Becoming Mom: Money-Saving Tips from the Greatest Generation

When I left full-time work to care for an elderly parent a few years ago, we streamlined our budget to manage on my husband’s schoolteacher salary, while I traded a good income for flexibility as a freelance writer for my former employer. As I expanded to more publications, my earnings provided entertainment and nonessentials while our main income covered our house payment, utilities, groceries, transportation, and insurance. 

During 2022, the price of gasoline in our area more than doubled, but my husband still had to commute to work and I still had to care for my dad’s property and attend events to write about. Groceries went up 30% or more, and ill-timed cold weather and rain meant a poor garden. Since my writing income was no longer “extra,” but helping us eat and get to work, I looked for more ways to trim expenses so we could still enjoy an occasional date night or day trip. I resurrected some thrifty habits I had learned from my parents but hadn’t thought about when we had two reasonably decent incomes—get more, spend more.

Growing up in the rural Ozarks, my folks learned thrift because that’s how families survived. The belt-tightening of the Great Depression wasn’t much of a change; it was just how they lived. Even after my dad returned from serving in WWII and got a good factory job, those habits continued, often accompanied by pithy sayings.

- “Waste not, want not.” Don’t throw out leftover food. If it’s not enough for a meal or a packed lunch, put it into the soup pot. Boil bones to make broth. Scraps of fabric? Save for quilting, or let children create rag art instead of running to the store for expensive art supplies. Scrap wood can become a bird feeder or, sanded and painted with leftover paint, children’s blocks. Worn-out towels? Use for cleaning, or for wiping the oil dipstick in the car. Leaving a room? Turn off the light, for goodness’ sake. (Nowadays, use power strips and timers for electronics; see your utility company’s newsletter for tips about reducing “phantom load.”)

- “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” My parents took to heart this saying, inspired by WWII rationing. They drove cars until they died; Dad repaired appliances until parts were no longer available for them. And their stuff lasted a long time because he was compulsive about caring for it—oil changes like clockwork, dust cleaned out of vacuum cleaner motors, furnace filters changed religiously.

Actually, finance guru Dave Ramsey would be proud of me on this one—our 2010 Ford Focus and 2006 GMC Canyon still run great at 325,000 and 270,000 miles respectively. (Yes, you read that right.) At nearly 200,000 miles on the Focus, the transmission started acting up but the engine was in great shape. We are now over 125,000 miles farther down the road with a salvage transmission, for less than 15% of what a new vehicle would have cost. Taxes and insurance are much less expensive, too.

My dad didn’t go to the store for anything he could accomplish himself with his tools, duct tape, and leftover hardware from other repairs. He was pretty ingenious about it; he even rigged up a pulley system so he could stand on his deck and rattle old metal pie pans to scare birds and rabbits out of his garden! Of course, to make those things happen, he kept boxes of anything he “might need sometime,” like those pans, saved when my mom got Pyrex ones for actually making pie. Their collection of butter tubs was a bit extreme, but having stuff stashed did save them money.

- “There’s still a week’s worth of toothpaste in that tube.” Mom was right, not just about toothpaste but about my expensive tinted moisturizer and other toiletries. Cut off the end, use a craft stick to dig out what you couldn’t squeeze out, and close with a bit of plastic wrap. Another week!

- “Pay as you go and you’ll never owe.” My parents were adamant about credit cards—that is, about not having one. If the money wasn’t in the wallet or checkbook, they didn’t spend it. And they made sure money WAS there when needed by saving a percentage right off the top of every paycheck, not only for emergencies but also planning ahead for when the car finally did wear out or the furnace needed repair. My husband and I should have paid better attention on this one; we spent far too much on credit card interest when a windfall we were expecting didn’t pan out and we were stuck paying for splurge purchases we should have waited to buy when the cash actually materialized. If you use a credit card for travel or online shopping, create a budget and keep a log to avoid unpleasant realities (AKA interest) when you get the bill. Log digital payments in a folder on your computer or phone.

- “Let nature do that for you.” My mom didn’t own a clothes dryer until well into retirement, and then only used it if it rained for days on end. She let sun and wind do the drying, and also believed it was healthy to stand in the fresh air folding dry clothes from the line right into the basket. Wow, who knew! When outdoor temperatures dropped below freezing, she used a folding clothes rack near a heater vent. (“Poor person’s humidifier.”) 

The list could go on and on—backyard gardening, shopping only with a list, buying meat in bulk from farmer friends. I’m thankful for parents who had skills and tried to pass them on, and now that their thrift makes a lot of sense to me, I’m trying to do the same for my kids and grandkids.