Sort of spinoff from thread 'conditioned necessities'

**pollypurebred39** · 10-10-2009, 02:34 AM

I would not want to live without the medical advances of today, but for the rest of it I could easily do without. My boys however just might wither and die from boredom.

**monkeywrangler71** · 10-10-2009, 09:47 AM

One of my little frugal games is something I call "It's 1975". When I'm trying to cut back, I pretend it's the seventies and try to do things the way they were done when I was a kid.

**Sassyclass** · 10-10-2009, 10:32 AM

I'm a teen of the 70's and I'd be thrilled to live that way again. I hardly ever use the microwave(hate them), I hate talking on the phone(any phone),my mom hung dry our clothes, we had one phone, one tv which we as kids hardly watched because we were outside doing what normal kids do, playing softball, swimming, riding bikes, playing croquet, roller skating. If we had to be inside it killed us and we would spend most of the time playing one board game after another or reading, or we went to the mall and looked through the records to see which one we should buy next. Oh to go back to that time in my life. Oh yes, all these activities were done only after our chores and homework were done.

Cat

**littleplum** · 10-10-2009, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by Dutchie

Their (own?) house was redecorated in the begin 1970's style.
So they also didn't have a microwave, clothes dryer, computer, cell phone etc. They had one phone in the entire house (in the hall) and they had one tv (BW) with only 2 (I think) channels.

This is very confusing to me. Microwave ovens and electric dryers have been available for residential use since the 1940's. Color television was invented in the early 1940's - by 1972 more than half of all American households owned a color television, as did a fifth of all UK citizens. Even my mother's family, who I would say was VERY poor, owned a color television by 1975.

**pollypurebred39** · 10-10-2009, 03:31 PM

Huh?! Well, we did have a dryer but we rarely used it. We hung our clothing. A microwave? I did not have a microwave until I was in my early 20's (late 80's), I rented an apartment with a semi kitchen. It had an ice box, sink with cupboards underneath & above and a microwave. I did not have a color TV till then either, a gift from a friend who was replacing his. These things might have been available, but not everyone had them. The 70's we're very hard economically on a lot of people. I remember as a kid sitting in those long gas lines to get gas on our day. I also remember people begging our neighbor for produce. He was a self employeed produce guy who drove an old bus filled with produce and sold it around the neighborhood. He always had a smile and a peach for me. His daughter and I were best friends. I think the term poor is subjective.