“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” An early printed form appeared in 1933, tied to the spirit of New England: “Eat it up. Wear it out. Make it do.” In 1941 a Massachusetts newspaper called it the “old Yankee code of thrift.”
In 1942 and 1943 it became a motto of the home front. The Oregon State Archives uses it as a title in its exhibit on World War II. A wartime notice there reads: “Trucks and tires must last till victory.”