Skills For "Living The Era"

[Big Man]

... Low-flow causes more problems than it solves.

They still beat using an outhouse.

 

[jamespowers]

They still beat using an outhouse.

Well, there is that.

 

[sheeplady]

They still beat using an outhouse.

Barely. For me it would depend on how far away the outhouse is from the house to judge.

There are a few companies that sell dual flush toilets in the U.S. (similar to the ones they have in Europe). I admit I'm intrigued by these and wonder if they really work as well as the European toilets. If they do, they're worth the extra cost.

 

[LizzieMaine]

What gets me is that the people who insist we must have low-flow toilets can find plenty of excuses for automatic washing machines and dishwashers. (And yes, I've read the studies that claim dishwashers use less than washing by hand. And those studies were paid for by -- a dishwasher manufacturer.)

HOW TO WASH DISHES BY HAND.

Do this immediately after preparing/eating your meal. Don't allow grease/scraps to harden on dishes.

1. Do not fill *sink* with water. That's what dishpans are for. Do not stack dirty dishes in dishpan -- stack them on drainboard at left of sink (or at right if you are left handed.)

2. Drop a bar of Octagon, Kirk's, Ivory, or other hard milled kitchen soap in the dishpan. Fels Naptha will work too, but it's rough on your hands. Run hot water over cake of soap to whip up suds, filling dishpan about 2/3 way with water, probably about half a gallon's worth.

3. Add dishes, one at a time, with least dirty dishes going in first. Allow to soak in hot water for a few moments to loosen grease, swishing them around as needed.

4. Swab each dish with sponge. Faucet should not be running while dishes are being washed.

5. Run just enough hot water over dish to rinse soapy water off. Turn off faucet. Go back to step 4 and repeat until all dishes are done. Do silverware in handfuls rather than one piece at a time.

6. Either set dishes on edge in drainer to dry, or wipe lightly with clean cotton dishtowel.

7. Put dishes away.

 

[Shangas]

I was not aware that a step-by-step guide was necessary to wash dishes...

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'd be surprised. I've had kids working for me, God bless 'em, who've never washed a dish in their lives.

 

[jamespowers]

You'd be surprised. I've had kids working for me, God bless 'em, who've never washed a dish in their lives.

What is this dish washing you speak of?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, there's also the college version:

1. Eat pizza.

2. Throw pizza box away.

 

[olive bleu]

My mom used to put these big pots of boiling water in the freezer section to melt the frost.

Mine used to plug in her electric kettle and put it in the freezer and close the fridge door

 

[Shangas]

I just transfer the food to somewhere else cold, unplug the fridge and leave the door open overnight with a drip-pan underneath.

 

[St. Louis]

Here's an ebay auction for a portable washing machine. Fascinating! I wish I could afford it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Art-Deco-19...034?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c4acee6a

 

[dnjan]

I seem to remember one of those around the house when I was a kid, used for doing baby diapers.

 

[jamespowers]

I seem to remember one of those around the house when I was a kid, used for doing baby diapers.

I don't want to even remember changing disposable diapers.

 

[dnjan]

I don't want to even remember changing disposable diapers.

Youngster!

 

[jamespowers]

Youngster!

They have had disposable diapers for longer than I have been around. I think you went through a torture you didn't have to.

 

[dnjan]

As I said - Youngster!
I don't think disposables were available from the time period that I remember the previously-mentioned mini-washer being from.

 

[jamespowers]

As I said - Youngster!
I don't think disposables were available from the time period that I remember the previously-mentioned mini-washer being from.

Johnson and Johnson introduced the first disposable diapers in 1948. I don't think you were there.

 

[dnjan]

Close, but not quite. But I don't remember seeing them for sale anyplace we went.

 

[jamespowers]

Close, but not quite. But I don't remember seeing them for sale anyplace we went.

They were mass marketed by then. Pampers came out in 1961 so maybe you fell into that gray area there.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Chux" brand disposable diapers were actually on the market as early as the mid-thirties, but were not intended for everyday use: they were originally marketed for use while traveling, to eliminate the problem of rinsing out diapers in a Pullman washroom or in a hotel. They were inspired by the way some mothers had solved the problem on their own by home-making disposable diapers out of layers of surgical gauze and absorbent cotton.

Ad from 1936.

"Chux" weren't shaped like a modern disposable -- they were flat and rectangular like a cloth diaper, and had to be pinned. But they were the ancestor of the disposable of today.

Disposables didn't become dominant until the seventies. Both my sister and I were strictly cloth-diaper babies, and my brother started in cloth and ended in disposables.