# A Reminder of How Wasteful Our Generation Was!



## Just plain me

www.butterbin.com

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks.

This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was
right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the
green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that
operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of
buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a
computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person.:sentimental:


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## SeaBreeze

I remember returning those glass bottles for deposit, and worked in a bottling plant where they were all washed, sanitized and re-used.  Long before the plastic bags, we also used the paper bags for trash, and book covers.  

I grew up in a third floor apartment, which had no elevator...used the stairs every day.  I baby-sat my two nephews way back then, and yes, we did use cloth diapers and didn't have the waste and pollution of the disposables used today.

My mother didn't have a dryer for the clothes, but hung them out on the wash line.  In winter, we'd joke because they were stiff like there were people still inside the clothes.  Those clothes lines also doubled as jump ropes for us kids to play with.

We had one small TV, and used handkerchiefs , before tissues became popular.  Still use wadded up newspaper to send a package in the mail.  And used newspaper to dry windows, washed with water and white vinegar.

Remember the fountain pen well, before the disposable Bic pens.  Still replace the razors in our double or single edge razor blades.  I walked to school everyday, and never saw a power strip as a kid.  In fact, I remember seeing the first Styrofoam cup as a child, used to just see the paper cups used.

Us old folks, we're responsible for the big plastic garbage dump in the oceans, and all the other ills of the modern day world.  We were such a selfish and spoiled lot, weren't we?    Good post Just plain me...the real deal!  :thumbsup:


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## Meanderer

I was in the hardware store a while back, and saw huge, back-pack style, gasoline leaf blower on sale for only $500!  I almost fell over right there!  I toyed with the idea of asking the sale-clerk how many leaf rakes $500 would buy...but, instead I just left the store shaking my head!


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## NancyNGA

What about disposable baby diapers!! Think of the billions going into the landfills.


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## SeaBreeze

Old photo of Monday "Wash Day" in New York.


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## NancyNGA

Great picture Seabreeze. I'll bet you that's how it all got started with Monday being wash day. 
So that mess would all get over with in one day in the large cities. Does anyone know for sure?

My mother used to always do laundry on Monday, even though we lived in the suburbs, just 
because ....


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## SeaBreeze

I don't remember what day my mother did laundry, don't know if it was a certain day of the week or not.  I know she did her major house cleaning on Saturday, bed sheets, dusting, etc.  I know because I always helped out.


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## Pappy

Monday was always laundry day for my grandmother. I remember, in the winter, the clothes would be as hard as a rock on the clothes line. Got my hand caught in the wringer rollers too. Only did it once, and once was enough. 
My job was to mix the hard chunks of bluing in a bowl of hot water. Boy, I'm going way back.


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## Twixie

SeaBreeze said:


> I don't remember what day my mother did laundry, don't know if it was a certain day of the week or not.  I know she did her major house cleaning on Saturday, bed sheets, dusting, etc.  I know because I always helped out.



Lol..I wouldn't have dared say ''I'm bored'' to my mom..I would have got a tin of polish and a cloth to do the bedroom furniture!


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## Debby

What a great opening post!  It really puts the last fifty plus years in perspective doesn't it?  Reading that reminded me of so many things, wringer washer's and using a stick to push the laundry through (watching out for the fingers), getting the pile of new paper book covers on the first day of school and how the entire class would sit there, folding them up so that they would fit on our books, frozen laundry...I even remember my mom washing bread bags to use in the kitchen because plastic bags were 'special' and hard to come by so you re-used them. We were also very poor so even if they were available to buy, we could never have afforded them (no credit cards for groceries).

Loved the opening post and all the following comments.  Boy does this one date all of us eh?


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## Twixie

We would have to cover our books with left over wallpaper...


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## JustBonee

Pappy said:


> Monday was always laundry day for my grandmother. I remember, in the winter, the clothes would be as hard as a rock on the clothes line. Got my hand caught in the wringer rollers too. Only did it once, and once was enough.
> My job was to mix the hard chunks of bluing in a bowl of hot water. Boy, I'm going way back.



Thanks Pappy., for similar memories ... Monday was laundry day on the farm for my grandmother too.  It was an all day affair it seemed. . I was her little helper (?)  ...   The wringer washer,  and everything that entailed, and hanging all the clothes on the lines outside.  And the clothes  were  hard and stone cold on a brisk Ohio day.  .. oh the memories!


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## JustBonee

SeaBreeze said:


> Old photo of Monday "Wash Day" in New York.




Love that picture!  Thanks SeaBreeze..


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## crochet lady

We always saved string/twine from packages; saved any type gift wrap paper, smoothed it out folded it neatly and would use for another occasion. Glass jars were washed and used to store leftovers and anything else needed. Remember hand-me-down clothes? After they just were not wearable, they made great rags.


