Easier to be OS in the olden days?

Gigervamp

Re mugs, how about getting rid of most of them. Just leave enough for one for each person.
I rarely buy juice, but I do have a bottle of squash although no-one has had any for a while. We mostly drink tea (my kids are adults now, still got 2 at home) and we do have a coffee maker for the times that we fancy a nice coffee. We ran out of instant a few months ago and haven't bought any more.
In the old days, people made a pot of tea with loose leaf tea and used a tea strainer. My nan always used cups and saucers (Woodsware in green.) but I remember that we had mugs (I grew up in the 60s/70s).

We used to wear one set of nightclothes a week. I had nighties and my brother had pjs. We'd also only have a bath on a sunday night and that was when we put a clean set of nightclothes on. The rest of the week, we just had a wash.
If your children expect clean pjs every night, that's because it's what they're used to. I'm afraid you've made a rod for your own back there! Same with daily clothes. My kids wore the same uniform all week, unless they got it very dirty! They also had clothes to change into once they got home from school which would be worn for several days before washing.

I didn't have to help out very much when I was small, although I did have to go to the shops sometimes. I remember going to the newsagents to buy ciggies for my parents. :eek: "20 Number 6 tipped please." Also the local co-op and the bakers. I used to love going to chat to Arthur, the co-op greengrocer. He often gave me an apple, and he would let me rummage in the back for boxes to make things with.

As I got older, I was expected to peel the potatoes for dinner, lay the table and do the washing up with my brother. Oh how we argued over who got to wash and who dried! :rotfl:

My mum did go out to work once my brother and I went to school, so dinner was made by whichever parent got home first. My dad became a good cook and he made a lot of cakes and bread.


We do now have a lot more choice and a lot more demands on our time and money nowadays, but I do like the range of goods that we can buy now. In the old days, making a curry with any spices other than curry powder would have been difficult, for instance.

It's easy to look back at the past with rose tinted glasses on. There were good bits and bad bits.

I think it's a good idea to learn how to do things the old style ways, as I can see a future where it may be necessary to do things that way again. It's never a bad idea to learn new skills.

lostinrates

Re mugs: we have loads of mugs because we often have loads of people here. When the house is full of builders for example, its much easier to load the dishwasher ( thank goodness for that new style money saving thing) and give them new mugs each time.

One person's clutter is another person's lifestyle necessity. In thirty years we'll probably have fewer builders and the necessity for extra mugs less.

trailingspouse

Of course, Old Style wasn't old style back then!!

Everyone was doing it, so no-one felt hard-done-by. I remember (in the 60's) my friend's Mum going back to work. My mother was horrified!! It could only mean that they weren't able to manage on the husband's money alone!

Life was definitely simpler - but I'm not sure if it was better. My mother didn't get a washing machine of any description until I was 3 months old. For heating we had a coal fire in the 'back room', and also one in the 'front room' (although I don't remember that ever being used), plus a 2-bar electric fire in my parents' bedroom (which was only used, just for getting dressed by, if there was actual ice on the inside of the windows).

My mother was a City and Guilds trained tailor, but gave up work when she was pregnant with me (1960). It simply wasn't the done thing for mothers to work. By the late 70's I was in my teens and she felt she would like to go back to work - but all her confidence had gone, not helped by the fact that my Dad was still of the mind set that her getting a job would be a criticism of his breadwinning abilities.

I don't mind a bit of OS money saving, but don't make me go back there!!

lostinrates

trailingspouse wrote: »

Of course, Old Style wasn't old style back then!!

Everyone was doing it, so no-one felt hard-done-by. I remember (in the 60's) my friend's Mum going back to work. My mother was horrified!! It could only mean that they weren't able to manage on the husband's money alone!

Life was definitely simpler - but I'm not sure if it was better. My mother didn't get a washing machine of any description until I was 3 months old. For heating we had a coal fire in the 'back room', and also one in the 'front room' (although I don't remember that ever being used), plus a 2-bar electric fire in my parents' bedroom (which was only used, just for getting dressed by, if there was actual ice on the inside of the windows).

My mother was a City and Guilds trained tailor, but gave up work when she was pregnant with me (1960). It simply wasn't the done thing for mothers to work. By the late 70's I was in my teens and she felt she would like to go back to work - but all her confidence had gone, not helped by the fact that my Dad was still of the mind set that her getting a job would be a criticism of his breadwinning abilities.

I don't mind a bit of OS money saving, but don't make me go back there!!

