Comments On Article: Can We Find A Way To Do It?

I’m very fortunate to have three cobblers in local driving distance. One now has his grandson learning the trade. I use them quite frequently to repair my leather boots and shoes. Some I've had since the 70’s and still going strong! I was told by the cobbler, because the majority of my shoes or boots are leather to not wear them two days in a row as it will not give them time to rest. I said so my shoes need more rest than I do? We all laughed. 

stephanie g

 I'm curious about details- how you are using only a cooler with ice

margaret p I'm not presently, but at one time or another all of my major appliances have failed, and I've had to go for a time without them. If it's winter, putting your milk in the snow works really well. :) When we had to use a cooler for awhile in the summer, we learned to only buy what you need to keep cool for a day or two, and we bought the replacement ice at the same time as the groceries. You learn how to go without very quickly! But Tea S has far more experience than I do with using a cooler and could tell you more. 

I have an uninvited guest in my attic. Does anyone know how to get rid of a rodent in the attic? I've never had this problem before or even known someone who has. I looked at YouTube videos and my son who is agile went up into the attic twice. The first time to look around, but he didn't find any droppings or signs of chewing even though we can hear the chewing. The second time he went up he took pictures of anywhere there was light coming in and laid a couple of traps baited with peanut butter. For two days after he laid the traps we didn't hear anything, but today the chewing is back. We've been trying to look for an outside access but it's been raining lately and we haven't been able to do a complete job. I like to do things for myself when I can, and we have two dentist bills to pay this month, so I'd hope not to have an exterminator bill too! 

Margaret P., 

Let me know if you have any specific questions about using a cooler, but here are the basics of what I do:

The cooler itself is just an ordinary one meant for picnics or camping. 

I'm running a chest freezer anyway for food storage, so I'm able to make my own ice at very little extra energy use. 

Instead of ice cubes, I use empty plastic juice bottles full of water, that can be refrozen over and over again.  This wastes less water, keeps the inside of my cooler drier, and they're easier to fit in the freezer than a bunch of ice cube trays that would need to stay level.

The rest is just a matter of simplifying food and keeping on top of things.  I no longer keep a wide variety of refrigerated condiments on hand, and learned that I don't miss them at all.  Leftovers get used up (usually as the next day's lunch) before I cook something new, because I only have room to keep one or two dishes cold at a time. 

I cook using mostly wild foods and pantry staples, so don't have a lot of perishable grocery store items to keep cold.  When I do treat myself to something from the store that requires refrigeration (usually dairy) I make an effort to use it up within a few days.  No more finding quarter blocks of cheese molding in the refrigerator.

Stephanie G.,

Speaking from experience, it might be a really cute red squirrel and she might have babies up there.  Please don't exterminate them!

Rodents tend to dislike human activity or perceived human activity, so one thing you can try is making the attic less hospitable.  If there is stuff stored up there, clean it out/move things around and if you find a nest, disturb it enough to worry the mother into moving her babies far away.  If nothing stored can try leaving lights on, playing a radio, burning incense (only if not a fire hazard in the type of attic you have) or spritzing cheap perfume around.  None of these things repel rodents permanently, but it's the change itself that makes them nervous.  Then once they move out, seal the holes so they can't come back.  Or think about how they're reaching those holes in the first place - have tree branches or vines made your house more climbable than it used to be?

Killing them while still providing habitat and an access point won't stop the problem - more will come now that they know about it!  

Living in the woods there is (and should be) a healthy population of outdoor rodents here, but it was quite an adventure mouse and squirrel proofing my house.

Tea S there's nothing in the attic and there are no trees or lines. We looked at our ground level house vents and they were all intact. Then the rain came! We're going to look for roof access as soon as we can. We don't have any squirrels in the neighborhood as far as I know. I think there's only one creature up there, and it makes a lot of noise chewing. When my son was in the attic I banged on the area where we hear the chewing but he didn't see anything. He even took a picture. It looked like boards and insulation. Would a squirrel hide a nest under the insulation? It gets so hot up in the attic that it surprises me that something would try to live there.

Thank you for your help. :)

Grandma Donna Wrote, 

Great conversations going on here, we are all learning so much from one another.  

