My home is a three year old repo mobile home. There is a small laundry room at the back door. I have off grid solar as the main home power. Power company power to the other residences on the property, large shop and a well. This spring I plan to build a new coop for the chickens and ducks. I may add room for the rabbits on the side of that new structure.

I drive miles each way most Sundays to pastor a tiny rural church. They lost a business and their residence. Used materials from a mobile home we tore down last year will build the coop.

Having help here is making it possible to keep him home and accomplish building projects. Sewing and crafts and art classes will be in the two nice sheds as they get finished up inside. A smaller home is plenty and just makes for less to clean or heat. I buy or get free items to save money by using Craigslist a lot. I added two sons as joint owners by right of survivorship to the property to save any question later on. I used and grow herbs for medicines and seasonings and still add to that interesting knowledge.

Many of my age have tried to live within our means and recognise the folly of wanting a great deal more than we need. We recognise the value of knowledge, experience, and labor. I enjoy the knowledge, thought and interaction in these sites.

I admire and aspire to be self sufficient as you are. I too care for a spouse with dementia. Knowing how difficult that is gives some hope that life can still be managed.

Have enormous respect and admiration for those who can live a subsistence lifestyle and looking to do that for myself. Learning as I go. This current pandemic might teach us all a few things. We have become complacent as a society. Having an abundance of everything without giving it much thought and taking for granted it will always be there. Some thing or event will happen to shake us all up and take away our easy and complacent lifestyle.

You hit the nail on the head. If I could I would move to a more affordable homestead friendly state that offers more opportunities to become as self-sufficient as possible. I trust that there are still enough conservatives left in California to keep the liberal government here from going too far in their desire to control its citizens and push through their liberal agenda.

Clergylady, I really enjoy your posts. I like the way you look at what you have instead of dwelling on what you do not have.

I also appreciate hearing about your progress on various projects. Many people on this site, you included, have put together quite a little compound. Reading about how you get there is a useful example of what a person can do if they look at the possibilities and make progress a day at a time. Thank you! Advice to some of the unemployed Millennials: Get rid of your high priced iPhone or android phones. Investigate attending a trade school….

You have a lot of guts ridiculing seniors who are getting their meager social security checks AND working full time. Not all of us live in mansions or have toys or are able to take vacations. Your comment seemingly is founded in jealousy, nonsense and ignorance. He is My biggest problem is the Government coming in and taking what I have away. They want this country to go to digital money so the Government can collect a sales tax on everything you buy.

It is the best one going at this time but professional politicians are changing that. Obama had legal teams searching for ways to confiscate Ks and IRAs.

The only thing they could come up with was to pass a Law that citizens could be paid in Government Bonds and take the cash for the Government purposes. They are coming back! When the Government wants what you have they are going to lock you up in a camp and take it. The only solution that is possible is to vote all incumbents no matter who they are.

Take control of the Government before the Government gets out of hand. You are a fan of that white shark, mouth full of teeth, that just said that stupid statement about people working jobs to exist. Sorry you hate this country. I suggest you try Venezuela as your utopia. Funny that it is hard to find a back yard garden any where. Please put these posts on liberal sites where everyone believes it as fact. It all depends where you live and what jobs are available in your area.

In a seasonal, service based economy like a resort area, part time minimum wage work is all there is unless you are a professional or self employed. Same goes for a lot of urban jobs, unless you have a degree in something specific. There but for the Grace of God goest thou. When your fall comes, pray to God that people have more compassion and understanding to you than you have for others.

How can anyone live off of Social Security alone? In short, the millennials are an embarrassment, nothing more.

We have to tell them! Pass the lessons learned on to the next generation! That was done for me and I am blessed for it! Bet all of you can add a few more to my list!

At the dinner table In my house all the poor starving kids were in Berlin! At my place, it was the dead cat scam that ket the peace, for a while. She made fried rabbit, and they were muttering over it and asked what it was.