My mother arrived in uk in the sixties. She arrived to work ( married with a child) and became a single mother while here. Its funny because while she had to work hard and do anything she could, she socialised and worked in quite 'elevated' circles. The single mother thing was definitely a thing, but it seemed not to hit some people as hard as others. . Perhaps another thing to be grateful we've moved on from.....freedom to choose, but perhaps we've moved to far, so that families who choose to have a homemaker or sahp are looked down on?

suki1964

Born in 64 my first memories of home was a shared house , our family had the downstairs, another had upstairs

The loo was in the yard and the bath was hung on the back door We bathed once a week in front of the fire, us three girls in together,then dad getting a top up of hot water. Mum always had a fresh bath

We got a council house in 68. Inside bathroom and toilet but no ch. the only heating was the gas fire in the living room. The bedrooms only had Lino and they were freezing. Winters saw ice on the insides of the windows and our beds were covered in coats to keep warm

We had a fridge and a twin tub washing machine. Sheets and towels went in first, followed by normal,clothes, then undies , then the water was used to mop the floors

Clean night clothes and sheets were on Sundays , which was still bath night. The rest of the week we washed at the kitchen sink as that had the ascot, so cheaper hot water then the immersion

Sunday dinner was a cheap cut of meat, very thinly cut, and served with at least 4 veg and usually a Yorkshire pudding to fill you up. Dessert was usually tinned fruit and carnation milk. Rest of the week was always the same, porridge for breakfast, school dinner, then a tea of soup or beans or eggs. Drinks were tea or water. Tea was made in the pot and we all got a cup. None of this just getting one when wanted, there were set times. If you wanted a drink other then "tea time" you took water from the tap

We shopped at the street market for most things. There was a small liptons where things like soap powder and cheese and bacon was bought. Meat was from the butcher, bread from the bakers. We walked miles to get the best deals to stretch the pennies

During the strikes of the 70's with shortages of most things , I remember being sent to the co op to join the queue cos rumour was they had sugar or toilet roll or even flour. I seem to have forever been in queues lol

Old style then was just getting on and getting by. Most people had nothing compared to today's standards. Jumble sales were a way of life. I think I was 13 before I was given money to go to a real shop to buy new clothes. Hand me downs and pass alongs were the way of life. Home made cakes and biscuits , else nothing. Going blackberry picking and helping making the jam to see us through the year. Gathering sweet chestnuts and cob nuts in the autumn was always looked forward to. Making paper chains to decorate the house for Christmas , pickling onions, making chutney, the cake and puddings. All time consuming but exciting as well because you knew Christmas was coming

There was never a lot of playtime as kids were expected to help in the house with chores, cooking and babysitting. But we could play in the street safely and were always in and out of neighbours houses. If one mum came home with a sweet, then it was a sweet for all the kids, not just theirs

Times were harder but we were all in the same boat and families lived closer to each other so we all shared what we had around the whole family

dingdongsaving

Wow! Respect to you for being able to tolerate that amount of washing!

We all have our beds changed each weekend and a new set of nightwear and bath towels go out that day. That's it unless someone's ill.

We also only wash clothes that need it - dribbles/stains/smells won't be left, but a vest will be worn again the next day under school uniform and a school top will be worn again if it was under a jumper all day...all just choices, but if you want to wash less then just decide what your new boundaries are and re-define them.

Also, if it's just that you don't want to do as much washing but you don't care about how many loads are done maybe just get someone else to be in charge of some. If it's that you want to do less washing or save electricity then you need to challenge what is being washed/why/when. (If it's the 1st my 7 year ds old knows how to sort lights/darks and can put in powder/soda & softener before turning on a quick wash...he also knows how to pull it all out into a basket and transfer it into the dryer and set it going. He's a great help).

Life's as simple or as complex as you make it nowadays.

Edit: Also, for drinks we just rinse and re-use the same mug/glass all day...esp. if it's the same drink over and over like water, squash or tea. We just stick with whatever one we start off with each morning.

monnagran

I was born before the war and the problems of wartime living have been well documented. The difference was that everyone was in the same boat so no-one felt different or deprived. When you went to bed every night with no certainty of even being alive the next morning whether or not you had clean pyjamas was the least of your worries.
My main memories are of being cold. Probably my own fault as I threw such tantrums when being forced into a Liberty bodice that my poor Mum finally gave up. My Mum, Aunty and Grandmother were all great knitters and sewers so I didn't lack clothes, (my Nan made me a gorgeous matching coat and skirt out of my Dad's cricketing flannels. His reaction when he finally returned home is unrecorded!), but houses were freezing. One coal fire (when you could get coal) meant that we all crouched round it with burning fronts and freezing backs. The blankets, such as they were, seemed to have no warmth in them, and stone or metal hot water bottles were not exactly comforting or efficient.
We had a bath once a week on a Saturday so that we were all clean for going to church on Sunday. When the beds were changed the bottom sheet was removed for washing and the top sheet became the bottom. Monday was ALWAYS washing day and it was best to keep yourself as far away as possible. The house was full of steam and the grown-ups were tired and cross.
Oh, talking about sheets, there was always that uncomfortable seam that rubbed your back where the sheet had been 'sides to middled'.

