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Do you remember? household items

(122 Posts)
tiggypiro Wed 30-Nov-16 14:24:19

I am a year or two off 70 but I still remember using the following..........
Poss tub and 2 pairs of hands to wring things out > hand operated washer and hand operated mangle > electric washer + mangle > washer and spinner > front loader which does everything by itself !!
Flat irons > gas irons > electric steam irons.
Hand operated water pump > electric water pump > water 'on tap'.

I remember those cream makers MiniMouse - I didn't have one but was quite envious of a friend who did ! Seemed a bit like magic.

I'm not a pinny wearer but my Granny had one that wrapped right round her - think the early Coronation Street characters!

yggdrasil Wed 30-Nov-16 14:06:07

My mum had one of those grin

JackyB Wed 30-Nov-16 12:39:27

The pineapple ice bucket:

picclick.co.uk/Retro-Vintage-Mid-Century-Britvic-Pineapple-Ice-Bucket-201718936290.html

JackyB Wed 30-Nov-16 12:38:13

Kidney-shaped coffee tables and cat's bum tea-towel holders spring to mind.

And I enjoyed watching "Made in Dagenham" - did anyone notice that pineapple-shaped ice cube container? Or in "Buster" - the Great Train Robbery film with Phil Collins - they were drinking out of Hedgerow teacups, available from Woolworths (my mother still uses a couple of Hedgerow plates!)

www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/alfred-meakin-hedgerow

Charleygirl Wed 30-Nov-16 12:04:03

I remember my mother using a mangle to get rid of excess water after hand washing a heap of clothes. No washing machines in the 1950's for us.

jordana Wed 30-Nov-16 12:00:53

I remember my gran getting a brass companion set for her golden wedding. You know the ornamental thing that stood by the coal fire holding a small poker, shovel, brush and tongs. She also baked and put them in an oven? Beside the coal fire

MiniMouse Wed 30-Nov-16 12:00:16

Does anyone remember the cream maker? It was a jug with an attachment on top which had a pumping handle. You put butter and (warm?) milk into the top part and pumped the handle. Lo and behold, the jug was filled with cream!

Greyduster Wed 30-Nov-16 11:54:16

I'm with elegran. I have a black and white striped butchers apron and wear it all the time when cooking. I also have one that GS brought me back from the Eden centre but it is not very practical. My mother wore a wrap round apron and never seemed to be without it. She also used an iron that you plugged into the light socket for many years, as well as collar irons that had to be heated on the fire! And a toasting fork.
I have a mincer - God knows why I bought it, because I've only used it once. It has a suction base which is useless.

carerof123 Wed 30-Nov-16 11:49:57

I always wear an apron when cooking as i have a tendency to wipe my hands on it by lifting the corner to do so. There are many pretty aprons available Cath Kidson springs to mind. I also wear a proper gardening apron which has lots of pockets for putting hand tools in and is most useful and of course keeps my clothes clean!!

Elegran Wed 30-Nov-16 11:13:16

I think the move away from aprons is becvause it is so much easier to wash and dry clothes now than it used to be, and clothes are so much cheaper to buy that we can chuck dirty things into the laundry basket and put on clean without the dread of having to wash and dry things fast so as to get them back into use. All that on top of the labour-intensive cooking that got the clothes messy in the first place.

Elegran Wed 30-Nov-16 11:10:23

If I don't wear an apron I always get in an awful mess. I'd rather wash an apron than a change of clothes. I bought some large white catering ones at the cash and carry which have been excellent.

They are no use when working at the sink, though. I seem always to get a wet patch across my middle. Somewhere I have a PVC apron, must look it out - but I don't like the way the top prods me under the chin.

Luckygirl Wed 30-Nov-16 10:52:20

I do wear a PVC Guinness apron when cooking so I don't get stuff allover my clothes - not for anything else though.

Linsco56 Wed 30-Nov-16 10:31:53

I have an apron in a kitchen drawer but very rarely wear it. We no longer see a pulley full of dripping clothes, antimacassars draped over the back of chairs, hall stands with clothes brushes hung on little hooks, quilted silk eiderdowns and roller towels. I remember all of these being in my grandparents home during the 1960s and thinking how old fashioned they were (the items, not my grandparents).

J52 Wed 30-Nov-16 10:24:36

I wear an apron when baking, flour, chocolate and icing sugar seem to gravitate towards me! DGCs have aprons for cooking, which I have made from tea towels appliquéd with initials, flowers etc.

I remember my mum having an electric can opener in the 60s. It was such a novelty that we opened the other end of the empty tin as well.

KatyK Wed 30-Nov-16 10:22:25

or meat even.

KatyK Wed 30-Nov-16 10:22:13

funnygran we have one of those mincers! DH bought one a couple of years ago as he wanted to mince his own mea.

KatyK Wed 30-Nov-16 10:21:17

My mum always wore afull length cross-over type pinny and a turban!

Granarchist Wed 30-Nov-16 10:17:03

when I was a little girl at school in France we wore our own clothes but always with an overall over the top. Made sense.

Funnygran Wed 30-Nov-16 10:14:26

Crossed posts about pinnys shysal. Mother in law still has a beaded lace cover for the milk jug. I have to look out a little jug when I have visitors for milk!

Funnygran Wed 30-Nov-16 10:12:05

I still wear an apron for cooking although it's a Kath Kidston pvc one the likes of which my mother wouldn't recognise. My father worked in a department store and they actually had an apron department (or pinny as they were known in the North East). He said they did a good trade all year round but especially at Christmas ? I still have my mothers tea cosy although can't think why I keep it apart from sentiment. Anyone remember the mincer which screwed onto the table top to process the left over Sunday meat for a Monday. Hated that meal!

shysal Wed 30-Nov-16 10:08:05

My mother always insisted that I wore a pinny when helping around the house. I hated this and have never worn one since leaving home. The same applies to vest and liberty bodice!
We no longer see tray cloths, although I still have some that I embroidered, or those beaded nets to cover the milk jug.

jordana Wed 30-Nov-16 09:55:25

Do you remember the household items of years ago? I was just thinking about my mum and how she always wore an apron when she was at home. When I got married I bought 2 aprons with frills round the edges and a wee pocket (Doris day in ' young at heart') springs to mind! I was so chuffed to be a proper wife. How times have changed. I no longer wear aprons and in fact, have never seen any in the stores. Does anyone wear them nowadays I wonder. How many every day items of years ago are no longer in use. Tea cosies and companion sets are another memory!