When I was a little girl my grandma had a big button box. It was really a big metal cookie tin but she always called it her button box. In it she had saved every button from every article of clothing she had ever repurposed. She never threw much of anything away.
Every time we went to visit Grandma she would let me play with her button box. Each time I opened that button box instead of seeing just buttons I saw shiny diamonds, blood red rubies, pearls as white as new fallen snow, beautiful blue shappires and green emeralds. To me it wasn't a button box but a chest of royal jewels and I was a princess. I would play for hours with that button box, sorting the buttons by color, type and size. Some times Grandma would give me some string or thread and I would make jewerly from the button to wear and pretend I was a royal princess and she was the queen which may have been a sign since in her later years she married a man with the last name of Queen and then she became Grandma Queen. :)
When my grandma died in 1995 I was given her button box and her hankerchief boxes which were full of her beautiful, carefully pressed hankerchiefs. Her hankerchiefs were another item she would let me play with as a child. I would use them to pretend I was a bride and they were my veil. I was always very careful when I played with the buttons and kerchiefs knowing full well that if I was not careful with them she would not let me play with them again.
Because of my grandma's thriftness I was not only given many, many hours of wonderful times and warm loving memories but also a number of life skills that would help me throughout my life time. I learned math skills through sorting the buttons, patterening skills, my critical thinking skills grew, my ability to imagine life in different scenarios grew. I learned that almost everything can be reused at least once. I learned to never throw anything away without first thinking about how it might be reused. I learned that living the simple "waste not, want not" was a good way to save money. But most of all I learned that money does not by happiness. No amount of money could buy me better memories then those of playing with my grandma's button box. I keep that button box in a place of honor on my sewing table and I see it everyday and remember all those warm memories and life skills that my grandma provided for me when I was growing up. I would now like to share some of those simple skills with you if that is okay.
1. No fat from meat was every thrown away. Grandma kept a grease jar on her stove and she collected all the fat from cooking meat and use it in cooking other things.
2. Very little meat was cooked with the bone on. She would cut the bones from the meat before cooking, roast the bones in the oven then simmer them in water with carrots, onions and celery to make a rich meat broth. Once the broth was done she would take the bones out and pick what meat was still on them and most times would have enough meat for a pot of meaty soup. She always said cooking meat with the bone on and then tossing those bones to the dog or in the trash was a loss of good meat and rich flavor.
3. She never threw out old clothes without first removing the buttons, zippers and some times pretty decorative patches. She would reuse these items to repare other clothes or to make new ones. The patches could be used to cover a stained area on a favorite piece of clothing. Different buttons could be used to give and old blouse a new look. She would also save the material and cut in patches to make quilts. She didn't see the sense in buying new materials to make a pretty quilt when she could make one just as pretty using scraps from old clothes. Stained clothes to stained to cut around for patch work quilts were cut in strips and used to make rag rugs. She felt it was sensless to waste money buying rugs when you could make one just as nice using scraps. She would take old worn out blankets and patch them then use them as filler for the quilts and unmatched flat sheets were used for making the quilt backing.
4. Vegetables were washed throughly and when they were prepared for a meal the trimming were thrown in a pot of water to make a rich vegetable broth. Onions skins and ends, carrot peelings, potaote peels, celery ends and more would all go in to that pot. If she had a package of bones in the freezer then would get tossed into the pot to.
5. All glass jars were saved and reused for canning and food storage to keep the mice out. Back then just about everyone made jelly, poured it into used store bought jars and sealed with a layer of wax. That is not recommend any more but back then it was the norm. The store bought jars were also used to store dry foods in to keep out the mice and bugs. I remember jars and jars of dried beans, sugar, rice and more always lined Grandma's cabinets. Very little was stored in boxes.
6. Not until her very later years did Grandma ever buy ready made foods in the stores. Up until she fell at the age of 80 and broke her hip every thing she cooked she cooked from scratch. From cookies, to pies to soups, stews, roasts, pasta and more was made with her loving hands and tasted a 1000 times better than any store bought ever could. And it was healthier to since it was loaded down with salt, sugar and chemicals.
These are just some of the lessons my grandma taught me and I still use them to this day. They have saved me a lot of money over the years and I hope you will get a chance to use them to if you are not already doing so. They are lessons that will come in real handy when SHTF.
