Grandmother's Great Depression stories help Mississippi family

My family lives in Petal, Miss., a small town a few miles away from the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In the south, being poor is nothing new. However, this recession has caused a tightening of finances for people who are strapped for money already.

My husband is a chef in a fine-dining restaurant. I'm a stay-at-home mother with three children. We are trying to survive on his single income. The increase in the cost of living during the past year has caused us to become creative with our finances and find resources we have never needed before.

Surviving this situation has been about listening to and learning from those who have muddled through this before. It's about learning skills that our grandmothers took for granted but that we have forgotten.

When the money got tighter, I called my mother and grandmother. On their advice, I began hanging my laundry on a line, using vinegar as a softening agent, washing my clothes in cold water, unplugging appliances when not in use and using homemade cleaners.

These have made small but significant impacts on our budget. My homemade cleaners use vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice. They are cheaper and more healthful for my family. I am saving about $20 each month just by no longer purchasing cleaning supplies, fabric softener or paper towels.

When we started having to choose between buying diapers and paying the water bill, we tightened everything even further. Being able to shop using coupons, buying sale items and sticking to a meal plan is saving us approximately $200 a month.

The ability to grow a kitchen garden and preserving the harvest from that garden are skills I will never lose. That, along with the stories that my grandmother has told me of surviving in the aftermath of the Great Depression, have taught my family that this crisis will end, our lives will return to normal and we will all be fine once again.

When the crisis passes, my family will know we survived without running up credit card debt. That we stood up and made our budget work for us, that we are a strong and resilient family with roots that support us in times of need. The struggles my family have gone through have brought us together into a stronger unit than ever before. And the bonds formed and strengthened during this hard time will stay with us forever.