Shopping Saturday - Let's Go Shopping

Saturday Shopping

Let's Go Shopping!

Detroit Grocery Store

courtesy en.wikipedia.org

Let's imagine for a moment that we've just pulled up in front of the grocery store. Not by car, but by haywagon. Yeah, a haywagon. Mom and Pop are seated on the hard wooden seat, with the even harder leaf-type springs. Not a lot of give to those when you hit a bump in the road. The kids are piled up in the back of the wagon. Well, at least the youngest ones. The older ones are left at home on the farm to do chores. What do you expect? Just cause the folks have gone after a few essentials, doesn't mean the farm's gonna take care of itself!

You climb down off that wagon, you step over the sideboard, put one booted foot on a wooden wheel rung, and jump the rest of the way down. Pop gives each of you youngin's a hard look. He doesn't have to say a thing. It means "Look! Don't touch! And don't ask for anything, we ain't got the money for it anyway!"

Mom's dressed like she was headed to Sunday School and Church. So are the girls. The boys are clean and neat, but not so prettied up. Clean overalls and a shirt. At least everyone has shoes or boots on their feet! At home, in summer time you just ran barefoot.

You step through the doors into the mercantile or general store. Mr. Jones is behind the long mahogany counter.

"Welcome folks! What can I do ya for?" he asks the folks. Mom reaches into her reticule and hands Mr. Jones a piece of paper on which she's penciled down the few items she needs for home: a 10-pound bag of beans, a pound of salt, two pounds of sugar, two pounds of coffee, a 25-pound sack of flour, and some baking powder. Pop has added a box of nails for that fence you're gonna help him mend later this evening.

"It'll just be a few minutes, missus," Mr. Jones tells Mom. While they wait for the items to be gathered up, Mom walks through the store and wanders over to the sewing goods. There she peers at a bolt of fine cotton. She's imagining it made into little dresses for the girls. She never worried about buying material for her own clothes, instead, she was always dreaming about the fine dresses she could make her girls. Or the linen she could make shirts of for her boys. 

"Is that something you'd like for yourself?" Pop whispers in her ear.

"Don't be silly," Mom scolds. "Besides, it's a nickle a yard! We can't afford that!" Still, she dreams of the pretty little dresses she could make.

Pop walks over to look at an axe handle. The one he has now is fixing to split any day. And he's thinking 'bout maybe going ahead and getting this handle. It's oak and would last a good while, so long as he didn't accidentally hit it on the handle when chopping wood! He looked at the price handwritten on the handle, 75-cents. Nope, not today! He'd have to wait till another day for that extra.

"Got your things right here!" calls out Mr. Jones. A small wooden crate sits on the big counter. The flour sack sits waiting on the floor in front of the counter.

Mom walks to the counter and opens up her reticule.

"That'll be $2 missus," says Mr. Jones. "Sorry 'bout the price, but coffee has gone up 3-cents in the last 2 weeks!"

"Well, we've gotta have our coffee in the morning!" Mom says. She knows she'll cut it with a little chickory just to make it go a little farther.

"I've thrown a piece of stick candy in for each of the youngin's," Mr. Jones added. "Including them is at home," he says.

"Oh, well, no, let me pay you for that!" Mom says.

"Nope, nope, you folks are good customers! You just keep coming back for more, okay?"

"Well, thank you kindly, Mr. Jones," Pop says. "Children, what do you say?"

"Thank you, Mr. Jones!" you all answer in unison. 

Mr. Jones carries the crate out to the wagon and sits it in the back. Then he helps Mom up onto the seat that sits high above the ground.

"Now, ya'all be careful heading home!" Mr. Jones calls out. "And come again real soon!"

Mr. Jones heads back into the store, where Mrs. Jones enters from their private rooms behind the store.

"Who was that?" she asks her husband.

"Well, that was Mr. and Missus Smith from up the mountain a ways," he answers.

"I always did admire them folks. Hard workers. And never ask for credit, always pays cash on the barrel head," she says.

"Yep, mighty fine folks, wish they all was!"

"Mom, can we have the candy?" your little sister asks while you are bumped and jostled in the wagon.

"No, sweetie. Not till after dinner, and then you can all have a piece for dessert."

"Yippee!" you all yell.

Pop looks over at Mom and smiles. "All in all a good day, right Mom?"

"You're so right, Pop!"

It will be another hour and a half before the wagon gets home. Your chores will need to be done before you can sit done and have dinner, which the girls will help Mom cook. Then they'll clean up the kitchen before Mom will pass out the candy. A stick to every one of the kids. Mom and Pop just opt for another cup of that chickory laced coffee.

Yep, life was pretty darned good!

Shopping Saturday - Those Strange Grocery Sacks

Those Strange Grocery Sacks

There was a time, in the past, when we didn't have plastic grocery bags, with nice cut away holes to make handles, and ease of carrying. Before that, we had the ever popular paper sack. Which you didn't dare keep, because they might have roach eggs in them! (My Mom's biggest fear!) Although when I first started keeping house, I kept them to line my garbage cans with. And prior to the paper sack, there was the ever popular gunny sack , or burlap bag. While I don't remember using them to carry home groceries, I know many people who do!

