Living on Half a Dime a Day
by Sarah Elizabeth Harper Monmouth
'Living on Half a Dime a Day' Summary
How to live on 5 cents a day! How to survive financial ruin without losing your house! How to keep to a bare bones budget and still have money left over to buy books! Tough questions! They were tough questions even in the 1870’s, when Sarah Elizabeth Harper Monmouth penned her quirky memoir, the subtitle of which was “How a Lady, Having Lost a Sufficient Income from Government Bonds by Misplaced Confidence, Reduced to a Little Homestead Whose Entire Income is But $40.00 per Annum, Resolved to Hold It, Incurring no Debts and Live Within it. How She has Lived for Three Years and Still Lives on Half a Dime a Day.” Sarah Elizabeth (‘Lizzie‘) Monmouth, born in 1829, was a Civil War widow, living on a run-down small farm in New Hampshire, when her investments imploded. She awoke one morning to find herself poor--an old roof above her, “dearer than life,” but “not a dollar of money left.” For months she was “paralyzed with cold, clammy terror . . . stunned and knew not what to do.” Then her “mind stepped to the front with a bold standard displayed.” She said to herself “Understand, once for all, that I rule and make your plans accordingly.” She devised (and stuck to) a YEARLY budget, which consisted of $17 for food, $13 for fuel, and $10 for reading! How she managed this makes sometimes harrowing, sometimes amazing, and always fascinating reading. Food: “a pound of oatmeal cooked on Monday would serve for a dessert through the week.” Shoes: “I took the soles of worn-out rubbers, lined them with flannel, and laced them on my feet as sandals.” Books and magazines were the sole exceptions to her parsimony. “My mind . . . is the humored child. Reading is my salvation from total wreck . . . My one solace and relief in darkest time.” In very cold spells, she would save firewood by crawling into bed with mittens on her hands to “read a while, and when the room became too cold for this, cover all up and think over what I had read. This saved me in a degree from enervating myself further by fruitless poring over poverty and privations.” Lizzie Monmouth’s tale will make you stop and count your blessings...
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
2020Download eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
How to Listen to Music by Henry Krehbiel
This book is "not written for professional musicians, but for untaught lovers of the art". It gives broad instruction on composers, styles, instrument...
Galateo by Giovanni della Casa
"Galateo" by Giovanni della Casa is a timeless masterpiece of Renaissance literature that delves into the intricacies of social etiquette and human be...
Above Life's Turmoil by James Allen
Combining elements of Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism with concepts dealing with self-discipline, motivation and the power of positive thinking, J...
The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie
A great start to shaking off public speaking jitters, socializing and mastering the art of small talk. The principles of public speaking written by D...
Wherein? by G. Campbell Morgan
These studies in the book of Malachi were delivered as addresses to the students at Mr. Moody’s Bible School in Chicago, and then to my own congregati...
Industrial Conspiracies by Clarence Darrow
This address was delivered shortly after Mr. Darrow's triumphant acquittal on a charge growing out of his defense of the McNamaras at Los Angeles, Cal...
He Can Who Thinks He Can by Orison Swett Marden
Do you have what it takes to be the person you want to be? This is a neat self help book in plain English by the New Thought Movement author Orison Sw...
The Mystic Will by Charles G. Leland
This book presents a method of developing and strengthening the faculties of the mind, through the awakened will, by a simple, scientific process poss...
A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga by William Walker Atkinson, Theron Q. Dumont
The Book talks on the internal world of the self. The real nature of the subconscious mind, the way to control it, how ego comes into play and most fr...
The Game Of Life And How To Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn
Florence Scovel Shinn, an illustrator living in New York City, became a teacher of New Thought after a divorce. New Thought was a movement which holds...
Reviews for Living on Half a Dime a Day
No reviews posted or approved, yet...