Old-fashioned things you've done in your day...

[Pink Elephant]

ROFLMAO! And how about plastic drapes?

Anyone? Anyone? LOL!

I remember them! Grandma had them in the bathroom, and I remember them at one or two homes I used to babysit at!

Gosh, do they even make them anymore???

 

[Lil]

Plastic drapes? You mean window curtains made out of plastic? I can honestly say I've never heard of that.

 

[AppleCori]

I did have one of those diaper stackers when my olders were babies.

 

[AppleCori]

I don’t recall anyone having plastic drapes or curtains, though.

 

[BusynMember]

I kept the diapers in the box. So did my daughter with my grand.

I may be the odd one here, but where we lived we never had a party line. Or maybe it was possible to pay to have a private line and we did that. But my grandma didn't have a party line either, at least not by the time I was old enough to talk to her, maybe at four. In fact the only party line I ever saw was on Andy Griffith and shows that we're filmed in supposed rural areas. We were all near Chicago. Maybe the city didn't have party lines. They we're not apart of my life or memory.

I think the area we lived in was more upgraded, possibly because of a larger population, possibly because it was a wealthy area.

My memories do not include much of what was talked about here and, Pink, I am ten years older than you. People around me all owned their own homes and most had modern conveniences, whatever that meant in the day.

 

[AppleCori]

My memories do not include much of what was talked about here and, Pink, I am ten years older than you. People around me all owned their own homes and most had modern conveniences, whatever that meant in the day.

Things were different depending on location.

My mom was born in the fourties, and she didn’t have indoor plumbing or electricity when she was a young child.

Rural electrification only began in the mid-thirties, and I think they got electricity, plumbing, and phones in by the mid-50s in our area.

 

[BusynMember]

It IS regional.

The apartment I lived in for four years in Chicago had everything, although it wasn't a luxury apartment. My mom grew up in the city....indoor plumbing, etc. Don't know about grandma. We were close but she never spoke about her childhood.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Plastic drapes? You mean window curtains made out of plastic? I can honestly say I've never heard of that.

I kid you not... plastic curtains! The ones I remember had flower buds and petals all over them.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I did have one of those diaper stackers when my olders were babies.

So handy they were.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Gee whiz, SOT... you must have had your head buried in the sand.

 

[BusynMember]

Nope. Those things were not around in the places I lived. First I'm hearing all this was here....lol. if people have money and live in a populated area, the most up to date stuff is bought and used.

It was probably like the way you lived where I live now. But I didn't live here then. In fact, where I lived, in my teen years, often teens, myself included, had our own private phone lines. I didn't have love, but compared to kids in rural or poor areas it probably seems like I had a lot of "things." I would have preferred the love.

 

[Lil]

I'm also certain it's regional. We were rural, on a family farm. We had a party line for a number of years. But there was also an outhouse that wasn't too terribly old way out back of the house! No idea how old, but it was still standing and serviceable, so there had been time in the last couple of decades that there had been no toilet in my house. We moved there in 1968. My parents were married in 1947 and I know they had no electric. My mom talked about the wood cook stove and a propane fridge. That was in Northern California, near Shasta.

What I find kind of amusing is the whole "homesteading/off-grid" craze now. People are choosing to live like it's 1900. I personally like my conveniences. I CAN live like that...I know how...but I do like hot water on demand. LOL Even our little hunting cabin I plan to fit with a good rain-water catch system and rig a hot shower somehow!

 

[Pink Elephant]

Nope. Those things were not around in the places I lived. First I'm hearing all this was here....lol. if people have money and live in a populated area, the most up to date stuff is bought and used.

It was probably like the way you lived where I live now. But I didn't live here then. In fact, where I lived, in my teen years, often teens, myself included, had our own private phone lines. I didn't have love, but compared to kids in rural or poor areas it probably seems like I had a lot of "things." I would have preferred the love.

I wish you had enjoyed more love, too, SOT. But you have lots of love here!

 

[Pink Elephant]

I'm also certain it's regional. We were rural, on a family farm. We had a party line for a number of years. But there was also an outhouse that wasn't too terribly old way out back of the house! No idea how old, but it was still standing and serviceable, so there had been time in the last couple of decades that there had been no toilet in my house. We moved there in 1968. My parents were married in 1947 and I know they had no electric. My mom talked about the wood cook stove and a propane fridge. That was in Northern California, near Shasta.

What I find kind of amusing is the whole "homesteading/off-grid" craze now. People are choosing to live like it's 1900. I personally like my conveniences. I CAN live like that...I know how...but I do like hot water on demand. LOL Even our little hunting cabin I plan to fit with a good rain-water catch system and rig a hot shower somehow!

Oh, Lil, I remember outhouses, and am I ever glad that those days are long behind us.

As for modern conveniences such as running water (hot & cold), electricity, automatic washing machines and electric tumble dryers, refrigerators, deepfreezes, and so many more, I'm glad we have all those things today. I wouldn't give any of them up for anything.

 

[ksm]

We had an 8 party line phone. Our ring was... Long, short, long, short. You couldnt dial any numbers, you just picked up the ear phone part, and talked in the the wooden box on the wall. When you lifted it up, the operator would ask, how may I help you? You would tell them what person in town you wanted to talk to. Or, you would give them a phone number for someone out of town and they would dial it.

 

[ksm]

When my brother left for the military, we had a signal planned out... He would call collect from a pay phone, ask for himself, and when the operator asked if we would accept a collect for a Mike XXX, my parents would say no.

They then knew he arrived safely. Ksm

 

[BusynMember]

I just thought of something else lol. There was not one farm anywhere near me as a kid. None. I saw them and party line phones on television. Everyone owned a house. When we moved there apartments were not allowed. The idea was to keep the burb upscale. Eventually they built townhouses but I think everyone had to buy one, not rent. Physical hardship did not exist there. It probably still doesn't. Poverty did not exist there. I mean, my dad was a Pharmacist and we were considered "poor" by the standards of the area.
Believe it or not, this entitled lifestyle turned me off. I was never for a single day a person who admired status symbols or money and that never changed. People with lots of toys and big houses didn't ever make me feel jealous. But this IS how I grew up. My Sis grew up to be so materialistic that she threatened to divorce her hub if he didn't build a new house from scratch that they couldn't afford .Hub did it and his father forever paid a lump of their mortgage but she left the man anyway! Money can cause a lot of ugliness. I am so grateful I never picked up those values. My brother didn't either.

 

[AnnieO]

Another I just remembered... diaper stackers.

Do think diaper stackers were more popular and widely used back in the day of old-fashioned cloth diapers. I still have the one I used with my kids.

My guess is mothers that used disposables kept the diapers in the box or package, or stacked on the dresser top in the baby's room.

I always kept a folded stack of diapers in each of my children's rooms (dresser top), but having a secondary supply of diapers sitting in the diaper stacker (ready to go) came in super handy at times, especially when I didn't have any extra folded diapers ready on hand, or when diapers were in the wash.

LOL - My Mom had one for me, and I used it - with disposables! - when Rose was a baby. SO much easier to reach in and grab. When she got a little bigger, one side had nighttime diapers and the other had daytime pull-ups.

 

[Lil]

When you lifted it up, the operator would ask, how may I help you? You would tell them what person in town you wanted to talk to. Or, you would give them a phone number for someone out of town and they would dial it.

I literally have never heard of this in my lifetime! I thought it was only on TV and old movies like "It's a Wonderful Life".

 

[BusynMember]

Lil I used to see it on shows like Green Acres but I didn't know it really existed either lol.