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| Getting by |
| Written by Dave Healy | |||||
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I remember playing with my mother’s and grandmother’s tins of buttons cut from old clothing for re-use. When my mother sewed new clothes and knitted sweaters, it was my job to find the right number and color of matching buttons by making piles on the bed.
When it came time to clean out my mother’s things, I gave the button tins to a cousin who sews and makes crafts, to keep them in the family and in use.
I grew up in a four-plex on Raymond Avenue, across from the College Park tennis courts. Each unit had a coal furnace, and my mother had to go to the basement to feed the coal fire.
During WWII, we had a Victory Garden near Eustis Avenue. My father loved to do canning, even though my uncle said it was “women’s work.” He canned tomatoes and pickles from the garden, and bought bushels of apricots, peaches and pears to can.
Janet Clocker St. Anthony Park
When I went out of state to college in 1979, I shared a room in the dormitory. When my desk light bulb burned out, I put it on my closet shelf and my roommate asked me why I was keeping it rather than throwing it away. I said, “Don’t you keep your light bulbs?” She looked at me like I was crazy and again asked “Why?”
I told her I didn’t know why; I just knew that growing up we saved old light bulbs. So the next time I spoke with my mom on the phone, I asked her why we saved light bulbs. She laughed and said, “I haven’t done that in years. I used to save them to darn the socks.”
For the youngsters out there who have no clue what this means, you may need to look up “darn” in a dictionary.
Darning socks was another way of getting by.
Sharon Dzik Como Park
How did we save money during the Great Depression?
Milling companies put flour in large, patterned sacks so housewives could use the material to make dresses, shirts, PJs, etc.
Many people did not buy toilet paper because they still had outhouses with a Montgomery Ward or Sears Roebuck catalog for wiping.
Most everyone wore blue denim overalls with a bib. It was the cheapest and toughest cloth available. Clothing was handed down, and many women were good seamstresses and could repair older clothing. They knitted sweaters, socks, mittens and scarves.
Coal was expensive so we burned cob corn. My parents owned a store, and to supplement that income we started raising mink, raccoon and chinchilla rabbits for their pelts and meat. Many people hunted deer, pheasants, squirrels, ducks, rabbits and pigeons to supplement their daily food.
Most farmers butchered their own animals. People bought quarters of beef and sides of pork, then cut up the meat into roasts, steaks and chops, and they ground their own hamburger. They also made sausage and smoked it in homemade smoke-houses.
Almost everyone canned their garden vegetables and fruit, usually in Ball glass jars. They made their own tomato juice, pickles, relish and horse radish. They baked their own bread, pies, cake and other pastries.
And so it was in “the good old days.”
Fred Steinhauser St. Anthony Park
I grew up in the Camden neighborhood of North Minneapolis. My two sons, Dave and Mark, live in St. Anthony Park.
We usually had boarders living with us. When Dave got married and bought a house, my mother commented that he must be doing well because he didn’t have to take in boarders.
All our food was made from scratch. I remember sugar and flour rationing during WWII, and sometimes making and selling bread and cakes at a neighborhood shop for “rich ladies.”
We always had meat because my father was a butcher, but we made a cut of meat last for several meals. My father always set aside something to give to families who couldn’t afford meat.
As kids we had two pairs of shoes: one for church and one for school. Shoes were never hand-me-downs because it was important that they fit correctly. Besides, we always wore them out before they could be passed on.
My aunt cooked and baked for a wealthy family and was given their children’s clothes, which she shared with our family.
Charlotte Hansen Falcon Heights
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