Our new low tech toaster... Only $6.44 at Wal-Mart and we love it... simple turn to 1 through 8 and push down button... we have a toaster/convection oven, but it takes 3 minutes to make a slice of toast... this little guy is 60 seconds and done.
I lived the first 18 years of my life, with toast made on a cookie sheet in the oven....
We swept the floors with a broom, no vacuum...At the store, we had one choice...straw broom or no broom.
And for 24 years of my life we had ONE bathroom...except for 3 of those years when we had NO bathroom, at least not in the house.. it was down the hill a ways.
We bathed in rain water from the cistern, in a metal tub like the one above, that we placed in the kitchen when it was cold and in the basement during hot weather.
No drinking water in the house, I had to walk 300 yards and haul it home in a bucket.
Also no TV or Radio...And I survived and was HAPPY...
and I wonder just how happy people are today with all the New Tech Stuff.. and the prices it cost to buy the techie stuff. A broom was .99 cents and lasted for years...never had to pay payments on one.
We swept the floors with a broom, no vacuum...At the store, we had one choice...straw broom or no broom.
And for 24 years of my life we had ONE bathroom...except for 3 of those years when we had NO bathroom, at least not in the house.. it was down the hill a ways.
We bathed in rain water from the cistern, in a metal tub like the one above, that we placed in the kitchen when it was cold and in the basement during hot weather.
No drinking water in the house, I had to walk 300 yards and haul it home in a bucket.
Also no TV or Radio...And I survived and was HAPPY...
and I wonder just how happy people are today with all the New Tech Stuff.. and the prices it cost to buy the techie stuff. A broom was .99 cents and lasted for years...never had to pay payments on one.
34 comments:
We have a toaster/convection oven that basically just takes up space on the counter. I have been looking for a simple toaster...thanks!
I bet it didn't come with a twenty page booklet of instructions in two or more languages either. May all your toast be perfect.
Best,
Bonnie
Wonderful post this is. Isn't amazing what we had years ago and how happy we were without, not really thinking much about it. Your new toaster is similar to mine. I love it! We used to make our toast by sticking it on the end of a long fork over our coal fire. The taste was marvelous too. Certainly didn't taste of coal ;)
Oh for the simpler things in life. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly
You will not believe this but I have the EXACT same toaster!!! Why spend $40 on a toaster when a $6 dollar one does just fine!?
so very true...
I have the twin to your toaster! Yes, from Walmart. :-p
The hardships we've endured over the years and yet we survived. Sometimes I wish we could go back to those simpler times but I have to say I would miss some of my modern technology
I don't think I knew about the drinking water, but I knew the rest. Well, for one thing, people who had to live like this were much more healthy, that is a blessing in disguise. And the really big thing was...you didn't KNOW what you were missing! I would buy this toaster if I had room on my counters! Looks like you can even toast bagels. I have a great toaster oven that does everything, and I use it several times a day. But it does take awhile for toast. And if I want it real even I have to turn it midway through. And bagels take forever!
BRAVO MS FOR THESE MEMORIES....SOMEHOW WE MANAGED WITHOUT THEM. YOU ROUGHED IT A TAD MORE THAN I DID...DUE TO YOUR GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION. WE LIVED IN THE CITY BUT HAD RELATIVES IN THE COUNTRY.
I'VE USED A FEW OUT HOUSES A WAYS DOWN THE HILL. WHAT I RECALL MOST WAS NO CENTRAL HEAT OR A/C. BUT WE MANAGED. WE LIVED WITH MY GMA UNTIL I WAS 6 SHE HAD A COAL BURNING STOVE. MY PARENTS AND I MOVED TO A HOUSE WITH CENTRAL HEAT...HAD A GREAT BIG GRATE IN THE HALLWAY. I WAS AFRAID TO WALK OVER IT TO GET TO MY BED ROOM BUT I GOT OVER THAT.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.
HUGS CECILIA
We still use our brooms that we have had for years along with my old coffee maker(s. We do have a toaster/convection which works well and if the Pres didn't use it so much I would just get a toaster. He uses it frequently to warm up his bagels, sandwiches, warms up his zucchini bread....he always has something in there! Me...just plain toast or English muffin...LOL!...:)JP
I know if every thing modern left tomorrow there would be much violence. No one knows how to take care of themselves simply any more.
Looks like I am in the same boat on the toaster. Simple put the bread in, turn to desired setting and push the lever down...3-2-1- = toast!
Well I didn't live any where close to the way you grew up but I guess we were happy...we didn't know any thing different. I do like the conveniences of AC and indoor plumbing and fresh water from the faucet. I could live without my computer and cell phone but if I didn't have them I would have never met you!
Traveling all over the world on mission trips brought the reality of getting along with little. I have to admit I am always so glad to come back to flushing toilets and being able to drink the water right from a faucet.
Thanks for letting me know where Largo is. I had no clue.
