This is something that has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Do you, me, we have the skills necessary to survive an economic downturn? Whether that be on a personal, national or global level.
Here's what I mean. I'm a mom of six kids. Laundry is a beast for me. Socks seem to get lost or damaged or otherwise. When I had four kids under the age of six, I just chose to throw out the unmatched socks and buy new packages for everyone. But, that was when the economy was booming and it was just easier. Quite frankly, it's still the easiest way to do it. BUT.....I'm wondering is it time to learn some of the skills our Great Depression ancestors mastered? Or do you adjust your budget for things like buying new socks? The easy way out. I think that there has to be some compensation.
I'm going to suggest a few skills I think we all need and that we need to teach our children or those over which we have stewardship.
Darning Socks (Needs a darning egg or darning mushroom)
Simple Sewing - buttons, hems, etc (add to that list)
Making bread and bread products using food storage(pizza dough)
Making buttermilk, yogurt and cheese with powdered milk
Keeping a small garden - container gardening
Cleaning supplies with vinegar and ammonia (other suggestions)
Using coupons effectively to reduce grocery costs
Cooking from scratch - gravy, frosting, roasting a chicken, etc
These are just a few. What are some more suggestions of skills needed. If you know websites that are particular to certain skills, that would be nice to know also.
These skills may be difficult initially to introduce to our very busy lives, but I have no doubt that as we do them they will become easier and we'll be excited at our own self-reliance. I personally feel that it's better to learn now while the easy option is still available.
I would also encourage each of us to set goals for learning the skills we feel are most important to our families. Perhaps identify 3-4 skills and assign months that you'll devote to learning the skills. I have found that YouTube has myriads of videos showing all kinds of domestic skills. Anything from darning a sock to making your own fresh mozzarella cheese.
And yes, all the kids are getting brand new packages of socks for Christmas.
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14 comments:
Darning doesn't require a special needle, but a darning egg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darning) does make the work easier. Personally, I knit them myself :-)
Yogurt, soft cheeses, etc. are easy!
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/yogurt_making/YOGURT2000.htm
The instructions are long, but so detailed even a total beginner (me!) can be successful the first time. There are *many* recipes on that site, all equally informative.
If you happen to live in Utah, you should check out www.grocerysmarts.com, passport g84cso. It's a completely free site that matches sale items with coupons for great grocery deals each week. Save hundreds of dollars!
More great sites to reference:
Great gardening sites:
http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/
and
http://thepotager.blogspot.com/
A great 'cooking from scratch' site:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index1.htm
We posted a little recipe for pizza dough on a blog post the other day about how we are actually using our wheat on a regular basis. The post link is http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2008/12/12/julies-whole-wheat-recipes/
It's WAY easy! Hope that helps :)
Socks. Ugh. The most annoying part of laundry.
Here is one of my "must haves": http://www.sock-locks.com/
When I was growing up (6 boys, 2 girls in our family) we called these sock holders. Each member was assigned a different color sock holder. When doing laundry, Mom just tossed them in piles according to colors. No sorting, no matching, no lost socks.
My brothers hated them. Said they put holes in their socks. I never had a problem with this, nor did my mom or dad or sister. I think my brothers just didn't want to put them on. I attach them from the toes, my husband puts them on from the cuff.
Either way, I don't cuss when I fold whites anymore. :)
I have been thinking about this lately too-I need to learn how to sew and mend things-I need to learn how to make bread from scratch (I don't think it turns out as good in the bread maker-I love all of these points!! This is something we all should know how to do!! Thanks
I have the EASIEST pizza dough recipe!
Easy Pizza Dough (I don't even use my mixer for this...I just do it by hand!)
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the following
1 c. hot water
1/2 T. instant yeast
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 T. oil
Stir until yeast is dissolved. Add enough flour to make a dough that is fairly stiff but not too dry (add just enough flour to keep from sticking to hands and bowl). Roll out on pizza pan. (I actually just use baking dishes sprayed with vegetable spray, or sometimes will make calzones or individual pizzas with it.) (I like to make a dough with white and wheat flour (all wheat is usually a bit too heavy, although it works). I will also sometimes add a few tablespoons of ground flax seeds or other ground grains or seeds for nutrition and flavor.)
Top with sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
(I have made a veggie pizza with mozzarrella, broccoli, spinach, zucchini, etc. (I have used frozen veggies, thawed with water squeezed out), sprinkled with some of Johnny's garlic seasoning. Fantastic!)
I have to admit that the cheese making stuff does not look easy to me. But then again, I said before that I am a chicken with some things.
That would be why I have a yogurt maker, because I don't have to regulate temps, etc.
To me, this is an example where I am fine using money rather than time and effort. :)
Another thing that I try to do is find simple ways to save. I stopped using Minute Rice, for example, and save a bundle. I have figured out an easy recipe for cream of chicken soup that is so much healthier and souper cheap! (pun intended) I don't think we can necessarily compare earlier generations to ours. Our lives are different. It's often cheaper to buy clothes than to make them. We have more complicated lives (or at least different in terms of how we spend our time) than they did.
I think praying for guidance is key.
Making clothes over is important when you just can't afford to buy new clothes for your children.
Making meals with one child helping you at a time is a way to teach your children to cook.
Actually, darning socks doesn't require a darning egg either.....you can use a discarded light bulb OR you can make your own darning egg if you are so inclined by purchasing a wooden egg, drilling a hole in the small end and inserting a dowel of appropriate size and length.......we made them one year for our Activity Day girls and taught them to darn socks......
How about alternate cooking methods? It's important to learn, and then teach your family, how to cook using different methods.
If the power is out, we cook outside: bbq (charcoal); dutch ovens; campstove; "camp"fire, if it's ok to burn that day. When we had a woodstove, we used for an alternate cooking method.
Something we're adding to our family this year is a solar-cooker...
Me again :) I feel I should preface my comment with some sort of disclaimer, so...be aware of rules & regulations in your area before doing this! (in a wide-spread emergency situation, this may be different, but who knows?!)
OK, hunting! If you needed to, would you be able to prepare wild game to feed your family? Deer, rabbit, even squirrel...
There's fishing, also. But as my husband (avid fisherman) pointed out, in some emergence situations the water the fish are living in may be contaminated, so fishing would no longer be a viable option.
I know it sounds unpleasant, but going hungry sounds worse!
I have found that most laundry can be washed with about a cup of baking soda and rinsed with vinegar in a downey ball. I get my baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) from the feed store for about $15 for 50 pounds. I use laundry detergent on extra dirty stuff. The vinegar even kills germs.
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