Frugal living tips 2022 🧐 Inspired from the depression era

What savings hacks do I use from the Depression Era? See how many of these strategies, from Katie Femia's article, I use in my daily life to save more.

20 GREAT DEPRESSION ERA MONEY SAVING TIPS

#Depressionerasavings #Thehomespunhydrangea #frugalliving #frugallivinghabits #Frugallivingtips2022

[milkjamjuice]

I sew, and I work in sales as a profession. My tip would be for people who want to make their own clothing since it seems cheaper. In many cases, it’s probably cheaper to buy a new garment than make one due to the astronomically high markup that consumer craft stores sell fabric for, JoAnn being a big culprit. If you don’t have at least a 40% coupon, don’t even buy it. My best guess is that if fabric is being sold for 10 USD per yard in store, 40% of that is pure profit for the retailer. They wouldn’t give out weekly app coupons if it affected their profits. It will probably end up just costing more than buying a garment. However, sewing can save you tons of money in mending your current clothing. Learn how to patch, darn, mend, sew buttons, and replace zippers. Amazing value in that.

[shirleyhess]

My friend, the mother of 11, gave up canning decades ago. She, instead, dehydrates the foods; stores in glass jars under beds. Less work, stores more in less space, doesn't have a hot kitchen during the heat of summer.. She'll NEVER go back to canning!

[jonnaborosky]

I like what I'm hearing!
1.You can use vinegar and baking soda. It'll cost less than using mouthwash.
2. Years ago I read an article about the "Halves and half boys." It was about halving all soaps and cleansers we use. See how much shampoo you use and half that amount. If your hair came clean, next time half that amount and ditto. Keep halving what you use until you find just the exact amount you need to get your hair clean. Do the same with laundry detergent, liquid hand soap, dish soap, etc. I do this after I've diluted all soaps by 50% water. I kept one medium sized bottle of dish soap for 6 years. I thought that was great until I found someone who made a bottle last 7 years! I learned not to dilute hair conditioner...because it just won't work if diluted...in my opinion. A washing machine repairman once told me that, on a front loader, if you can see soap bubbles, you've put in too much soap...and that'll "mess up"the machine.
3. When I first started unplugging things, my electricity bill went down by 76%! I got all excited and tried to figure out what else I could unplug. Had to keep the fridge on. I wanted to unplug the stove but wasn't about to pull it away from and then push it back in every time I cooked. It dawned on me: the breaker box was near the stove. I turned it off there and only turned it on to cook...and then off again. I could reach the washer and dryer plugs, so they were also unplugged till I needed them. I shaved another 11% off my electricity bill. It's worth it.
4. I have put a brick in the back of a toilet. I also bought a low flow toilet when I needed a new on. I use the tiniest stream of water to get my hands wet enough to wash. We all know to turn the water off while brushing teeth. I turn it off while washing hands, face, glasses, hand-washed dishes, etc. Even when showering, I turn the water on just long enough to get wet, lather my hair, turn the water on just long enough to rinse hair and turn it off. I add conditioner and leave it in while I wash myself. Then I only turn the water on long enough to rinse hair and self. I can get a whole shower with about 45 seconds to one minute of water use. I also have been known to catch the water that would be going down the drain while it's warming up...and then use that water on houseplants and garden. I got my water usage down to 400 gallons a month. It's usually 500-600 gallons. I put a lot of effort into seeing if I could get it lower and I did!
5. You do save money by paying cash. First, you don't pay interest, or run the risk of it. Lots of people pay off their balances in full every month and so don't pay interest. I've learned to ask for discounts. Businesses have to pay about 6% of purchase prices to credit card companies when a customer uses one. So, I ask for a 5-6% discount for using cash. Sometimes the answer is yes.
6. You can dehydrate foods if you don't can. You can buy a dehydrator, use the oven, or the sun. You can also deep freeze a lot of garden vegetables.
7. You can also use some vegetable roots and stalks to grow more vegetables.
8. You can buy unfinished furniture, which is a lot cheaper than finished furniture, and then finish it what ever way you want.
I use all the money saving techniques you mentioned. My parents grew up in the depression. It's built into my bones to be frugal, use everything up, sew, mend and repair or do without. Do everything I can for myself, and go online to see if I can learn more before calling a service. We used to use cloth handkerchiefs for blowing noses. Thank you for reminding me of that.
I thoroughly enjoyed your video and all you had to say! I'm impressed! Keep up the good work!

