Old Fashion...

Replies:

• 
• by
  • littleredsmom
  on Feb. 18, 2008 at 6:07 PM
• OK, I'll start.  I have laundry poles outside with 3 lines of rope.  We love to hang everything (except underwear hahahaha) outside.  Love the smell and love saving electricity.  I also have a potato masher that I use and I use my grandmothers hand turned nut  grinder that attaches to my counter.  We are in the process of finding an old fashioned push lawn mower too, especially with the gas prices.  Hope to see more responses.  Oh, we don't own a dish washer, I have 3 built in ones...... Liz, Kelly, and Ashley

• 
• by
  • lovelilacs
  on Feb. 19, 2008 at 2:54 AM
• ♥ I hang at least one load of clothes a day. I live in an apartment, so I put up
     hooks on two sides of my living room and I run up clothes line at night.
  ♥ I don't have a mixer, I like to mix things by hand.
  ♥ I have just recently stopped using my microwave (I can't get rid of it or my
     husband would freak out right now)
  ♥ I bake my own bread, tortillas, crackers, desserts, etc.
  ♥ There are lots of pictures of ancestors on the walls.
  ♥ We use "real" foods like butter instead of margarine.
  ♥ I cook in cast iron everyday.
  ♥ We encourage our kids to look at books (not reading age yet) and play
      with blocks, etc.
  ♥ Along those same lines, I have narrowed down the kids toys a lot, so they
     have just a lot more basic toys.
  ♥ I make toys for my kids. Wooden trucks, blocks, little buildings. I have
     hand sewed two dolls for my daughter, bean bags, little pillows for the dolls
     and stuffed animals.
  ♥ Oh, yah, that's another thing, I hand sew. I have a machine, just never
     learned.
  ♥ I have oil lamps, and I love to use them!
  ♥ I collect Antique Fruit Jars, and use some of them to keep most of my
     baking supplies in, instead of plastic canisters. Our change we collect in
     other, my spools in another etc. Then there are those just to look at :)
  
  As far as things I want to do, and look forward to doing in the future, there are to many to list! Maybe thats for another post, lol :)
  
  Thanks for the great post by the way! That pie safe sounds neat, I'm jealous!

• 
• by
  • bluej80
  on Feb. 20, 2008 at 10:27 AM
• My family has been doing small things right now like making bread and tortillas (mainly with a bread machine; since there isnt enough time in the day and i dont have 8 arms).  My 5 month old is very demanding and my husband works oilfield so he's gone a lot.  I use cast iron for pretty much everything I make.  We stopped buying margarine and only use real butter.  When we can we buy organic. (The milk is awesome) Eventually we want to buy some acreage with a stream and become self sufficient.  My Husband is all into getting off the grid and having a green house.   
  Bluej80

• 
• by
  • tiflynrog
  on Feb. 20, 2008 at 3:31 PM
• 
  

  Quoting bluej80:
  
  My family has been doing small things right now like making bread and tortillas (mainly with a bread machine; since there isnt enough time in the day and i dont have 8 arms).  My 5 month old is very demanding and my husband works oilfield so he's gone a lot.  I use cast iron for pretty much everything I make.  We stopped buying margarine and only use real butter.  When we can we buy organic. (The milk is awesome) Eventually we want to buy some acreage with a stream and become self sufficient.  My Husband is all into getting off the grid and having a green house.   

  
  My husband is the same way as yours. We'd love to have some acreage and live off the land for the most part. Thanks ladies for replying, I like to see what you all doing too to add a bit of old fashion back into life.

• 
• by
  • rosemere
  on Feb. 20, 2008 at 5:20 PM
• I have a tiny little funnel to fill my salt shakers and pepper shakers. We also have a popcorn popper that you can use in our fireplace or outdoors over a campfire. Maybe we will try to use it this summer over our campfires. I have always wondered if it really works. We also have an oil lattern that we purchased before Y2K thnking we might loose power. We bought it in an Amish community and it is really prettty. I recently bought a sauerkraut maker and it is basically just a large glass jar.  I heard it is supposed to be good for your digestion to eat freshly made sauerkraut.  Has anyone tried this? These are what I can think of right now. Maybe we should put some of them to more use. Thanks for the idea.
  rosemere

• 
• by
  • NativePhoenix
  on Feb. 21, 2008 at 4:07 PM
• -I make all of our bread...sourdough only.
  -I make homemade sauerkraut.
  -I cook with mostly whole and/or organic foods.
  -Limited TV.
  -Still in the process of thinning out the toys, but we're a lot farther than we were a year ago.
  -We TRY to garden.  Yes, I mean try, I'm kind of learning as I go.
  -Cloth diapers & breastfed kids.
  -Oh, and this baby (due in May), we are planning on the birth being it our tipi!  I hope the weather cooperates.