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## SeaBreeze

I wore hand me down clothes from both my older sisters, and my brother...and was usually a bit excited to get them. :sentimental:  Still save certain things to re-use too, just like my Mom did.


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## SeaBreeze

Twixie said:


> Lol..I wouldn't have dared say ''I'm bored'' to my mom..I would have got a tin of polish and a cloth to do the bedroom furniture!



I hear ya loud and clear Twixie, I can definitely relate!


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## GeorgiaXplant

We saved wrapping paper, too. It got ironed and either carefully folded or rolled around an empty mailing tube if one was to be had. We also ironed the ribbons. 

Monday was washday at our house during the summer and during school breaks. In winter it was on Saturday, along with baking bread and cleaning house. I remember boiling the water on the kitchen stove for the washer, the blankety-blank bluing and cooking starch. We boiled the water because we didn't have hot running water, only cold. If somebody had been sick during the week, the bed linens were boiled in the copper boiler, the water poured down the drain, the boiler filled up and heated again for the washer. During the school year, I had to do the ironing either after school or in the evening. I didn't mind in the winter because it warmed up the kitchen. In the summer, I got up really early so the ironing would be done before it was too warm. On cool and/or rainy days, I'd take my time

We used the previous day's newspaper to wrap potato peels, coffee grounds and other kitchen trash. We didn't usually have paper bags because our groceries were delivered on Saturday afternoon in a cardboard box. When we finally did get a "super" market in our town and got paper sacks, they were saved for all kinds of uses, not the least of which was for book covers. We cut them open and ironed them just like we ironed wrapping paper. 

When my kids were babies, disposable diapers had just come on the market. I hated them because they shredded.


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## Hagrid

This thread reminds me - I have often tried to remember what it was like washing dishes and laundry before there were detergents, especially greasy dishes and clothing.
Anyone?


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## SeaBreeze

I remember my mother using products like Ajax for the dishes, and I still use it for things today.  Detergents like Fab for clothes and Spic and Span for floors and other things too.


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## Pappy

Once or twice a year, gramma would take up the rugs and haul them out to the clothesline. She had this big oversized wre fly swatter and beat the daylights out of the rugs. That was her vacuum cleaner.


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## Twixie

Pappy said:


> Once or twice a year, gramma would take up the rugs and haul them out to the clothesline. She had this big oversized wre fly swatter and beat the daylights out of the rugs. That was her vacuum cleaner.



My grandmother used to make ''rag rugs'' out of old clothes..you cut up..looped and knotted....on a piece of sacking...

They are very popular now, and very expensive..


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## Lady

Fish and chips was wrapped in newspaper,now days they are in cardboard boxes,or polystyrene trays or even prestine white paper.


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## Twixie

Lady said:


> Fish and chips was wrapped in newspaper,now days they are in cardboard boxes,or polystyrene trays or even prestine white paper.



yes..there was a little ''je ne sais quoi'' when fish and chips were wrapped in newspaper..they tasted much better..do you remember when they used to put ''scraps'' on top..little bits of batter?


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## Geezerette

Ditto to all the above! that was my life too! In olden days in Pittsburgh before the mills shut down for good, probably in other mill towns too, Monday was a good day to do laundry because the mills were shut down on Sundays and there wasn't so much black grit in the air. Was true when I lived there too. We do ''recycling'' at my apt complex, and supposedly city wide, and I try to be good about the newspapers and cardboard at least, but haven't quite gotten to the point of having 2 separate garbage cans for sorting the stuff. Another thing about the recycling - I believe some folks are making a boatload of profit out of all of it, regardless of the environment, and that doesn't set real well with me.


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## Twixie

Do you find yourself being mean..for example..taking off the paper from a beautifully wrapped present..very carefully...so you can use it again?


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## Just plain me

Geezerette, I know so  at least in our town. If you get your garbage picked up in the county. You pay a boatload. And if you don't your not allowed to burn it. If you take your recycles to the town's recycling center they must be sorted and cleaned. And then they take them to where they pay for them. We do have scrappers who ride the roads in a pickup and take any metal items you have and sell them for money. At least they are ambitious enough to work for it. And they ask first!


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## Twixie

My mother used to keep the ashes from her fire to put on the garden...and if the bin was too full..she would set fire to it..funniest thing ever was if you didn't give the bin men a ''Christmas box'' they would drop or throw the contents of your bin all over your path..


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## Butterfly

Monday was always washday for my mother.  I never knew why -- it just was.  And Tuesday was ironing day.  Wednesday was shopping day because the grocery store gave double green stamps on Wednesday.   And we saved the brown paper bags for book covers, trash, etc.  

