Slinkman, Slinkman & Wynne, P.A. - September 2024

These Financial Tips Still Work!

LIFE LESSONS FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION

and more help people earn enough to make ends meet. If all else fails, be open to moving to a cheaper area, like some families chose to do during the 1930s. Get in the Kitchen The cost of dining out continues to rise, meaning cooking at home is an easy and fun way to save money and connect with your family. Even if you lack culinary skills, you can find many inexpensive and satisfying Depression-era recipes online or in your grandmother’s recipe box. Not everyone enjoys cooking, but knowing your way around a kitchen will dramatically decrease your monthly food bill. Don’t Replace — Repair! What do you usually do when an appliance breaks down? Do you call someone to repair it or just get a new one? Both options are costly, and neither were feasible during the Great Depression. What did they do back

then? They fixed it themselves — a practice that’s even easier in modern times thanks to the internet. YouTube is an excellent resource for DIY tutorials for various products, and you can often find step-by- step instructions for specific models! Watch Those Pennies A famous quote during the Great Depression is still relevant even after more than eight decades. It goes, “If you watch your pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.” In other words, spare change adds up. Whether you’re putting away 20 bucks or 20 cents, it’ll add up to big savings in time. During the Great Depression, people came together to support their communities, knowing there was strength in numbers, especially regarding survival. Despite being so far in the past, you can leverage the wisdom of the era to climb toward a brighter financial future tomorrow.

Breadlines, tent cities, people struggling to find work — the Great Depression was a national struggle. Reflecting on this historic time offers invaluable lessons on survival, community building, and resilience. What can we learn from such a tumultuous period? Let’s explore four enduring life lessons from this era. Be Flexible Adaptability is critical to surviving tough times. If and when those situations arise, learning to live within our means is crucial, which requires a lot of flexibility. During the Great Depression, people knew odd jobs were better than no job at all, and these days, several apps like Uber, Instacart,

AMERICA’S MOST BIZARRE LEGAL RELICS LAWS GONE WILD!

Get married in Texas by publicly announcing yourselves as husband and wife three times. Make it legal with three public announcements, even if only one spouse is present for the proclamation. The requirement states that both parties must be willing participants, over 18, and unrelated. All cats in New Jersey must wear three bells to alert birds of their whereabouts. Outdoor cats are notoriously dangerous to the local wildlife populations, and Cresskill, New Jersey, decided they needed a law to protect feathery friends from their greatest foes. We’re not sure the cats are on board with this rule. If you’re caught flirting in New York, you could pay a $25 fine. In the early 1900s, flirting was such an issue that cities held an annual Anti-Flirt Week. This law aimed to help women feel safer on

Thanks to our country’s perpetually in flux judicial system, countless laws are still on the books that echo times long gone. They’re outdated and absurd, often leaving citizens wondering, “What necessitated that rule?” Let’s look at some bizarre laws from across the U.S. (even if no one enforces them)! If you’re in Wyoming, avoid tattooing any horses. This law was made to stop people from making horses unrecognizable to their owners. Apparently, that was a big enough issue back in the day that it needed to be codified. Don’t tie your giraffe to a telephone pole or streetlamp in Georgia. Isn’t it embarrassing when there’s nowhere to tie up the family giraffe on a quick errand? Wait, what? Don’t tie that long-necked beauty to the wrong anchor point in Atlanta. It’s believed this rule was enacted to prevent animal abuse, but it is unclear why lawmakers got so specific.

the streets by diminishing catcalling from passing motorists. Reportedly, a second offense would require the offender to wear horse blinders in public! While these laws may seem silly, no one enforces them anymore — even though they’re still on the books. Instead of holding any weight, they offer a glimpse into the concerns of our forefathers. The next time you encounter a strange law in your town, take a moment to ponder the history; you never know what you might learn about the place you call home.

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