

The people who went through The Great Depression know what it’s like to live frugally in order to survive. THE PEOPLE WHO SUFFERED THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION CAN TEACH US A LOT I don’t know what I would do, but I can tell you that it would take everything within me not to absolutely fall apart. I look at my kids and I try to picture what it would be like to not know how I was going to feed them. It’s hard to imagine all these people went through. The severe dry period that triggered the dust storms was named “The Dust Bowl.” The drought was so severe that it caused major dust storms that destroyed crops and killed livestock. People were evicted from their homes and were literally starving.Įven farmers who were growing their own food suffered in some areas due to drought. Banks were going bankrupt which meant even people who were thrifty and wise with their money lost their savings they had put in the bank they trusted. Unemployment was at an all time high with more people losing their jobs everyday. The effects of The Great Depression were severe.

The worst years were 19, and after that things slowly started to improve, but it would take years until the Depression finally came to a complete end. The Great Depression occurred between 19. The Great Depression era frugal living strategies were what kept many of those people alive in desperate times. Depression era frugality was a necessity for these people. While I grew up living below the poverty line here in Canada, I know that I am pretty fortunate to not go through the same kind of poverty many people went through during The Great Depression. Tips from our grandparents and great grandparents are still relevant today. The people who lived during that time learned How to save money with frugal living during the Great Depression, and we can gain wisdom from their experiences.
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We can use what we learned from them to know how to prepare for another great depression if we ever have to walk through such an unfortunate time. By reading and watching their stories I learned many frugal living tips from The Great Depression. Over the years as I’ve heard more stories, many of them now being told online, I was amazed at their resilience. Even then, I found it hard to fathom what people went through during that time in history. It’s thanks to minimalism that this freedom is possible.I remember first hearing about The Great Depression in my high school history class.

Becoming a minimalist is why I wrote about How Minimalism Helped Pay Off Debt. It’s freeing to not be controlled by objects and even more freeing to not be controlled by finances. It provided a means for us to downsize our apartment without needing for more space. It allowed us the ability to get rid of a car, and live only with one. It granted my husband and I the freedom to move across the country with only what could fit in our two cars. Minimalism completely changed my lifestyle from constantly consuming to mindful spending. I went from feeling like I could never have enough, to understanding that I have everything I could ever need.

It’s this mindset that allowed me to pay off almost $50,000 of debt. It doesn’t mean I live in an empty apartment, but it does mean maybe I don’t need that extra dress just because it’s on sale.īecoming a minimalist changed my mindset to stop consuming things I didn’t need. But I realized minimalism isn’t just about decluttering, but about being content with what I have. I probably threw away over 20 garbage bags of junk and many random pieces of furniture. When I first learned about minimalism, I thought the purpose was to declutter – and at first, it is. Today, I’m debt free, haven’t bought new clothes in who knows how long, and live in a 600 sq ft apartment.
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A few years ago, I was tens of thousands of dollars in debt, bought clothes out of stress or boredom, and had a house full of stuff I didn’t know I owned. This week we hear from Frugal Minimalist, who tells us how minimalism helped her pay off a huge amount of debt and enjoy new freedom in life. If you’d like to participate, click here for details. Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words.