Because my parents lived through the Depression, they were very careful to "re-use and re-cycle" -- they just didn't call it that.  We had a lot of jelly jar drinking glasses.  They also didn't just throw things away the second they didn't work quite right (my dad fixed a lot of stuff), and they didn't get a new whatever just because there was a fancier one out there.  They kept an older washing machine, for example, until it was finally really, really, really dead.


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## grannyjo

Hagrid,  we had a little mesh box with a handle that would hold a cake of Sunlight soap.  After boiling the jug for the washing up - no hot water service back then, we would swish the cake of soap around in the sink to make sufficient suds for the washing up.  

What gets me now is that we buy fridges, TV's, computers and just about everything else "electronic" and they seem to have built in obsolescence.  They cost almost the same price to repair as they do to replace,  so we throw them out and buy a new one instead.  Surely that is extremely wasteful.


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## RadishRose

Mom saved "tin foil" pieces that had not been smeared by anything to re-use later. We didn't sit in a drive-through fast food line w/ motors running and I still don't. While we probably didn't crush dead vehicles to save space, we didn't have as many! No styrofoam cups, we used paper Dixie cups. Detergent was mostly powdered in paper boxes that degraded, not in large plastic containers filling up the landfills.


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## Susie

Just love this picture of wash day in New York, SeaBreeze. Where ever did you find it?
Monday was also Gran's wash day: First water was hauled to the boiler, the fire was lit, then the white goods nearly boiled half to death,then rinsed, put thru the ancient ringer (wish I had a picture of it!).
Meanwhile the clothes lines were strung between house and wash house, coal and wood shed, grandfather's storage section for electrical goods, outdoor WC.
It could take days for the washing to dry.
But the agony did not end here-all white goods had to be wound thru the "Mangel" (rolling press), which for some unknown reason was located in the cellar, access only by trapdoor in the pantry.
So grateful now for "automatic washing machines", would hate to return to the "good ole days"!                         :gettowork:


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## RadishRose

Hagrid said:


> This thread reminds me - I have often tried to remember what it was like washing dishes and laundry before there were detergents, especially greasy dishes and clothing.
> Anyone?



Hagrid, I think they used lye mixed with animal fats, or they beat the clothes on rocks.


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## Butterfly

Susie said:


> Just love this picture of wash day in New York, SeaBreeze. Where ever did you find it?
> Monday was also Gran's wash day: First water was hauled to the boiler, the fire was lit, then the white goods nearly boiled half to death,then rinsed, put thru the ancient ringer (wish I had a picture of it!).
> Meanwhile the clothes lines were strung between house and wash house, coal and wood shed, grandfather's storage section for electrical goods, outdoor WC.
> It could take days for the washing to dry.
> But the agony did not end here-all white goods had to be wound thru the "Mangel" (rolling press), which for some unknown reason was located in the cellar, access only by trapdoor in the pantry.
> So grateful now for "automatic washing machines", would hate to return to the "good ole days"!                         :gettowork:




I dimly remember my mother had a mangle.  We weren't allowed anywhere near it, but it flattened the sheets and stuff like that?  Some kind of ironing device?  I have a very dim memory of it being a big contraption (but then I was very little) and had a top part that came down on the bottom part, or something like that and it got hot.  Is that what you are talking about?  Or is my memory way off?


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## Butterfly

My mother also had a wringer washer and we were repeatedly warned to keep away and NOT to put our fingers or hands anywhere near it when she was using it.  Washday was a very big deal and a lot of work.  Thank heavens nowdays it is so much easier, though I do still hang some things on the line because I don't like the way they draw up in the dryer.  And line dried sheets on a nice sunny day do smell so delightful, and for some reason I like the sound of them snapping in the wind.  Brings me back to my childhood.


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## Just plain me

Remember canning and picking blackberries in the summer. My job was to wash the spider web filled jars. Because I had the only hands that would slide completly in the jars! Dressed from head to toe for blackberry picking. Went around 5AM and stayed till noon. When my kids were little, we still picked wild blackberries and put up 54 quarts a year. Can't hardly find enough wild blackberries now for a cobbler.


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## catsndogs

I don't think it was our fault that the earth got trashed.   Certain things simply became unavailable.  If you live in an apartment it's hard to hang your clothes out to dry.  I still save aluminum foil, still re-use glass jars, make my own laundry soap and will not use that expensive wasteful commercial stuff, I cut up old clothes to use as rags or to make ties for the tomato plants.  One thing I should do is to use some old towels and make good potholders.  Good cotton potholders, not the made in China cheap ones.  Shouldn't be too hard to do--I wonder what to use for stuffing inside though--something that doesn't conduct heat, lol.  We could still do things the old way and maybe teach the younger generation not to be so wasteful of resources.


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## rkunsaw

Just plain me said:


> Remember canning and picking blackberries in the summer. My job was to wash the spider web filled jars. Because I had the only hands that would slide completly in the jars! Dressed from head to toe for blackberry picking. Went around 5AM and stayed till noon. When my kids were little, we still picked wild blackberries and put up 54 quarts a year. Can't hardly find enough wild blackberries now for a cobbler.