Prepping Granny
Every time we went to visit Grandma she would let me play with her button box. Each time I opened that button box instead of seeing just buttons I saw shiny diamonds, blood red rubies, pearls as white as new fallen snow, beautiful blue shappires and green emeralds. To me it wasn't a button box but a chest of royal jewels and I was a princess. I would play for hours with that button box, sorting the buttons by color, type and size. Some times Grandma would give me some string or thread and I would make jewerly from the button to wear and pretend I was a royal princess and she was the queen which may have been a sign since in her later years she married a man with the last name of Queen and then she became Grandma Queen. :)
When my grandma died in 1995 I was given her button box and her hankerchief boxes which were full of her beautiful, carefully pressed hankerchiefs. Her hankerchiefs were another item she would let me play with as a child. I would use them to pretend I was a bride and they were my veil. I was always very careful when I played with the buttons and kerchiefs knowing full well that if I was not careful with them she would not let me play with them again.
Because of my grandma's thriftness I was not only given many, many hours of wonderful times and warm loving memories but also a number of life skills that would help me throughout my life time. I learned math skills through sorting the buttons, patterening skills, my critical thinking skills grew, my ability to imagine life in different scenarios grew. I learned that almost everything can be reused at least once. I learned to never throw anything away without first thinking about how it might be reused. I learned that living the simple "waste not, want not" was a good way to save money. But most of all I learned that money does not by happiness. No amount of money could buy me better memories then those of playing with my grandma's button box. I keep that button box in a place of honor on my sewing table and I see it everyday and remember all those warm memories and life skills that my grandma provided for me when I was growing up. I would now like to share some of those simple skills with you if that is okay.
1. No fat from meat was every thrown away. Grandma kept a grease jar on her stove and she collected all the fat from cooking meat and use it in cooking other things.
2. Very little meat was cooked with the bone on. She would cut the bones from the meat before cooking, roast the bones in the oven then simmer them in water with carrots, onions and celery to make a rich meat broth. Once the broth was done she would take the bones out and pick what meat was still on them and most times would have enough meat for a pot of meaty soup. She always said cooking meat with the bone on and then tossing those bones to the dog or in the trash was a loss of good meat and rich flavor.
3. She never threw out old clothes without first removing the buttons, zippers and some times pretty decorative patches. She would reuse these items to repare other clothes or to make new ones. The patches could be used to cover a stained area on a favorite piece of clothing. Different buttons could be used to give and old blouse a new look. She would also save the material and cut in patches to make quilts. She didn't see the sense in buying new materials to make a pretty quilt when she could make one just as pretty using scraps from old clothes. Stained clothes to stained to cut around for patch work quilts were cut in strips and used to make rag rugs. She felt it was sensless to waste money buying rugs when you could make one just as nice using scraps. She would take old worn out blankets and patch them then use them as filler for the quilts and unmatched flat sheets were used for making the quilt backing.
4. Vegetables were washed throughly and when they were prepared for a meal the trimming were thrown in a pot of water to make a rich vegetable broth. Onions skins and ends, carrot peelings, potaote peels, celery ends and more would all go in to that pot. If she had a package of bones in the freezer then would get tossed into the pot to.
5. All glass jars were saved and reused for canning and food storage to keep the mice out. Back then just about everyone made jelly, poured it into used store bought jars and sealed with a layer of wax. That is not recommend any more but back then it was the norm. The store bought jars were also used to store dry foods in to keep out the mice and bugs. I remember jars and jars of dried beans, sugar, rice and more always lined Grandma's cabinets. Very little was stored in boxes.
6. Not until her very later years did Grandma ever buy ready made foods in the stores. Up until she fell at the age of 80 and broke her hip every thing she cooked she cooked from scratch. From cookies, to pies to soups, stews, roasts, pasta and more was made with her loving hands and tasted a 1000 times better than any store bought ever could. And it was healthier to since it was loaded down with salt, sugar and chemicals.
These are just some of the lessons my grandma taught me and I still use them to this day. They have saved me a lot of money over the years and I hope you will get a chance to use them to if you are not already doing so. They are lessons that will come in real handy when SHTF.
Prepping Granny