Latest Floating on Facebook

[nc_mtn]

Saw this making some rounds on FB, thought I'd share here:

In line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment." He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day. Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

[heavyrebel]

im "only" 37. We lived in Calaway county Missouri, and did not pay for trash service. WE did for about a few months I guess, but it seemed like the trash never made teh 1/2 mile trek down teh driveway and if it did some animal got into it. The trash we had was burned or used to fill an eroding ditch in the back acres. This article made me think of how MUCH trash we create as a whole, compared to how much even my parents created when i was a kid.

Now most of the trash we throw away is whatever cant be eaten or composted from the veggie market trash dumpsters I raid 2-4 times a week....lol.

[Pinky1441]

I love this. It is so true. I wish everything was back to simple times. I know we won't ever get that back.

[huntress4203]

No, we won't ever get those days back. There are still some things we can do. I'm going to try to remember to ask for paper bags and get rid of the plastic ones in my house. I'm pretty good about the recycle bin but now I'm going to rinse out and separate glass. I'll have to take it somewhere myself but thats ok. Food and veggie scraps will continue to go to the dogs, rabbits, chickens and compost. I still have to drive to work but I'm going to fix my bike and use it more this year, or walk to the store (a few blocks away) whenever I can. Some electronics are invaluable to me (such as this computer) and my smart phone. I'm weighing the pros/cons of an electric shredder vs. burning papers with info on it. I usually recycle the papers and envelopes that don't. Another thing I have an issue with is plastic baggies and ziploc bags. Clean them out and reuse(hate it) or learn to use other materials for food storage?

[Oldcountryboy]

Back in my younger days, paper sacks were used at the grocery stores and a sacker boy would carry them out to your vehicle for you. And if you lived close by the sacker boy would carry them all the way to your house if you were a old woman or man. You don't see that kind of service anymore do you?

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

Back in my younger days, paper sacks were used at the grocery stores and a sacker boy would carry them out to your vehicle for you. And if you lived close by the sacker boy would carry them all the way to your house if you were a old woman or man. You don't see that kind of service anymore do you?

Sure there is.
Everything you mention a huge grocery store in my area does. In fact that particular one is big enough to have several stores throughout WI.
When I go the the checkout lane that says "WE Bag", and there are several of them, they do just that. Bag them either in plastic of paper.
They also have plenty that say YOU bag. So if I have just a few items I do just that and use a Paper Bag at that.
And they even will roll the cart out to the side of the store,, you drive up and they put the bags in the car.
In fact I just remembered another grocery store in that same city that also does the same thing. Hmmm

[birdman1]

I like reusing that stuff milk jugs make great mini green houses put farmraised eggs in those strafoam cartons and sell at the farmers mkt. same with those bags .we used to love taking the bottles back for the deposit as children .the local fruit mkt always saves me the outdated produce For my livestock , lets do what we can

[PrincessFerf]

I get plastic bags most of the time. As long as they aren't torn, we reuse them to put our egg cartons in when I sell eggs.

Or to line terra cotta flower pots to keep the soil from drying out so fast.
Or as extra bags to transport (insert anything here) from home to work/school/anywhere.
Or as a "doggie dropping" bag if we're walking somewhere that actually cares if your dog goes on their property.
Or as a trash bag in the car.
Or...
Or...
Or...

(so many more uses... we never use a bag only once!)

[Coloneldad5]

I have seen that one too. I got it in an email. As much as folks like to trash (pun intended I guess) the older folks this way, it is interesting to note that we did not have all of the throw away mentality that kids and society has today. I can still remember my folks and grandparents saying "use it up, wear it out, or do without" among other things. I can still remember collecting bottles to take to the store to get some spending cash, and now days, too many kids are not willing to go out and collect up the empty aluminum cans to recycle and get 'spending cash'.

[Rohn]

When I was a kid we lived in town and there was an empty lot next to where we lived, where many people walked past from down town and threw bottles there on their way home. I collected and sold the pop bottles back to the store and used the money to stock my fish aquarium.

