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Main site > Forums > Household & Travel > Old Style MoneySaving > A Pot of Tea - and a Stamp!
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      Cocketts
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    • By Cocketts 7th Jul 18, 9:40 AM
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      What's this?

    Cocketts
    A Pot of Tea - and a Stamp!
    • #1
    • 7th Jul 18, 9:40 AM
    A Pot of Tea - and a Stamp! 7th Jul 18 at 9:40 AM
    I had my sister and her family visiting last weekend. In my efforts to reduce plastic usage Chez Lillibet, I have swapped tea bags for 'real tea'.
    I was amused when my 25-year old niece (whose turn it was to make the cuppas) admitted that she didn't know how to make tea in a pot!!

    I was then reminded of an incident about three weeks ago when my 22-year old daughter had to be told how to go the post office counter and ask for a first class stamp......

    These may not be 'important' skills to teach this generation but what else might they need to know - or do we assume they know?

    Correctly pegging out the washing on the line springs to mind!

    Lilli

    EDITED TO ADD: I'm not sure my daughter would know how to write a cheque either
    Last edited by Cocketts; 07-07-2018 at 9:44 AM.

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      jk0
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    • By jk0 7th Jul 18, 8:42 PM
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      What's this?

    jk0
    Ooh, I've got another one regarding my African friend who is 46...

    I was showing him how I warm the mugs with boiling water before putting the teabag in them.

    He said: 'I do not need to wash the cups again. I have already washed them!'

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      Callie22
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    • By Callie22 7th Jul 18, 8:49 PM
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      What's this?

    Callie22
    “
    This thread is fun. It's not just millennials who are useless.
    Originally posted by jk0 ”

    Aaaah, I think 'useless' is maybe a harsh term. It's different strokes for different folks, some skills have become obsolete but I'm sure there are skills that younger people have that older people don't, as well as the opposite being true. There's also a bit of a resurgence in the appeal of learning what might be slightly old-fashioned skills along with the added benefit of some really modern ways to lean them - Youtube, for example, is brilliant for learning how to do things (we fixed the siphon in our loo recently by watching an instructional Youtube video, it saved us a fortune )

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    • By Cocketts 8th Jul 18, 8:52 AM
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      What's this?

    Cocketts
    “
    In my secondary school in the late seventies we were taught how to wire a plug (and made to draw a diagram of the inside of one including colouring in the cables). But I'd already been taught to do this by my mother. We were also taught how to write cheques, something I still do most weeks for a pal who runs a small business.

    Some very basic skills are being lost and the consquences are blocked sinks and mess and expense.

    For example, whenever I do youth hostelling, I encounter sinks which are blocked because folks cannot grasp that the first step to dishwashing is scraping any uneaten bits off the plate and into the bin. So many people, often mature and seemingly intelligent people, haven't managed to grasp this simple concept. I once watched the three mid-teen offspring of a family in a YHA kitchen make an unbeliveable fist of doing some washing up. The sum total of their task was to wash five mugs, five small plates with crumbs on them and five knives with butter/ jam smears. Three of them and they couldn't even do this without incredible difficulty.

    I'm normally good at blank expressions but must of looked a bit surprised at a level of ineptitude akin to a six year old's, because one of them sheepishly told me that they had a dishwasher at home.

    No sh*t Sherlock was my unspoken reaction, but I was thinking I hope to hell you never have to wash up anything really messy if this little task is beyond you!
    Originally posted by GreyQueen ”

    Oh GQ, that ALSO reminds me... a couple of weeks ago I was house/dog sitting for my sister, leaving DD and her young man to hold the fort here.
    When I got home they sheepishly admitted that they had had a 'dishwasher problem' - thinking they'd broken it.
    I asked what the problem was. Well, they said, we went to unload it at the end of the cycle and there was still water in the bottom. So we used cups to try to scoop some water out and then tried using the small syringe that came with the cat medicine.
    They phoned DD's dad who suggested calling out the engineer.
    In a huff, they slammed the dishwasher door shut - and it merrily continued it's cycle right until the end

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    • By jk0 8th Jul 18, 10:21 AM
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      What's this?

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    You guys might enjoy a thread I created on Landlordzone, about the mad things tenants call me out to repair:

    https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum/take-a-break-for-the-less-serious/73407-pilot-error?71692-Pilot-Error=

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      Nargleblast
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    • By Nargleblast 8th Jul 18, 10:48 AM
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      What's this?

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    “
    Ooh, I've got another one regarding my African friend who is 46...

    I was showing him how I warm the mugs with boiling water before putting the teabag in them.

