Easier to be OS in the olden days?

Seakay

I think that the main block to OS in the modern day is advertising - both subtle and obvious.

When it took a minimum of three days to do a load of washing from start to ironed no one changed all their clothes every day.
Washing machines were first sold as labour saving.
Then manufacturers realisd that being used once a week or so would mean the machine lasted for ages - so it came about that all the free time created by the labour saving machines had to be used for cleaning - dusting, hoovering, washing every day instead of once a week or less. And then we needed more clothes because they were washed more often and so wore out more quickly.
Before deoderant was invented a bath once a week, filled by hand from kettles etc, was more than enough.
Once we had deoderant to help us stay fresh and plumbing to make bathing less of a chore, we suddenly had to strip wash all over every day and buy the soaps and towels etc to enable us to do this.

We are very sensitive to the sort of criticism which implies that we are dirty or slack or a bad housekeeper. All ideas invented by white middle aged male advertisers who didn't want women in the general workforce if it could be avoided and did want to sell lots of commodities which no one had ever needed before, and which as they all saved time had to be used more often in order to justify assuming that women needed to use the whole day to perform their alloted tasks rather than getting a decent paid job.

mardatha

Seakay, I think women themselves are the main culprits here. Nobody forced us to do anything - we should have more sense lol

meritaten

PenniesMake£s wrote: »

Haha, I stand corrected meritaten lol. Wish my kids would play under the dining room table, I could put a big tablecloth over it and the place would look nice and tidy :rotfl:

mum used to do that! with a sheet and that was my Tent or Den!
(used to get really annoyed when she whipped the sheet off to 'lay the table'), and I do it sometimes for my Grandkids.

meritaten

funny how with all my 'labour saving devices' I can still spend as long doing 'housework' as my mum and nan did! or do I? nan had high standards and she worked (it seemed to me) from morn till night. but she classed sitting darning or sewing as 'work'. she baked a lot - but I suspect that like me, she thought that was 'relaxing' and fun. Nan kept a duster (a pair of old cotton knickers) in her apron pocket and if you stood still you got dusted as she went past! (that was Granch's joke). and her and mum always had time for a good half hour 'gossip' on the doorstep with the neighbours! we lived opposite the village grocers and the Co-op and chemist and butchers were a one minute walk away - and Nan could be out for hours just getting the shopping! Nan and mum didn't 'rush' anything. and a hell of a lot got 'delivered'. usually by a 'boyonabike'! totally different pace of life to today - they didn't have to take us to 'after school activities', playdates? you were in brownies or cubs? then mum took you the first time but after that you walked there on your own (with friends). and after school we went out and knocked for our friends and made our own fun. from the tender age of four or five! modern mums would be horrified!

englishrose89

Ok so I am still waiting on the darning needle mum said she had. Ds2 has been ill so he has been attached to my hip all weekend. bless him, it's his first proper cough/cold and he is up and down like a yo-yo.

I still call it a 'french stick' pennies

interesting thoughts seakay, does make you think about why we now need a bath daily. My gran used to do her hair on a Sunday night and put rollers in to style it. I have to wash my hair at least every other day or it looks majorly greasy. I do a lot of clothes washing but thankfully its slowly decreasing with the children getting older. I have 3 dc all under 5 so things can get a little messy.

meritaten

my nan had a 'shampoo and set' once a week. and I used to wash my hair every day - until I realised that it really isn't necessary and is bad for my very fine hair! my hair gets washed twice a week now and I don't shower every day unless I 'need' to. modern times (and advertising) persuades us we need to shower/bath every day with bubbly stuff! and I am convinced that this is actually bad for you. like making your home 'clinically clean'? I wouldn't want to go back to medieval times and bath once a year - but, do we really need to be 'sterile'? nan was very houseproud - but she thoroughly approved of us kids making 'mud pies' and getting dirty.

nursemaggie

It is very subtle a lot of the advertising. They use emotive language which makes you feel bad if you are not constantly sterilising your house. Do you know it has been going on since germs were first discovered in the late 1800s. At least they do not give us as bad poisons as they did them. There are some regulations but I think a lot of modern stuff effects your lungs. I have switched to stardrops for that as much as to save money.

