How I Got To This Point

Being a single mom with an active 13-year old in this economic climate is tough. I was making enough money from online sales to support us, and now I find I'm out pounding the pavement looking for a job -- ANY job!

Jobs in my town are hard to come by -- and I don't mean a "good" job, I mean ANY job. Businesses are closing, employees are being let go and owners are now seen working behind counters in empty stores.

This is certainly not the first time this country has seen hard economic times. Probably the worst time, though, was the Great Depression. It was during this time that many people learned to live and do without, and to make do with whatever they could find. In today's economic climate, I find that many of the practices that these people employed could possibly help with my own dismal financial situation.

True, what those people had to go through was extreme -- and I hope we don't get to that point again -- but after many of us went through the "disposable and obsolete" '50s and then taught those practices to our children and now our grandchildren, I felt it would be good to review the techniques that people like my grandparents learned to use just to survive.

I was fortunate to know my grandparents well and many of the people in their generation. And I was a good listener, with some of the stories they told beginning to surface today to haunt me as I struggle to survive.

The basic tenet is to "live without" and "never throw anything away". If you can't grow it, raise it or make it, then you do without.

This can be harsh, but some of it really isn't hard at all. For me I'm finding that it's learning the value of everything I buy or find. Can I do without? If not, what can I use instead? Do I REALLY need the items advertised on TV?

It's a mindset. It isn't about living "green", it's a mindset about how to survive.

What I'm Doing to Survive

Cutting the Electric Bill
How to Use a Clothesline
What I Use for Cleaners
My Really Basic Bare Bones Kitchen
My Working Lists