I have purchased stone ground cornmeal in them. And feed for farm animals. As well as potatoes.

When I was in the second grade (I have a photo of it somewhere), my Mom made me a costume for a school play out of burlap sacks. (I played an American Indian woman.)  The effect was quite good actually!

While I am grateful for the ease of carrying groceries home today, I try to use a non-recyclable bag instead of plastic. One that I can use over and over again for long periods of time. Usually made out of loosely woven material. They are cheap (some as low as only 50-cents), and don't harm animals or the environment.

The burlap bags would be welcomed today, if made into a handled bags! Who is with me in starting a trend of burlap shopping bags?

Shopping Saturday - The 15th Century

The Farmer's Market Today

Did you ever wonder what marketing differences our ancestors had when compared to us today?

Wikipedia has this to say, "According to etymologists, the term 'marketing' first appeared in dictionaries in the sixteenth century where it referred to the process of buying and selling at a market."

Of course, we must remember that in the sixteenth century there weren't any super markets. Farmers would bring their produce to a central location. This might be within a keep, or even without the walls of a keep. The local 'laird' would have his cooks purchase from the first "pickings". This would mean that commoners would then purchase from whatever was left. But more often than not, they would barter.

For instance, a local cheesemaker might barter for eggs, and a bucket of grain. A weaver might barter for cabbage and carrots with a few yards of cloth.

And, of course, there were those who purchased with coin. During the 1500's, however, the commoner had very little coin. Coin was earned, and spent, by those who held titles and lands. The commoner was used to, for the most part, bartering.

Bartering is still alive and well in many places today. I have seen those at our local farmer's market that barter. I've seen someone who needed baskets for their strawberries barter a gallon of fresh strawberries for 3-dozen quart baskets. I've seen someone who bartered fresh, brown eggs for a quart of honey. I've seen greens bartered for squash.

This practice is, perhaps, one considered to be a favorite amongst the local marketers. Of course, then the public arrives, and the cash flows.

But of one who needed a new vest? Or a dress? Well, there were few dressmakers or tailor's in rural society. However, they were found in the larger cities. But you wouldn't see a finished garment hanging upon a rack! No. Indeed, it was more likely that you would drop by the local dressmaker's and make an appointment to come back in for a measuring. At that time, you would be taken into an area where you would undressed down to your chemise, and then a tape measure would be produced and your measurements would then be recorded. After you were measured, the dressmaker would sit you before a portfolio, from which you would then pick out a pattern you liked. Fabrics would then be produced for you to choose from. And if a suitable fabric was not in the shop, you would have to either get the dressmaker to choose a fabric for you, or pay extra to have what you wanted shipped in. The process of getting a dress could take anywhere from a few weeks, to a matter of months. A similar process was used for the purchase of men's clothing from a tailor.

And what of the country maid who required a new dress? Chances were, that if you were a country maid, your garments would have been handed down and remade to fit you either from an older sibling, or even from your mother. Many a child wore the a dress made from her mother's skirts.

If you were poor, you may have only linen cloth to choose from. This was a coarse material woven on a hand loom. I have made this fabric myself with an old wall loom (it literally leans against a wall when in use). This does not produce the same effect as linen woven on a large loom with a foot shuttle. It, instead, produced a wider weave, that was used for heavier threads. Often, if you purchased coarse linen, you would also purchase, or make, yarn to knit a Galway shawl.

Galway Shawl

This was a type of shawl that crisscrossed over the bosom, and was tied behind the back. It was a way of keeping warm. In the winter a cape could be worn over it. And in the summer, the sleeves of the linen dress could be rolled up. A chemise (an under slip) provided modesty so that the legs would not be seen from under the linen skirt. And an apron wore over the skirt would also provide modesty. A woman added color to her clothing using what Mother Nature provided her with. Beets, nut shells, nuts, bark, etc. So that, even if you were not wealthy, you could still get a new "shift" now and then.

And, as I said, children wore hand-me-downs, or the mother's old shift was used to make one or two smaller ones for the children.

Housewares were often bartered for as well. A wooden bucket for a boiling pan or fry pan. A pony for a couple of shoats (baby pigs). Chickens for geese. And so forth.

How very simple we have it today. We have our choice of where we want to shop. And we purchase according to our budgets.

Do you share any of the trades crafts your ancestors might have had? And if so, what are those crafts? Could you make it in a society where you might have to make everything yourself? Please share your comments below! We love hearing from you!

Shopping Saturday

Shopping Saturday

Is this you? Do you go out one your days off from work, and spend, and spend, and spend some more? Do you see something on sale, and automatically think "It's such a bargain, someone I know can surely use this!" And then you buy it, put it up at home, until you need a gift for someone?

That's never been my thing. I don't enjoy going shopping. Perhaps that's because as a kid growing up, my Mom (whom I loved so much!) would drag my sister and I along with her when she would go shopping. Usually 1 to 2 times a week. At any given time during the year, you could open up a store from all of the things my Mom had purchased!