[janetstonerook]

It's okay to be lazy on some issues. And we do have to be mindful of the value of our time. We are not all talented enough to be skilled at every activity required.

[condiacreative]

I can honestly say we have used every single one of these tips ever since we got married almost 6 years ago 😅 we were living on a tiny budget and I was staying home so I spent my time figuring out the best ways to save at home. Now that our income has increased out of habit we still do all these things!

[dancingwithwolves.]

On the power usage. I am very admitt about unplugging chargers, coffee maker, microwave, fans. Saves us $ 20 a month.

[lindacgrace]

Love these ideas. My parents were Depression-era babies, and we used all of these 'tips' routinely. I honestly didn't know that people lived differently until well into adulthood! 😉 I must disagree with your "gardening doesn't pay off for some inexpensive veggies." Nope. Silly spend-a-lot amateur gardening is a loser. For instance, never buy celery seed. Celery stalks will re-sprout from the cut-off root ends, this also works with carrots, sweet potatoes, and other root crops. Another class of plants will readily grow from seeds salvaged from the plant (think heirloom tomatoes, squash). This doesn't always work because a lot of plants are harvested when young before the seeds are truly ready. Many other plants will grow from cuttings (strawberries and peas, for instance). You can frequently plant right from the supermarket shelf. Amaranth, dill seed, coriander, and popcorn (once you soak it) can be planted in the garden. Don't EVER buy plants! Always start from seed when you've exhausted all other sources of plant starts and have to buy seed. Split your seeds with another gardener. The one-ounce packet is usually enough for a substantial truck garden and way too much for a small home vegetable patch. You and your gardening buddy (or group of buddies) divvy up the seeds that you are going to buy, then get together and swap seeds. NOBODY in their right mind needs an entire packet of zucchini seeds, for instance. A small family needs two or three plants (which are remarkably productive, that would produce a half-bushel of zucchini). Garden organically and use vermiculture (give your food scraps to worms in a garbage bucket, then use their castings - the worm poop - as the richest, most balanced fertilizer available). Don't spend money on fancy worm composting bins - there are instructions online for free on how to make a worm bin system out of virtually any container imaginable. I had my little fertilizer factories happy and productive for three years in a waxed produce box obtained for free from the grocery store. The ONLY time gardening doesn't pay off is if you are extremely unskilled and have zero imagination and have never read any books on the subject. The best book is "Grow Food For Free: The sustainable, zero-cost, low-effort way to a bountiful harvest, " by Huw Richards. Also excellent: "Grow Free Food! Feed Your Family With Ultra Frugal Gardening Techniques, " by Anne Bailey. The O.G. standard is "The Frugal Gardener: How to Have More Garden for Less Money, " by Catriona Tudor Erler. It's been out for 20 years and is most likely available at your local library for free. Bottom line: if you are only breaking even or losing money on your vegetable garden (barring disastrous years with hail in mid-June or floods in July) you are doing it wrong! True story example: Many people will tell you that it's not worth growing potatoes because potatoes are so cheap. Well, I had two straggler potatoes that had escaped my notice and were beginning to sprout. I cut apart the sprouts and planted them shallowly in whatever bucket I could find (5-gallon paint cans, an old stockpot without handles, a left-over grow bag, etc.). When the leaves emerged, I would pile in more dirt and mulch around the stems. I continued to layer my potatoes to the very top of their containers. At the end of the season, I harvested over 100 pounds of potatoes. All from two left-over potatoes that had gone bad. I know potatoes are cheap, but 100 pounds of potatoes are usually not free, but mine were free to me. If you're spending money on gardening it is because you lack skill - NOT because it doesn't pay off!

[site_is_down]

Frugality is sometimes confused to the definition of minimalism.. Frugality is about spending less money on stuff, and minimalism is about owning less stuff.. Either ways, both can help us attain financial freedom.

[maricelaandsammyshauls]

I started to plant veggie and herbs from our own food hopefully they grow

[kenyonbissett]

Phantom/vampire electricity usage can save quite a bit each month. Invest in a timer for your hot water heater, I would get a 7 day timer, if you both work away from home you don’t need hot water during the day or while you sleep. A seven day timer allows you to set it and forget with differentiations between workdays and weekends.

[tawnaparko]

Don't use a brick in your toilet tank. It will ruin the plumbing. I filled a small plastic container with water and sunk it to displace some water. Be careful it doesn't interfere with the mechanism.

[janeknight]

Camomile tea really does work for headaches so it’s worth growing.