I picked 5 gallons of blackberrys last summer. We froze some but canned most. Blackberrys are plentiful around here.


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## Pappy

I remember the coal truck backing up the driveway and putting a metal slide through the cellar window and dumping a ton of coal into the coal bin. We had a huge furnace that had a big register in our living room. That room got really hot, but outer rooms were always cool.


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## jujube

My grandparents had a coal stove in the dining room (shot-gun house - kitchen, then dining room, then living room with two bedrooms and a bath upstairs).  As Pappy said, the dining room would be sweltering.  There was a vent in the ceiling that let hot air rise into the upstairs....it was always pretty cold up there.    Then they put in a coal furnace in the basement, but as the house was on a hill, the coal truck couldn't dispense it directly into the basement.  They'd dump it on the sidewalk and grandpa had to carry it up the steps and dump in through a basement window.  What a lot of work!


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## Aunt Marg

Just plain me said:


> www.butterbin.com
> 
> Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
> The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
> She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
> 
> Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
> 
> Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks.
> 
> This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.
> 
> We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was
> right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
> 
> Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the
> green thing back in our day.
> 
> Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
> In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
> 
> When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
> Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that
> operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
> 
> We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of
> buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
> 
> Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a
> computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
> But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
> 
> Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person.:sentimental:


I remember it all!

I remember the heavy brown paper grocery bags. Paper (back in the day) I think was better, but considering the world population was at 3 billion, paper was sustainable. Nowadays, trees and entire forests are being mowed-down to produce paper products.

No Pampers diapers in our house. I was a fulltime stay-at-home mom, and living up to the frugal and stay-at-home mom that I was, I used cloth diapers and rubber pants on all the little bum-bums in our home (no Pampers), laundered in my washing machine and hung to dry on the clothesline, and when my kids reached the age and stage of toilet training, I used 100% cotton training pants, not disposable pull-ups, and that was in the 80's and 90's, not the 1960's.

For years we cut our lawn using an electric lawnmower... same for our trimmer, electric, too, and we remained a single vehicle family until the early 90's.

I canned, cooked, and baked from scratch (still do), and to this day whatever I can reuse, recycle, or repurpose, I do.


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## Aunt Marg

SeaBreeze said:


> I remember returning those glass bottles for deposit, and worked in a bottling plant where they were all washed, sanitized and re-used.  Long before the plastic bags, we also used the paper bags for trash, and book covers.
> 
> I grew up in a third floor apartment, which had no elevator...used the stairs every day.  *I baby-sat my two nephews way back then, and yes, we did use cloth diapers and didn't have the waste and pollution of the disposables used today.*
> 
> My mother didn't have a dryer for the clothes, but hung them out on the wash line.  In winter, we'd joke because they were stiff like there were people still inside the clothes.  Those clothes lines also doubled as jump ropes for us kids to play with.
> 
> We had one small TV, and used handkerchiefs , before tissues became popular.  Still use wadded up newspaper to send a package in the mail.  And used newspaper to dry windows, washed with water and white vinegar.
> 
> Remember the fountain pen well, before the disposable Bic pens.  Still replace the razors in our double or single edge razor blades.  I walked to school everyday, and never saw a power strip as a kid.  In fact, I remember seeing the first Styrofoam cup as a child, used to just see the paper cups used.
> 
> Us old folks, we're responsible for the big plastic garbage dump in the oceans, and all the other ills of the modern day world.  We were such a selfish and spoiled lot, weren't we?    Good post Just plain me...the real deal!


Yep, me, too, SeaBreeze... when family needed a babysitter, Aunt Marg was it, and nieces and nephews all wore cloth diapers and rubber pants.

Same for when I babysat for mothers in and around the neighbourhood... everyone used cloth diapers, pins, and rubber pants (1970's).


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## Damaged Goods

Butterfly said:


> My mother also had a wringer washer and we were repeatedly warned to keep away and NOT to put our fingers or hands anywhere near it when she was using it.  Washday was a very big deal and a lot of work.  Thank heavens nowdays it is so much easier, though I do still hang some things on the line because I don't like the way they draw up in the dryer.  And line dried sheets on a nice sunny day do smell so delightful, and for some reason I like the sound of them snapping in the wind.  Brings me back to my childhood.


Grandmother's old wringer finally went kaput and so she broke down and bought .... you got it, another wringer!!!!!  The year was 1957 and automatics were well-established.  

That's OK she also kept a coal burning stove maintained, fed, and banked at night.

Hmmm, guess her hard-working ways didn't kill her though; lived until 95, longer than any other family member.