He was looking poorly today. Waste not, want not! No more complains there, or here. We made chicken stew with rivvles, just pinching off dough and dropping it in the stew. And, you can imagine the calls we got from her school demanding to know why we were eating rats.

Many years there after, I met an older gentleman who grew up in Berlin at that time. Turned out Mom was right! And to think, 90 million people are out of work and willing to try anything. Except, H1b visa holders are already doing the work. Thanks Chamber of Commerce. I really never understood CofC philosophy.. And most of those consumers are getting govt.

If so, it could get real bad real fast! I survived a major hurricane. The government took 3 weeks to reach us. I learned the hard way, but it is a lesson that has served me well during the current pandemic.

I survived living in Pennsylvania one-party rule! You do know if someone owed a nickle on taxes, the dems would have rented a boat for a dollar to come collect. Try NY! If you are able to get out, they will follow you and still hit you up for income taxes!

Specifically, if you relocate to Texas, Florida in particular, they will review every last tax return you filled in NY State for the last 10 years if not longer and hit you up for interest on anything they might find in addition to the tax! Be forewarned also if you move in to NY State! Thanks to child labor laws the idea of everyone wirking is actually illegal. Having a shack outside town is too.

They are looked down upon for needing help. Immediate gratification is also the plague of our society. When many people under one roof pull together they usually do well.

The difference is hand-ups vs. Kids can mow lawns, run errands, do choresfor neighbors. Many people live in alternative places, living in part of a garage is huge in CA, people live in storage shelters, old campers on property for chores or just keeping an eye out. I read a book about a waitress who did not have enough for a security deposit so lived in a motel. There are programs to help people get to the point where they can pay rent.

And there are food stamps so I do not buy the work 2 jobs and cannot afford rent or food. I am not saying that anyone who is poor that it is their own fault, but I do believe that if a person wants to badly enough and is not unable to work they can and should be able to meet their own needs, perhaps with a little help. And most people do not look down on people who need a little help if they are doing all they can to be self-supporting. Lord, we live like this now!

Not totally, but food is not wasted, clothes are done over again and again and handed down. Clothes that are just too old or stained are rags or rugs athe my house. We have chickens and a garden. And yes, it gets canned or dehydrated. Hubby and sons hunt, and I even have traps set up on our property.

We do have dogs and cats, but they pull their fair share. The cats keep the place free of mice. Soap is made and used. Necessary items are bought for the cheapest I can find.

When I do have to buy clothes, I head to the thrift store. Everything is made from scratch, including the kids lunches. Boned are boiled to make broth or bullion, and even the peels of carrots and potatoes are given to the chickens. I work, so does my husband. But we still save metal, and even recycle because it makes less trash that we have to pay for. Wood is regularly collected during the year as is kindling for our wood stove for the winter. I even cook on it during the winter months.

Clothes are hung out during summer, and hung around the stove during the winter. Still amazes me what people think of as hard work is really just how things was before all this technology. Sounds just like my house. Seven people although a couple have now moved to the city for high tech jobs. They pull their weight when they are home helping to slaughter chickens for the freezer, mow the lawn etc. They have even introduced hanging clothes to roommates and recycling everything.

Country bumpkins in the city! Victoria Gibson, you have pretty much described my childhood. I actually remember those days with some fondness.

Life was simple and we lived very simple. Kids today have no clue. While speaking to the girl next door I mentioned I was careful with what I threw in the field adjoining our properties because they bailed the field for cows. Oh…she told me that enlisted military were really well-off financially.

Not cool dude. I laugh, because I see that most folks today have no idea how to do much of anything except hold out their hand and demand. Child labor laws keep children from contributing. Labor laws and unions restrict what both employers and employees can do. Regulations and tax laws strangle most home enterprises. Hunting and fishing are a rich mans sport now by the time you pay for all the various licenses, tags and permits. I could go on and on.

Not unless something breaks the entire system down, and even then it would be a world we have never seen before because people are not like they were in If we ended up like they were back then, say the economy collapses or something just as drastic, the laws will be the last thing on peoples minds. According to the folks who track such things, there were a total of folks in jails and prisons at the end of , the last year for which figures are presently available.

