Wisdom from The American Frugal Housewife
I got this free kindle ebook
quite some time ago, and while I was on the plane flying to Chicago recently, I used the time to jot down some of my favorite quotes to share with you.
This book was written in 1828, and is full of advice for women on managing their homes...there are recipes, home remedies, and general household management advice.
What fascinates me is that even though much of Child's practical advice is outdated (I'm not going to be making soap from my fire ashes, or doing anything with pig's feet, thankyouverymuch), the principles she shares are just as applicable today as they were in 1828. Sometimes we think that overindulgence and overspending are purely modern problems, but clearly, these vices were alive and well in 1828!
Here are a few of my favorite snippets from the book.
-On saving, even when you have only a little to save:
"Every man and every woman should lay up some portion of their income, whether that income be great or small."
-Advice for those who have recently moved into a new house:
"If you are about to furnish a house, do not spend all your money, be it much or little. Do not let the beauty of the thing, and the cheapness of that, tempt you to buy unnecessary articles."
-On thinking DIY is too much work:
"Make your own bread and cake. Some people think it is just as cheap to buy of the baker and confectioner, but it is not half as cheap. It is convenient, but those who are under the necessity of being economical should make convenience a secondary priority."
Lots of good stuff in that quote. Homemade IS almost always cheaper even than relatively inexpensive prepared food (reference my comparison of uber-cheap squishy bread and homemade bread). And while convenience is lovely, it should not be a higher priority than living within your means.*
*I'm not saying you must bake bread. The principle here is what's important. See also, You Don't Have to Make Yogurt
-On keeping up with the Joneses:
"No false pride of foolish ambition to appear as well as others should ever induce a person to live one cent beyond the income of which he is certain. If you have one dollar a day, do not spend but seventy-five cents. If you have but half a dollar, do not spend more than forty cents."
-On why we ought to save:
"The man who is economical is laying up for himself the permanent power of being useful and generous."
(Dave Ramsey says we should live like no one else so that we can give like no one else, but apparently Lydia Child was saying that long before he was!)
-The last one for now...Child anticipates that some will think her frugal advice is over the top.
"If any person think some of the maxims too rigidly economical, let them inquire how the largest fortunes among us have been made. They will find that thousands and millions have been accumulated by a scrupulous attention to sums infinitely more minute than $0.60."
If you've got a Kindle and some time to kill, download this book...it's an entertaining read. And if you don't have a Kindle, you may be able to find the paper version
at your library.
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Today's 365 post: Rolling, rolling, rolling...
Joshua's 365 post: I iz the color picker.
Love it....thanks for sharing!
Very cool! I am so glad you pointed this out to us. btw, this can be downloaded from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13493
Thanks for the link! I looked for a copy of this book since the TG reference to it. Now I have it bookmared.
I bought this book at a used bookstore for a pittance a few years ago, and I love it. Not only did I find the outdated practical advice pretty entertaining, but I was also surprised by how spot-on her thoughts on frugality are, even today.
The more things change, the more they stay the same....Obviously true when reading her advice!
I liked the bread price comparison. I make all of our bread, too. It is more time consuming, but oh so much better:)
I read this several years ago and loved it. Here was my favorite quote,
"We never shall be prosperous till we make pride and vanity yield to the dictates of honesty and prudence! We never shall be free from embarrassment until we cease to be ashamed of industry and economy. Let woman do their share towards reformation- Let their fathers and husbands see them happy without finery; and if their husbands and fathers have (as is often the case) a foolish pride in seeing them decorated, let them gently and gradually check this feeling, by showing that they have better and surer means of commanding respect- Let them prove, by the exertion of ingenuity and economy, that neatness, good taste, and gentility, are attainable without great expense."
I have to admit that I have had this book in my shelf for over 20 years! My husband bought it on a trip to Old Sturbridge Village that he took with his grandparents. We also own The Mother's Book, about raising children, by Mrs Child.
On the cover of AFH, she eloquently dedicates the book to "those who are not ashamed of economy". as well as this quote,"economy is a poor man's revenue; extravagance a rich man's ruin". anon.
Ours is the 12th printing,1833. reprinted by Applewood books.
I don't have this, apparently I should!
"Economy is a poor man's revenue; extravagance a rich man's ruin."
I really like this one!
For Kristen: Interesting about home remedies. Do you personally use home remedies (cough syrup, herbs, etc) While going through my Great Grandma's recipes, we found quite a few. Not brave enough to try them out yet, but they seem to be penny wise.
I read a quote out of one of Dave Ramsey's books this weekend that I just love. "A man with an experience is not at the mercy of a man with an opinion" It is so true, we have the experience of knowing what a blessing being frugal can be, so peoples opinions, don't bother us!
You don't need a Kindle to read this; you can download the free Kindle app to your PC, tablet or smartphone. I read my free Kindle books on my phone whenever I find myself waiting to pick up my boys from practice or youth group. I also love this book and its wisdom that still applies today!
I love this! With my wee one (and the car seat and the hassle of hauling her in and out) I am finding that just making my bread etc when I've run out of it is the easier path. I buy large quantities of flour and even when we're short of time we can have great flatbread in less time than hauling everyone to the store.
Love it! I agree that there are a lot of things cheaper to make than to buy, but I am finding more things are cheaper to buy than to make. For example, Costco has some super inexpensive organic salsa. It would easily cost me 2x as much to buy all ingredients and make it than it is just to buy it pre-made. I'm also finding that dishwasher detergent can be cheaper to buy (even the eco-friendly options) over making it yourself.
