Things people used/had that are now considered old fashioned

[GabbyChalice400]

Saw another poster on a thread talking about landlines! It seems in the past few years that people either don't have one or use them less. I don't have one, I do think they're old fashioned

Anyone have any more to share?

Loved reading these

Coloured toilet rolls. You could get glorious light blue and light green ones! Oh and vim powder on a damp cloth for cleaning.

I've just bought a landline phone - we've always had to have a connection with our Virgin package but haven't had a plugged in phone for donkey's years. However I want to be able to start leaving my sensible 9 year old at home occasionally, for example to pop out to collect his younger brother from a club after school or whatever, and I wanted him to have a way to contact me in an emergency.

Sealing wax! I didn't know what it was for until quite recently.

Blotter.

Ink in bottles.

My grandmother had an address embosser (see picture), which would emboss the address on a letter or envelope, complete with an old-style phone number, e.g. Earl's Court 3972.

The film Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a lovely backdrop of 1940s things, and you see many of them being used (beware it's a scary film though). Here are a few things from it:

• Gramophone.
• Clock with built-in calendar.
• Kitchen mincer which clamps to the table.
• Stove-top kettle (heated by one of the children's fiery hands).
• Miss Peregrine herself smokes a pipe, and uses a crossbow.

Unless you have cable, you need a landline for internet, but many people don't plug a phone in, it's included in my broadband bill of course, they no longer list it separately. A landline is helpful when your mobile isn't working of course!

I wrote a cheque yesterday the first this year and only one last year. I have about 5 cheque books in my possession. They will never get used up.

Other things for the list:

Doorbells operated by a pull handle, which would swing an actual bell.

Oil lamps; my parents kept one, in case of a power cut.

Chamber pots. I remember having to draw a very ornate one when studying Victorian objects at primary school, but I didn't know what it was used for!

Airing cupboards that actually have the hot tank inside are becoming rare, with combi boilers.

Ipods

Asbestos, for a very good reason. But it's so ironic that in one of the Chalet School books, somebody says "thank goodness for asbestos!" when fire breaks out.

We have a spin dryer because it gets so much more water out than the washer and I'd rather be eco and dry clothes outside or on an airer than use a tumble dryer.

Echoing the person with the Philips Tea for Two, I have the coffee version! Was in daily use up to a few months back but I have switched to a not as good Breville coffee filter machine because I actually want to keep the Philips working... both have permanent filters (no paper waste) and no unrecyclable pods.

My dad has an oil lamp - huge fab thing - which may come in handy if we get power cuts in the next year or so. I've just got small ones that I got for ornaments which I need to find. Plus a couple of probably lethal paraffin hurricane lamps!

Got a pressure cooker too but never used it. Probably shouldn't as I bet the seal's gone.

And I use fountain pens (plural - one red, one blue...) at work, and have a tea pot with a cosy knitted by a fellow MNetter! (Yes and loose leaf tea - surprised nobody has mentioned that... )

Petrol with lead in it.

My bil got rid of their landline which is all well and good but as they live overseas it is now very awkward for my mum to phone. She has broad band but is not very technologically minded. I only use our land line to phone my mum and she is the only one to ring me apart from the odd relative and the scammers
My dh uses cloth hankies and my mum still uses her plastic rain mate.
Also remember coloured loo roll. We always had Andrex and it was always wrapped in paper not plastic
They did blue pink peach and mint green. Tesco's had a brand recently of different colours they did a lovely pale pink and lime green among others.

I remember when we got our 1st cordless home phone. It was the height of sophistication and the size of a brick

DH recently found my first - analogue - mobile phone and brought it down to show DD. She was slightly baffled, but she also failed to recognise what a phone box was when she stood next to one (person in a costume) in London to have a photo taken. We are changing internet providers and are getting another landline despite being fibre.

I love a paper diary, DVD's and CD's. My DD loves the top 40 on the radio and I am so tempted to find a cassette and try to record it

We changed our boiler a couple of years ago and kept the cylinder - it heated the water when the old boiler went iffy so I was very reluctant to let it go!

Relevant to this thread: two 17 year olds try to use a rotary phone

interestingengineering.com/video/watch-two-teenagers-try-to-dial-a-number-on-an-ancient-rotary-phone

I have a landline, an alarm clock, a paper diary and use an A to Z.

When I started working in this job (desk and computer based) , which was as recent as 2011, everyone worked on their own pc tower. I was unusually given a laptop as I was wfh 3 days a week. Access to certain data was on special computers in the middle of the room. Travelling, no way to check emails.
Now we all have laptops as our main computer and can work much more flexibly. They automatically set up a Vpn to the network. Data can be accessed from them directly although we're restricted as to where we can be for IG reasons. When travelling my emails come through on my phone and I can connect my laptop to it and work as normal.
In such a short space of time I'd say we've totally changed the way we work

" 21:46stucknoue

Unless you have cable, you need a landline for internet,"
Not true. We have an ee dongle thing which delivers Internet without a land line. All our mobiles and it are linked to the same contract so as a family we have 200gb per month that we transfer round as needed.

For the person not paying the window cleaner, use a bank app on your phone or write a cheque, it doesn't need to be from a cheque book.

As well as coloured bathroom suites you used to be able to have your suit coloured, but I believe this died out with plastic baths.

Secondary schools have to teach children to use a mouse, most 11 year olds have only had access to tablet computers.

Calculators are not obsolete. In my job, almost everyone has a calculator to hand. Sure, we mainly use excel etc., but for a quick reference check, calculators are still the most convenient tool.

Just thought of another one - number pads in keyboards. When I was learning to type there was always a separate square bit for the numbers on the right, but newer keyboards you have to use the top row. I miss it.

We have started using teapots with cosies as we have loose tea - it’s meant to be better for the environment to not use tea bags (I read somewhere - probably MN)

I think some of these things will come back for environment reasons

I think a mangle would be great - fold sheets up, put it through then hang up to dry (shouldn’t take long having been through the mangle & wont need ironed) - would save using the tumble drier....though I may just think this because I have never used one

I miss the glass milk bottles that got delivered and the birds always pecked through the top to get the cream.

Also paying a deposit on glass bottles so you had to take them back to the shop

Also, teapots - what else do you use if making several cups of tea at once?

When I was learning to type there was always a separate square bit for the numbers on the right, but newer keyboards you have to use the top row

You still get keyboards with number pads, both my work desktop and home laptop have them, both fairly new

I use a calculator and my dc have to have them for school, you can't take a phone into an exam

I also use a teapot everyday, I had no idea that was old fashioned

Linen napkins for ordinary everyday use. I don't think I know anyone who uses them, except for PIL. May be more green to use them than paper towel etc now, though I suppose it depends how often you wash them!