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## hollydolly

Damaged Goods said:


> Grandmother's old wringer finally went kaput and so she broke down and bought .... you got it, another wringer!!!!!  The year was 1957 and automatics were well-established.
> 
> That's OK she also kept a coal burning stove maintained, fed, and banked at night.
> 
> Hmmm, guess her hard-working ways didn't kill her though; lived until 95, longer than any other family member.


My grandmother can go one better than that even...she never had a washig machine all her life..she washed everything by hand on a washboard and a bar of soap... didn't even have a wringer..  and she died in the 80's 

She _also_ had a coal fire... and she lived in an aprtment oup on the 2nd floor.. and the colam delivered to the coal bunnnker in the communal backyard, so she had to carry her coal up to keep in the skuttle for a day or 2's use .. all by herself..


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## Aunt Marg

Damaged Goods said:


> Grandmother's old wringer finally went kaput and so she broke down and bought .... you got it, another wringer!!!!!  The year was 1957 and automatics were well-established.
> 
> That's OK she also kept a coal burning stove maintained, fed, and banked at night.
> 
> Hmmm, guess her hard-working ways didn't kill her though; lived until 95, longer than any other family member.


My mom, right to the bitter-end, swore by wringer washing machines. She truly loved hers.

She loathed the process of rolling the washing machine (stored at the back of our house) into the kitchen on laundry day, then going through the rigor-Moro of filling, draining, etc, etc, but the process itself of running things through the rollers, she loved, and I have to admit, I loved it, too.

I was young when I started helping her with washing... my job was to catch all that exited the rollers, deposit it into the waiting laundry basket, then mom and I would go out back and she'd hang all on the line.

I still remember the sights and sounds associated with doing laundry in moms old-fashioned wringer washing machine, and my mom was adamant that nothing got babies diapers cleaner than an old-fashioned wringer washing machine.


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## Damaged Goods

Aunt Marg said:


> My mom, right to the bitter-end, swore by wringer washing machines. She truly loved hers.
> 
> She loathed the process of rolling the washing machine (stored at the back of our house) into the kitchen on laundry day, then going through the rigor-Moro of filling, draining, etc, etc, but the process itself of running things through the rollers, she loved, and I have to admit, I loved it, too.
> 
> I was young when I started helping her with washing... my job was to catch all that exited the rollers, deposit it into the waiting laundry basket, then mom and I would go out back and she'd hang all on the line.
> 
> I still remember the sights and sounds associated with doing laundry in moms old-fashioned wringer washing machine, and my mom was adamant that nothing got babies diapers cleaner than an old-fashioned wringer washing machine.


That's surprising because I'm sure your mom was far younger than Nana (b.1892) and thus more attuned to modern things.  My mom (b. 1921) had an auto washer (but no dryer) around 1948.


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## Aunt Marg

Damaged Goods said:


> That's surprising because I'm sure your mom was far younger than Nana (b.1892) and thus more attuned to modern things.  My mom (b. 1921) had an auto washer (but no dryer) around 1948.


That's incredible!

I recall my mom getting her first automatic electric washing machine in and around 1970 (give or take a little on either side), and it was around the same time that she got her first electric tumble dryer.


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## Aunt Marg

Was just giving thought to all of the babysitting I did growing up. I started babysitting outside the family home in the early 70's, and there wasn't a household around that I knew of where good old-fashioned cloth diapers weren't being used. No disposables whatsoever, every kid I sat wore cloth diapers, and the same applied at home with my baby siblings.

Had two baby sisters (both in diapers at the time - early 70's), and my mom had both in cloth diapers. Same for my baby brother born in 1973, cloth diapers and rubber pants until he was trained. Not a single disposable diaper used.

By no means am I looking to frown upon mothers for using disposables, but having raised 6 children of my own in old-timey cloth diapers, I just don't understand what happened to the days of using cloth diapers and safety pins.


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## fmdog44

We went from the 40s & 50s to a "throw away" society. Litter was everywhere and the environment went to XXXX. Suddenly we saw what we were doing and despite stiff resistance that still exists today we began to change our trash habits. Sadly, many countries still ignore the environment.


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## Rosemarie

Twixie said:


> yes..there was a little ''je ne sais quoi'' when fish and chips were wrapped in newspaper..they tasted much better..do you remember when they used to put ''scraps'' on top..little bits of batter?


and eating it in the street, which was usually a n-no!


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## Irwin

We recycle everything we can. What bugs me is whenever there's a crisis, the government trucks in pallets and pallets of bottled water. All that plastic waste is disheartening. Why not truck in some water tanks and give people refillable jugs? Do these bottled water companies have powerful lobbyists in Washington to keep all that waste flowing?


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## hollydolly

Excuse my garbled last post...I really must get a new keyboard


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## Pepper

hollydolly said:


> Excuse my garbled last post...I really must get a new keyboard


Ahem.  And here I thought you fell in the drink.........or a vat of beer!