Have a great weekend Sandra and I hope your Hubby has recouped.
Sometimes when Louis Dean and I replace and appliance - we just one one that has an on and off button - not 87 choices!!! Low tech is the way for me!! LD has successfully taken THREE remote controls - sound, TV and VCR - and programmed it all to ONE!!! That is one of his proudest and most crowning achievements!! Even our SIL uses THREE remotes!!!
We did without a lot when I was a child....and not because it wasn't there. Wicked stepfather prevented us from using the kitchen and bathroom whenever he was home. We hid out in our closet or were as still as mice in our bedroom. It is amazinging how resilient the human heart is and how little it actually takes to survive! It is also astounding how little it takes to THRIVE!!!
I don't believe people are any happier, I believe we have made our lives more stressful! I like your new toaster.
So true, and I've found that the simpler the better. When we buy items with all the bells and whistles, the bells and whistles break and the item is useless. I bought a single speed bicycle because the 20 speed bikes owned by others were always breaking down. Less complicated is better. BTW, the other day I went to the store to buy a game I'd known when our first kids were little. The game is at the store, but it is now CHEAP JUNK and I refused to buy it. Our grandkids are getting dairy animals, chickens, fruit trees, sheep, all vicariously, through Samaritan's purse - because the kids who NEED them in poor countries will be getting them. I refuse to spend money on junky cheap stuff which kids have too much of anyway. Wow, you didn't realize this would evoke a rant, did you!
Ah, Sandra, that bath bought back a few memories. Our tin bath hung on the outside back wall and was bought into the kitchen on bath night. Mum used to fill the large copper and boil the water and we all got in the same water, kids first and Dad last. He then had to bail out the water when we had finished, what a palaver.
But we had enough food and lots of laughs, more that a lot of people do now with all the mod cons.
Briony
x
I think it is funny how a high toaster usually works rather poohie & then u buy a really cheap one and it works perfectly?!! ( ;
Great post, I am not sure how many people could live back in days of non-tech gadgets.. I do need a hot shower and indoor plumbing..Happy weekend!
We always had a radio, a vacuum cleaner (good old Swedish Electrolux) and an indoor bathroom, but of course none of the gadgets that everyone has today. I was 16 when I got a record player and when we also got a TV, it stood on the floor and was B/W. We were always outdoors, playing, biking, skating and skiing in winter. It was a good and fun time.
About the same set of circumstances for me and my family growing up; except you had the "Deluxe" tub. Ours was round and small and brought in the kitchen at night for baths. But we were happy.
Both of my grandparent's houses had the newfangled bathrooms added on to the rear of their houses. Before that- hole in the ground..oh yeah..I hated those and still freak out if I have to use one. I'd like to throw my tv out, except for the Christmas movies..I'd miss those.
It's hard to beat an old straw broom, but you couldn't get me to give up my iPhone, either.
So true!
I love that toaster. So were you happier back then or now?
I'm very thankful for kitchen appliances (so long as they're simple and basic to use) and other modern facilities. We enjoy our morning toast and marmalade using a toaster like yours every day of the year. Toasting bread on a toaster in the colder weather on the fire might have been cozy, but first you had to make your fire! Going outside to the washroom, bathing in a tin bath as a child wasn't much fun so I'm grateful those days have passed.
...not to mention that the brooms now-a-days, the cat hairs stick to the plastic bristles and you have to use your hand to pick it off. And it misses half the stuff anyway. I LIKE the straw brooms.
The tub? We had one also, but ours had legs on it and galvanized. For a kid like me, I needed a step ladder to get in it.
Today, just doling out for the cable bill would get us through a month or more of surviving...food included comparing costs from back then.
That toaster looks cool. Not sure if I could live without my coffee percolator, remember dad always making the coffee on the cooker. These were the good old days I think,mthings were somewhat easier...in a way. But with all new technologies coming in it makes us more comfortable...suppose I've got mixed feelings about it. Lol
We have the conv oven also. So now I store my bread in there. ha,ha
I seen the tall brooms in Canadian tire the other day they are pricey.
My sister had the round tub for us to bathe in us kids when I stayed weekends with her. I liked the farm creek better.
Great memories on your part. Things sure have changed, haven't they? I am going to look into one of those toasters!!!! Our toaster is on the way out AGAIN. They are the simplest things. Why do they have to be so much money?
Times certainly have changed. Of course I grew up living in town and had running water, vaccuums, tv, radio, stereo etc...but we weren't rich people so had to make do with what we had.
Your toaster looks great to me. Mine is a similar but way older. I wonder if the new ones last as long as the older ones.
Good comments, Sandra. Life was simpler years ago and folks were happier with less. We just bought a toaster/convection oven as we have never used a toaster. Our old toaster oven finally needed got be replaced after nearly 20 years...guess they don't make them like they used to (smile).
so true.
i love that toaster btw.
great post, sandra.
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