I remember first hearing about The Great Depression in my high school history class. Even then, I found it hard to fathom what people went through during that time in history. Over the years as I’ve heard more stories, many of them now being told online, I was amazed at their resilience. By reading and watching their stories I learned many frugal living tips from The Great Depression.
We can use what we learned from them to know how to prepare for another great depression if we ever have to walk through such an unfortunate time. The people who lived during that time learned How tosave moneywith frugal living during the Great Depression, and we can gain wisdom from their experiences. Tips from our grandparents andgreat grandparentsare stillrelevant today.
While I grew up living below the poverty line here in Canada, I know that I am pretty fortunate to not go through the same kind of poverty many people went through during The Great Depression. Depression era frugality was a necessity for these people. The Great Depression era frugal living strategies were what kept many of those people alive in desperate times.
EFFECTS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
The Great Depression occurred between 1929 and 1939. The worst years were 1932 and 1933, and after that things slowly started to improve, but it would take years until the Depression finally came to a complete end.
The effects of The Great Depression were severe. Unemployment was at an all time high with more people losing their jobs everyday. Businesses closed. Banks were going bankrupt which meant even people who were thrifty and wise with their money lost their savings they had put in the bank they trusted. People were evicted from their homes and were literally starving.
Even farmers who were growing their own food suffered in some areas due to drought. The drought was so severe that it caused major dust storms that destroyed crops and killed livestock. The severe dry period that triggered the dust storms was named “The Dust Bowl.”
It’s hard to imagine all these people went through. I look at my kids and I try to picture what it would be like to not know how I was going to feed them. I don’t know what I would do, but I can tell you that it would take everything within me not to absolutely fall apart.
THE PEOPLE WHO SUFFERED THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION CAN TEACH US A LOT
The people who went through The Great Depression know what it’s like to live frugally in order to survive. They didn’t make frugal choices to save up for a trip or pay down excessive debt. No, they had to find ways to be frugal in an effort to just be able to put food on the table and try desperately hard to keep their homes.
A few years ago I stumbled on some cooking videos on YouTube by Clara, a woman in her 90s who shared recipes and told stories of her time living in The Great Depression. I came across her videos because I was searching for insanely cheap meals I could make during a particularly trying time in our life struggling to make ends meet.
Her grandson started recording the videos and uploading them to share with the world. Clara has since passed away, but her legacy remains. Be sure to check out her videos HERE. You will fall in love with this woman and her frugal recipes from the Great Depression.
If you know someone who has been through The Great Depression, maybe a grandparent or friend, I recommend asking them to tell you stories of that time. I think you will be amazed at the things they share and you will learn so much from them.
Not only that, but stories from The Great Depression have a way of putting things into perspective for us. Those stories remind us to be grateful for all that we have.
We can learn a lot from The Depression Era, not only when it comes to perseverance, strength, and the will to survive, but also on how to save money. These people didn’t fool around. They knew how to be extremely frugal. Their survival depended on it. Forget trying to live frugally on one income – many families had to learn how to live frugally on NO income.
1930s frugality meant living simply and frugally. Below are some frugal living tips with a big impact. Check out these old fashioned frugal living ideas you can apply to your own life. The following tips truly is budget-friendly living inspired by The Great Depression.
12 OF THE BEST FRUGAL LIVING TIPS FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION
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1. They foraged.
Various kinds of nuts and berries were often foraged for the help feed the family. Dandelions were often used in meals as well. Even squirrels and rabbits were consumed .The people of the Depression Era were struggling to buy food, so foraging was a good way to help put food into their family’s mouths.
Of course, you have to be super careful when foraging. There are plants out there that can poison you so you don’t want to guess when it comes to what plants you can eat. Making sure you have a book to guide you like this one is a good idea.
2. They lived within their means.
If they didn’t have the money, they didn’t put it on theircredit cards. They made do with what they had and if they didn’t have it they made do without. They had to learn to stay within budget.
