Rare Color Photos of the depression (the previous one)

[Chris P.]

Great pics! They remind me of the great HBO TV series Carnivale.

[Denis]

When the fecal matter hit the fan back in '08 I had to fight the urge to bury money in my backyard, stash it in furniture, etc .....

I know the feeling!

Great pics! They remind me of the great HBO TV series Carnivale.

I loved that series!

[lowend1]

My wife and I were just discussing the "waste not, want not" concept the other day. We both grew up in pretty frugal households where stuff seemed to survive for decades before it was thrown out or recycled into something else. When my mom passed in May, I started looking around the house and was amazed at how many old T-shirts, bedsheets, socks, etc had been cut up into rags and tucked neatly away - everywhere - for future use. People used to sew patches on their clothes - now there is neither the time or knowledge for the average person to do so, especially with both adults working. I wash my own car, cut my own lawn, and clean my own house - but I'm in the minority in my area. My former neighbors were both in their 20s with no kids and relatively sane work schedules, yet they had a cleaning lady come in once a week because they were "too busy" to do it themselves. So much is wasted these days - ever try and give away a used, functional CRT monitor? A bunch of VHS tapes? A Gibson 20/20?

[Barklessdog]

My wife's father died of a heart attack when she was 4 and her mom never remarried, so she lead a frugal life growing up. It has always been easy to accommodate her lifestyle. She does not go crazy spending money. I have it drilled in me to not leave the lights on, water running , etc. "There are starving kids in China" my parents would yell at me-"clean your plate!"- good thing for the dog!

Our companies' old investor (deceased) a WWII vet would always come in and say to us "You have not lived through a depression". "You just wait, it can happen again, you have no idea what it was like."

[exiledarchangel]

I totaly agree with you guys. Even people like my parents that havent got first-hand experience from a depression, they have that "post-catastrophe syndrom". Hey, I got it too, never throw away and stuff like that. Right now I am desoldering stuff from broken electronic devices to use them in fx pedals or something like that.

[Pilgrim]

My dad was born in 1919, mom in 1921.  Dad's family had the anchor of his father's job as a foreman at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh.  He lost his right eye in a Jr. High schoolyard accident, so his parents got him into Penn State.  At that time missing an eye was considered to be such a serious handicap that he would have trouble getting a job, so they thought the degree (Ag Engineering) would be what it took to get him a career of some kind.

Mom's family was quite poor and her dad drank himself to death early...she left home after high school to make her own way, and fortunately met dad when he was working on his Master's degree. 

Both were frugal...mom was a pack rat.  I learned from dad - I generally do my own electrical work, carpentry, house painting, auto repair, lawn work....essentially, anything I'm physically capable of doing and have time for.  But I'm trying to reduce the amount of "stuff" I have.