Of that number were in jail or prison for violent offenses. Wish i could share this. So much truth here. We may get back to some of the old ways before this calamity is past, by necessity. I have sent articles to my son about guns, hunting and some to my sister on vitamins. In fact she tried the sauerkraut recipe and I am waiting to hear the verdict. Shay, call it a test run.

People are cooking for others right now. Everybody I know that hunts is poor and does it for food. Children work with parents and google how to put up food or ask somebody in SETX.

Lots of folks are sewing masks right now, too. Left Coast Chuck: I have a strong opinion about people in prison. Put them to work. Prison inmates could be used as labor for industry, but the U. For a long time California state prison inmates worked at various jobs making items for sale.

Our office was next to the county office furniture storeroom. In that storeroom was a conference table. It was solid oak. It was 42 inches wide and was eight feet long. It took six men to carry it. It was going to be sold for scrap or to a used furniture dealer. It was a beautiful piece of workmanship and made of first class material. All that went away because lobbyists for the office furniture industry complained to the legislature about the prison system unfairly competing with them and depriving honest American workers of a job.

Then the office furniture manufacturers moved their manufacturing facilities to China. Now neither the American worker nor the prisoners in state prisons have jobs. There was a long list of jobs prisoners used to do. Prisoners worked there mining the lead in the backstops, melting it down, casting bullets and reloading. Police officers got their ammo free.

Civilians used to have to buy the reloads. It cost a buck a box for 50 reloaded. The bailiff and I used to go to the range every Wednesday at lunch.

The anti gun lobby tried to get the range closed down. The city who had taken the range over from the sheriff found out it would cost a minimum of 2 million dollars to close down the range with no top on how high the cost could go.

So the upshot of it all is that occasionally the city police use it for training. No prisoners load ammo. Trustees used to wash all the cop cars and wax them. I guess the commercial car wash assoc. Some states still do require their prisoners to work.

The warden at Angola State Prison told us that Angola not only is self sufficient as far as generating all the funds necessary to run it, it turns money in each year to the general fund. But there are too many forces that do their best to keep it from happening. Both commercial opponents who think it is unfairly impacting their business and do-gooder organization who would rather see prisoners sit in their cells or pump iron in the yard than lean a useful skill like furniture making or making leather clothing or commercial cooking skills with baked goods for sale.

And, convicts were not normally forced to work, but had to have good records in prison to apply for a job. Even picking cotton or road work, you had to be trusted enough to allow out. Too many prisons no longer have farms, let alone factories. And just like a muscle, use it or lose it. Many articles like this one speaks of our grandparents. They kept trying to force me to a payment plan. I smell scam at this point. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to content. Leisure time will be an extreme luxury. Any leisure time you might have should be devoted to family time, reading, and resting your body. Vacations — With no money in your pocket, there will be no vacations. Gaming devices often only have a 2 or 3-year shelf life. Fast food will be a distant memory. Snacks and candy will unaffordable. Expect to lose weight. If you look at pictures of people living during the first Great Depression, you will not have seen any overweight people.

Today, nearly half of the people in the United States are overweight. Once the next Great Depression becomes the reality , very few people will be overweight. If your retirement years overlap with the next Great Depression, you will continue working. If you are already in retirement, expect to return to work, even if just babysitting for your grandchildren while your children seek work. The Truth — Governments will minimize the truth.

In order to prevent panic, protects, and widespread anarchy, the government will only be selling good news. Governments will withhold all negative announcements up until the very last- minute. Some Monday morning in the future, you will wake up to the surprise that a bank holiday was declared and your gold is to be surrendered to the government. This has happened before in the United States. Money — Banks will collapse in the next Great Depression.

The FDIC is already running a deficit. Inflation will cause the price of food and energy to exceed the resources of average people. Hint: buy gold and silver coins to protect your wealth.

