topic Re: "Make over, make do, or do without" in Community Chat

"Make over, make do, or do without"

qualitygal — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:19:18 GMT

Got a book at last weeks books sale. It's a book about the depression. It's quite interesting and my parents at the start were about 6 & 4. This was one of the quotes (above) in the book that talks about it. I remember hearing about mom having one dress to wear and one to wash. Just wondering who else had folks that told stories of their growing up during those days.

To read how they stretched meals is astonishing, and how they got through it is amazing too. Some said, they were happy and didn't realize as children just how bad off they were.

Do you have any stories to share you heard?

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

DoneTryin — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:27:52 GMT

My parents didn't dwell on the past, though my mother did say that as a young girl she really, really wanted a Shirley Temple doll at the time.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

ROMARY — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:29:17 GMT

Just yesterday talked with a fire fighter........said his dad is over 100 years young, uses the computer, etc. I asked, how do folks happily adjust to life now-a-days? He said, well, after going through the Great Depression, everything else has been easy, in comparison. Well said.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Mj12 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:35:27 GMT

Hi Qualitygal -

My parents were born after the Depression, and my grandparents didn't talk about it (that I can remember). What is the title of the book? I'd like to read it. thanks!

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

LilacTree — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:41:59 GMT

I was born a year after the Great Depression ended and then there came WW II. My father was never drafted because he had children and held what was considered a necessary civil job. However, we were very poor and even had to stay in a children's home for many months because of a housing shortage after the war, and a distinct bias against Italian families with multiple children. There were no laws against discrimination then.

Things got slowly better, but my parents never owned a home until we were all grown, and weren't able to keep it very long because of certain circumstances. As children we didn't know we were poor, we were living pretty much like every other family did. My father didn't get his first car until I was 13, and it was an old Ford with a running board and a rumble seat in the back. We were thrilled. That was in 1951.

There was a grocer across the street and my mom used to send us over there to pick up bread, meat and potatoes for dinner. We picked vegetables out of our great aunt's garden (and she charged us for them). We had a milkman and an "ice box" in the kitchen, so we had an "ice man" too, who came every couple of days with a huge block of ice. My little tiny mom had to empty a basin of water at the bottom of the ice box every day so it wouldn't flood the house.

It was when we started the later grades in school and high school that we realized how poor we had always been. But we survived, and here I am, at 76, still surviving.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

151949 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:44:36 GMT

My Mom's family did very well in comparison to many others - they owned a bakery and my grandparents worked there plus my great grandfather worked for the city water authority all the way through the depression and a my Mom's uncle was an engineer in the army corp of engineers and he was assigned to the Pittsburgh locks and dams so he made a good income and lived in that same home with them.

However, my Dad was one of 16 children and his father was a police officer and was killed on the job. My grandmother remarried an alcoholic man who took all the kids out of school and put them to work in a factory - then he would collect their pays and spend it on drinking. My Dad and his brothers were eventually taken from the home and placed with the CCC - a program where teens and adults were put to work building National parks. My dad says it was the only part of his childhood he could remember being happy.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

MickD — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:51:06 GMT

I remember stories my dad told of being dirt poor. His parents were from Poland and his dad worked in the coal mines in PA...then moved west to MI and farmed. My dad became adept at taping his shoes from the inside and polishing them daily. ""You can always tell how poor a man is by looking at his shoes....."" He still polishes his shoes quite a bit..

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

NoelSeven — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 18:23:17 GMT

My father remained frugal. If you left a room, you turned off the lights, even if you were coming back in a few minutes. But when he bought a new suit or wallet, he bought only the best so it would last. They expected things to last in those days, I don't think he would have been comfortable with the poor quality of so many things today.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Cakers1 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 18:30:56 GMT

Mom's family (7 kids) was split up including being sent out of state; grandmother died during Depression and grandfather couldn't care for them.

Dad was a citizen of US but back in the ""old country"" during that time. Came back here before our involvement in WWII. He had his own horror stories about Europe at that time.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Linders Back — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 18:31:20 GMT

My Mother still talks about her folks having to burn her whole childhood bedroom set in the stove to stay warm one winter.

My Dad was working as a doctor with his own practice in Newark NJ. when the Depression hit. Most of his patients pay him in ""goods"" rather than cash. Some things he held onto and returned later (sort of like a pawn shop).

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

GrettaGarbled — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 18:37:39 GMT

My family was better off than most. My grandfather was killed in a car crash and my grandmother received $19,000 (in 1930, that was a huge amount) from the driver of the car that caused the crash. She was left with 11 children to raise alone. They were the first on their street to get indoor plumbing as a result of the settlement.

They never let go of the lean times though- my aunt dried and reused coffee grounds until the day she died.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

qualitygal — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 18:38:01 GMT

On 10/7/2014 MJ 12 said:
Hi Qualitygal -

My parents were born after the Depression, and my grandparents didn't talk about it (that I can remember). What is the title of the book? I'd like to read it. thanks!

