I've started Depression era behaviors my gramps taught me, just in case all this "social distancing" tanks our consumption-based economy. That means saving slivers of soap (my sister knitted a pouch for that purpose), using bath water as grey water (for potted plants, and mopping floors), drying clothes on racks and hangers (to save on electric dryer costs), walking to the grocery store (and buying less bulky items), and trying to avoid driving my car (even tho the price of gas is super low).
It's weird. It seems like an experiment now, something that's almost an entertaining challenge, like how long can you hold your piss before your bladder practically explodes?
But it's also very real....because I've seen the long lines at emergency food banks, including people driving expensive cars (who probably have expensive mortgages, too) looking for free food because their budget is busted and there's no income coming in. So many millions living on the edge....
We used to laugh that gramps used the same water to boil corn and then make coffee, or that he only bought day-old bread, or used newspaper print to drain dishes and bacon grease, or glued soap slivers together to make a bar, or thought it was "extravagant" to get a cone at Dairy Queen....even tho he was living in an expensive Chicago suburb. We didn't understand how WWI or the Great Depression had affected him, we were just spoiled post-WWII brats who thought he was an old fashioned, eccentric skin-flint.
But now I'm thankful he taught me how to pinch pennies, and separate want from need. Hoping I did the same for my kids. Because this might just be another Depression era. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the *new normal* during this 'social distancing' viral and economic shutdown.