With the ‘mad panic’ that seems to be surrounding the ban of supermarkets supplying plastic bags for our groceries (not in our group), I got to thinking how we seem to be reverting back to the old fashioned ways of living, like our parents and grandparents lived. That’s why old fashioned homemaking ways worked and didn’t need changing.
No surprise here. It’s because it worked! When I started living on my own, I continued living this way because I knew it worked. I lived with it all my life so saw my Mum and grandmothers do it. I wasn’t tempted by something new nor did I have to buy ‘that particular thing’ because everyone else was doing it. Why reinvent the wheel?
FOOD WASTE
I can remember we wrapped our non fruit and veg scraps in newspaper and they went in an unlined metal garbage bin that the ‘garbo’ would collect once a week. Now, we have 3 wheelie bins!
Fruit and vegie scraps went into the compost for Mum’s garden. Lawn clippings went into the compost as well.
Produce was bought loose or put into paper bags or ‘sacks’. Our groceries were put in paper sacks and this paper was an invaluable source of paper, for FREE! We always used this for covering our school books. Now, someone decided it was a good idea to cover your children’s books in contact paper! Huh? Why go to that much trouble? I’ve never done that once. In fact, I don’t even cover them now.
MEAL PLANNING
Menu planning? What was that? Our mothers and grandmothers kept a well stock pantry and used what was in season. They made everything from scratch and if they didn’t have an ingredient, the substituted or made something else, not run to the store for that one thing.
People spend way too much time thinking about, planning, writing it down or using an app thinking about what to have for dinner on a particular night. I think about what we’re having the night before or that morning.
It’s so much easier to do it this way. If you keep a well stocked pantry, you can see at a glance what you can make. Since having children, my meals are easy to make an on the table in 20 minutes or less. I’ve got a lot better things to be doing with my time than writing on menu boards what we’re having. What we’re having will be put in front of you at dinner time. That’s how I was raised.
SCHOOL STATIONERY
Don’t get me started on the amount of stationery that our kids need at the start of the school year. I can remember we had one exercise book for composition, a pencil, eraser, sharpener and ruler. That was it. Now the kids have to have about 12 of everything! And, they get exercises to do on printed paper which then have to be glued into the exercise book! So much paper and so much waste!
WASTING PAPER
When I started working, most documents were typed on a typewriter with carbon paper for the copies. Heaven help you if made a mistake and when were a lot of carbon copies. With the introduction of computers it was supposed to be saving paper but paper use is out of control with reams of it being bought by every household and business every single day and then thrown away.
I must admit, I was pleased to see the end of carbon copies. Just really shocked at how much paper is wasted today.
I can remember both my Mum and Nanna saving every envelope (or unwanted piece of correspondence in the mail that the reverse side could be used) and used it for scrap paper to write notes or shopping lists. I don’t think my grandmother ever bought a note pad in her life!
MAKE DO AND MEND
If it broke, we fixed it. If we needed something for our family or our home, we made do. We didn’t always just run to the store to buy what we needed.
I am so surprised to see so many people with hems falling down or hems of jeans scuffed and worn out because they don’t know how to do up a hem or sew on a button. If you have the “tools of the trade”, you can easily make do and mend.
BEAUTY REGIME
I don’t think my mother ever wore foundation or makeup other than lipstick and my Nanna? She never wore anything. In fact, I think she used Sunlight soap to wash her face and that was about it.
Now we have fake nails, fake eyelashes, any number of skin lotions and potions, skin treatments etc etc. My Nanna and mother had beautiful skin, right up until they passed away. I must admit I’m pretty proud of my skin for my age as I haven’t bothered much with skin treatments either. The time and money that we worry about with these things, it’s any wonder we don’t have time to keep our homes tidy.
Why reinvent the wheel? Why do what everyone else is doing that is trendy or you need to buy those things to do it? Do what works or has worked for years.
