---
title: Heroines of Frugality and Related Topics Reading List
date: 2014-12-30T18:45:26Z
source: http://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/viewtopic.php?t=5750
tags: finance

---

> 7Wannabe5 wrote:Good suggestion. For some reason this made me think of adding some fictional books meant for children such as "The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking","The Little Princess" ,"Maida's Little Shop" ,"Mandy", "From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", "A Wrinkle in Time" and many books by Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

  
I shouldn't have chimed in and *redirected* the list, but I guess I was thinking of a list of ERE heroines which would include adventurers and free thinkers. I agree with Alcott and Wilder. I might add [Charlotte Mason][1] for her original ideas on educating children. [Here's][2] a good introduction to her method.

I also like [The American Woman's Home][3] by Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. ("This is a remarkable work, both in philosophy and practicality. It is dedicated "To the women of America, in whose hands rest the real destinies of the Republic" and offers a guide to the formation and maintenance of economical, healthful, beautiful, and Christian homes.")

I remember liking Edith Schaeffer's [What is a Family?][4] and [The Hidden Art of Homemaking][5] in particular (it's been years since I read them). They were dated and heavy on religion and christian values, but they taught me to view homemaking differently. The first was about embracing the people who come and go and viewing family as a fluid concept (she used the image of a "mobile"). The second book was about incorporating beauty into everything you do (without spending money!). I've set a table with that in mind ever since I read the book. Even when we were eating one of my many recipes for *enhanced* ramen noodles, we ate it with (mismatched, but) proper dishes and linens. I still go out into the yard to clip something, even if it's only one flower, to place on the table or near the bedside. I'm not an artsy person, but I learned the difference between 'art' and 'beauty' and how to bring beauty into our lives.

Many of the older books didn't give me a ton of practical tips so much as change the way I view homemaking. Up until this century, homemaking was about frugality, conservation, preparation, and presentation, regardless of whether the household was small or large, permanent or temporary, or prosperous or poor. Caroline Ingalls approached her tasks while in their wagon the same way Beecher Stowe did.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mason
[2]: http://www.amazon.com/Charlotte-Mason-Companion-Personal-Reflections/dp/1889209023/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416829375&sr=1-1&keywords=charlotte+mason+companion
[3]: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/html/books/book_26.cfm
[4]: http://www.amazon.com/What-Family-Edith-Schaeffer-ebook/dp/B004HO55PK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416829724&sr=1-1&keywords=what+is+a+family+by+edith+schaeffer
[5]: http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Art-Homemaking-Edith-Schaeffer/dp/0842313982/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416829724&sr=1-2&keywords=what+is+a+family+by+edith+schaeffer