After she was married with a daughter, my sister used to live for Saturday's when she and Mom would go shopping! At one point, both my Mom and my sister told me that they worked just so that they could shop all they wanted to!

Mom passed on two years ago. But before she did, my sister finally got the idea that maybe there was more to life than just the stuff that filled it.

So, do I ever go shopping? Not if I can help! I'll go so far as to make out a detailed shopping list and send dear hubby after groceries. Yep. I HATE shopping. I hate comparing prices, so I can get the better deal. I hate having to walk among the masses of people who are rude, crude and socially unacceptable. What do ya mean I'm terrible? Seriously? You can't tell me that you haven't had someone "waft" past you in a store and smelled their funky behind! Oh yeah, I'm going there!

Have you ever looked at those stupid pictures taken at that blue big box store, yeah, you know the one I mean. Well, let me tell you, if you think pictures are fake, go find yourself a bench in there and just sit for an hour. Smell what walks past you. P-e-e-E-w-e! Stinky people!

And the clothes some of them wear! I know your butt has grown some since you first bought those spandex workout pants in 1980. But you don't have to wear them to the store and show me...

let's just pretend I'll take your word that you can still fit into them!

Or worse, the kids screaming, and the Mama's screaming back at the kids! Come on ladies! If you can't control them from screaming, then lock them in the trunk while you shop! (No, I'm just kidding! I am NOT telling you to do that! Seriously!) But hire a sitter if you have to!

And there's the shoplifters you see. Come on! Camera's everywhere and your security team doesn't see it? But let me try to walk out the door, having paid for an item, clutching the receipt in my hand, and a very loud "Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!" and flashing blue lights go off, because some clerk forgot to take the alarm tag off of a pair of $1 flip flops! Yeah right.

So, you folks go ahead and go shopping on your days off from work. This ol' country woman will be sitting at home. Her tired tootsie's propped up, watching Netflix. Sipping on a lovely margarita! And laughing at you all.

Do you make a list when you go shopping? Or do you simply wing it? Let us know!

Shopping Saturday

I know I am not alone in saying that my mother was a "shop-a-holic"! Growing up, she often took us along as she went shopping. Sometimes for hours, and hours, and hours on end. If it was on sale, Mom considered it a bargain, whether she wanted or needed it, or not! If it wasn't something she liked, she'd give to someone for a birthday or Christmas gift!

My sister got that gene from Mom.

Me, on the other hand, hate to shop! If I can con (er uh-hmmm), rather I should say, if I can get someone else to volunteer to go to the store when something is needed, I'd much rather let them go.

I've been wondering about the sky rocketing cost of groceries, and just how much inflation there has been since I was a child way back in the (mumble-mumble-mumble), well way back then.

So let's take a look at some common grocery items and see what the difference is:

When I was a child, the cost of:

bread cost 22 cents a loaf

a half gallon of milk was 49 cents

sugar was 38 cents for a 5 pound bag

coffee was 39 cents a pound

butter was a whopping 67 cents a pound, which meant most households went to using margarine which never went rancid if not used up

a chocolate bar was 15 cents

and a bottle of my favorite beverage was 35 cents, but you got 2 cents back on every bottle you returned! Or you could get 2 cans for 27 cents.

That was back before missing children were placed on milk cartons. And you could still get your milk delivered to the house if you wanted, or buy it in the super market.

Specialty shops were common place:

bakery for bread

dairy for milk or ice cream

butcher for meats

We had convenience stores, but there weren't many. As I became a teen we began to see more and more of these.

And now for the 'coup de grace'. When I was married to my first  husband, on the back of our wedding photo and announcement in the paper, is the brand new Volkswagon for that year. The cost?

A whopping $1,800!

Oh, if we only knew how high inflation would take us, we could have bought stock in common grocery items, and have retired long ago wealthy!

Shopping Saturday

When my grandparents were youngsters, their parents probably shopped at an establishment something similar to this one...

Goods were few in comparison to today.

Since my grandparents lived on a farm, their parents probably only came to town a couple of times a month, if that, to buy staples needed to get by on. The rest of their foodstuffs were home grown.

Items like salt, sugar, flour and coffee were considered the staples.

Everyday items like meat, milk, eggs, cheese, and vegetables, were grown on the farm.

The visit into town would usually cost them anywhere from .50 cents to $1.50 a trip. You've got to understand, that was big money in the day!!!

Sugar was .08 cents a pound in 1860; salt cost $1.25 for a 25 pound sack [or .05 cents a pound]; flour was $7.14 a barrell [can you imagine???] and coffee was king at .20 cents a pound.

Today, we shop in mega markets like the one seen below

where we can purchase items from every continent of the globe. And where we go at least on a weekly basis, and sometimes on a daily basis!

Our average spending today is nearly $200 a week for a family of four. And the cost is rising higher every week.

I often wonder what my great-grandparents would think if they could walk into a market today?

How many items would they even recognize from the past?

The next time you are going marketing, take a look around you. Try to see through your ancestors eyes, and feel the amazement that they would have felt!

It's a pretty amazing feeling!