[Aseries]

I'm not that old to remember these things, but I own a bunch of reusable cloth bags that I try my ----ed to remember to bring. I hate the reusable bags, that are made of recycled plastic. I also have tons of glass containers that I use to store things in. I dont buy Ziplock bags, but when I do get them I wash them out and reuse them until they rip which is about 2 uses out of them

I'm learning there are ways to do things today that we dont need. I switched to the Double bladed razors, also, for two reasons. You need a mortage to buy new razors. I bought 300 blades for the old school DE Razors on ebay for like $30 enough for 10 years, and I use a vintage 60s razor.

Its amazing how much money you save when you cut out all the waste. $3 a shot for ziplock bags a week is about $150 a year alone. I think the older generation may not have knew it on the whole but they had a much cleaner environment and better use of raw materials. Now days I would agree this throw away mentality is crazy.

My gf thinks I'm crazy when I say lets keep old shirts for rags, shes like your becoming a hoarder. I reused 4 pairs of old jeans to make a dog bed and a pile of old shirts.

I think the older I get the more simple I am living, less crap, more quality time doing things. I made bread for xmas dinner and everyone in my family was amazed. It was like I made something that was impossible to do, I was like why buy bread for $4 a loaf when I can make it for about 60cents

Crazy world

[taylorlambert]

Back a few years ago in my bar going days a friend of mine and I being cool nerds wished we could do something with all the bear bottles. In three nights they filled up an entire top loading 6 yard dumpster. No glass refineryes here but he did do something neat. My friend talked them into letting them fill my 6 yard dump truck. Glass is super heavy. We did this 3 times one month. We loaded them into his 18 wheeler and on a trip up north to a state with a bottle deposit site. We made some money but they didnt like us bringing southern bottles.


When I redo my old unused shop into a new storage building and possibly chicken house. Or other structure. Im thinking about dressing it up with a few bottle walls. I run a rubbish landfill and I bring home alot of stuff to reuse from pallets to lumber and other items. I have about 40 IBCtotes around the place for various uses. I make several things from totes and barrels for the farm.

[hotzcatz]

I had the same problem with the reusable grocery bags. Our grocery store even has a big sign hung over the door "Did you remember the shopping bags?" Still, we'd end up at the checkout counter without the bags. Then we got a couple of these handy little things: http://www.chicobag.com/category/original They are made of light nylon and have their own little bag attached to the side of them with a handy little clip. They clip onto my purse so wherever I go, there they are. Unclip them, unpack them and they are ready to be used. They are washable, too. Been going on three years and they are still in great shape and they get used a lot. The grocery gives us five cents off each time we use them, these have probably paid us back for their purchase price ages ago.

Just about everything we own starts out used. Skip shopping retail, go for yard sales and thrift shops to start with. Just go directly to reuse, no need to recycle.

[DamnearaFarm]

LOVE reusing things.
Much on the farm here is made from pallets. Plastic baggies (10-25 for a buck at the Dollar Tree, depending on size) are washed and reused, unless they held meat. Cans/bottles are reused if at all possible. Plastic store bags become holders for litter box cleanings and such.
If I had a paper shredder, I would reuse any papers in the chicken house and then use THAT for fertilizing the garden after it composted.
Hmm... I may look into that shredder thing....

[Txsteader]

We also recycle the plastic bags as wastebasket liners. I'm currently collecting ones that are too large or small for that purpose, to make braided rugs for doormats.

It's ironic.......the original argument by environmentalists for using plastic bags was to save the forests.

[whiterock]

When I was a kid, the country store packed your groceries in the boxes that they came to the store in as long as they lasted. One store used to use the boxes recently here in town. I would much rather things be put in boxes.

I was getting groceries this summer, hot, and begged a few buckets from the store bakery. The checker asked what I was using them for, I said lots of things, carry water, storage, etc, then I opened one and put the cold stuff inside, and said today it is a cooler. I had bought some frozen items that served as the ice for the other items, worked well too.

Ed

[danarutan]

I turn my empty 50# rabbit and chicken feed bags into reuseable shopping bags. When i get home from town they're easy to carry everything in and as soon as i empty them i put them back in the back of my car so i always have 2-3 with me. I wish more people would go back to the "old ways".

[Coloneldad5]

There is actually a whole thread here on HT devoted to reusing things.

Share Your Idea's Homemade or Modified Items for Homesteading