Again I was fortunate in that my family were all great gardeners, (I wonder where that gene went) and grew all our own fruit and vegetables. And we kept chickens.

I grew up with thinking that my life was the norm. No sweets, very little in the way of treats, always cold, usually uncomfortable, everything was hard work, children were seen and not heard, NOT ONE SINGLE THING was ever thrown away, everything could be, and was, turned into something else if necessary. Add to that the threat of being bombed out of existence at any moment and it was not much fun. I had heard of the halcyon days of "pre-war" when all was light and fun and goods were plentiful, but wasn't sure wether this was true or just another adult story.

Was I unhappy? Certainly not. Would I like to go back to those days? You must be joking!
I am as OS as the next person, mostly because it is part of me. I am content to make and mend and be as thrifty as I can be. But I relish the comfort and ease of using modern appliances and you separate me from my washing machine, vacuum cleaner, slow cooker, food processor, fridge and freezer, toaster, central heating, duvet and hair dryer at your peril.

x

[Deleted User]

ah the twin tub, now that really was a good os piece of kit. We got through the whole wash with one lot of soapy water, just pumped the water back into the machine side. Then rinsing in the sink or in the bath

Candlelight, that brought back memories. It must have been so hard for our parents. My mil was left on her own with 3 children and she took in washing, 5 dusters for a penny and people didn`t get the doctor because they couldn`t afford it

I look around my house now and I have much much more than the basics. I am the one with the 5 different teas and 3 different coffees but why not, I can afford it and I have the space. I also have big big stocks of food and that is just psychological, following on from when my mother collected string and re-used wrapping paper. I did the os apprenticeship so can easily justify the things I have now and I know it is a reaction to a hard life but the upside is that I learnt such a lot, which I try to pass on

It is definitely harder now as it is a conscious choice, if it was me then I would need a purpose and that would probably be to reduce my mortgage (assuming I was younger with a mortgage). It is great fun and very satisfying these days, to be os, it is a real challenge

Bathory

Less choice made life simpler, we are overwhelmed nowadays by so much choice of everything in much bigger shops/stores compared to years gone by. All stuff has the ability to have that 'consumer pull' especially with new products, offers or stuff reduced in sales.

I have really enjoyed reading posts by other people and a lot of things I have read mirror my own upbringing. Born in 1968 to older parents, mum born pre-WW2 and father in the Edwardian era. I grew up in the 70s and 80's in an un-modernised cottage. No CH and no bathroom, no fridge, washing machine (still have no washing machine to this day, I use a spinner), no colour tv. The loo was outside and I cringe to say that it was not the WC type. We had a coal fire which threw out some grand heat but the cottage was small with low ceilings so it did not take long to warm up. All other rooms were cold with ice on the inside of the windows. In the winter cold cinders were scattered on icy paths and it was my job to break ice on water buckets, clean and feed the animals.

We had one cold tap in the kitchen (before that it a pump across the road) and each Sunday we filled a large boiler thing (unsure what it was called) and had a tin bath. During the week it was strip washes in a bowl with a small amount of hot water and bar soap. Washing was on Monday. In the 70s it was hand wash and put through a mangle, later on came the revolutionary spin dryer. Mum had a Flatley dryer but rarely used it and washing often got singed by the fire if we were not careful. Food was planned for the week and meals were very structured, olive oil was something from the chemist only - lard was the main stuff used for frying.

Now the question, would I go back? In some ways yes, due to being discontent with the way the modern world has gone. If the CH and hot water broke tomorrow I would know what to do/how to cope. However, one thing from the past I don't want back is the dreaded earth closet. That thing can stay definitely stay in the past !!

[Deleted User]

You'd cope if you had to because you have experience of that system in action and working like most of us older ones. It seems ancient and so uncivilised when you just read about life in words and not have the experience to let you see the lamplight, feel how warm the old range made the room, feel that moment of running as fast as you could from the warm room to your ice cold bedroom and jump into the bed with brushed cotton sheets on and a hot water bottle having scrambled into pyjamas warmed in front of the fire in the living room, it was bliss!!! specially if your mum had put the hot water bottle where your bottom went and you could sit on the warm patch and push the bottle down to where your feet went. Bed socks were a necessity though as the hot water bottles were just rubber, no covers and they were HOT. We've just got used to all the conveniences of modern life but, if we had to live in a less assisted way for one reason or another we're all perfectly capable of doing so, aren't we?