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## hollydolly

Pepper said:


> Ahem.  And here I thought you fell in the drink.........or a vat of beer!


Honestly it gets on my last nerve this keyboard. The weird thing is that it all looks ok as I'm typing, so of course I don't change anything, then much later I'll read it again..and it's all garbled.. I just don't get it..


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## Pepper

hollydolly said:


> Honestly it gets on my last nerve this keyboard. The weird thing is that it all looks ok as I'm typing, so of course I don't change anything, then much later I'll read it again..and it's all garbled.. I just don't get it..


Hmmmm.  Obviously a gremlin.


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## hollydolly

Clearly... a Pandemic Gremlin I reckon..


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## Pepper

hollydolly said:


> Clearly... a Pandemic Gremlin I reckon..


I've always loved how you Brits say "I reckon."  Cowboys in the Old West said that too, sometimes followed by 'Ma'am'


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## fmdog44

That is as weird as my color scheme getting reversed. Tried everything and Dell wont help because this laptop is long out of warranty. I'll take it to Office Depot. They typically fix it for free.


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## Aneeda72

Just plain me said:


> www.butterbin.com
> 
> Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
> The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
> She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
> 
> Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
> 
> Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks.
> 
> This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.
> 
> We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was
> right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
> 
> Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the
> green thing back in our day.
> 
> Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
> In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
> 
> When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
> Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that
> operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
> 
> We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of
> buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
> 
> Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a
> computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
> But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
> 
> Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person.:sentimental:


Plus when we mailed a package, we wrapped it in the brown paper bags we got from the grocery store.


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## Aneeda72

Twixie said:


> Lol..I wouldn't have dared say ''I'm bored'' to my mom..I would have got a tin of polish and a cloth to do the bedroom furniture!


I polished the silverware every darn week, ugh.  Yes, we never had time to be bored,


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## Aneeda72

Butterfly said:


> I dimly remember my mother had a mangle.  We weren't allowed anywhere near it, but it flattened the sheets and stuff like that?  Some kind of ironing device?  I have a very dim memory of it being a big contraption (but then I was very little) and had a top part that came down on the bottom part, or something like that and it got hot.  Is that what you are talking about?  Or is my memory way off?


It pressed the water out of the laundry


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## Aunt Marg

Here is a vintage mangle in use.


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## Aneeda72

Aunt Marg said:


> Here is a vintage mangle in use.


Hmm, that looks like a presser to me


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## Aunt Marg

One notable practice I seldom see today that harkens back to the past, was using and reusing things until every last drop of use was pinched, squeezed, and wrung out of whatever it was that was being used, then and only then was it retired from it's original service/duty, only to see it put to use in another area or application.

Today so much is tossed and replaced at the first sign of wear, and/or when people get tired of it.


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## peramangkelder

I remember packing those brown paper grocery bags when I was a checkout chick (no offence) 50 years ago
The only problem with them was when they got wet they collapsed
I wish the supermarkets would re-introduce them
The brown paper was a good quality and could often be reused to cover school books
When we go shopping we bring reusable bags some with silver linings to protect frozen goods
My mother was born during The Depression in South Australia and everyone made use of everything
until there was nothing left of the original item to reuse
Another thing we did and sometimes can still do is repair our items and I often rewired plugs or sockets myself
However these days it is often cheaper to buy a new 'item' than to repair it which is a sad state of affairs


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## Aunt Marg

Aneeda72 said:


> Hmm, that looks like a presser to me


From all that I understand about mangles, there was the mangle you are referring to, Aneeda, where it pressed the water out of washables, and then there was a mangle iron, as in the video I posted.


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## Aunt Marg

peramangkelder said:


> I remember packing those brown paper grocery bags when I was a checkout chick (no offence) 50 years ago
> The only problem with them was when they got wet they collapsed
> I wish the supermarkets would bring re-introduce them
> The brown paper was a good quality and could often be reused to cover school books
> When we go shopping we bring reusable bags some with silver linings to protect frozen goods
> My mother was born during The Depression in South Australia and everyone made use of everything
> until there was nothing left of the original item to reuse


Peram. What I loved about the old thick, heavy-weight brown paper grocery bags, is that they could stand all on their own, so placing groceries in them was easy, and amazingly enough, I recall helping to unpack groceries on a hot summer day where meats, cheeses, ice cream, milk, and other perishable things were all packed in one brown paper bag together, and surprisingly enough, all remained relatively cool for a good amount of time after... enough time to transport the groceries home and get things into the fridge or freezer.

Speaking of using things right to the end, and then some... I still have flannelette diapers leftover from my baby days in our house (youngest was born in 1992) that are still in service to this day. They make for the best darned general purpose household dusting/window washing/cleaning cloths any homemaker could ask for.


