Wartime housewives had many challenges and can teach us a lot about frugal living and sustainability. Much of their wartime living homemaking advice is still helpful today.
I’ve always been amazed by wartime homemakers from WWII, especially those living in Europe. They endured unimaginable pain and stress all while caring for their homes, volunteering, and often joining the work force. We can learn so much about being resilient from them.
There was a really good series made for Channel 4 in the UK in the early 2000s called The 1940s House where they took modern families and put them back in time to live like they were back in 1940s England.
One thing that stuck out in my mind was the pain the women felt when they worked very hard to clean their homes only to have a bomb hit near by covering their homes in dirt and breaking items that meant a lot to them. They were heart broken but at the same time had to feel so lucky because neighbors homes were actually hit.
It would likely feel like the day to day tasks were pointless even though they in reality were helping the family stay more grounded and have some normalcy.
I also find reading homemaking magazines from WWII very interesting and have been collecting tips they shared that can still help us today. The ones here are from American wartime homemakers but I hope to collect some from UK wartime homemakers as well and will share them when I do. For now, here is some inspiration from wartime homemakers.
Wartime Living Homemaking Advice
Share with your Neighbors
Many items were hard to come by during the war with manufacturing plants being used for the war effort. This meant buying home items were often not an option. Homemakers were encouraged to share home items with neighbors to help each other out.
In one article they encouraged women that were lucky enough to have a pressure cooker to consider starting a pressure-cooker-sharing society or share within other women’s groups.
These kinds of women’s groups have always been interesting to me and is why I started the Retro Homemakers’ Club. We may not be able to physically lean each other things but the connection is still so valuable.
Lend, Swap, Sell
On a similar note it was encouraged to take things your family has outgrown or no longer needs and lend it, trade it, or put it in a classified ad.
These days this is even easier with Facebook groups to list things on. And it’s a great way to keep things out of the landfill and also save some money or even make money.
Take Care of What You Have
A common theme was tips on how to keep different items in good shape so they wouldn’t have to replaced as often.
This is something I have been making a big effort in doing a better job of. Making sure to know what manufactures say about maintaining their products and follow it the best you can and you should be able to extend the life of the items in your home.
Repair Don’t Replace
When things did wear out, despite efforts to keep them in good shape, people were encouraged to do their best to repair them.
One article shared that when pails, garbage cans, or other household containers started to rust out the bottom to extend their life by cutting wood to fit as a liner and us caulk to help stop leakage.
Start a Victory Garden
While food rations weren’t as severe in the US as the UK there were still some and people were still encouraged to grow their own food.
In one article they said that there were 18 million victory gardens growing millions of pounds of food in the US. They encouraged even more people to start their own gardens to provide their families with fresh food and help make sure we had plenty of food for the troops.
Avoid Food Waste
One article stated “your cookbook’s how-to-use-left-overs section should get a regular thumbing these days.” At that point 40 million tons of food was being wasted in the US each year, that number is now 92 BILLION pounds.
We have not done a good job of keeping the wartime advice on using leftovers on our minds. It’s something that is still very important.
I’m guilty of not doing a great job with this. I have ADHD and out of sight really is out of mind. Keeping food inventory lists in my meal planner and keeping food that goes bad in the front of the fridge has helped me. I also meal plan each week and try to make sure to use up anything that needs to be used.
Bring Your Own Bag
Did you know the movement to bring your own bag grocery isn’t a new thing? During WWII paper bag supplies were limited so people were asked to bring their own bags when grocery shopping.
Many other tips are not really applicable now but the general theme was use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. This way of living can still help us be more sustainable and frugal.
More Wartime Advice
Looking for more advice from 1940s housewives? Check out the other wartime homemaking articles here on Retro Housewife Goes Green.
Deanna Piercy says
I loved that 1940s House series. It made me so grateful for how easy my life is by comparison.