Lessons Learned
During the 1930’s people had to go through many hardships in order to survive the Great Depression. As result many from that generation have learned many valuable lessons that they have continued to use and have passed on to younger generations. One lesson that’s repeated over and over is to be careful with credit. “Almost any financial disaster can be linked back to credit and debt” (10 Life Lessons). Another warning is “Don’t dig yourself deeper in debt by using credit” (Jorgustin). They also advised that “if you don’t have the cash to make a purchase, then don’t buy it” (Kohl). It’s wiser to save up. If it’s important save for the big purchases or for emergencies and cut down on the expensive things, another thing is “keep track in a savings book” (Koehler). A second lesson that has also been said a lot is to do it yourself. “Patch it, sew it, fix it yourself…if you have a shirt with a tear or a pipe that’s sprung a lead or a tire with a hole, don’t toss it” (Koehler). Before people didn’t really have the luxury to spend the money to replace things that were broken or torn. They had to learn how to fix things on their own. “Being a DIY’er could literally be the difference between surviving and being a victim during an economic collapse” (10 Life Lessons). Being able to do things on your own will not only save people money but can also build new skills that can allow them to get a job in case they become unemployed. Another lesson is to “Recycle it for another purpose” (Jorgustin). Don’t be wasteful of things that can still be used for example food. People during the Depression had to learn how to stretch their food supply to last them for quite a while (Kohl). What we can learn from this is “We all need to be a lot more careful about how much perishable food we are buying, how we are storing it, and how efficiently we are using it …not wasting food could save your family hundreds or thousands of dollars every year” (10 Life Lessons). Something else that if advised if to “be practical about everything. Use space and resources wisely. Live and survive with less. Find multiple uses” (Jorgustin). A few more to not be picky on the jobs you are able to get just be grateful for what you can get (Koehler). Also stick together and work with your community to help one another “for financial support, emotional support, better security and better production” (Jorgustin). Stay organized so that even if world around you are starting to collapse you at least have a place that has some “sense of order” (10 Life Lessons). Another one is to “Enjoy the simple pleasures… During the Depression, People took advantage of their imagination and ingenuity” (Kohl). Life is always going to hard but that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the small things that make it worth living. These lessons that the generation of the Great Depression were forced to learn have now been handed down to later generations so that they can now have a guide to get them through the rough times and even to possible avoid even tougher situations.
During the 1930’s people had to go through many hardships in order to survive the Great Depression. As result many from that generation have learned many valuable lessons that they have continued to use and have passed on to younger generations. One lesson that’s repeated over and over is to be careful with credit. “Almost any financial disaster can be linked back to credit and debt” (10 Life Lessons). Another warning is “Don’t dig yourself deeper in debt by using credit” (Jorgustin). They also advised that “if you don’t have the cash to make a purchase, then don’t buy it” (Kohl). It’s wiser to save up. If it’s important save for the big purchases or for emergencies and cut down on the expensive things, another thing is “keep track in a savings book” (Koehler). A second lesson that has also been said a lot is to do it yourself. “Patch it, sew it, fix it yourself…if you have a shirt with a tear or a pipe that’s sprung a lead or a tire with a hole, don’t toss it” (Koehler). Before people didn’t really have the luxury to spend the money to replace things that were broken or torn. They had to learn how to fix things on their own. “Being a DIY’er could literally be the difference between surviving and being a victim during an economic collapse” (10 Life Lessons). Being able to do things on your own will not only save people money but can also build new skills that can allow them to get a job in case they become unemployed. Another lesson is to “Recycle it for another purpose” (Jorgustin). Don’t be wasteful of things that can still be used for example food. People during the Depression had to learn how to stretch their food supply to last them for quite a while (Kohl). What we can learn from this is “We all need to be a lot more careful about how much perishable food we are buying, how we are storing it, and how efficiently we are using it …not wasting food could save your family hundreds or thousands of dollars every year” (10 Life Lessons). Something else that if advised if to “be practical about everything. Use space and resources wisely. Live and survive with less. Find multiple uses” (Jorgustin). A few more to not be picky on the jobs you are able to get just be grateful for what you can get (Koehler). Also stick together and work with your community to help one another “for financial support, emotional support, better security and better production” (Jorgustin). Stay organized so that even if world around you are starting to collapse you at least have a place that has some “sense of order” (10 Life Lessons). Another one is to “Enjoy the simple pleasures… During the Depression, People took advantage of their imagination and ingenuity” (Kohl). Life is always going to hard but that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the small things that make it worth living. These lessons that the generation of the Great Depression were forced to learn have now been handed down to later generations so that they can now have a guide to get them through the rough times and even to possible avoid even tougher situations.