Stephanie G, I do not remember you ever mentioning about you not replacing your refrigerator, if you did I forgot.  Charles and I do not replace appliances anymore unless we cannot figure out any other option.  I am glad to see that you can get along without the refrigerator and are probably quite used to it. There is a lady on You tube, titled How to live without a Fridge, these kind of things fascinate me because my grandparents lived without electricity and running water and fridge for all of their growing up years into adult years.  Other family members did not have electricity in my lifetime.  They just went on about things.  There is a relief of the lack of sounds when household equipment stops running. Our fridge is still running, it is a small fridge compared to what most people have here in the United states.  If it decides to stop I would most likely not want to replace it because as you found there are other options.  :)

Grandma Donna, Actually I'm the one who didn't replace my refrigerator, it's just that I wrote about it in response to a point Stephanie made, that any of us could live without modern things if we had to.  Seems I somehow caused some confusion.  

Stephanie G, A squirrel might nest in insulation, but unless it's a very thick layer the surface would probably look disturbed.  They tend to build big nests compared to mice.  If you don't have squirrels in your neighborhood, it's likely just a mouse.  Which are also pretty cute actually, but something I know most people choose to kill anyway.

I found something interesting. If you have a smallish 10 cu ft. refrigerator with the Energy Star label, it will cost you about the same now as they were spending on ice back then, about $3.50 a month. It is amazing to think that our costs for cooling food could be the same as they were back then!

Someone was talking about how they used bread bags on slides. Our bread bags were plastic, and we used them inside our boots to keep our feet dry in case our boots had holes.

I appreciated Susan's comment about pets. I am on a very limited income, so my pets live until they die, for the most part. When my dog still had several years of life left, she needed an operation that cost $160. I could afford it at the time so she got it. However, when she was getting closer to the end of her life, she needed another operation, and the Vet said I should take her home and keep her happy till she dies. In the end, I had her put down, and that cost about $350. It still bothers me that if I had more money she could have lived longer, but it is just the way it is. I'm not going to take money out of my IRA or go into debt to prolong my dog's life. In the end, they are going to die no matter what you do. You can't avoid that part of it. It is just a matter of when they will die. I can't afford a dog now, so I don't have one even though I would really like to have one. I tried fostering a dog since they pay for all of the dog's needs. However, the dog chewed on things and probably destroyed over $200 worth of items. I think of JoJo every time I use the TV remote that she chewed up.

This is what Chat GPT told me about the cities service securities:

 Yes, “city service securities” or “cities service securities” likely refers to stocks or bonds issued by the Cities Service Company, a large utility holding company that was active in the early 20th century. Here's a breakdown:

???? What Was Cities Service Company?

• Founded: 1910 by Henry L. Doherty
• Purpose: To manage and consolidate utility companies across the U.S., including electricity, gas, and oil operations
• Operations: It owned parts of electric companies, gas pipelines, and oil companies, eventually becoming known for its connection to Citgo Petroleum (which was a Cities Service subsidiary)

???? Why Would It Be in a Budget Book?

In the 1930s, small towns, cities, and even individuals often invested in utility companies:

• Municipal investment portfolios might have included these securities to generate income
• Pension or trust funds (including for city employees) might have held such stocks or bonds
• Private individuals listed them in budgets or estate inventories due to their perceived stability

???? Typical Entry Might Look Like:

"Held: 100 shares Cities Service Preferred Stock – par value $10, market value $425"

⚠️ Historical Context:

During the 1930s, Cities Service was one of many holding companies investigated during the Public Utility Holding Company Act hearings, as these conglomerates had become very complex and often manipulated stock values. This led to the breakup or restructuring of many such firms.

Thank you Tea & Stephanie G on the info for using ice chests. This intrigues me and I will think about it some more. I will look for that video you mentioned Donna.

I'm very much a make-do kind of person. I like to joke that if we're out of mayo for sandwiches you get mustard. My mother-in-law would run to the store for one thing. At lunch at her home once she handed me $5 and told me to run to the convenience store to get some mayo for the sandwiches. Of course, I'm the odd one because I don't run to the store and make everyone eat mustard on their sandwiches. 

I also use a spoon to get mayo out of the jar. My friend once insisted on using a table knife even though there  hardly any mayo in the jar. She thought I was the odd one. 