    He said: 'I do not need to wash the cups again. I have already washed them!'
    Originally posted by jk0 ”
    Remind me never to go round his for tea and sticky buns.
    Debt free date.....3 August 2015
    Now building up a Doomsday Cash Stash

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    • By Bathory 8th Jul 18, 11:33 AM
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    Not sure if this applies to all hoovers (ours is about 12 years old) but I know people who will throw a hoover away and get a new one as it is thought to no longer work. What we do is unscrew the base, take the roller out and cut out all the trapped hair with scissors, refit and its good to go again.
    2018 - 5 stone lost so far on the Ketogenic diet.

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    • By GreyQueen 8th Jul 18, 11:53 AM
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      What's this?

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    “
    Not sure if this applies to all hoovers (ours is about 12 years old) but I know people who will throw a hoover away and get a new one as it is thought to no longer work. What we do is unscrew the base, take the roller out and cut out all the trapped hair with scissors, refit and its good to go again.
    Originally posted by Bathory ”
    One of my rellies has a nice little side gig for a number of years now, picking up 'defunct' appliances for free or for pence at bootsales


    Number one cause of 'defunctness'? Blown fuse in the plug. Number two cause in our hard-water area for anything which held water like a coffee maker is buildup of limescale. Both very easily fixed.


    I've also done the thread-around-the-roller thing for friends and hunt-the-foriegn-object-in-the-washer-filter for others. A pal who thought she was looking at a whole new washer was surprised to find that a kirby hair grip in the wrong place was all that was wrong with her B0sch.


    I'm amused at the inefficiency of checking the time on a mobile as opposed to a half-second glance at a wristwatch. And what a fabulous way to get someone to pull out their phone if you're a mugger, hey?


    It's downright tragic if anyone over 8, assuming they are not learning-disabled, is so berefit of basic skills that they cannot tell the time from a clockface. These items ain't going away, people.


    I mean, can you imagine churches, town hall clocks and even Big Ben switched over to digital display.........
    Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
     John Ruskin
     Veni, vidi, eradici
    (I came, I saw, I kondo'd)

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      MrsLurcherwalker
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    • By MrsLurcherwalker 8th Jul 18, 11:57 AM
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    No but I can envisage power cuts and shortages of batteries with which to run digital devices! Craziness is rife!
    Thumpers mum was right - if you can't find anything nice to say don't say anything at all!

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    • By GreyQueen 8th Jul 18, 12:19 PM
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      What's this?

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    “
    No but I can envisage power cuts and shortages of batteries with which to run digital devices! Craziness is rife!
    Originally posted by MrsLurcherwalker ”
    And very few people outside of preptastic circles/ science, have ever heard of the Carrington Event and know that it's only a matter of time until we have another one.


    Gawd help those who cannot read a paper road altas or an OS map, tell the time from an analogue clock face (preferably one not powered by a battery - my next watch will be one of those which are powered by your movement).


    Those of us who grew well into adulthood before the digital age are going to have a heckuva advantage over the current generation.
    Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
     John Ruskin
     Veni, vidi, eradici
    (I came, I saw, I kondo'd)

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    • By short_bird 8th Jul 18, 12:19 PM
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    short_bird
    Maybe the issue with clock faces on public buildings is that some are only right twice a day as they need fixing - and there isn't the knowledge at the right price for cash strapped organisations. Oh: that's a point. All alarms in my house run on batteries... adds it to the list.

    And cheers, GQ for the Carrington Event. Hoo boy.
    Last edited by short_bird; 08-07-2018 at 12:22 PM.
    Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas.

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    • By Callie22 8th Jul 18, 12:31 PM
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      What's this?

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    “
    You guys might enjoy a thread I created on Landlordzone, about the mad things tenants call me out to repair:

    https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum/take-a-break-for-the-less-serious/73407-pilot-error?71692-Pilot-Error=
    Originally posted by jk0 ”

    As with my earlier post, I do think making fun of people who can't do things is a little unfair. I find it particularly so when landlords list the 'stupid' things that their tenants have done - I completely appreciate that some tenants aren't the brightest buttons but let's be honest, most people's first real learning experience in terms of DIY and home maintenance tends to come when they buy their first home. Tenants are generally in a situation where they can't really risk doing anything they aren't really sure about on pain of being accused of 'damaging' a property and losing their deposit. Not all landlords are the same either - whilst some are happy for tenants to just get on with stuff others really aren't. It's a little unfair, I think, to make fun of tenants who do 'daft' things, when in a lot of cases, they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't.

