Well, I had a wringer washer, and I don't miss it at all. Love my modern one and the drier too, although I did take pride in hanging lines of snowy diapers out in the sun when I had babies. Cloth diapers were healthier in my opinion. The one thing I would like to see again is the honest morality of the general public, where you could trust people, and not be fearful, kids could play outside, etc. I can live without some of the modern conveniences, (like TV) but I would give up my dishwasher before my garbage disposal. I love the sanitary convenience of running water and flushing toilets. We didn't always have them when I was young. Carrying water for everything, heating water in tubs, buckets, etc for laundry, bathing, dish washing and cooking, was not a lot of fun, and hard on the body. You asked for just one thing, but the convenience of modern equipment is nice. The honesty and morals, education and less use of profanity , teaching children basic education, and getting public off unnecessary welfare would be top of my desire list.

Yes Indeed! By the time you finish listening to the number options to push, you forget who you even called and why! LOL!

kids who had respect for parents, elders, teachers, etc. Used their manners and you didn't have to worry about all the peer pressure, drugs,gangs--would love to go back to those times.

Exactly! We wouldn't be in the mess this country's in right now if we still adhered to our "old" ways. My Mom and Dad would not buy anything made out of the country...and I think we need to go back to that!

Everything made in America and wringer washers are high on my list. I used to love doing the laundry with our wringer washer at home. Then hang the clothes on the clothes lines all organized with the matching socks next to each other, all the white T-shirts together etc. Then I would fold them as i took them off the line. I've been asking for a clothes line for 9 years now. I've had one in every house up to this one. Somehow DH always has other projects he wants to do.

I miss the sheets and yes diapers on the line thenn smelling the freshness while folding them.

I have quite a list of get rid of. I have done the wringer washing machine though and I have the scar to prove it, the wringer popped up and cut my arm. In the mid 70's my husband was stationed in the Philippines. Uncle Sam gave us a brand new wringer washer to use while we were there. Any way, liked life when it was much simpler.
Robin in TX

I miss the relaxed old neighborhoods where you could let your kids out to play and not have to worry about it. We used to have a wringer washer when I was a kid. I remember my sister getting her arm stuck in it. When I got married there was one left in the basement of the house we bought and I used it for a long time. Loved it! Got the clothes cleaner than the new fangled ones we have now.

I've often wished for a much slower pace...

I have 2 in my basement!!! Maybe I should get hubby to set one up for me to use :lol:

I love clotheslines for everything except towels.

You can keep the ringer washer- I remember my mother having to wack our repeatedly to get the ringers to let loose of what ever they were trying to consume.
Some queit- no distractions of high tech technologies. Being able to let our kids play outside without worrying about the possibility of all that is going on.

Yes!!! and they gave us stamps or dishes too! I still have one
dish with wheat on it....ah...those were the days!
My mom had a wringer washer, and I still hang my sheets out
on the line! My dad used the tubs for ice and sodas when we
had our family reunions...

WOW have you been reading my mind?! I have long thought that technology is not making our lives "better". It is making our lives more frenetic, possibly more stressful. Even before the advent of home computers, cell phones, ipads and blackberries there were research reports about Americans not getting enough down time. I think the breakdown in civility that our culture has seen is due to the increased speed of our lives.

Don't get me wrong, I am a bookkeeper and I would much rather keep accounts on computer than on ledgers. I just think we need to remember that these things are tools and not bosses and masters

God,

Manners, courtesy, and respect for others, personal responsibility, and people being held accountable for their actions and showing genuine remorse if they make a mistake.

jobs

I was thinking about this....and I wonder...is it possible to find a way to slow down your own life? You know, just say no to so many activities, turn off the tv and leave it off, force yourself to plan and execute family meals at the dinner table every night, even if there are only two of you at home, buy a couple of comfy outdoor chairs (or better yet, a porch swing) and sit outside in the evenings, even if just for 15 minutes, let the answering machine get the phone during certain times of the day, commit yourself and do it...make your own bread once or twice a week, hang the clothes outside...even if you have to string the clothes lines between trees, and etc.....I mean I was just wondering....could we all slow down our lives by making different choices everyday? Maybe we are so busy and overwhelmed with activities because we say yes to everything afraid we will miss out on something, and in truth, we miss more because we are too busy. Something to think about......and believe me when I say, I am asking myself these questions as well as presenting them to all of you!!