A bit off topic here, but they actually make special long handled spoons for getting mayonnaise out of a jar, and my grandpa was a stickler for using one even when the jar was full.  We would get yelled at if he saw someone getting ready to stick a knife in the jar, "Use the mayonnaise spoon!" I've never seen one at anyone else's house though, lol.

You are so right! Thanks for bringing my thinking back to that point. Back to basics. It may be a little more work at times but it can be less work on the brain and more relaxing.

Grandma Donna wrote,

Tea S, you did not write it wrong, I read it wrong. Lol  You gave several of us us something to consider.  :)

Thank you Becky Sue K for the information about City Service Securities.:)

Whatever method you use to track your spending this year will give you the number you need to prepare a budget for next year.  I've been doing this for more years than I can recall.  What I do is add up each category, divide by 12 and start with that amount.  I try to put a buffer of $25 for utilities, $200 for medical and increase other areas when I must.  I'm on SS so my pitiful increase each year is eaten up quickly.  This June my utilities suddenly went up $40 so my $25 buffer wasn't enough.  I actually do an average every quarter to determine where I stand for each category so I can adjust quickly when necessary.  

I try to do my shopping in the town 25 miles away monthly.  There is very little shopping available locally just a Dollar General and a small grocery store.  One trip a month means I can often go up to three months before needing gas.  If I have to go to town for another reason, I try to do my shopping while I'm there.  I keep a deep pantry which allows me to go much longer if the roads are bad.  I promised myself I wasn't driving on that highway again when it was icy or otherwise bad and for 12 years, I've kept that promise.  When we went into Covid lockdown I did not shop for 2 months and never missed a meal, nor did I run out of toilet paper!  

Susan O, I enjoyed reading your comments, once I had sent mine through, I was thinking of how the Lord provides and His system is not the worlds system, I felt a bit convicted about my grumbling actually! I always have exactly what I need and that in itself is a miracle! I also agree about what you said about animals and vets, it amazes me the money people spend and how out of balance in peoples minds/emotions this has become, it's almost as if they are people. That is a very unpopular view these days, but I'm putting it out there. We love our animals, care for them and give them the best life we can, but at the end of the day when severe sickness or a bad injury comes, that in all it's sadness is the end. We do not go and get all these needles etc. either and our pets have survived wonderfully over the years, to my mind the vet industry is making huge profits and who ever heard of pet insurance before, this would of seemed crazy I think in the 1930's, just some of my thoughts, I hope nobody takes offence...

I'm sorry if I've caused confusion. I have a fridge now. I've had it since 2009 and it's chugging right along! In the early days of marriage, we often got used appliances to save money, so I've experienced breakdowns of everything! I admit that I went to the Laundromat instead of washing my own laundry when the washer broke down years ago, but I've hung laundry exclusively when the dryer died, and cooked on a Weber grill when the stove died, and put my groceries out in the snow in the winter and kept them cold in a cooler in summer when the fridges gave out. People today don't know what they're missing when they don't get these exercises in resourcefulness and just buy new products. :) I know someone whose fridge just died, and they paid $5,000 to have it replaced! I thought it must do something amazing at that price, but apparently it just keeps food cold. :) 