They kept track of their finances. They had a BUDGET. If you don’t have a budget, be sure to check out this amazing workbook over at The Budget Mama.
Jessi Fearon created this workbook with her own personal knowledge and experience of becoming financially free – and she has been very successful at it. Budgeting is agreat wayto live within your means.
Click here to visit The Budget Mama and check out the workbook for yourself.
Also, while I don’t know how common coupons were back then, I would think it was safe to say if they had them they’d be using them!
Try Coupons.com or Redplum for some coupons you can use for groceries, or download the Checkout51 App or the Ibotta app for a cashback option that allows you to save money on groceries without cutting coupons.
3. Meat was replaced with cheaper food choices.
They learned to make meals that didn’t require meat. They would cook with beans or potatoes, pasta, or make cheap meals such as pancakes.
If they did eat meat they would stretch it as far as they possibly could. While I never had to eat things like “ketchup sandwiches,” I do share some super insanely cheap meals to make when you are broke HERE. When you don’t havemuch money, it’s best to eat less meat, at least for a few meals a week.
4. If it broke, they fixed it.
Clothes were mended at home, not replaced with something new. Most homes were equipped withsewing machinesfor these types of things.
If something in the home stopped working they repaired it. It would be unthinkable to just throw it away. People didn’t take theeasy wayout when it came to replacing broken items.
They often used items around the house to fix broken things, like using cardboard to fix a worn out sole in a shoe.
And if the item was absolutely unfixable, and they needed to replace it, people first looked atthrift storesso they could purchase itemssecond hand.
However, during The Great Depression,thrift shopsstruggled as well because they couldn’t keep up with the demand. Most people couldn’t afford to buy new, but few people were donating items to the stores as well because they couldn’t easily afford to replace the items withnew things.
5. They Bartered.
It was common for people to barter during thetough timesof The Depression Era. Money was hard to come by, and so if they had something they could barter to obtain anyhousehold itemsthey needed, they were sure to do it.
If they lived in the country and raised their own meat, raised chickens for eggs, and grew theirown food, they would head into town and barter food for items they needed such as gas for their car, kerosene for their lanterns, or otherfood itemsthey could not produce on their farm.
6. They grew their own food.
Backyard gardens, also known as avictory garden, became a necessity. The more food orfresh producethey could produce in theirown vegetable garden, the better chance they had of keeping food on the table and they didn’t need to spend money at thegrocery store.
Food preservationwas also something they did with all theirown produceonce they harvested the vegetables. Growing and saving theirown fooddefinitely kept thegrocery billdown.
Don’t let the fact that you haven’t gardened scare you away from trying. I learned the basics from one of myfavorite books,The Backyard Homestead.
Because of that book I was successful at growing tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and spinach along with anherb garden. Yourlocal libraryis agreat placeto see if you can borrow some homesteading books. Consider getting your ownlibrary cardto check out some books that can help yousave moneyin thelong run.
7. Nothing was wasted.
When it came to food, it ALL got eaten and there was nofood waste. For example, when it came to something like awhole chicken, the feet and bones would be used for soup, the gizzards would be consumed, even the feathers would be used for featherbeds.Bacon greasewas saved. Stale breadwas kept and used for recipes.
Fruit with bruises would just have the bad spot cut out of it before eating it. Absolutely everything they could possibly eat was used to feed their hunger, everylast bit. Theirfood budgetwas tiny, andgrocery shoppingtrips were few and far between and so they had to use up everything to feed theirfamily members.
8. They took in boarders.
Renting out rooms in their homes meant extra income to help them survive a difficultfinancial situation. With so many people without work during The Depression, they looked forcreative waysto make some money to cover theextra costof things.
9. They recycled.
Instead of throwing something out, it would often be used for something else. Feed and flour sacks were used to make clothing, magazines were used for crafts, old scraps of clothes were used as rags or to make mops.
Wood scraps would be used to make toys. They kept everything they could during hard times. Reusable products were extra popular.
