Easier to be OS in the olden days?

lessonlearned

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 have put it better. Luckily I saw sense when my boys were quite small

I was tired, stressed and making myself Ill, I felt like my kids were strangers and I took it all out on my poor OH. We decided something had to give because it would be either my health or our marriage.

I gave up work and became a sahm and never looked back. Ok we didn't have much money but we had a great home life, a happy marriage and two happy well adjusted children.

When I told the boys I was giving up work, no more childminders etc they just beamed and hugged me to death.

I can truthfully say getting off that treadmill was one of my best decisions ever. Ok I never had the fabulous career and the glittering prizes but I had something far better - time spent with my family.

atypicalblonde

Lessonlearned - I could have written your post myself. Making the decision to be a SAHM has made our family so much happier in ways I could only have dreamt. People assume because I am at home we must be well-off, and I have encountered some snide comments about it. We are not well off at all, but have more time and less stress in our lives. I no longer pay a cleaner to clean my home, nor do I buy as many takeaways/convenience foods as we used to because I batch cook meals. This is all because I have the time to do these things.


It might not be for everyone and I know a lot of my peers would find my life terribly dull, but it works for us and I wouldn't swap it for anything x

[Deleted User]

The more I see of people, the more I love my dog!!!

craigywv

mrslurcherwalker wrote: »

the more i see of people, the more i love my dog!!!

lynn i bought my mil that sign to hang in her kitchen as part of her christmas pressie it s a lovely tin jobby .......................and very true. Where have you been i havent seen many of your posts recently xxx

craigywv

It says the more i get to know people the more i love my dog, so your a poet and you didnt know it! Mar great post as usual, i am a sahm and gave up for the reasons my kid,oh and general life was passing me by, never looked back and when manchild is older i will go back out to work knowing i was there for him growing up granted its not for everyone and i by no means belittling those who do work etc bit it just wasnt for us xxx

Doveling

Just read a piece on the BBC news site magazine bit about "Singing Together" one of the radio for schools programmes. Took me right back to "Music and Movement" as well. No fancy trainers and sports kit then! Bare feet, vest and pants:eek:
I am a piece of living history :rotfl:

Gigervamp

Oh gosh, I'd forgotten all about music and movement!

PenniesMake£s

Hello, I am still thinking about household life long ago and wondering, whilst trying to organise my children's endless mountains of plastic toys, what sort of toys and how many toys children had back in the 'old days' and how their mothers stored them. Toy storage and organisation is big business these days and I imagine this would hardly have crossed the mind of my great grandmother or even my grandmother. My mum used to just close my brothers door to his messy room and have nothing to do with it other than to change the bedding and pop in the clean clothes. I was quite a tidy child:A and kept my own toys organised. I don't remember my mum ever having a sort out of my toys. I seem to do this almost every day. What are your memories of this?

I have simplified things in the kitchen and this is working out great, cleaning and cooking are much quicker with fewer choices and the cupboards are no longer overflowing with things that won't get eaten. My kids are getting a bit fed up with hm lentil soup for lunch every other day though :rotfl:

The other thing I wanted to ask was about the daily routine. I liked the stories of the housewives who, despite having to handwash clothes etc, always had time to chat with a neighbour for example. I definitely feel that modern life is far too busy, I am up at the school 3 times everyday doing the drop offs and pick ups. This round trip takes 45mins each time (driving, finding a parking space, walking round, waiting, driving home). Sigh.

mardatha

My old neighbout once told me "you young wimmen think you're clever, but you're just making yourselves work"... then he told me about his mum. And this was back in the 80s, when he was in his 80s, a retired shepherd. So his childhood must have been away back! He said she never had to go out at all if she didn'r want to... the butcher van called, the baker, the greengrocer, all the vans came round - and that was to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Monday was washing day, Tues was ironing and putting away, etc. He thought we were mad, with all our running bk & fwd to schools and shops and jobs. I laughed then, but now I think he was so right!

PenniesMake£s

mardatha wrote: »

My old neighbout once told me "you young wimmen think you're clever, but you're just making yourselves work"... then he told me about his mum. And this was back in the 80s, when he was in his 80s, a retired shepherd. So his childhood must have been away back! He said she never had to go out at all if she didn'r want to... the butcher van called, the baker, the greengrocer, all the vans came round - and that was to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Monday was washing day, Tues was ironing and putting away, etc. He thought we were mad, with all our running bk & fwd to schools and shops and jobs. I laughed then, but now I think he was so right!

That sounds lovely to me, I would be very happy if I never had to leave my home and garden Every Sunday we go for a walk somewhere that involves at least a 20 minute drive to get to our "walk".