How Vintage Do You Go? -merged thread-

[TheDutchess]

I'm an 80's baby but I grew up in the country so we didn't have a whole lot of modern convinces. I remember having a rotary phone and my grandma and parents refusing to get a touch tone until about the mid to late nineties. I don't ever really remember using a microwave and I remember watching cartoons on one of those big black and white tv's that look like furniture. I was so used to not having modern things that I'm a bit slow to get them now. I have a cell phone but only use it in emergencies, I cook everything so even though there is a microwave in my apartment its collecting dust. I do on the other hand have tv's in the house. My grandmother on the other hand is 84 and text messages and uses her cell phone all the time and has a laptop lol.

 

[KittyT]

I'm an 80's baby but I grew up in the country so we didn't have a whole lot of modern convinces. I remember having a rotary phone and my grandma and parents refusing to get a touch tone until about the mid to late nineties. I don't ever really remember using a microwave and I remember watching cartoons on one of those big black and white tv's that look like furniture. I was so used to not having modern things that I'm a bit slow to get them now. I have a cell phone but only use it in emergencies, I cook everything so even though there is a microwave in my apartment its collecting dust. I do on the other hand have tv's in the house. My grandmother on the other hand is 84 and text messages and uses her cell phone all the time and has a laptop lol.

Things were the same for me, in a lot of ways. While we did have a computer when I was growing up, we had rotary phones until I was in highschool and a B&W TV during much of my childhood. I never saw a CD player until I was in high school and most of the time drug out my mom's old records to play on my dad's nice hi-fi. While my parents did cook a lot in the microwave, I almost never touch mine.

 

[Kishtu]

I guess one of the reasons we chose to "go vintage" (no TV, no car, no microwave, kinda thing) is that it forces us to - I hate this expression - live mindfully.

Because OH and I work full time it would be very easy to come home from work after a busy day, throw a potato in the microwave, slump in front of the TV, spend the night on the couch. I like living slo-o-ow. I like setting the fire in the stove in our living room in winter and keeping it stoked with logs...I like putting a casserole in our big old range before I go to work and coming home to it at night... I like writing letters....I like making my own bread by hand...

I accept that OH and I have a slightly different perspective to most people in that he has a lifelong medical condition, and it makes us appreciate the value of time. You can grab every opportunity with both hands and fill every day with as many experiences as possible - but then when do you have the time to sit and reflect and learn on what you've experienced, if you're always doing? We don't do a lot, but what we do we take time to enjoy to the full and to savour every minute of.

(verry philosophical for 8am on a Friday morning...)

 

[CaddyKid21]

I am a mix when it comes to me being vintage, I use my cell only when it is needed not wanted, I cant text for my life and I only do if I am not allowed to make calls where ever I am. I haven't watched TV since March, I use the computer religiously though.... My Ipod broke in November, haven't gotten a new one yet. I use slang that people give me looks for. I'm pretty sure today is the only day since February that I haven't *greased up* in my friends terms.
Thats how vintage I am, cant wait until I get a car! lol

 

[olive bleu]

I grew up in a very remote community (an island 15 miles from the nearest land, population about 200). My grandmother did not have electricity untill well into the 70's.(when i was about 10)I remember going to her place for Sunday dinners and eating by the light of a kerosene lamp on the wall. Even well after that she still cooked on a woodstove, and MUCH later, got indoor plumbing.I never minded it,enjoyed it in fact. I still don't have a cell phone, and have only owned a computer for about 3 years.I could give up the television in a heart beat.We never cook in the microwave.In fact, we only have it because my mother-in-law insisted on buying us one.We only ever use it to reheat leftovers.I don't have car.I don't have a dishwasher.I'm pretty sure i could happily give up most modern appliances except for one thing-the washing machine.If i only had to do my own laundry i could probably hand wash most stuff as i don't get my clothes very dirty.But not having it to the laundry for the rest of my family, forget it.

 

[Dr Doran]

I hate dishwashers. The biggest waste of time ever. I have never had one since I left my parents' house at 19. I have never missed them.

 

[Lilibet]

My decision to include vintage things in my lifestyle is because I like the style, quality & craftsmanship, not because I think life was better then and want to emulate it -- hearing my grandmothers' stories about life during the Depression and wartime disabused me of any notions of that.

Since I have 2 school-age boys, ages 5 and 9, I wouldn't give up the washer, dryer, dishwasher or cell phone for anything. I have better things to do with my time -- like play with my kids -- than do dishes all day long. I cook from scratch, and always have, because I enjoy the process, prefer the taste and believe it is healthier. I happily use my food processor, stand mixer and microwave to make it easier and quicker. And since my husband is not into vintage I can't expect him to give up the modern A/V equipment and computers that he enjoys -- I just try to work it all into the home in a way that suits us both.

 

[Dr Doran]

Yep. I'd hate to wash clothes all day, especially as I too am a parent. Especially clothes that have urine on them, and even grosser things.

 

[RitaHayworth]

Wow! What an interesting thread!

Personally, I'd love to go back to a world where things were more simpler!

Having said that, I do have a TV in my room - no antenna though, just for DVD's, and do use a microwave to warm things up. Other than that I like a lot of low tech living.

After a loong day at work with the computer and phones - I like to come home and sit in the peace and quiet with my sewing!

Though I do confess to abusing a cell! It would be good if we could survive without them, but unfortunately, we dont live in the same world as we used to. There is much more crime now, and lot more men who are not gentlemen like they used to be (and the ones here!)

 

[Dr Doran]

Though I do confess to abusing a cell!)

A crime in certain states.