10. They layered clothing to stay warm.
During the depression, many people couldn’t afford to properly heat their houses and had to useless electricity. To save on resources they often didn’t heat the house while sleeping.
They layered their clothing to stay warm and slept under horse hair blankets or feather beds made from chicken or goose feathers. Ahot water bottleis another way to stay warm during those cold nights.
At our house we layer clothing during the colder months, but I am thankful we do not need to sleep under horse hair blankets but instead use a mattress heating pad at night which is one of the best items I have ever been gifted with!
While it uses electricity, it can save you money because you can set your thermostat much lower at night. It is cheaper to heat just your bed instead of the whole house. If you are like us and heat primarily by wood in the winter months, a mattress heating pad makes nights so much more enjoyable long after the wood stove has died down.
11. They made things themselves.
When theolder generationswanted or needed something, their first thought was to figure out how to make it instead of running out and buying it. They were experts on how to figure out how to make it themselves long before the Internet was available with tutorials to teach people how to do-it-yourself.
They madehomemade cleaners,homemade giftsfor holidays, or clothing with asewing machine, or even by hand. Evenbasic sewing skillsallowed them to mendold clothessince buyingnew clotheswas often not an option. Making theirown clotheswas just another survival skill for them.
They didn’t buy things likepaper towels, they madecloth napkinsinstead.
12. They chose other modes of transportation instead of driving.
Riding bicycles and walking were popular during The Great Depression due to their frugal nature. If a person did have to drive somewhere, they did it as minimally as possible and avoided going out of their way in an effort to save on gas.
Even if it just saved alittle money, they did it because every bit helped.
DEPRESSION ERA FRUGALITY
These frugal tips from The Great Depression are excellent ideas of how we can save money today. While the people who lived through it were resilient and determined, there were many stories of heartbreak during this time in history.
Out of desperation some people were willing to steal and resort to violence to feed themselves and their families. Crime rates increased during this time. We would be wise to take lessons from The Great Depression.
I can’t imagine being so desperate that you felt you had to resort to crime to survive. My heart breaks for what these people went through. I hope it is an era that never repeats itself.
The truth of the matter is, while we hope we never have to suffer through a depression, we just don’t know what tomorrow brings.
The recession from a few years back was a small reminder of how quickly things can change, and it can be completely out of our control. It doesn’t even have to be a recession or depression to cause financial distress for us. An accident or illness, or an emergency or crisis, or job loss can instantly change our financial circ*mstances.
While we can’t always control outside factors that affect our finances, what we can control is the skills we continually learn to become more self-sufficient, should a crisis arise. The more we learn to be frugal, the more we are able to be self-reliant, the better off we are in the long run if we don’t need a lot of money to survive.
My hope is that while more than likely your survival doesn’t depend on it, you might be able to apply some of the above frugal living tips from The Great Depression into your own, modern day life in an effort to to take control of your finances and save some money.
Even though times have changed with advanced technology and just a very different way of life, the same principles apply when it comes to saving money. There’s a saying that’s been around for a very long time and it goes like this:
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”
Those are excellent words to live by and it sure seems like the people who went through The Great Depression had to apply that saying to their lives, whether they were already living by it or not.
While I am sad that so many people had to suffer through the days of The Great Depression, I am thankful for the lessons they have taught us and continue to teach us through their stories. Frugal living tips that have stood thetest of time.
It is because of what they went through that we can learn thebest waystosave moneyand be frugal. The frugal living tips from The Great Depression are some of the absolute most successful ways we can cut our budget and expenses.
Surviving on a budget isn’t always easy, but the above frugal living advice from The Great Depression can help us!
Related:
80 Ways to Live a Frugal Life (and Save Money!)
Summary
Article Name
Frugal Living tips from the Great Depression
Description
The Great Depression was a time no one ever wants to repeat, but there is much to learn from those who went through it.
Author
Simple Life of a Frugal Wife
