]

If we don't get our spending under control and quit printing money like we are playing a game of monopoly,she might be right.

She is right. Who would have thought the housing market would collapse and jobs would be so scarce?

I have a feeling it's not all over yet. :(

[lance.boyle]

It's not.....

[Villages PL]

Let's hear a big round of applause for those who were not affected by the Great Depression! My father was continuously employed all through the depression. But I did hear stories of hardship from friends of the family and relatives. One that I remember is the story about kids who would walk along the railroad tracks looking for coal.

[Patty55]

My father's family left the Canadian Depression and moved to NY. Evidently things were better in the USA. They had jobs, but it still affected them. My grandfather never again would own stock, trust a bank or waste anything. I remember him having the same pencil for 40 years, when I was 6 or 7 it was about 4" long, when he died in the 80's it was about 1/2" long, but he never threw it out. He wouldn't use a pencil sharpener, only a kitchen knife. He also would tear milk cartons before throwing them out-there's usually a drop or two left y'know. My grandmother made new soap from leftover scraps, I think she cooked it somehow. His advice was to work in the food industry and you will never go hungry.

My other grandfather was a bootlegger, they did fine and had more colorful stories.

[Schaumburger]

My mom was born in 1930. She used to tell me about "hobos" who would knock on the door of their house during the Great Depression, and my grandmother would give them some food to eat. Can't imagine doing that today. When my grandfather died in 1936, my grandmother rented out a bedroom in their house to female boarder to bring in extra money.

My parents had a party line on their phone until about 1965...can you imagine having that today? I think "party line" has a different meaning now.

[uujudy]

My mom was born in 1930. She used to tell me about "hobos" who would knock on the door of their house during the Great Depression, and my grandmother would give them some food to eat. Can't imagine doing that today. When my grandfather died in 1936, my grandmother rented out a bedroom in their house to female boarder to bring in extra money.

My parents had a party line on their phone until about 1965...can you imagine having that today? I think "party line" has a different meaning now.

We had a party line. It was so entertaining! :icon_wink:

[Schaumburger]

We had a party line. It was so entertaining! :icon_wink:

My mom got pretty fed up with the party line as the other "party" my family shared a line with was always on the phone. With 3 kids under the age of 6 in our house, I guess my mom figured she needed her own line in case of an emergency. Now that in so many families everyone has their own cell phone no wonder why new area codes are always needed.