How do you make dishwasher detergent? I now make my own laundry detergent but never seen a recipe for dishwasher detergent.
Here's the recipe I use: http://minimalistmommi.blogspot.com/2011/07/sudsy-competition.html
One note about it is that you have to shake it up before every use. Otherwise, it seems to work as well, if not better, as all of the detergents we have used.
Love this book. Read it years ago after reading Amy Dacyczyn rave about it.
Katy
Somehow, that bit of the Gazette never stuck with me. I don't know how I missed it!
Thank you for the reading suggestion. I downloaded it to my Kindle!
FG, how long does bulk yeast last in the freezer?
This is my favourite "being economical should make convenience a secondary priority".
This year I conducted a cooking from scratch cost experiment and I was over 40% cheaper than buying convenience foods. However much of what I do isn't driven primarily by cost. When I bake bread I do it mainly because it's developing a skill, an activity and tastes good, I've had a reader question how I can state making bread is simple, when buying is simpler. It's how you define simpler.
Currently I'm typing whilst 4 Christmas puds are steaming in my slow cookers (good job I have three!) - it has indeed worked out considerably cheaper than buying them, but did take much longer to do than buying them. The point is that it's an activity, tradition and also involves the kids.
I've just finished my operation Christmas child box - this year I used scraps of gift wrap and glued them in a mosaic pattern, and glued over the wrap to seal. Very frugal as no cost apart from the glue. But again for me that wasn't the point - I wanted to make something the child could keep a while as it's pretty durable now and I wanted to spend some time on it. It was an activity the kids and I could do together. It wasn't a 5 minute job...
Simple definitely doesn't mean convenient at Chez Wright!
ps - my box is on my Facebook page - hope you don't mind the link? - We're rather proud of it here 🙂
I am unfamiliar with this little gem, but love it. Thanks for the intro.
It makes me wonder, what were indulgences in 1928? How did one keep up with the Joneses then? I fantasize about simpler times and lives before the advent of so much advertising and communication, thinking it must have been easier then. Maybe its all just a matter of degree.
thanks for sharing. . .I'm going to try baking some bread even though I don't have to
Such a shame that you don't want to make detergent with ashes. My neighbour does it (and we are going to try it this year) and her clothes always smell lovely and fresh (you can add a drop of oil such as peppermint or lavender..) and they look great, and of course it's totally free if you use your fireplace throughout the winter! 🙂
Ha! Well, the main problem is that I haven't got a fireplace or a wood stove. So, I'm never sitting around wondering what to do with all of my ashes. 😉
Would you mind sharing how she does it? I have 2 wood stoves, and although the ash goes in the compost or to my chickens for a dust bath I'd like to have a go at the detergent.
And I cook pigs trotters...there, I've said it!
Actually very tasty, especially in a beef stew or with some belly pork in a Chinese plum sauce. But you don't have to cook your own pigs feet anymore than you have to make your own yogurt. ;0)
To make5 litres of detergent.
Fill a large pan with 10 litres of water and put it on to boil.
Add 5 litres of ashes which have been filtered to get rid of any nails of bits of wood.
Leave to boil for fifteen minutes then let it go cold.
Use a coffee filtre to filter your cold detergent into a bucket (preferably with a lid).
Leave it for 10 days, stirring daily.
Add a spoonful of white vinegar when putting it in the machine (works best when you use one of those plastic ball thingies..).
Good luck! I'd love to know if you try it out 🙂
Awesome. I will download it to the Kindle app on my iPad.
I've started using your bread recipe, and it's a total hit here. It slices so much nicer than other homemade breads (way better than bread machine bread!), and we are gobbling it down! It takes a bit of time, but I love that my kids can help, and it's sooo much better and healthier than the bought stuff--even the "good"/expensive bread often has additives in it.
Hope you don't mind my shameless plug once again for my friend's upcoming TV show: The Ambush Cook premiering Dec. 3 at noon on OWN--she'll be introducing people to their kitchens and sharing some awesome recipes.
http://www.oprah.com/own/Official-Trailer-The-Ambush-Cook
Thank you for sharing! It is amazing how some types of advice stand the test of time. I especially liked the quote about saving by increments of $.60 or less. It is a nice reminder that small savings do add up eventually!
Kristen, Did you know that Amy Dacyzyn wrote an article on this book in the Tightwad Gazettte? It's extremely similar to yours, and she even mentions the same quote about making your own bread and cake. Did you read about the book in her article? If not, how did you discover it? It's amazing you both picked up the same old book!
Somehow, I missed that, even though I've read the Tightwad Gazette through! lol I'm going to have to go back and look through my Gazette again.
I got my book because Mr. FG sent me a link to it (he sends me notices of free ebooks that might interest me).
It's so funny that Amy liked that same quote I did...it must be a good one, huh?
I guess great minds think alike!
I challenged myself to try baking all of our sandwich bread this month. So far it's working out great. The bonus is we are eating all of the fancy whole wheat bread we like (and I perfer baking) more often, and at a fraction of the cost if I bought it from a bakery.
Yup, I downloaded that one a while ago too. I also have Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. That's a fun read as well.
Love this! Very sound advice. I'll have to see about getting me a copy and checking it out.
This is really neat..I downloaded it and love it. Thank you!!
I was able to download this book from Amazon to my kindle for free. Thank you for the recommendation, Denise
This is really cool. I really like the frugal advice, especially the quote that relates to modern-day Dave Ramsey money advice 😉 Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