Frugal Tips From the Great Depression: Mindset & Minimalism
I came from Depression-era parents, and I am convinced that they understood frugal living so much better than we do today because they did not have all of that outside interference, such as social media and marketing.
I believe there is a lot to learn from them, so let’s dive into these frugal tips from the Great Depression.
The Depression-era mindset
So what is the Depression-era mindset? In my opinion, Depression-era people understood minimalism better than we do.
A lot of us aspire to be more minimal, to have less clutter, but they lived it. It was a time that you repaired and took care of your things. For them, frugality was a normal part of their life, just like consumerism is for many people today.
The importance of frugality
The Depression-era folks saw the importance of frugality. Even after the rationing ended, my parents continued to be sparing and careful with their money. They continued to live the way they had always lived: not overeating, not overspending, and not overdoing anything in their day-to-day lives.
If there was anything they overdid, they worked too hard, because they saw the value of being able to cope better when financial things happened. They were always preparing for if they needed to live like that again.
Living below your means
67% of people still live paycheck to paycheck in America. I know people that can make it two days and their paycheck is gone, and then they are living on credit. It is crucial for us to try to live below our means.
Many people have gotten themselves into a situation where they have too much house payment, too much car payment, and live too much above their means to be able to get back below their means and be able to afford their groceries as well.
We have to be so careful to analyze what we can afford and make sure that we have some gap room in there for when things go bad.
Living frugally
Sometimes I get a little bit of criticism for the way that I live. I live close to off-grid. I only have one heater in the living room. We have rooms closed off because it is just my husband and I, and that heater does not go beyond the living room.
In the kitchen, I have the cook stove, so it gets warm in the kitchen when I am cooking something. We have a space heater in the bathroom that we only run when we are going to shower and it is really cold, and one in our bedroom that we use at night. That is all the heat that we have.
We have an air conditioner unit in the living room and in our bedroom, and we only run them when it is as hot as over 90 in the house. So many people would not choose to live this way.
However, when I grew up, we had none of those things, so I think I am living in luxury. Often it is just your perspective that makes you think that you are not living as well as you should.
Luxury is perspective
In my house, the water comes from a water well. There is no trash pickup, so I haul my stuff to the recycling bins that are 7 miles away. There are times that my water pipes freeze out here and times that my internet or my electricity will go off for no reason. Some of my rooms do not have any outlets. My drains will plug up going out to my sewer lagoon.
Still, I feel so thankful and feel like I am living in luxury because I have everything I need. This house was originally built with no indoor plumbing whatsoever. My parents did not grow up with running water in the house. They did not grow up with even a bathroom inside their house or a toilet. They had to go out to the outhouse, even at night.
So we have to remind ourselves that we are living so much better than the people who were from the Depression. Yet they made it work and were thankful and they took care of everything they had because they knew it was not easily replaced.
Only buying essentials
There are so many nonessentials that I do not buy. For one, instead of planners, I use free calendars that come from the bank or the pharmacy. I use those to plan my bills and write down birthdays. I also use them to set goals for each month to remind myself of what I am working for.
My goals are about inner growth, and being good to myself. None of those cost any money.
Home remedies
As I grew up with my parents, so many things were done within the home. We did not go to the doctor a lot. We used a lot of self-remedies. Instead of the mind-blowing variety of medicines available today, we used Vaseline or baking soda paste for nearly everything.
Minimalism
I think the trick to a lot of this is to minimize our choices. Choose the most important things in your life that you need to be happy. Get rid of some of those ball-and-chain decisions; some of those things that are keeping you living paycheck to paycheck.
Try to minimize your house, your responsibilities, and your bills to get back to a simpler type of life where you can afford to make your payments, and you can enjoy the more important things.
Frugal tips from the Great Depression
I hope that this Depression-era mindset article has spoken to you. I know I come from a different perspective than most people you see online, so I appreciate you taking my perspective.
There is so much to be gained from this life, and so many things to be learned from the Depression era. Leave a comment and share your own view!
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I live in South Carolina. In the fall and spring (and sometimes into the winter), I can go without heat or ac. The nights are cool and I cool off the house, then allow the house to warm up by daylight. A sweater in the AM, a T-shirt by afternoon.
My electric bills are generally lower than the most efficient homes in the area. My house was built in 1938, without insulation.
I truly believe that if people got back to living basic simple lives their health mentally & physically would be much improved. I enjoy living like my parents and grandparents lived.