A photo taken during the Great Depression
To be fair, my Mom was only 5 during the last year of the depression.......but really, I'm sure the effects lasted beyond 1939 in the hearts and minds of those who went through it. My Grandparents had 8 children, and Mom was the second to last. Times were tough. She recalls getting an orange for Christmas one year ~ probably had a few other things as well, but she does remember that orange.
But, as tough as the depression era was, it passed along some valuable habits to many who survived it. My Mom hated waste. She reused everything she could. We didn't get clothes very often ~ the one time we had more than two or so new outfits would have been right before school started, and Christmas/birthdays. Shoes? I suppose I had two pairs plus a pair of athletic shoes....when we called all of them tennis shoes, haha.
And from here, I planned to list a few things I learned from Mom until I realized that I do them without paying attention, so my list was rather small. Like washing your gym shoes (which I do with a load of towels so they don't bang around) and then air drying them. One of our infrequent racquetball players commented on how clean our shoes were, and I mentioned that they can be washed and she seemed startled at the idea. And here I though everyone did that......
I do appreciate the mind set that my Mom made a habit for me. I'm not a big fan of wastefulness either.....I remember one of my coworkers watching me cut a tube of hand lotion in half with amazement. I guess not many people bother, but you can still get 5 to 10 more uses if you do......
Do you have any clever tips? Please share!
Love, 365
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