Today, as I made a 'comment' on another web-site, I realized this was ALL HAPPY TALK...here is my comment. Diane

Diane Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation. May 3rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
Enjoyed all of it - and the readers’ comments too.

We used laundry detergent boxes because we never had cold cereal (too expensive).

My dad had a wood lathe because he used his small work-shop to make toys and
things for us since we had little money, and he’d make extra money by selling
toys to the people in town.

Dad would take all the wood scraps; form them with a knife - then we’d all chip in and ’sand them into ’shapes’. We’d stain the bare wood with food coloring so we could recognize ‘our pieces’.

We’d think up the game; crayons were usually what we’d mark the colors
with; dad used an old black glass-marking pencil for the lay-out.

We’d also fill up the glasses and fruit jars with
different levels of WATER; then we’d create music with the sounds - what
fun!

Dad would get out some of the pots and pans; the spoons - now we had a ‘band’……..

We’d get out the dictionary; we’d look up a word - the
rest had to guess the word after we’d read the meaning - how we learned from
that game, and had fun too.

We made a target out of a cereal box; used rubber bands, and used paper-wads from the old newspapers we’d pick up after the market put them out as trash.

We played pick-up-stick; jacks; only 10 cents for each
game ‘back then’.

We had an old piano with sticky keys, but it was good enough for all of us to learn on; sing to, and make music (I’m never without music playing or playing it myself).

I guess I could add to my one blog about dealing with the recession -
some of these ideas, but in many cases, it seemed as if I might be suggesting
things that simply weren’t viable enough in saving a significant amount of money
for any one (and possibly they’d sound way too boring).

For me because it was the ‘atmosphere’ - the ‘time’ back in the 1940’s, that made it not ‘frugal’, but simply a smart way to cope with the lack of having much in the way of material things.

To me, frugal is being smart - to others, it’s ‘going
without’……

Anyway, I enjoyed my read; linked to it from
Merchants - enjoy her blog as well.