People did not bath only once a year in medieval times that was the Tudors. Sorry I don't know how to do the links to TV programs but it called the History of the house and you need to look at the one about the bathroom.

I know all that bubbly stuff is very bad for your skin or why do Drs advise you not to use them if you have a skin disease. The other thing they have done with babies is to say they do not need bathing every day which is quite a turn around.

I had to use soap on all my kids because this bubble stuff aggravates their eczema.

They do not tell you there is no meat in ready meals just protein supplements and the calories are from fat and sugar. I cook from scratch because I know what is in it not to save money because it is a great deal cheaper to only cook for a couple of minutes.

I have to admit when having a baby in my late 40s and doing things the way I had before I was ostracised by all the other mums. There is more than one way to make you buy.

atypicalblonde

Good Morning everyone,
I am really enjoying this thread, both reading peoples memories and also gleaning pearls of wisdom. It inspired me to have a lovely trip down memory lane with my grandma at the weekend – she is in her late 70s and has some tales to tell! She was one of 4 living in a 1-up 1-down and her father was killed down the pit when she was just 5, so her mum must have found it so hard.
Like Pennies, this thread has inspired me to look at our life and revaluate in certain ways. We have two small children (2 year old and an 8 month old) so a certain level of “stuff” is inevitable – nappies, wipes, bottles etc. But now I am looking at things with fresh eyes – did they have X/Y/Z when my grandma was a girl? If not, why do we need them now? For example, the baby monitor. Our house isn’t big and our DS has big lungs so if he’s awake and upset you know about it! So that is going to go this week. When people have asked what they would like for Christmas, we have suggested either a small token gift or money for their bank accounts. A few toys have been given to us as hand-me-downs from friends which they haven’t yet seen, so they will be wrapped up for Christmas day. They are too little to care – our eldest is mainly excited about leaving Father Christmas his mince pie and sherry! In contrast, my friend has a three year old and she told me last week she has already incurred £500 catalogue debt on gifts for her – the mind boggles. We can all learn to embrace the many benefits that come about with living more simply with a bit of effort.
I am a SAHM through choice with a small business that I run from home and earn a modest amount from. I love doing the things with my children that cost nothing but they adore – baking, jumping in puddles in the garden in their wellies and snuggling up reading. All of their clothes are either hand-me-downs, charity shop or from Sainsbugs for vests, knickers etc. I love our life and appreciate all the labour saving devices that my late great-grandma Ivy could only have dreamt of. How lucky we are xx


ETA - We live near the Foxes biscuits factory and buying bags of broken biscuits from them is a highlight for us still! x

mardatha

I think we're all daft really. We shouted for labour-saving stuff like hoovers and washing machines but then hoovered and washed more. We shouted to be allowed to work and then we felt pressured to work. We ended up running around like demented hamsters, trying to keep up with work and cleaning the house to tv-ad standards. We had to buy ready made garbage because we didn't have to cook..
We have ended up with stress, exhaustion, money problems, and kids who never play outside like we did. The more I look at people the more I see hamsters on a wheel. I think maybe i should go and do something to cheer up lol

moments_of_sanity

mardatha wrote: »

I think we're all daft really. We shouted for labour-saving stuff like hoovers and washing machines but then hoovered and washed more. We shouted to be allowed to work and then we felt pressured to work. We ended up running around like demented hamsters, trying to keep up with work and cleaning the house to tv-ad standards. We had to buy ready made garbage because we didn't have to cook..
We have ended up with stress, exhaustion, money problems, and kids who never play outside like we did. The more I look at people the more I see hamsters on a wheel. I think maybe i should go and do something to cheer up lol

I couldn't agree more!