I walked 2 miles uphill......

[elliemom]

both ways to school when I was your age!!!!

My 21 year old niece was here today and we were talking about the economy and hard times etc etc. She is very intelligent and is currently finishing her nursing degree. But when I started asking her about savings and down payments and student loans etc, SHE WAS LOST!!!! I mean, she really had NO IDEA how to make ends meet in case of recession/depression.

I started telling her about some of the things we did when I was growing up when money got really tight. My mom used to sew ruffles on the bottom of our jeans when they were too short, we used patches on pants, everyone wore slippers and robes in the house in the winter. We didn't JUST turn up the heat!!!!! Shockingly, she was so out of touch.

I toold her about gas rationing in the 70's and when we used to fill up based on even/odd #'s of your license plate. I told her that everyday my mom would open all the blinds in the winter to let the sun in and heat it up, and vice versa in the summer. BTW, I still do this.

It just me reminded me of my grandfather-- we walked 2 miles to school in the snow both ways!!!!!

Anyone else still have a little depression era thinking in them???
Feel free to share
elliemom

 

[Connie07]

My mom would take clothes donated from church (they were adult dresses) and cut them down to make dresses for us. If she baked a pie (always fruit we hand picked) she saved the "scraps" of pie dough, rolled them into strips, sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on them and baked them. We were in heaven on pie day! She could fix potatoes in so many different ways it boggled the mind! Beans and potatoes were our staple growing up (we were VERY poor) but mom was very creative with what little we did have and she could make several meals with very little food. I never appreciated it until I got older and realized what a challenge it must have been keeping 5 kids clothed and fed on a poverty level budget!

I too have a niece that has no clue how to budget money. Her dad bought her anything she wanted, now they barely speak, she's trying to make it on her own but still has the mentality that because she "wants" it she can have it. She struggle to make ends meet and still can't wrap her brain around "budgeting"....