Conservation, old style.
By marguicha
@marguicha (215148)
Chile
August 10, 2017 5:00pm CST
I just read a post written by @Genipher about conservation alternatives. And that reminded me on how the world had changed since I was young.
When I was young, we used cloth napkins to clean our lips (when eating) handkerchiefs for our noses and diapers for babies. There were special beautiful sometimes places where to put the napkins so that we could use them several times before washing them. I remember having a wooden one with the first letter of my name and my father had his handkerchiefs with his name embroidered in a corner.
Electric gadgets lasted forever. I still have some that were my mother´s. Unfortunately, now if only one little piece has a problem, there is no substitute for it.
I wonder, how many computer keyboards have all of you thrown away after a short time? Why don´t we learn from what we used to do?
Do you remember those times?
6 people like this
6 responses
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
10 Aug 17
Everything these days is disposable and made of plastics. It's sad. I remember when I was a kid, we didn't have all the convince of plastics. We used cloth napkins as well and the handkerchiefs. But now the children at school here are required to bring paper towels in school or wet wipes.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
10 Aug 17
Shame! But that´s the new world. I have a juicer (I wrote a post about it) that I have had for decades. My daughter bought a new one for her and the plastic was so bad that it broke in a little over a month.
I gave mine to her and they used it for a couple of weeks until my brilliant son in law picked up an old lego and glued the lego piece to the broken juicer.
Still no one wants to use time in fixing anything.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
10 Aug 17
@Genipher The problem is those things were NOT made of plastic before.
1 person likes this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
10 Aug 17
@marguicha
Some plastics have to be replaced. I just had to buy a new carseat for our baby, as our old one was "unsafe". Apparently, over time, the plastic degrades and can shatter in an accident.
So there are some things we just can't keep fixing...
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (158679)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Aug 17
I remember those days. THings were made well because the manufacture took pride in their work. Now days it is all about the money. Keeping up with the Jones' has become big business. My grandmother used to make everything home made. Even mac and cheese and bread. Disposable diapers back when my daughter was born(1971) were like cardboard. Now look at them. Furniture was made well too. I went into a Mor furniture one time years back now and was not impressed by their displays at all. How stupid of a company to put their shoddy and badly constructed furniture on display. I had to chuckle about the look of the stuff. I could go on and on. These are just a few of the ones that came to mind. Great post subject though.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
10 Aug 17
I think that we all have examples from our own families. I learned how to sew when I got married because I could not afford all the dresses I wanted to have. And material was very inexpensive, specially since that was the time of the mini skirt.
I sewed the girl´s school blouses from my husband´s old shirts. And food was something you cooked, not something you brought from somewhere.
I sewed the girl´s school blouses from my husband´s old shirts. And food was something you cooked, not something you brought from somewhere.1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
17 Aug 17
@celticeagle My mother could make a sewing pattern. I could not, but bought the patterns to sew.
@divalounger (5849)
• United States
10 Aug 17
I do remember! I am trying to learn how to fix things in my house again instead of getting a new this or that --
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
10 Aug 17
It requires some wit, I know. But now that it is "in" to use our brains so that we don´t get Alzheimers, we can try to think up how to do it.
1 person likes this
@divalounger (5849)
• United States
11 Aug 17
@marguicha wiring repairs are he worst for me--plumbing, not so bad!
1 person likes this
@paigea (35629)
• Canada
17 Aug 17
@divalounger you can do your own plumbing? My husband can but I am useless!
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
17 Aug 17
I am thinking that I could make cloth napkins again.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
18 Aug 17
@paigea I think I have enough eyes and hands for that.
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (74424)
• East Tawas, Michigan
10 Aug 17
@marguicha Yes, I have similar memories, even using cloth diapers for my first child. My Dad's Christmas gift always included a flannel shirt and some red handkerchiefs!:)
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
10 Aug 17
I used cloth diapers for my 2 daughters. Fortunately, my first daughter had just left the day diapers so I used the best for the baby plus a dozen of new ones.
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (74424)
• East Tawas, Michigan
10 Aug 17
@marguicha We even threw a dirty diaper in a tall pail, after washing it out by hand!:) lol
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
10 Aug 17
@kobesbuddy I remember my grandma, standing beside me to see that I had rinsed them enough times
1 person likes this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
10 Aug 17
Sadly, we've sacrificed many of our resources for convenience and have become a throw-away society. Reminds me of The Book of Eli (movie) where Eli tells Solara that, "People now kill each other over things my generation used to throw away."
I remember my dad and grandpa using hankies and my step-mom using cloth diapers. We've occasionally used cloth diapers, though we usually fall back to disposables because they're "easier".
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
10 Aug 17
I now use paper napkins when it would even be easy to have cloth one.
1 person likes this
