my day in the great depression by: angela levesque
DESCRIPTION
Basics continued Rent for our house was $12 per month The phone cost $3 per month, so we stopped that service Electricity was $1 per month, so we kept that Having the doctor come to the house was $3TRANSCRIPT
My Day in the Great Depression
By: AngelaLevesque
The Basics
• I made $750 per year• I was a market owner• I had a husband and a daughter
Basics continued
• Rent for our house was $12 per month
• The phone cost $3 per month, so we stopped that service
• Electricity was $1 per month, so we kept that
• Having the doctor come to the house was $3
Can I support my family?
• I can’t see how it would be possible for me to support my family on my income
• I don’t even have enough money for food• My daughter goes and picks fruit off trees
and off of the street• She also shines people’s shoes for a little extra money
Family support continued
• My husband is unemployed• My husband and I fight so much that it is
hard to live together• Divorce is too expensive with all of the
legal fees, so we will probably just stay together
• http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief1.htm
Food
• I had $14.40 as a budget for the week• I had enough money to buy plenty of
bread and potatoes• The government gave out some Cheese, but the lines were very long
Food continued
• There was very rarely meat• My husband would sometimes hunt for
meat• Pasta was cheap too, so we ate that a lot• We did eat carrots because they were one
of the cheaper vegetables• http://www.rinfret.com/depression.html• I don’t know if I could live like this everyday
Shopping
• Shopping around the town in the classroom was not very fun because I did not have enough money to buy anything that I didn’t absolutely need
• No extras!• I felt very poor and kind of pathetic having
to wait long lines for the government to feed my family
Clothes
• There was literally no money for clothes• We just had to do with what we had before
the Depression• A sweater cost $1, so it was either a
sweater or the electricity bill for the month
Toys
• I felt bad that I couldn’t buy my daughter toys
• 1 doll cost $2, so that was tough to come up with
• She had a few left from before to play with• http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-
15481_19268_20778-52530--,00.html
Neighbors
• My neighbors are all angry and mean• Everybody is stressed about money and food• Nobody gets anything besides the necessities
anymore• A lot of the neighbors are becoming unemployed
because their bosses can not afford to pay them anymore
• http://ingrimayne.com/econ/EconomicCatastrophe/GreatDepression.html
Neighbors continued
• I feel lucky because I feel that my family is a little better off than most of the neighbors
• At least I have a job at the moment• Some of the neighbors are both
unemployed (25% of the population was unemployed), I don’t know how they are even living
• I feel bad because I don’t have any money to spare to help them out
Transportation• I could not afford any type of transportationThe average car costs $300
– That is almost half of my income!– Gas for a car was 5 cents per gallon-I train hop and walk most places– Sometimes I am lucky enough to find somebody to drive me
Transportation continued
• Cabs cost 20 cents per mile• Bicycles cost $50• The train cost about 51 cents for a 30
minute ride, so it was much cheaper just to jump in and ride for free