We are unlikely to replace our fridge when it goes. We do have a small dormsize fridge we don't use. I want to check its energy usage first, but we might use that. 

~~~~~~~~~

Thank you again, Tea S, for your help. You've helped me understand the problem better. 

Susan O, your fabric experience was inspiring. :) 

I'm a beginning gardener, and the picture is what I picked out of my garden for the makings of supper. I was thinking of how different cooking would have been when people were eating out of their gardens more. It wouldn't be about what you want to make for supper, but rather what is ready in the garden. This is my first picking of green beans this year, so I am excited to taste them. I have picked several zucchinis this year and have been really enjoying them. It is sort of fun being a bit overrun with zucchinis because I know it will be short lived.

"It wouldn't be about what you want to make for supper, but rather what is ready in the garden."

Becky Sue, I think you are correct. 

My mother grew up on a farm. I'm sure she grew up this way. I know that many family members lived nearby and they shared what they had  growing. As a homemaker she only bought what was on sale at the grocery store. So it was never about what we felt like eating. When she was a divorced, working woman living alone she began stopping after work at the store to see what she felt like eating. I understand it but it got her used to having something different everyday. Now homebound she complains that what is in her kitchen doesn't sound good. She wastes a lot of food because it's not what she wants. She dislikes eating leftovers.My point isn't really about her but more of how we as a developed country are used to abundance and variety. My mother-in-law throws out potential leftovers because they won't eat them so she doesn't bother putting them in the fridge. 

I have had so many conflicting thoughts throughout the reading of this post and the comments.  Some for our modern means/ways and some for the 'old' ways.  I think the topic of finances overall can be very diverse.  What I don't consider a necessity another will and what I do think is worth sacrificing to have another might easily feel compelled to say 'No' to.

Having a vast supply of 1920's, 30's, 40's and 50's vintage homemaking magazines which I read repeatedly for years (I'd group them in month of publication).  I found it interesting to note the changes over that 40-year period.  But there was one common theme, one we still hear today, that elusive 'simpler' time.  It's interesting that this is a common theme all through the years.  Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote of the 'simpler times' paradigm in the 1900's and it's often mentioned in those vintage magazines as well.  What we really long for are the pleasures we once enjoyed and considered to be 'enough' whereas today there is no such thing as enough of anything it seems.    

Truly what we realize in hindsight is that what we most enjoy were never the things that were costly.

Having lived in circumstances that were often lower income, we did indeed learn to frugally enjoy ourselves without spending a great deal.  Picnics, day trips to nearby attractions, celebrating holidays and birthdays simply can all be done reasonably well.  

Items were bought for quality.  There is a great deal to be said for quality over quantity.  This is where today's modern world makes that possible.  It's so much easier to read reviews online on products and to discover why an appliance is a good buy or not.  The amount of information at our fingertips is a boon to us.  We can learn to repair our own appliances, order necessary parts, check reviews, find knockoffs that have the same quality as the name brands, etc.  

The mention of Revere Ware made me smile.  I have a set that is going on 30 years old.  My mom still has the set she began housekeeping with in the late 1960's.  My grandmother had the set she'd gotten in the 1940's...  Pyrex and Corning Ware are items worth passing down, too, just like cast iron.  That's true quality stuff!

I recently set my budget for the coming quarter.  That budget is fairly consistent for categories but ever changing as well.  Reducing things seems to always be the order of the quarter but what we spend upon remains pretty much unchanged.  I think that's a good sign that we've found our sweet spot for this season of life.  

There have been many comments about the feed bag material.  My husband and I are of the social security generation, but did not old enough to have lives through the Depression.  When my husband was in school he worked at a farm store and they would have farmers come in to buy feed and bring their wife who would want to pick out the bags she needed to match fabric.  My husband said it would always be the bag on the bottom of the pile.  He would have to move all the bags to get what she wanted.

When I was growing up my parents would use the paper grocery bags with a section on newspaper in the bottom for trash.  I have made bowl covers for my leftovers.  I have several different sizes and they are not as tight as plastic or foil, but for a lot of things it really doesn't matter.  There are directions on the internet just search bowl cover directions.  I used elastic that I had leftover from mask making.  

I saw a video that said if you wanted a refrigerator that would last 30 years you should have bought it 30 years ago.  