It's called "We had Everything but money". It's a Reminisce Book.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Puzzle Piece — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:24:29 GMT

Both my folks were depression children. But actually, the families were poor to begin with so the depression was something they weathered well.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

beckyb1012 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:32:55 GMT

A couple of weeks ago I came across the bio. of the woman in the ""Migrant Mother"" photo that is iconic to the depression. She was and her family were extremely embarrassed that Dorethea Lange used this photo the way she did. Very interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Owens_Thompson

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Mominohio — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:49:54 GMT

On 10/7/2014 qualitygal said:
On 10/7/2014 MJ 12 said:
Hi Qualitygal -

My parents were born after the Depression, and my grandparents didn't talk about it (that I can remember). What is the title of the book? I'd like to read it. thanks!

It's called "We had Everything but money". It's a Reminisce Book.

I have this book, and it was published back when Reiman (sp?) Publications did excellent work. Now their magazines are full of ads, and the content just isn't the same either (I think they were bought out by Reader's Digest).

My folks were born during the great depression. My dad's side of the family had a 40 acre farm and that made them better off than most, because they could grow food and raise animals. The folks that had it the worst were the ones in the big cities, as there were no jobs, and no place to raise food.

As many as 4 generations were living on the farm at one time. I have a picture of my dad and he was probably not even 5 years old, sawing firewood with his great grandfather. Everyone did what they could, no matter how young or old. Oftentimes, when they had run up a bill at the grocery in town that they couldn't pay, they'd have to take a cow in to the store, to be butchered and sold to pay for their bill. My great grandma would always shed a tear, as she loved the cows. My dad was born in July 1934, at home, with no air conditioning, no fans, and temps in the 100 degree range. No money for a hospital then.

When I listen to my great aunts and uncles talk of that time, and the time during WWII, they remember most things fondly, even though they had little, most were healthy and they stuck together as a family.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Mominohio — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:53:01 GMT

The full saying that I've heard is "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without". Pretty much just early "green" living, and could be today's mantra for the environmentalist movement!

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Mj12 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:55:33 GMT

On 10/7/2014 mominohio said:
On 10/7/2014 qualitygal said:
On 10/7/2014 MJ 12 said:
Hi Qualitygal -

My parents were born after the Depression, and my grandparents didn't talk about it (that I can remember). What is the title of the book? I'd like to read it. thanks!

It's called "We had Everything but money". It's a Reminisce Book.

I have this book, and it was published back when Reiman (sp?) Publications did excellent work. Now their magazines are full of ads, and the content just isn't the same either (I think they were bought out by Reader's Digest).

My folks were born during the great depression. My dad's side of the family had a 40 acre farm and that made them better off than most, because they could grow food and raise animals. The folks that had it the worst were the ones in the big cities, as there were no jobs, and no place to raise food.

As many as 4 generations were living on the farm at one time. I have a picture of my dad and he was probably not even 5 years old, sawing firewood with his great grandfather. Everyone did what they could, no matter how young or old. Oftentimes, when they had run up a bill at the grocery in town that they couldn't pay, they'd have to take a cow in to the store, to be butchered and sold to pay for their bill. My great grandma would always shed a tear, as she loved the cows. My dad was born in July 1934, at home, with no air conditioning, no fans, and temps in the 100 degree range. No money for a hospital then.

When I listen to my great aunts and uncles talk of that time, and the time during WWII, they remember most things fondly, even though they had little, most were healthy and they stuck together as a family.

thanks Mominohio!

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Cakers1 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:09:40 GMT

On 10/7/2014 beckyb1012 said:
A couple of weeks ago I came across the bio. of the woman in the ""Migrant Mother"" photo that is iconic to the depression. She was and her family were extremely embarrassed that Dorethea Lange used this photo the way she did. Very interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Owens_Thompson

Dorothy Lange took quite a hit by Florence and her family. Great PBS documentary about Dorothy Lange called ""Catch a Bolt of Lightening"" that includes a segment about this photo.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Cakers1 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:13:07 GMT

Sorry it's "Grab a Hunk of Lightening".

btw: I have letters missing in some of my posts and it's my keyboard, so just an fyi.

Re: "Make over, make do, or do without"

Marienkaefer2 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:29:07 GMT

My grandparents told me all about their lives during the Depression. My grandfather was 14 when it started. He had to leave school and get a job to help.support the family. A family friend got him a job in a hotel in NYC washing dishes. He and his family lived in Fort Lee, NJ. He described waking up at 4am every day to get to work, working a 12 shift in the basement kitchen of the hotel,then returning home late at night. He got a half day off during the week. And if you didn't like it, too bad. There were plenty others waiting for that job. His parents had told him.he could return to school when things got better. But my grandfather stayed at the job, eventually working his way up.to sous chef and then he learned to be a pastry baker. He worked there until WW II started. Then he took a course in shipbuilding and worked in the Brooklyn Shipyards repairing ships damaged in the war. He couldn't be drafted because he had lost part of two fingers on his left hand playing with abandoned bombs from WW I in his village in Italy. With the shipbuilding job, my grandfather started to make better pay. My grandmother wanted to buy a house. My grandfather wanted to save it to open a business, and after the war, that's what they did. So even though my grandfather never graduated high school, he became a very successful business owner and was able to make life better for his descendants. He and my grandmother worked side by side all those years.