[RobertJohnson-fpjx]

caning is a huge save. especially pressure canning. I can year round. I pressure can meats when there is a sale and I want to buy more than I can get into the freezers. I dry pack meats and such, pressure can and it keeps for years. I make large batches of soups and chili and when I do I pressure can that, then the family takes it for lunches, dinner is often already made etc. I have veggies that are going past prime? pressure can for later use in soups, the jar isn't full/ fill it with frozen veggies etc that I would add to the soup pot anyway. hate taking the time to cook steel cut oats etc. pressure can it with butter, water, fruit etc, comes out perfect and ready to eat. holiday butter sales? pressure can the butter. more bacon grease than I will use this week? pressure can it in small jelly jars. are there things I don't pressure can? sure are. milk and cheese, they turn a funky color. otherwise its a easy one. everything goes into the jar, the jars go into the pressure caner with a 2-3 inches of water, process, turn off and remove weight. come back and open it when cooled off. no dealing with it hot. I even pressure can fruit when it is on sale to make jam and jelly with later.

Gardening. sounds like you need a good gardener to walk you through gardening. Potatoes are so worth it. anything like potatoes that you can grow up instead of side ways is a huge savings. instead of hilling potatoes and letting them go sideways, use old tires, put a new tire one as they need to be hilled, and fill with dirt. end of the summer they can be 5-6 tires high and those are filled with potatoes. things not worth doing is anything that spreads a lot and returns little compared to the foot print. That's fairly few things, you can trellis squash, cucumbers etc. a good deal of things will grow well from scraps... like celery, romaine lettuce, sweet potatoes can be grown, a huge number from just a few eyes, same with ginger etc.

sewing. for mending, take it a step further. its ripped, can you mend it so it doesn't show? no? well then make the patch very intentional, applique a patch, perhaps a flower, or a cat silhouette, or some rips can be embroidered over to fix. darn before there is a hole when it's just thin, its easier to patch when its just worn than a hole.

update appliances. my oldest freezer is sitting in the garage waiting for someone to haul it off. it costs over $100 a month to run. my two newest freezers cost about $50 a year to run. they both cost less than running the old freezer for a year. updated to dishwasher to one that is very energy efficient and uses only 4 gallons of water per cycle. that means it cost less to run a half load than it costs in water to hand wash them. my water bill has gone way down, and so has the electric bill with those two simple changes.

in short, none of this is bad advice. I still make my own soap, and laundry detergent etc. it is just a question of what are you willing to do to save cash? for me, caning and dehydrating and buying bulk are too good to skip.

[s.torres]

We grow many things in containers (tomatoes, squash, onions, potatoes & peppers. I also grow many of my herbs this way. I use veggies scraps to make my own veggie broth for soup & cooking.

[brg]

Been using a little vinegar in water for cleaning bathroom sinks and toilets. Sure has saved a lot of money. Also, add water to mouthwash because some if this too strong anyhow.

[frenchfruga]

Good afternoon, i live in south of France as a single man without family, i'm minimalist in order to be on retirement as soon as possible, i like watching international videos like these and sharing my experience, this is how i do it : in december 2022, i will be 40 years and have closed the reimbursement of my apartment purchased in january 2014, thanks to my savings on transport-food-accomodation based on a minimalist life : i don't need to buy new clothes, go on fast food, having subscriptions channels, i don't smoke and drink, i don't care about sport business and i'm going to leave my car
Next year, i would like to invest in real estates to get more money for retirement and protect from inflation, i wish you the best in your future and i tell you in french " bonne journée " 😉

[ceretbex]

I don’t agree that making your own clothes is cheaper than buying. Fabric & patterns etc cost a fortune in the UK so I buy second hand instead. Much cheaper, and better for the environment! I agree with your other points though 😃

[janetstonerook]

Buy a rotisserie roasted whole chicken! They are fairly inexpensive and you can use the scraps and bones for casseroles, sandwiches and soups.

[darlenebaker]

I use wash rags for napkins, I have to do laundry so it goes in the washer to be washed and reused

[yvettrae]

I feel like these are outdated tips only because our expenses are different nowadays. Biggest expenses are entertainment such as cable, food and transportation. My grandmother was born in 1911 and she made oatmeal everyday for breakfast and she always had a pot of beans in the refrigerator. Eggs and cheese were also a big staples in her house. However, nowadays those items are expensive unless you go for price and not quality. I think growing your own vegetables is a great money saving idea.