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Name a chore....

(213 Posts)
MawBroon Mon 18-Feb-19 11:15:45

Courtesy of FB this morning
Mine was sweeping down the stairs with a hand brush and dustpan, using a duster for the uncarpeted sides.

harrigran Tue 19-Feb-19 09:51:13

Black-leading the coal fired range, carrying the ashes out to the bin and getting them blown in your face when it was windy.
Running to the nearest shop with a thick newspaper to buy a block of ice cream, wrapping the paper round as insulation and running home again.
Being sent to shop on a Saturday morning to buy one 7 O' Clock razor blade so that father could be respectable for the weekend.
Babysitting baby sister when I was ten years old, walking the streets pushing her in the pram until she went to sleep, mum was an elderly mother, very late 40s.

Marty Tue 19-Feb-19 09:52:04

Filling up the coal scuttle. Laying the table. And polishing the sideboard.

arosebyanyothername Tue 19-Feb-19 09:52:19

Bellanonna I was always told to use my Grans divvi number 37561. ?

NotSpaghetti Tue 19-Feb-19 09:56:10

Just a reminder, the OP wanted to know things we did that children no longer do. There are surely plenty of families where children do SOME of these chores... clearly not so many!
Buying cigarettes for adults is obviously one that's gone. I didn't have to do that but often walked to the shops with friends who did.

Lilylaundry Tue 19-Feb-19 09:57:56

I had three older sisters and remember I was often sent to the corner shop (you go because you run the fastest, I was told) with a note and half a crown. One day I read the note, it said '12 sanitary towels please'. I often wondered where all these new towels were, there were never any new ones to get dried with after a bath or wash but I didn't dare ask as I was told not to read the note. The S.T.s were wrapped up in newspaper by the shop keeper.

Gypsyqueen13 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:00:16

I had a very difficult mother who left the housework to me at the weekends so my chores were to clean the bathroom, dust, wash the kitchen and bathroom floor on my hands and knees with the floor cloth, do the washing in the twin tub, sweep outside. The list is endless and all this while her majesty sat in bed drinking tea from the teasmade on the bedside table!!

LadyGracie Tue 19-Feb-19 10:02:07

I used to go to the NAAFI for my mum, I always used to push my navy blue dolls pram. I also enjoyed polishing the brass on my dad's Sam Brownie belt and bulling his boots.

Anrol Tue 19-Feb-19 10:07:30

I was a “good girl” and did anything mum asked. Favourite job was ironing piles of handkerchiefs and the muslin squares for baby sisters nappies but the best job was cleaning the chrome on dad’s Ford Prefect car. I loved spending a bit of quiet time out of our busy full house, just him and me car cleaning.

Sheilasue Tue 19-Feb-19 10:08:02

Nothing. Only kept my bedroom tidy.

chrissyh Tue 19-Feb-19 10:10:27

Shelling peas and getting the winkles out of the shell for Sunday tea (used to put one of the black things on my face as a beauty spot).

olliebeak Tue 19-Feb-19 10:11:28

I earned pocket money from my uncle (dad's brother who lived at home with my grandparents) by cleaning his shoes
- he was ex-RAF, so 'had standards' ;-). Also used to clean the spokes on his racing bicycles, using the chrome version of Duraglit followed by a soft cloth, which was usually a very old vest.

Little jobs for my nan included putting larger items through the mangle for her, when she couldn't manage them - cleaning the steps (including the one into the rear entry) - polishing anything brass, including the stair rods - ironing with flat irons, loved to spit on them to hear the 'sizzle' when they were hot enough ;-) - threading some needles for her and leaving them with different coloured cottons in them and stuck into the pin cushion which hung at the side of the coal fireplace.

mancgirl Tue 19-Feb-19 10:13:46

So many of these. Wool winding, folding sheets, setting the table and siding it! My biggest gripe aged about 10 was that my 4 years older brother didn't have to do the pots if his friends were there, I was left to wash and wipe. I can clearly remember thinking how unfair it was!

Fi59 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:14:18

Washing and drying up after tea on Saturdays and Sundays. Folding newspaper into narrow strips then folding them together to make firelighters.

GabriellaG54 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:19:01

Nothing when we were under 10. When older, we cleaned the silver cutlery, one cleaned one washed one rinsed and one dried.
The following week we all moved one job along ie: whoever cleaned changed to washing the cutlery and so on.
Of course, we also had to clean our bicycles...spokes rims and all. Dad would inspect then oil the pedals and chain and brakes, if needed.
Dad turned them upside down on an old sheet before we began...outdoors under the veranda.

LuckyFour Tue 19-Feb-19 10:20:18

Went to the shop for mum often. My sister and I used to grumble and mum (who had worked all day )would say 'right, I'll go then' , and start to put her coat on. We would then say 'no, no I'll go'. It worked every time.
She was a lovely mum and I didn't like it if she was annoyed with me.

cangran Tue 19-Feb-19 10:22:28

I gutted chickens after my mother had killed and singed the feathers off (I grew up on a farm in Canada). Not related to this job, which I didn't find bad, I have been vegetarian for many years!

GabriellaG54 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:24:23

I remember mangles, wooden seats on nan's outside lavvy and 'helping' to clean 3 storeys worth of brass stair rods and nan donkey-stoning the front and back steps.
I even remember our milk being delivered by horse and cart.
Wonderful, carefree days.

harrigran Tue 19-Feb-19 10:24:36

Several people talking about cleaning and polishing cars, my goodness not just different times but a different planet I think.
In the immediate post war years I only knew one person with a car, they were as rare as hen's teeth.

Riggie Tue 19-Feb-19 10:25:32

mawbroon when I saw the thread topic I was going to say sweeping the uncaroeted wooden edges of the stairs!!! I used my toy dustpan and brush.

Dusting the windowsill when Mum cleaned the windows

Ironing the occasional handkerchief.

Dontaskme Tue 19-Feb-19 10:25:48

Sorry to lower the tone but the pop bottle thing reminded me of my friend and I going round to the yard at the back of the shop, sneaking pop bottles out of the crate and taking them back round through the front door of same shop to get the deposit! We did this at least once a week. Thinking back the shop keeper must have known what we were up to as we never actually bought any pop. We were quite poor and skinny so he may have felt sorry for us. Then again most of us were poor and skinny then, no excuse for what we did!

GabriellaG54 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:26:27

mancgirl
I well remember 'siding' the table.
I wonder, is it a Northern saying? I'm from Liverpool.

Juliet27 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:28:38

Dad used to send me with a bucket to a nearby field to collect horse poo for the garden. Embarrassing!

jaylucy Tue 19-Feb-19 10:29:43

Going to the butchers for "quarter of a pound of chuck steak and two ounces of kidney" for my mum's amazing steak and kidney pudding or pie (we had that most Saturdays for lunch)
Also running errands for my grandmother who lived next door - she used to give me 50p a week for that, which was my pocket money!

Nanny41 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:31:22

Cleaning the open fire and preparing it to be lit again.Going to the COOP for bits of shopping for Mum and having to say the members number 119787.
Loved shelling peas and eating some!
Looking back they were good times,nice memories, but I am glad things are easier now.

sue01 Tue 19-Feb-19 10:33:50

Collect acorns to feed to the pig !