A little piece of interesting American history

[LONDONER]

Fascinating stuff and an example to modern society.

http://www.littlethings.com/flour-sack-dresses/

[East]

Oh yeah..my mom trotted out her flour sack dress story and my dad used his "only got a bag of marbles when I wanted an airplane" story to rationalize a lot of crap they pulled...or to redirect when they were in a tough spot...or forcing us to eat food that make us gag...

[jimcrackcorn]

Let's not forget the Burlap bags... That scruffy material was also used to make clothes during the depression.

Anything & everything was used. Very little was wasted back then.

It wasn't a pretty sight. I remember my Mother recanting the story of how my Grandmother had left her husband (because of infidelity) during the depression and moved all her kids (6) into an abandoned gas station.. My Grandmother made a dollar a day washing & ironing other peoples clothes. She made barely enough to feed all of her kids. Quite often the meal consisted of a loaf of bread & a pound of ground beef to feed all 7 of them.

Hardship was an everyday experience for many of the people who lived thru the depression. And it left a lasting effect on them for the remainder of their lives. Many remained frugal even after the depression subsided and jobs became plentiful. They saved every extra penny and amassed large sums of money which they guarded closely, and wouldn't spend anything extra on themselves even though they had the money to live much more extravagantly...

They learned a sound lesson about economics. Every penny counts!!!! .

[LJay]

I remember my mother talking about flour sack dresses that were made for her and my aunt. When you think about it, it was a great advertising gimmick for the flour companies. Printing all that cloth could not have been cheap but it encouraged customer loyalty.

[jimcrackcorn]

This has got me thinking how wasteful I am... I spend hundreds of dollars a month on stupid things that I don't really need. I very seldom see anything on TV that I'm interested in - yet I pay a hundred dollars a month for it. I hardly ever use the land-line telephone - but pay 60 bucks a month for that. I eat out a couple times a week and that's always a hundred bucks. We have two cars, but mine usually gets used only once a week - that's 400 bucks a month wasted.

I have not learned the lessons that my parents & grandparents did,,, and I need to start thinking smarter.

[LJay]

Dear Jim,

Congratulations on having $400 dollars a month to spend freely.

For your consideration, the LJay Foundation accepts donations of any amount and uses them to buy peanut butter and sardines for those special occasions, like dinner. I'll be glad to PM you the details.

In mendicancy,

LJay
The Old Retired Bastard

[Anocxu]

Dear Jim,

Congratulations on having $400 dollars a month to spend freely.

For your consideration, the LJay Foundation accepts donations of any amount and uses them to buy peanut butter and sardines for those special occasions, like dinner. I'll be glad to PM you the details.

In mendicancy,

LJay
The Old Retired Bastard

(Trust fund baby diva..
You can tell)

[LONDONER]

This has got me thinking how wasteful I am... I spend hundreds of dollars a month on stupid things that I don't really need. I very seldom see anything on TV that I'm interested in - yet I pay a hundred dollars a month for it. I hardly ever use the land-line telephone - but pay 60 bucks a month for that. I eat out a couple times a week and that's always a hundred bucks. We have two cars, but mine usually gets used only once a week - that's 400 bucks a month wasted.

I have not learned the lessons that my parents & grandparents did,,, and I need to start thinking smarter.

You and I are very different Jim. I pay 25€ a month for my TV and probably watch more than I should. I have just one car and probably fill up the tank about once every three months, sometimes longer - I use a lot of public transport and I walk a great deal. My telephone costs me 35€ a month and for that I get free nationwide calls, 300 minutes of international calls and 1,000 minutes to mobiles. I very rarely eat out and when I do it's with friends.

Born in to poverty helped. I learnt never to buy what you can't afford, never to buy what you don't need, never to buy on credit. I have never forgotten the old saying: "Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves." Nothing truer was ever said.

I'm not mean to myself. My one extravagance is to fly to London now and again (like now) and take advantage of the theatres, concerts and exhibitions here.