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    • By MrsLurcherwalker 8th Jul 18, 12:43 PM
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    I've had one of the movement wound watches for years, cost £49.99 in Argos and worth every penny!
    Last edited by MrsLurcherwalker; 08-07-2018 at 2:03 PM.
    Thumpers mum was right - if you can't find anything nice to say don't say anything at all!

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    • By RicardaRacoon 8th Jul 18, 1:03 PM
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    Ok, I have to admit that I've never written a cheque, but I don't live in the UK and were I live cheques are not widely used, I doubt my parents ever used one.


    I think the best "I've no idea how to do that" thing was the one trainee who was sent out to buy milk and had to ask how to do that!



    Adresses seem to be another thing, a lot of our trainees have no idea how to write them correctly and adress stickers they have to put on envelopes turn up in very unusual places, at the back of the envelope, where the stamp should go and so on...


    But I think the most important thing, which I also notice with a lot of adults, is just plain common sense and the ability to use your brain. So many people rather ask someone else than just think for a second... I had people at work asking me how to get to the upper floor of the building while they stood next to the stairs and the elevator...
    Resolution for 2018"Live better on less" - Less stuff, less waste, less silly spends but more make do and mend and more fun

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    • By jk0 8th Jul 18, 11:32 PM
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      What's this?

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    Guess it's snowflake melting season here also. This American girl really tickled me recently:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th9aNvhvvTk

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    • By fuddle 9th Jul 18, 6:20 AM
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      What's this?

    fuddle
    I considered myself a young 'un until not so long ago but i' m aware the gap is very much there.

    'Chip and Pin' is very much my generation. I was asked by a young girl in the pharmacy if I was "paying by chip or pin?" Er both I have a Chip and Pin card says I completely confused. The dear girl explained that the chip was for contact less payment and the pin was for if I paid by putting the card into the machine.

    It dawned on my then that our world is moving extremely fast. I'm 38 and of the technological age but very much being left behind.
    Please don't judge my story by the chapter that you walked in on.
    .

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    • By PollyWollyDoodle 9th Jul 18, 7:26 AM
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    Quite a few years ago, I remember a friend saying to me rather helplessly "they say we should eat seasonal food, but how do you know what is in season?".

    His parents did not grow fruit and veg when he was young, and he lived in a flat without a garden. I could see his problem, these days you can buy strawberries, tomatoes, runner beans and cauliflower all year round. there must be many people who don't know which foods are in season.
    "Inconceivable". "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

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    • By LameWolf 9th Jul 18, 11:58 AM
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      What's this?

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    “
    I once watched the three mid-teen offspring of a family in a YHA kitchen make an unbeliveable fist of doing some washing up. The sum total of their task was to wash five mugs, five small plates with crumbs on them and five knives with butter/ jam smears. Three of them and they couldn't even do this without incredible difficulty.
    Originally posted by GreyQueen ”
    The cynic in me would wonder if this was maybe a ploy so that they never got asked to do it again.
    LameWolf
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    • By JessyRM 9th Jul 18, 12:13 PM
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    JessyRM
    With regards to the washing line, I had to show my 34 year old OH how to hang clothes the other day. I don't know how i'd not noticed prior to this. He was moaning about his t-shirt and trousers not staying on the line!

    I'm 29 so probably fall into the generation you are talking about but I can assure you we are not all like this. I feel adequately prepared for most repairs in the home and I can certainly sew, clean and cook .

    Last week I was inviting candidates for an interview and one of them asked me how to get to the office, I gave him the postcode and he proceeded to tell me he knew where it was but needed to know the bus route. Seriously???

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    • By monnagran 9th Jul 18, 12:26 PM
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    monnagran
    Not too long ago I was in the supermarket looking for Trex or something similar. I collared a young lady assistant and asked her where the white fats were. She looked blank so I explained that I wanted it for pastry. "Oh, pastry," she said, her face clearing, and led me to the frozen foods and pointed out the Jusroll. No, I said, I wanted to MAKE pastry. "MAKE PASTRY?" she asked in tones of sheer blind disbelief. "Can you do that?"
    I believe that friends are quiet angels
    Who lift us to our feet when our wings
    Have trouble remembering how to fly.

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    • By Slinky 9th Jul 18, 1:09 PM
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      What's this?

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    “
    Ooh, I've got another one regarding my African friend who is 46...

    I was showing him how I warm the mugs with boiling water before putting the teabag in them.
    Originally posted by jk0 ”

    I'm with your friend on this one. I've tried warming mugs and not warming them, and I'm blowed if I can notice any difference. How much wasted electric and water could you get through in a lifetime of doing this?

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