Month: April 2009

I know I talk a lot about my Neighbor Lady books. I suppose one could accuse me of being mildly — ok, massively — obsessed with the darn things. To me, those books are like opening up a dusty box in the attic to find grandma’s diary, left undisturbed for generations. These books are so packed with history, and a gentle reminder of times past.

The books I cherish the most are the ones from the years during WWII. These days we feel “deprived” if our cell phone poops out on us; in 1944, however, although the war was drawing to a close, the sting of actual sacrifice was being felt all over the country. As the saying in one of the books goes, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!” How many of us abide by that today in our throwaway society? I know I feel a twinge of guilt when I think that our household puts out about 3 bags of garbage, if not more, per week. In our micro-pre-packaged world, it’s hard to buy anything that doesn’t come in a container that ends up getting thrown away. Continue reading “Ask the war wives”

In an earlier post I wrote about my growing collection of WNAX neighbor lady books, and how much I enjoyed reading through all the household hints and letters from homemakers everywhere. Every so often I’ll pick up a stack of the books and leaf through the “household hints” sections, taking note of things that I had never tried before or solutions to cleaning dilemmas. Here’s just a sample from my new book — the 1946 edition. Some of these are just grand, and some of them seem to be a little questionable. Enjoy! Continue reading “Hints and Tips from Housewives Past”