Reply #49: My granny was a 50 something divorcee [View All]

[Warpy]

with no access to work that paid a living wage (or work at all, really) during the Depression. She and my mother lived on oatmeal three times a day during the worst of it, but they kept their home and didn't even take in boarders. Enough of her stocks survived to support her afterward.

My mother had a patchwork of jobs: switchboard operator, department store ad artist, lab clerk, fountain girl.. all to support herself while she went through school. She said the best thing all week was a celebratory fried egg sandwich for a nickel on Friday when she got paid.

The thing is that they survived with a reduced income because my grandmother had wisely avoided debt, had refused to enter the market bubble on margin and wasn't left holding debt without assets when it went bust. It is possible to survive a drastically reduced income and still do reasonably well in the long term.