Are we going to have to adopt the way our grandparents etc lived?

[heartbroken22]

Give me a tip you learnt from your grandparents.

Sounds like my Dad. He lived to be 92.

Marguerite Patten for cooking and home economics
Hens and rabbits for food. I would keep a pig, but we have a covenant against it and houses are too close together.

I think @needmorelego and @BigWoollyJumpers are really talking about two different eras which may have overlapped for a while. The quality council houses, especially in New Towns like the one I grew up in, replaced the slums.

It’s depressing.

My paternal great grandmothers each lost 3 children before the age of 5 (one lost all 3 within a few months of each other due to a measles outbreak). And both sets of my grandparents lost one child in infancy (this was late 40s/early 50s). I remember my grandad telling me that if his son was born now, he would have survived, but that was life back then, you grieved and then got on with life. My grandmother also had to take a ‘witch’s’ abortive potion that almost killed her because they just couldn’t afford to have another child at one point, nor could they afford to buy whatever meagre contraceptives we’re available back then.

They really were an amazing, sturdy generation but they lived hard, sad lives at times and I wouldn’t want that for myself or my family 😔

It’s interesting that much of what is being presented here as ‘what our grandparents did back in t’day’ actually required a shedload of work from a stay at home wife/mum. No thank you.

Have cheap bread and butter with every meal to fill up

My grandparents frequently had their heating and their gas fire on simultaneously, so their house was always toasty. My grandad earned enough to enable my grandma to stay at home and look after the kids, and she made wonderful meals with the best quality ingredients she could get. So yes, ok, I'll live the way my grandparents did.

That is so true

Only buy something when the old one wears out.
Shopping is not a hobby

Use it up, make it do, wear it out, or go without. You don’t need a new outfit for every festive occasion. Potatoes will fill you up.

I wonder if we'll see a return of the high street 'menders'?

When I was a kid (1970s) all high streets had shops where you could take things to be repaired. Especially expensive items like TVs, radios, lawnmowers, washing machines etc. Or they'd come to your house to do it.

my grans only cleaning products were fairy liquid and bleach. Her home was spotless.

Cooked from scratch and would never buy for the sake of it. I have my best memories with her teaching me to knit, sew, cook and all done in a fun way. I miss her

@CaptainMyCaptain yes the council estate my grandparents lived on was purpose built post war which a high proportion was for 'london overspill' residents.
My grandparents were local but these estates were a way of getting so many people out of bad housing.

Some people back then needed to learn this too. My gran broke her arm falling off her bike before the NHS and her MIL insisted on plastering it herself instead of calling the dr! She never could straighten that arm afterwards; we used to marvel as kids at the fact she appeared to have two elbows.

Nevermind grandparents, I was born in the 80's and brought by a single mum who worked part time. No central heating, no double glazing, no shower, a very damp house, basic food, never had a takeaway or meal out, even for birthdays, just two holidays to Whitby but only because my Grandma paid (they didn't continue because her husband didn't like it). I had my first takeaway at my aunt's house while I was living with her for a bit and I didn't know what it was. I also marvelled at their microwave and they had sky TV. I thought they were rich. They really weren't. Days out were long walks with a picnic. Occasionally we'd drive to the seaside (if my mum's boyfriend took us as we didn't have a car) and it was the most exciting thing in the world.
We ate a lot of bread and potatoes as they were cheap. My mum didn't cook much so beyond eggs and beans with chips and bread, it was packet soups and processed frozen food like Findus Crispy Pancakes and chicken Kiev's.

Yes! We had a shop like that. They literally had every single bit and piece that could possibly be needed to fix anything. They had boxes and boxes of "stuff". Sadly they closed down as we moved towards a society of obselescence. I think it is turning around again though. Lots of charities and in fact even councils, are no collecting goods for repair and resale. My DC's shop ethically in charity shops and vintage shops, and try to buy second hand as much as they can.

We still have those where I live. I also mend my own clothes and my grandchildren bring their clothes to me to mend.

We have a shop like that

There os also a Repair Cafe where you bring toasters, hairdryers, irons etc to be mended by skilled volunteers and make a donation.

Dh laughed at me the other day for saying I’d have to take something to the menders. He pointed out that taking something to the lenders hasn’t been a thing around here for quite some time.

It made me feel old.

Menders not lenders!

Just because some old fashioned stuff was awful, doesn't mean we can't learn from some old fashioned habits.

@BigWoollyJumpers I remember these shops and I remember once a year the "sharpening man" used to come round, he would sharpening your knives, scissors, garden shears etc. I also remember the pigswill man. He came round once a week and everyone's veg peelings would be tipped into a big bucket for his pig feed. I remember the rag n bone man with his horse and cart.
I think our throwaway society could learn a lot form our parents/grandparents. My parents both grew up in world war 2 and nothing, and I mean NOTHING was wasted !!!

The problem with mending stuff is it's so much more difficult now. Maybe because of safety concerns, maybe as a deliberate ploy to make you buy new rather than repair. But I remember in secondary school physics (Year 9) being taught how to wire a plug and my parents used to take the fuse out of plugs to stop us watching TV when we weren't allowed. You mostly can't do it now because the plugs are sealed shut rather than ones you can unscrew. And the same with loads of household appliances, they're deliberately made so you can't access them with ordinary tools.

We still have rag n bone men, although they have a van rather than a cart. And we save our veg peelings either for the pets (guinea pigs/rabbits) or for the compost. And my uncle comes round to sharpen our knives etc.

I'm going to get a refurbished phone for my overdue upgrade. I wouldn't upgrade at all except that I have a dc old enough for a phone now and I'm buggered if I'll buy new for a pre-teen, so she can have my cast off.