JoAnn Underwood of Blacksburg says she has practiced frugality all her life. For example, she made the "frames" for her two bird house paintings (background) from discarded cabnet frames. Total cost: $3. Below: To reuse plastic bags, Emily Stuart washes them out, then hangs them on a rack over her kitchen sink in her Blacksburg home.

JoAnn Underwood of Blacksburg says she has practiced frugality all her life. For example, she made the "frames" for her two bird house paintings (background) from discarded cabnet frames. Total cost: $3. Below: To reuse plastic bags, Emily Stuart washes them out, then hangs them on a rack over her kitchen sink in her Blacksburg home.

JoAnn Underwood holds an armload of items in the cashier's line at Dollar Tree in Blacksburg. She shops at discount stores for bargins.

Emily and Bob Stuart visit with guests in the daylight of their living room picture window.

Why buy new? Emily Stuart points to her mother's initials on a plate she had made and that Stuart still uses today.

BLACKSBURG -- A question was asked recently at a book club gathering where some attendees grew up during the Great Depression.

Who here has darned a sock lately?

JoAnn Underwood, 79, raised her hand.

"No way I'm going to throw away a perfectly good sock just because it has a hole in the toe," the retired nurse said later.

The trick to making darning easy, Underwood said with a cheeky grin, is to slip a light bulb into the sock.

Patching worn footwear, sewing a T-shirt from scrap cloth or making an elegant dessert from a perfectly edible pumpkin some neighbor threw away are examples of skills Underwood and others like her have practiced for decades.

Frugality, these people will tell you, is part common sense, part determination and part creativity.

And they have a message for younger generations facing leaner economic times: Saving money can make you happier than spending it.

'Another one is coming'

A plunging stock market. Looming home foreclosures. Layoffs and the threat of layoffs. Rising food prices.

Across the country, applications for unemployment benefits have risen to a 26-year high, the U.S. Department of Labor reported in December. Some 65 percent of Americans say they are less confident about their job security than they were even six months ago, according to The Associated Press.

Closer to home, Gov. Tim Kaine announced in December that Virginia's unemployment rate for July through October was 4.4 percent, the state's highest average since 1996.

At the height of the winter heating season, American Electric Power is set to raise electricity rates by 17 percent.

Amid grim news reports, economists and officials talk about a deepening recession. But many who lived through the 1930s use another word -- depression.

"I know another one is coming," Underwood said. "I don't know how it's going to affect us all."

The first Great Depression caused widespread suffering, yes. But good things came of it, too. Among those blessings were a sense of community and teamwork forged by sacrifice and amplified by the entry of the United States into World War II.

"There was a feeling of as a country we could pull together," World War II veteran and 90-year-old Blacksburg resident Bob Stuart said.

After the war, there were jobs and the hope of prosperity. But it was tempered, Stuart said, by the lessons of the '30s.

People like Stuart and his wife of six decades, Emily, held onto those habits.

"We had income, but we bought mostly things we needed," he said.

And they kept those things.

"This room is filled with furniture we acquired 50 years ago," Stuart said, pointing around the couple's living room.

The rocking chair belonged to his mother-in-law. The dining room table was a gift. Another chair cost $15 in a store in upstate New York.

No matter where the couple lived -- even for a time in Atlanta -- they planted a garden and canned what they grew.

One of the best gifts Emily Stuart, 89, said she received from her husband was a car trunk full of chicken manure to fertilize her garden.

The lessons in self-sufficiency and frugality that Underwood said she learned during the Depression prepared her to raise two children alone after her husband, Dick, died of cancer at 50.

Underwood remembers that, growing up, her mother made all her clothes, even her underwear. She and her sister helped their parents in the family garden.

"We had a system. Dad would dig the hole, mom would set in the plant, one kid would cover it up and the other kid would water it," she said.

As a young widow, Underwood not only worked as a nurse, but also grew and canned most of the family's food and made her children's clothes -- down to their T-shirts.

Those strategies for stretching the family budget remain.

"It just lives with you, you know," Underwood said.

"I think it's just so terrible to spend $3 on a greeting card when you can get one for 50 cents," she said. "And dollar store shampoo is just as good as anything else."

Underwood is an artist, and one room of her townhouse just outside Blacksburg is equipped as a studio where she paints landscapes, still lifes and portraits. Many a birthday, wedding and Christmas gift has been made at that easel, she said.

She no longer gardens, but her daughter, Mary, tends her own garden in Floyd and brings Underwood fresh vegetables.

Freed from working the soil, Underwood volunteers at the Lyric Theatre and for the local AARP and has traveled to Key West, Fla., Alaska and even Australia.

Living well on less

A frugal life doesn't have to be austere. In fact, it can be enriching and creative and can strengthen ties to family, friends and neighbors.

Children of the Depression say it's all about priorities and focusing your resources on the things that are really important to you.

Why waste money buying plastic trash bags you're going to throw away with the garbage? The Stuarts instead use paper bags from the grocery store for dry trash, and they compost vegetable and other "wet" waste for use as fertilizer in their sprawling garden.

Why buy expensive plastic containers to hold your leftovers when yogurt and butter tubs are readily available and are just as good?