Safety — During an economic collapse, crime will become rampant. We ate pancakes 3 times a day for a week, lots of potatoes, accepting any handout given to us….. My grandparents were young adults during the Great Depression. They told me that when a woman got married she was expected to give up her job so a man could be employed. Also, that if you had only a dime in your pocket and passed someone on the street selling apples for a nickel, you bought one whether or not you wanted it, so the person selling the apples would have some cash.

They were luckier than most, as my grandfather had a government job. My dad grew up in a rural community on a farm. He said that before the depression they were poor financially so when the depression came there was not much difference. However, they always had plenty to eat so never when hungry. They had gardens, a cow or two, a pig or two. By contrast my mother lived in the city. They suffered greatly. They just scraped by and never knew where the next meal would come.

I am 88 years old and remember those years!! I have worn shirts mom made from floor sacks! Mom could go into the woods and gather weeds and plants that were editable?

I remember so much more but you get the idea???? I have to say this picture gives me the heebie jeebies. Good piece of survival wisdom!

I am 49 and have always peeled potatoes this way and cucumbers. Now I have often grated a knuckle. Many places had lakes that froze over during the winter time. They would cut ice and store it properly so that it would not melt, even in the summer time. So, if you could afford it, this ice was used in ice boxes, which let them keep milk, left overs, etc.

Many places had cold springs or streams that could be used to keep things cold. They would cool watermelons and other food in the spring house.

This is a great article. My grandmother is , she will be on July 12th. On her th birthday I asked her about her Christmases. She said there were some that she was just happy to be alive during the depression. I love her stories during this time. Her mother died when she was 12 so she took over taking care of her father and two brothers. Your article touches on many things she talks about. The biggest thing I got from her and have used is the envelop method of paying bills.

She always had her four envelopes. She still lives at home and loves telling her stories. We now have six generations in our family. I see that you treasure the time with her, as you should. Most old folks are stored away these days in a nursing or personal care home while the family argues over who will handle any details.

I shudder to think how much irreplaceable knowledge dies unheard of every day. My folks taught me to cook, clean and work at an early age. When I became a homeless person out of high school, these skills saved me. I made it out of total poverty and never looked back. Now I troubleshoot disaster responses for the feds and apply poverty survival knowledge all over the country. I truly fear that we are far down the path to another depression, not from a catastrophe, but from progressive foolishness.

I learned so much from my grandma and others who lived through the Depression. I was always at odds with my mother, who did not like to remember the frugal lifestyle she had worked so hard to escape. But I enjoy the feeling of being able to survive in hard times. I found you by accident on Pinterest and found your collection of Depreesio posts I found interesting. It might have been nice to hear more about some things. Thank you for being there. My grandma lived through the Great Depression.

To fill my plate with all of the things that she was proud of in her pantry was how she showed love. She also still used ice cubes to stretch out the milk. I was born in and moved to a farm when I was two.

Until then I survived by having been given rice boiled with lots of water and put in a bottle with a hole big enough for the rice to come through. The farm was 4 miles from town and when I was older — maybe 10 I would ride along in the wagon and pick beer bottles from the ditch one side going and the other side coming back so I could sell them.

That money went to buy school supplies. My parents got married just before their bank closed. Dad had bought two tires for his Model T. Paid by check. Got home and heard the bank had closed. Went back and told the fellow to put his old tires back on and had fifty cents in his pocket. Gave that to the mechanic for the wear he put on the new tires.

One of his brothers gave him a milk cow and another let the harrow a tater patch to glean whatever taters they could. My father told me how his dad grew sweet potatoes for a cash crop one year, only to get offered 3 dollars for a wagon load. He brought them back home and built a bin in the boys room to store them and the family lived mainly on sweet potatoes that winter. His job as a meat cutter at a store kept them in meat scraps that provided protein that year.

Hanging wet sheets over doorways was a way to cool down a room or house during the summer. Hot air was slightly cooled as it passed through the wet fabric. In the dust bowl areas the wet sheets were hung to capture the dust in the air due to the dust storms.