  Jillian, Wife to Curtis, Mother to Rhavenn & Breckin, Due May 17

  Change your family's life by creating a healthy home at www.midwestgreenliving.com

  

  

   

• 
• by
  • soapmakingmom
  on Feb. 23, 2008 at 10:55 AM
• Of course, I make our soap :)
  Bake bread
  Hang laundry on the line everyday in the summer, sometimes in the spring and fall, depending on the weather.
  I wash my dishes by hand
  I use a push mower for the lawn
  I grow, or try to grow flowers,  vegetables and herbs. They don't always cooperate:)
  I sew simple clothing, such as skirts, pjs and tank tops.
  I have my own version of quilting :) There's a wrong and right way, my way is somewhere in between.  But the blankets serve their purpose.
  We use a woodburning fireplace downstairs. I plan to get a woodburning stove for upstairs.
  We have, or my dad has an acre of land in Va. that is waiting for us to clear and build our dream farmhouse. We do have a creek on the property.
  I've always loved handmade toys since I was a child. My kids this day in age, don't care for them. But I recently ordered a woodworking kit for my baby boy and now he's interested in building wooden cars. etc.
  I compost.
  I recycle almost everything.
  I collect rainwater to water my indoor plants.

• 
• by
  • OTmom3071
  on Feb. 24, 2008 at 9:03 AM
• We also have laundry lines outside, potato masher, hand can opener, bake breads, we make our dog biscuits, make my own cleaning products, my kids walk to school, most of my childrens clothes are hand me downs or from second hand stores, my kids mostly play with my husbands or my old toys that our parent saved,all of my childrens furniture is from when my husband and I were young(dressers,bed frames, school desk,and bookshelves),we have family game night, my mother has made alot of quilts that we use on the beds, I used my baby bassinet when my children were infants,we have a rotary phone in the kitchen.
   
  I'd love to get rid of our TV in the living room but at least I got rid of it in my bedroom! Thank you for all who shared! It gives me more ideas for my family!

• 
• by
  • Mommyeek
  on Feb. 25, 2008 at 12:15 PM
• Hello! I'm Dori. Sorry I haven't posted more but things have been kinda crazy around here. I hope to post more now! I guess the old fashioned things I do are bake bread from scratch with no mixer. I make my own laundry detergent and window cleaner, I make most of our food from scratch, do to my kids food allergies. I make home remedies and teas. I sew alot of my own clothes and am just getting ready to sew my girls dresses for Spring and Summer. I love to re-use stuff into something new and to recycle what I can. I love to read alot and we have family devotions in the am and a book before bed. I hang most of my clothes up to dry them. I'd love to do more and learn more from others. Have a great day everyone!

  "When we view managing our home as drudgery, it becomes just that - drudgery
  But if we view it as our duty to God, it becomes a joy and delight."
  Nancy Wilson, The Fruit of Her Hands

• 
• by
  • Bertha65
  on Mar. 3, 2008 at 2:32 PM
• 
  I would love to live in simpler times, although that is a relative concept!
  
  I bake most of our bread and love to cook from scratch.  My husband doesn't hunt but we have friends that do so we always have a freezer full of elk, antelope, buffalo etc.  We like to fish though I am concerned about the mercury. 
  
  I have tried to garden but have a hard time out here (WY) because it is so dry and also I do not like to use pesticides and always lose a lot to insects.  This year I will only do tomatoes.  It doesn't rain much here but I have several rainbarrels to catch roof water that I use for garden etc. 
  
  I have a clothesline that I use except for winter.  It is so dry out here that a load will often dry before the next one is ready to hang.
  
  I compost, and we have a woodstove.  I also knit and sew.
  
  I have a dishwasher, I have to admit, I love it, I just got it 2 years ago, my first one-no more hiding dirty dishes in the oven!!!
  
  I keep much of this to myself because most people just do not think this way and just think I am plain weird.  Well maybe I am but I guess I just don't want the label!
  
  I am looking forward to more ideas.

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