When I was little, I used to want to go back to the pioneer days of Little House on the Prairie. My fascination continued, and about 10 years ago, my husband and I took a trip to visit places Laura Ingalls Wilder used to live. (Isn’t he a great guy to agree to that kind of vacation?) One look at the replica sod house and one step into the dampness of that “home” was all I needed to decide that pioneer days were not all that.
Still, there are plenty of tasks and hobbies that our older relatives used to partake in that we can do to save money, all while enjoying our modern conveniences such as air conditioning, indoor plumbing, heat, and refrigeration, to name a few.
Here are some of my favorite old time ways to save money:
Grow a Garden
Food prices are soaring thanks to the drought in the Midwest and much of the country this summer. You may have noticed your grocery bill rising sharply these last few weeks. One of the many ways to combat high food costs is to grow some of your own food. You don’t have to spend hours and hours in your garden or grow a garden capable of producing 2,000 pounds of food to see money saving results. Even having a few container plants on your patio can save you money.
We joined a community garden this summer and had our own little 6 x 4 foot plot. True, our zucchini and cucumbers were destroyed by beetles, but our one little cherry tomato plant has already given us over 400 tomatoes! We have also had good luck harvesting hot peppers and green and red peppers. I spend maybe 1.5 to 3 hours a week on the garden, picking produce, weeding and watering, but I find it relaxing, and I am energized whenever I see a new plant growing.
Cook Your Own Food
We are busy, busy, busy, and many of us seem to have forgotten how to cook our own meals in this age of fast food, take out, and frozen meals. In days gone by, there was no choice but to cook your own food. There weren’t restaurants or grocery stores stocked with ready-made foods.
If you eat out frequently, start small and cut out one meal out a week. Gradually increase the number of meals you make at home until you make most of them that way.
Cooking at home doesn’t have to be boring. Check out cookbooks from the library and try new recipes. Go to the farmer’s market and try foods you have never had before. (Some of our favorites that we tried this year include garlic scapes and zucchini blossoms.) Also, make it easy on yourself. If you know that you won’t get home until 6 or 7, put a meal in the slow cooker in the morning so you will come home to food all ready to eat.
Have a Designated Family Night
If you have read the Little House on the Prairie books, you know that nighttime was usually the time for free family entertainment. In Laura’s family, Pa would play his fiddle and the girls would dance and sing. In Laura’s husband, Almanzo’s family, they would spend time talking, reading, or doing small chores like knitting.
We get used to thinking that we must spend money going to the amusement park, the movies or a restaurant as a family, but chances are a family game night or some other activity could be a fun way to spend time together, too.
These are just a few ways we can take a lesson from our older relatives and save some money around the home. Other ways might be to hang up your laundry (inside or out), to give up soda and instead drink tea or coffee (home brewed, of course), or to walk to a destination that is within walking distance rather than driving. Pick and choose the ones that work best for you; take time to slow down and enjoy a simpler life and save money while doing so.
What are your favorite old-fashioned ways to save money?
Melissa, I would love to have a family night, but for that one has to have family :( Does your community garden produce enough food to make full meals? I’ve had a garden back in Midwest and we grew enough food to make full meals every other day. You’re absolutely right about cooking your own food too, and it’s much easier than people think especially with help from youtube videos and recipes from foodnetwork and other great websites.
The garden is too small to give us meals, but it did make a dent in our grocery budget. Our one little cherry tomato plant produced over 800 cherry tomatoes! Next year we plan to expand to two square garden plots. I would love to one day have a large garden like you mention.
We don’t have any space where we live to have a garden, so that one’s out for us, but we do love having family game nights at our house. We love playing games like Settlers of Catan, Pegs and Jokers, and more. Game nights are my fave!
Ah, Settlers! This game certainly produces hours of fun, my family’s go to game.
Definitely looking forward to having a garden at our new house, my wife talks about it all the time. My parents have a garden and they always seem to have a lot of veggies. Save money and calories, sounds like a good combo to me!
All your money savings tips sound great! Especially, I like the one about cooking your own food. If everyone could do that, we would all have got rich! At the same time home meals are fresh, nutritious and much healthier than restaurant meals. We normally go out to eat as a treat once a month or so and saved a fortune by doing that!
My favorite way to save money is to eat leftovers. Not only will you save money by not eating out, you don’t even have to spend money to eat at home! One day, I finally got sick of throwing out perfectly good food (usually the last portion of a recent dinner or unused veggies), so I try to make a point to use everything in the fridge before it goes bad. I can eat most lunches and make at least one “leftover dinner” each week this way!
Oh my goodness! Where to begin…I do all of those things and more!
I have been sewing since I was eleven years old and sewed all my mothers office clothes(back in the day).As a teen I took in mending for other people and made items to sell on consignment.
My husband helps me pick wild apples to make applesauce for the winter, I make all our own jams and jellies,I prepare vegetables for the freezer, and now it is just the two of us; those large recipes I made for our family are divided into portions and frozen for future meals.
I mend our clothes,upcycle all kinds of things and have even been known to bring useful items home from the dump!
I have a number of hobbies that produce gifts for family and friends birthdays,Christmas and to welcome new babies! I love every minute spent doing these things!