Don't throw away those resealable zipper-type freezer bags after just one use, the Stuarts say. Wash them well in hot, soapy water, hang them to dry and reuse them several times.

In fact, the couple has a special Amish-made drying rack used for just this purpose. Paradoxically enough, they found this money-saving item while splurging on a bicycling vacation in Lancaster County, Pa.

Money saved in small ways over time can add up to a dream vacation, a down payment on a house or a big donation to your church or favorite charity. In fact, saving can translate to a kind of freedom people who live in debt don't experience.

"We buy what we need, and we do what we want," Emily Stuart said.

That freedom is common among people to whom Stuart refers as the "Second Culture" -- friends such as the Cooper-Schenker family of Blacksburg who long before the recent economic crisis chose to live simpler, more frugal lives.

The couple work their land and part of the Stuarts' property off Glade Road and sell their organic produce at the Blacksburg Farmers Market and at locally owned grocery stores.

Lauren Cooper, her husband, Andrew Schenker, and their two children eat what they grow, heat their home with wood they collect, treat their ailments with homemade herbal remedies, do their own home repair and never, ever carry a credit card balance, Cooper said.

"I think we both came from pretty frugal families," she said.

They said they were also heavily influenced by back-to-the-land movements of the 1960s and '70s as well as more recent environmental concerns.

But for them, it's also about freedom.

"Neither one of us really wanted to work for other people," Cooper said.

Frugality can bring families and friends together, too. Growing up without a lot of money forced her family to get creative, Underwood said.

"Our entertainment was doing things together. We learned to make our own fun," she said.

Underwood still recalls old hymns and songs and dance steps she performed with siblings and friends.

"I think that's an art that's dying -- singing and dancing for each other," she said.

Another thing often overlooked today is the power of giving.

Emily Stuart said she learned tithing from her parents, who even during the Depression years found ways to give part of their income to good causes.

It's a tradition the Stuarts have continued throughout their lives, giving to three local churches as well as various nonprofit and charity groups.

"There's no comparison between shopping and the joy of giving," Stuart said.

A changing society

Bob Stuart, a retired urban planner and community activist, remembers when American workers "manufactured goods for the rest of the world. We were an exporting economy.

"But somewhere along the way, we changed from a producing culture to a consuming culture," he said. "People went into debt, deep debt, which is an expensive habit. And the country has gone into debt. We've had a trade imbalance for 40 years.

"A lot of people today are caught up in the consumerist economy we have. It keeps the economy going, but it doesn't necessarily make for a fulfilled life."

But a contracting economy could change society, perhaps for the better in some ways. Rising energy costs may force people to conserve, thereby reducing the amount of greenhouse gases spewing from cars, homes and businesses.

In fact, trendy lifestyle choices such as recycling, composting and cooking for family and friends touted in magazines and on television shows today are second nature to many who grew up during the Depression.

And that kind of societal pressure, Stuart hopes, can move the country in a more sustainable direction.

SEWING: Learn to make gifts and clothes for less money Sewing demonstrations by Gladys

What: Introductory series begins in January

Where: Jo-Ann Fabrics, 2625 Market St., Christiansburg

Contact: Gladys Moritz, gladybags@hotmail.com

YMCA Open University

What: Offers sewing and knitting classes at various times

Headquarters: 403 Washington St., Blacksburg

Contact: 961-9622, ymca@vtymca.org

Web: vtymca.org/courses.asp

COOKING: Use those pots and pans to save money

YMCA Open University

What: Offers cooking classes at various times

Headquarters: 403 Washington St., Blacksburg

Contact: 961-9622, ymca@vtymca.org

Web: vtymca.org/courses.asp

Gourmet Pantry

What: Offers basic and advanced cooking classes

Where: 401 S. Main St., Blacksburg

Conatct: 951-1995, contact@gourmetpantryonline.com

Web: gourmetpantryonline.com

GARDENING: Learn to start a new garden or nurture an existing one

New River Valley Master Gardeners

What: Experts through the Virginia Cooperative Extension

Where: 755 Roanoke St., Suite 1G, Christiansburg

Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

Contact: Barry Robinson, 382-5790 or brobinso@vt.edu

YMCA at Virginia Tech

What: For a nominal fee the YMCA provides garden plots at its community garden or solar greenhouse

Where: 403 Washington St. S.W., Blacksburg

Contact: 961-9622 , ymca@vtymca.org

Web: vtymca.org

PRESERVING FOOD: Turn all those summer vegetables into winter meals with help from experienced volunteers

Montgomery County Community Cannery

Where: Auburn High School, 4163 Riner Road, Riner

Hours: By appointment only, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Wednesdays and Saturdays July to November.

Contact: Mike Ewing, 382-9566 or rinercannery@yahoo.com

Web: http://tinyurl.com/73c5t8

Find other Virginia canneries and get basic information on food preservation and safety: http://tinyurl.com/9xdv83

FRUGAL SHOPPING: Look for thrift and consignment shops near you Goodwill stores and donation centers: (800) 741-0186 or locator.goodwill.org Online shopping: Find free stuff and donate items you no longer need at freecycle.org. Find other good bargains, including barter opportunities, at cragislist.com. eBay.com offers used items and new items at sometimes steep discounts.