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## peramangkelder

Aunt Marg said:


> Peram. What I loved about the old thick, heavy-weight brown paper grocery bags, is that they could stand all on their own, so placing groceries in them was easy, and amazingly enough, I recall helping to unpack groceries on a hot summer day where meats, cheeses, ice cream, milk, and other perishable things were all packed in one brown paper bag together, and surprisingly enough, all remained relatively cool for a good amount of time after... enough time to transport the groceries home and get things into the fridge or freezer.
> 
> Speaking of using things right to the end, and then some... I still have flannelette diapers leftover from my baby days in our house (youngest was born in 1992) that I still use as general purpose household dusting/window washing cloths.


@Aunt Marg I still have some old flannelette sheets my now 42 year old son (he is my youngest) used when he first
started sleeping in his 'big bed'. They have now been cut up and I still use them as dusters or washcloths.


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## Aunt Marg

peramangkelder said:


> @Aunt Marg I still have some old flannelette sheets my now 42 year old son (he is my youngest) used when he first
> started sleeping in his 'big bed'. They have now been cut up and I still use them as dusters or washcloths.


You know Peram, flannelette, if you invest in the good quality stuff, wears like iron and lasts forever, but sheesh, has it ever gotten expensive.

I have a bundle of leftover baby blankets and crib sheets (all flannelette), and everything is still in perfect useable condition with a ton of wear left in it.

I loved all things flannelette when my kids were babies and little, because aside from it being easy-care/no-fuss (simple wash and dry)... it was soft, warm, absorbent, and lasted forever.


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## peramangkelder

Aunt Marg said:


> You know Peram, flannelette, if you invest in the good quality stuff, wears like iron and lasts forever, but sheesh, has it ever gotten expensive.
> 
> I have a bundle of leftover baby blankets and crib sheets (all flannelette), and everything is still in perfect useable condition with a ton of wear left in it.
> 
> I loved all things flannelette when my kids were babies and little, because aside from it being easy-care/no-fuss (simple wash and dry)... it was soft, warm, absorbent, and lasted forever.


Yes @Aunt Marg and flannelette rarely needed ironing


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## Aunt Marg

peramangkelder said:


> Yes @Aunt Marg and flannelette rarely needed ironing


So true... an after-thought more than anything (if you will) for the fussy homemaker if she so choose to.

Out of the washing machine and into the electric tumble dryer or outside and onto the line. Easy wash, easy dry, easy care.

Pyjamas, crib sheets, baby blankets, diapers... all flannelette, and all was promptly taken down off the line or out of the electric tumbler when dry, promptly folded, and tucked-away in the 9-drawer nursery room dresser and 6-drawer upright.

The only thing I always left out was a dozen flannelettes (diapers) which sat folded and stacked on the dresser top next to the crib. Referred to it as the "daily dozen".

Peram. What did you do when it came to nappies and storage in your home? Did you keep a daily supply of folded nappies out, as in stacked and ready to go (conveniently near the crib or changing area), or did you fetch clean nappies at every change from inside the dresser?


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## Aunt Marg

Frugal and thrifty...

Rather than toss out a perfectly good, useable pair of rubber pants with mileage left in them (aside from having a worn out elastic waistband)... out came an extra set of didy pins at change-time. 

Cropped, and dating back to the early 1990's


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## peramangkelder

Aunt Marg said:


> So true... an after-thought more than anything (if you will) for the fussy homemaker if she so choose to.
> 
> Out of the washing machine and into the electric tumble dryer or outside and onto the line. Easy wash, easy dry, easy care.
> 
> Pyjamas, crib sheets, baby blankets, diapers... all flannelette, and all was promptly taken down off the line or out of the electric tumbler when dry, promptly folded, and tucked-away in the 9-drawer nursery room dresser and 6-drawer upright.
> 
> The only thing I always left out was a dozen flannelettes (diapers) which sat folded and stacked on the dresser top next to the crib. Referred to it as the "daily dozen".
> 
> Peram. What did you do when it came to nappies and storage in your home? Did you keep a daily supply of folded nappies out, as in stacked and ready to go (conveniently near the crib or changing area), or did you fetch clean nappies at every change from inside the dresser?


