1. My mother NEVER bought paper towel. Any old cloth item went into the rag bag. I grew up using cloth rags only.
2. My mom curled my sister's and my hair by ripping those rags into strips, and then she wrapped and tied the strips around chunks of our hair. No curlers in our house.
3. My mom darned holes in our socks until I got to be a teen.

I'm hoping to gain suggestions of things my family can start practicing....I don't think the next few years are going to be too much fun.