Looking to Our Grandparents to Teach Us How to Save

The cost of gas is higher. The cost to heat our homes is higher. The cost of food is higher. This can put a serious dent in our savings. Still saving is extremely important especially since access to credit is to come. So how do you keep saving during hard times? Let's look at how our grandparents saved to find out.

They stockpiled goods. Our grandparents may have purchased milk and bread daily, but dry and canned good were purchased once a month or less. No one had to race out to a store when a snowstorm began to make sure they would have enough food in the house. When they had a surplus of money, they purchased a surplus of food. This meant less money wasted on frivolous items during numerous trips to the store. This meant that when prices went up unexpectedly for any reason, they were able to ride out the price spike.

They grew their own vegetables and produce, even in inner cities. Growing your own food will cut your budget tremendously. You may remember your grandmother canning fruit and tomatoes. It may have been a great hobby, but it also kept family in jelly and tomato sauce all winter.

They carpooled and families lived with one car, not three or four. Bicycles, walking, and public transportation were used instead. Sure a single car per family can be a bit inconvenient, with the use of carpooling and public transportation, but unless both parents have a substantial work commute it is not really necessary. Having just one car per family can cut $400 to $700 dollars a month. That's a lot of money for the cookie jar.

They did not use credit cards. In fact, there were no credit cards. The only forms of credit that existed were the occasional grocery account. If they charged interest, they did not charge much and they would not let you get too deep into debt. We need to pretend credit cards don't exist as they did not exist for our grandparents.