This was an attempt to improve the air quality inside the home. It is a great one! WOW even the replies are great. Here the my thoughts, the people of that day are a different caliber, people placed in a similar situation will respond, learn and adapt.

So that being the case a check list of items, book, equipment ect. To have on hand so a family could deescalate the family life stile to a workable solution in hard time. Thanks for the great information printing thos one out!! Having grown up in dust bowl country where all the adults I knew had stories about the Great Depression, here are a few thoughts:. In parts of the country, there was very little wildlife that was not fair game for desperate eating.

Having chased down a few, I can testify they are a challenge to catch. Snapping turtle stew and possum stew was also not uncommon. It was very common for travelers, and especially actors, to bring an electric clothes iron along with them. That way they could turn it upside down on a little stand, and cook on the sly and on the cheap in their hotel rooms.

A writer above mentioned that hanging wetted sheets over windows helped keep the dust out of the inside of the house. In fact, when a housewife saw an ugly black dust storm on its way in, there was a scramble to water soak those sheets and tack them up.

A driver could switch it between gasoline and alcohol, depending on what fuel was available. The Rockefeller gasoline stations were only established in the largest cities, and in order to justify expanding their network of gas stations to smaller cities, they had to shut down all the local production of alcohol. That led to the Volstead Act and the Constitutional Amendment. Throughout the s, with production of alcohol as car fuel prohibited, Ford dropped the flex fuel capability in his cars.

By , the Rockefeller gas station network has been established in the outlying areas, and so a Rockefeller son announced in the press that Prohibition was no longer needed.

So even though no cars were any longer being made that could run on alcohol, factory and construction workers could get alcohol to heat their coffee and lunches again. It is truly fascinating how much we can learn from history and from the people that lived on those times.

They really give you a sense of the importance of preparation and self-reliance. Stumbled across this site while trying to remember something I had read. It is not just the information or experiences, but the character of the different people. I am so thankful for their storks… and for your blog. I have a question that has never been answered: What do you use for seed starting when there is no store to go to, to purchase supplies?

One personal told me to stock up. THEN what do I use? In your research, has anyone written a seed starting mix in their journal, made with whatever they have on hand to use? And what did they do for lighting when there was no electricity and grow lights?

Shift compost through a fine mesh screen. Then place on baking sheets. Now you will want an outdoor stove or an old one in the garage and you bake that soil for apx. This will sterilize it. You can do it in the house but it will stink! All with minimal ingredients! Eggs were often cooked in just about every imaginable way, particularly for homes who had hen houses.

Hens could feed by plucking worms and bugs from the ground source. While being resourceful and creative in the kitchen can still help us stretch our money, they were also smart about the type of food they made. Casseroles were really popular during this time, and I believe even invented around this generation.

They were and still are great for making use of leftovers , vegetable scraps, and bits of meat that need to be eaten. With a little flour, and cornmeal, families could rest assure that even if supplies were low, at least they could make bread in a moments notice. Some popular breads during this time were:.

Bread made an appearance at just about every meal, as it really helped to stretch their resources, and fill bellies for cheap! Try using ritz crackers! They seriously did that! This is a simple, but surprisingly effective great depression survival tip! Try this mock apple pie out yourself. Around this era, despite the lean times, dessert was still made. Maybe it looked more like rice pudding , and less like cheesecake, but they still enjoyed the sweet side from time to time.

Places that had an abundance of fruit made cobblers, and pies. Cobblers were cheaper- since they used slightly less ingredients. Either way, they made desserts using the ingredients that were most plentiful to them at the time. From racoon, to squirrel, to rabbit, to prairie chicken, veal, and every fish they could get their hands on!

It was fair game and were used in depression era meals. Dandelions were depended on others to get by. Especially in the midwest where produce was lean, dandelions were sometimes the only produce they enjoyed. Dandelions could be sauteed, but they could also made into a wine. As I already said, but I think it is worth it to say again. They could live fairly self-sufficient, and be OK. Anybody else want a hen house now?

Their sacrifice and love is admirable.