Joanna B. I once read a book about London in WWII. In one section they noted that within one month of the start of the attacks on London most of the pets disappeared.  Of course part of this was attributed to the problem of food rationing.  The meager food allowance they received they needed to go to the children of the family and they could look ahead and see that would only get more extreme.  But the people had their pets put down out of compassion for them.  When the sirens went off people had only moments to find their children and get into shelter.  Of course if they had personal shelters (oh my gosh you should read about those.  It will keep you up at night imagining!) the space was very limited.  They were in a rush and simply had no time to search for the animals.  And so try to imagine what a horror it was for the poor pets to experience the bombing alone!  Then again in reading about WWII Holland and the starvation time they went through many finally came to the place of feeding their pets to their children.  I know!  It makes us gasp in horror.  And that should be a lesson to us of just how much our values change when we are in a place of utmost extremity.     All that to say one thing we have to consider about  these budgets in the 1930’s is that they went through some horrible times with the dust bowl, etc.  Their perspective on what was important would be very different from our own.  And isn’t that true for all of us?  We make a budget based on what is essential for our own family.  There can be no one size fits all budget.     I’ve laughed many times observing one of my friends who thinks it is just horrific that we aren’t traveling and going to concerts and such while she has made two flights to Europe and goes to many concerts.  (Donna and I share a health issue that has her laughing hysterically right now at the idea of going to a concert.)   Our health problems over the past year have reduced us to not even leaving our hometown.  So our budget for travel continues to grow and eventually I will move those funds to a different category.  But you know what?  We are fine with not traveling overseas because no part of the airplane flight is an attractive thought to us.  Said friend thinks we should at least be making road trips.   We made one last 5,000 mile road trip to see my MIL and realized the first day out that it would be our last.  Our bodies don’t enjoy that anymore.  So another thing with our budgets is they have to change to accommodate changes in our lives.  Being a home manager requires real thought, doesn’t it.

I have a close family member who earns below the federal poverty level for their household of two, and they just paid $3000 on credit for a surgery on a stray cat that adopted them a few months prior to ingesting a small piece of metal that could have perforated the stomach or bowel.  I understand and I don’t understand.  On the one hand, they absolutely couldn’t afford the surgery.  On the other hand, the love the cat.  If it were a child nobody would think twice.  Growing up, more than one animal had to be put down because my parents couldn’t afford the vet bill.  But I am firmly of the belief that all people have the right to have pets, whether or not the can afford expensive vet bills — even if they choose to go into debt.

I’ve definitely paid vet bills in the $500 - $1000 range for my dogs, depending what mischief they got into or illness the developed.  But I’ve also said no to surgeries that made no sense, like the suggest exploratory surgery on a 12 year old dog who was at the very end of her life anyway, or a $600 surgery to try to correct bloat in a 13 year old German Shepherd who had arrived at the emergency room unconscious in critical condition.  I won’t put an elderly dog through the anesthesia and recovery, not when they can’t understand.  Our rule is to assess each situation based on the animal, their age, their overall health, etc.

Since I cannot afford vet expenses I have decided not to have pets.

oh absolutely, real thought and prayers for wisdom, so well put, and yes, we can't even begin to imagine can we all they went through and the grit they would of had to have. 

I felt very 30s last night at dinner. Just a couple days ago I thrifted 4 smaller dinner plates. Maybe they would be called luncheon plates? They aren't vintage and in fact appear to be new. But they are definitely smaller than most dinner plates but bigger that bread plates. I liked how the food in appropriate portion sizes looked on them. I had rice with tomatoes, green beans and carrots. It was so delicious. I made pork chops for my husband. I'm looking forward to using them for dinner every night. 

Are those roses from your garden Grandma Donna on your table in the photo? They are very beautiful!

margaret p I have a dinner set from the around the 30-40's era, that have these, I love them too, so handy and look lovely, they are called lunch plates, you don't seem to see them in dinner sets generally do you, I'm so happy to have found them too.

These are my plates inside of each other dinner plate, lunch plate, bread and butter plate, the set also has a dessert bowl and a smaller bowl, would I be right in thinking the smaller bowl would be an entree soup bowl? If anyone knows that would be wonderful.

Those are so pretty Joanna B!

The smaller bowl would probably be for serving fruit.  Canned fruit was often used as a dessert.  I recall my grandmother using them for that anyway.  My Corelle dishes have a luncheon plate which is what I use most of the time.

I had a set of China and the plates were smaller somewhere between a current dinner plate and a luncheon plate.  Since neither of my dd's wanted the China, I gave it to my nephew's wife.  She was happy to get it, and I hope she uses and enjoys it regularly.  

Ofcourse, that makes sense, thank you! Yes, I'm a firm believer that these treasures should be used and enjoyed.

Thank you : )

Do you live in the South Island of NZ Ingrid? I think I remember reading in one of your comments you are in NZ?? I'm originally from Invercargill, I've been in Australia most of my life (I'm almost 50) however my family are living over there.

I'm a North Islander Joanna B.

I have a set of china from the 1940s and the dinner plates are a little smaller than today’s dinner plates, especially when you consider the area meant to hold food.  I have dinner plates, luncheon plates, and bread plates (or dessert plates).  I also have rimmed soup bowls and the smaller fruit bowls — the soup bowls hold just a small serving of soup, and the fruit bowls are also quite small.  It gives you a sense that people ate smaller portions back then, but of course with these dishes a person would be having multiple courses.  Whereas when I make soup it is the main dish and is often served only with bread, and sometimes with a salad.