@Aunt Marg sorry for the delay in answering and yes I did keep a supply of folded nappies in the babies room
right next to the change table where the child lay strapped in when being changed
I used towelling nappies exactly like flannelette but made of good quality fine towelling material
We had 2 large nappy buckets which had soaking solutions ready to clean off all manner of nasties
My daughter (the eldest) used to love lifting the lid off the nappy buckets and trailing her fingers in the water
I was horrified when I first saw her doing this but she was fine and the soaker did not harm her skin
When my 2 were babies tumble driers were in their infancy here in Australia and we could not afford the huge cost
with only one of us working at the time and me a 'Stay At Home Mum'
We had a cabinet drier very much like this one which had 12 rungs for the washed nappies and then I turned it on
It would take about an hour and the nappies would be ready to be folded for later


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## Aunt Marg

peramangkelder said:


> @Aunt Marg sorry for the delay in answering and yes I did keep a supply of folded nappies in the babies room
> right next to the change table where the child lay strapped in when being changed
> I used towelling nappies exactly like flannelette but made of good quality fine towelling material
> We had 2 large nappy buckets which had soaking solutions ready to clean off all manner of nasties
> My daughter (the eldest) used to love lifting the lid off the nappy buckets and trailing her fingers in the water
> I was horrified when I first saw her doing this but she was fine and the soaker did not harm her skin
> When my 2 were babies tumble driers were in their infancy here in Australia and we could not afford the huge cost
> with only one of us working at the time and me a 'Stay At Home Mum'
> We had a cabinet drier very much like this one which had 12 rungs for the washed nappies and then I turned it on
> It would take about an hour and the nappies would be ready to be folded for later
> 
> View attachment 139762


No apologies needed, Peram. A busy time of year it is.

Keeping a daily supply out and ready was definitely the way to go. Having all at arms-reach made for quick changings.  

Re: diaper pails, I had two in service as well... one for wet-wets that sat in the baby room, the other for dirties which sat in the bathroom.

That cabinet dryer looks like a wonderful compromise between an actual tumble dryer vs an outdoor clothesline.


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## Jules

My mother used the back of envelopes to write notes on.  They were all over the house.  Even when I bought her notebooks, she still used those envelopes.  It wasn’t just her, I later noticed other people her age did the same thing.  

I admit that I used to haul old letterhead out of the recycling at work for my notes.  

Waste not, want not.


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## Aunt Marg

Jules said:


> My mother used the back of envelopes to write notes on.  They were all over the house.  Even when I bought her notebooks, she still used those envelopes.  It wasn’t just her, I later noticed other people her age did the same thing.
> 
> I admit that I used to haul old letterhead out of the recycling at work for my notes.
> 
> Waste not, want not.


Jules, I use the back of monthly bill envelopes to jot stuff down on and to make my shopping lists!


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## RadishRose

My mother used to save aluminum foil. That part of the wrap used for something frozen or cooked that wasn't soiled, she would fold carefully and put into a drawer to use again.

I think it was a habit left over from lack of foil during WWll.


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## Aunt Marg

One kitchen drawer in our house (childhood home) had more rubber-bands stowed-away in it than you could ever have dreamed of!

Whatever my mom would take rubber-bands off of... vegetables purchased at the store, papers, magazines, other miscellaneous things, into the drawer the rubber-bands would go.


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## Aunt Marg

NancyNGA said:


> What about disposable baby diapers!! Think of the billions going into the landfills.


I don't know when the big switch happened where mothers started opting to use disposables, but right up to and including the late 1980's, most everyone I knew was still using cloth diapers, diaper pins, and rubber pants.

The last child I changed that wore cloth diapers and rubber pants was my SIL's youngest, and that was in 1998.

By that time (late 1990's) I knew of no one still diapering the old-fashioned way.

Pampers reined supreme.


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## Aunt Marg

Debby said:


> What a great opening post!  It really puts the last fifty plus years in perspective doesn't it?  Reading that reminded me of so many things, wringer washer's and using a stick to push the laundry through (watching out for the fingers), getting the pile of new paper book covers on the first day of school and how the entire class would sit there, folding them up so that they would fit on our books, frozen laundry...I even remember my mom washing bread bags to use in the kitchen because plastic bags were 'special' and hard to come by so you re-used them. We were also very poor so even if they were available to buy, we could never have afforded them (no credit cards for groceries).
> 
> Loved the opening post and all the following comments.  Boy does this one date all of us eh?


My mom washed out plastic bread bags, too, and I've always used and reused plastic bags as many times as I can, that is until there's no more use I can squeeze out of them, and then and only then do they see the garbage.

Still, I wash and dry them like laundry (by hand), and I hang them up outside on the outdoor clothesline to dry.

My mom used to use plastic bread bags for dirty diapers when out of the home (baby siblings), and I did the same with my kids when visiting, while out shopping, at the beach, etc.


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## Aunt Marg

Twixie said:


> We would have to cover our books with left over wallpaper...


I remember using an old large brown paper grocery bag, which I would cut to fit the book.

I learned the technique in elementary school.


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## Aunt Marg

Speaking of the old wringer washing machines, I remember my mom and I popping a few pairs of rubber pants over the years by running the rubber numbers through the rollers the wrong way when washing baby siblings diapers!

The sound of a balloon popping didn't even come close to that of a pair of rubber pants popping!


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