In 1929 The Great Depression had begun it was hard for bigger families with kids, Parents would
do anything for money for example,"My diary shows that Dad sold iron cords2 door to door, "worked a day in the hay," bought a horse to break gardens, rented an extra lot for a garden on the shares, picked peaches, raised sweet potato slips, traded an occasional dozen of eggs at the grocery, hung wallpaper, "painted Don Albright's house for $5," picked up a day or two's work at the strip mines, guarded the fence at the county fairgrounds, cut hair for boys in the neighborhood, sold coal orders, and when he had to and could, worked intermittently 3 on WPA."(Hastings). This example from the text demonstrates that parents would do any type of labor for money, such as odd jobs and making sure that every dollar was saved. Families had a hard time when the parents lost their jobs and were forced to live upon the streets. It was very important that you kept your money and spent it wisely like, "We weathered the storm because of Dad's willingness to take any job and Mom's ability to stretch every available dollar"(Hastings). It was a very important factor that money was spent wisely because it was very rare to earn money.People were affected by The Great Depression and were forced to save their money for only needed things. During The Great Depression knowing a way to make money and keeping that was a very smart and productive way of living during the Great Depression for example,"Daddy is thinking of taking a loan from Mr. Roosevelt and his men, to get some new wheat planted where the winter crop has spindled out and died. Mr. Roosevelt promises Daddy won't have to pay a dime till the crop comes in."(Hesse). This quote shows how growing your own crops was a smart way to find food and make money this is because the food was hard to find and growing crops to sell was a good source of making money
The Great Depression was a complete disaster that lasted for ten straight years. The Great Depression consisted of hunger, poverty, and lack of jobs. During these ten years it hard for the people that lived through it and the families that suffered.