Living like the past
Do you Dream of a more simple life? Tired of all the fast paced junked up world? Then adjust what you are doing and live a more old fashioned life.
You have to find that period in time that you feel most comfortable. I like the thirties through the early fifties. After that it seems to me that things took a wrong turn and life got more complicated.
Do you feel out of place? Like there has to be something more? Do you feel like you belong in another time? Do you feel homesick even when you are home? Is there something that is just eating at you and you don??™t know what it is? A longing for something but you don??™t know what it is?
I feel that we have zoomed right past all the logic in this world and now we are caught in the middle of this whirlwind crazy mixed up mess of everyday rudeness everywhere we go and so many distractions that even electronics may just go into a frenzy and burst into a zillion pieces.
We are pushed to buy goods that we do not need and made to feel out of style if we don??™t wear a certain style or brand of clothing that they have chosen is going to be the new fad. Large and even small companies just want to "Sell their product”. It may not be the best for you but if they can convince you that it is then it is best for them.
There are many people that entertain the past. It may be simply watching movies and others take it further and become woodworkers using vintage hand tools, some buy and restore vintage cars, some belong to reenactment groups to preserve an important part of the past. There are antique stores and skilled craftsmen to do restorations to preserve part of the past.
There are many people that collect items from the past such as coins, stamps, comic books, tools, dishes, linens, guns, baseball cards, books, thimbles and most anything from the past.
There are many people that collect items from the past such as coins, stamps, comic books, tools, dishes, linens, guns, baseball cards, books, thimbles and most anything from the past.
Those that take care to preserve part of the past find comfort with what they do and most know that the quality of items made by generations before us tops most anything made today unless it is crafted by someone that purposely takes care to do a good job "If” they can find superior goods.
I prefer clothing pre-late fifties.
For my situation, I had to return to a point to where I could remember sanity and get my home in some kind of order that reminded me of a place back in time that I felt my most comfort. This place may not be in a time that you actually lived but a place that you dream of. A drive to a antique store and a walk down the aisles looking through vintage items started me imagining what it was like for my Grandparents and Great Grandparents. This felt comfortable to me and I felt connected. To my surprise so many of those items in the antique store I can remember using in my lifetime.
So I set out on a mission to rid our house of junk, limit the electronics, stop eating out, stop purchasing cheaply made gadgets and live without using more than was necessary. In other words, stop taking more than we need. I had the need to set my surroundings to look less modern and each day as this journey gets less unplugged and more settled I feel better. This is an ongoing journey which is far from being complete and to do this takes a lot of work and to continue to live basic requires more physical strength and determination because it is easy to fall back into the easy way which creates more waste.
I decided to take control of the things that I could and make better choices with our food. We started cooking most everything from scratch.
I bought some old pieces of furniture from a rescue mission, sanded them down and painted them to get me into my era of comfort. If you search in the right places you can find pieces like this for under $20.00. Drawers that do not pull out properly can be sanded down where they rub and broken wood slides can be repaired. The condition on the outside never matters to me because we will sand it down anyway.
I find that I am most comfortable with white painted furniture so I primed the dresser with several coats of primer before putting the final white paint.
I love the details in the older pieces
This chest of drawers was in terrible condition but it had some great features. This is another piece that I purchased for $10.00, sanded it down, repaired a few things an then painted it.
I started throwing out as much plastic (recycling and donating) as I could and now have gone back to using wood metal and glass because if the plastic is disrupting our hormones in our body then that is not good for us.
I remembered a time when we did not drink out of plastic
So I ordered some new glass straws but they are a bit pricey these days.
I found that our older dinnerware was made in USA so I threw out all the broken and chipped pieces and little by little I started replacing the broken pieces with non broken dishes off of eBay. BUT then I read that a lot of dinnerware (as well as vintage) contains lead. I have read that this dinnerware that we have does contain lead but I have not confirmed my findings so just in case I have ordered a dinnerware set (Fiestaware) that is suppose to be lead free. UGH!
Getting rid of plastic is bad enough but now finding out that things I have always though were safe could be toxic! Could this be why so many have cancer, Alzheimer's and other things? What will I find out about next? Are my bread pans safe? Is my cookware safe? I am so old now does it even matter anymore? :(
At least I can have a non toxic environment for when my family comes to visit. :)
I have always been drawn to pastel colors, white cotton sheets and towels.
Even when you are getting older you can always re-arrange and decorate.
We switched back to more simple soaps with less ingredients. That is how it was when I was growing up.
We grow as many vegetables as we can in our backyard. When I was younger than I am now there was still a lot of rural and most people grew their own food.
Most Everything we grow has been grown in containers this year and I have filled the bottom of the freezer, canned some relish and now will make pickles.
I wear a apron and a scarf when I bake, pray and do most anything because it feels right.
I hang out the laundry when it is not raining
We carefully consider now what we bring into the house. Does it have plastic? Is it really necessary? Can it be recycled or composted?
I keep out items that are used most often because it helps when cooking from scratch. I am using wax paper for now to cover the bread until I find glass lids for bowls that will hold the bread.
For Shampoo we use JR Ligget shampoo bar and if you want to go even more simple, simply wash you hair with one to two tablespoons baking soda into one cup warm water and pour over scalp and rub gently and rinse well.
For a hair conditioner, use one part organic apple cider vinegar to eight parts water and pour over your hair, rub hair then rinse. I don't mind the apple cider vinegar and water rinse because the vinegar smell goes away after your hair dries.
We have changed to better products but still trying to find other alternatives that are not packaged in plastic.
I will keep posting pictures as I download them. Please come back often.