I get dibs on the other one!!! Ha!

I love the way you think! It truely is something to think about and I think you can do it! We all can if you set to think about your life and your days...make a plan and stick to it! Thanks for the idea, you just gave me something to think about and do. Gosh, you should write a book on this. Something enough for the American housewife and others that feel over whelmed by time consuming tasks we put on ourselves everyday!!

I love all the responses. I'm old-fashioned, too. I try to recreate a little of the simpler times by doing a lot of hand quilting, sewing a bit on a treadle machine, and I've always read to my kids - even when they are 16 years old! Reading together - something a little above their reading level - broadens our vocabularies, gets the kids away from phones and computers, and exposes us to some wonderful classic stories. I cook from scratch, keep a small farm, and hope very much to pass on some old-fashioned values to kids and grandkids.

Having quality things made in America again.

Kids being able to roam the neighborhood with their friends safely. To be able to ride their bikes to school. No video games and going to a movie was an event.

I rember clouds of butterflies, the little ones that loved mud puddles....before pesticides...
A big black iron kitchen range to cook on. It didn't take much wood to get it hot.... the temperature range over the top was fantastic, just sliding the pot around to exactly the right spot.(they could re-invent that)
Our first house came with a bendix all in one washer dryer, that you put dirty clothes in, and they came out clean and dry! It roared and whirled and I just loved it! LOL!
Once,
nobody locked their doors, we did not even have a key for our back door. People were honest and respected each other, and were quick to lend a helping hand.

:thumbup: :thumbup:

A ringer washer was just what's on my mind also. I am in the market for a new washer, and I just don't like the new models. Too bad they stop making them.

I would love to buy a loaf of bread for 5 cents and a gallon of gas for your car for 19 cents.

the slower pace of life, more time to spend with loved ones who have departed

I miss receiving letters.we would enjoy as my mother read the letters to us, my aunt used to end all her letters," Love to all, Dessie and all", I still would Love to receive a letter, hows the weather,crops, feeling well,new babies,etc.

I agree with Diannia. A full-service gas station...Heaven! And, I would love to use a phone that places and receives calls and doesn't take pictures, play games, play music, search the internet, etc.

I would love all the things you have asked for but this is my biggest complaint. They want everything to be done by computer and they wonder why there is no work.

When I was a girl living in my dinky hometown in the country I dreamed of leaving and never comming back because nothing ever happened here. There were three - four families in the town and most people was kin to at least two - three of them. The Daddies were the only ones who worked and took the only car with them leaving a town of children and women. The women would get their house work done of a morning and many afternoons were spent visiting with neighbors and/or family members. They would have Stanley, Tupper, and Sarah Coventry parties. They would prepare Vacation Bible lessons and Sunday Schhool lessons while we kids would roam the hills (can't now because of the coyotes and other wildlife that hss ben reintroduced into the area) and play in the big field across from house. Our town didn't receive telephones until I was in the 6th grade (approximately 1960) but it was surprising how fast news traveled. Everyone in the town knew the kids and we were expected to be respectful to any and all grownups, so, if they yelled out of their house for you to stop doing something you'd better stop because your mom would sure know about it by the time you got home - someone earlier mentioned that they mentioned the innocense of the earlier times so do I

*********************
Ditto to the above post... AND... I'd like a charming older home like my grandparents had with no neighbors in sight! They grew their own food (veggies AND meat)...and tons of flowers...and their place was a little slice of heaven!

we had phones but the operator would say 'number please'

I had already written a reply, but Mitch's mom has put her finger on the those personal attributes that made us an honorable and civilized society. Sadly, they have been diminishing over the years. I would love to see us return to the standards of behaviar of years past.

Iwould like it all back,esp. Children that showed respect to everyone includeing their peers!!!!Tinker

I once tried to communicate with a Spanish speaking person in their language after two years learning Spanish in high school. I came away with more appreciation for how difficult speaking a second language is. Most of them work jobs that are physical and raise a family as well on little money. When you are tired you don't feel like tackling another hard task, yet many do learn English. Becoming a literacy volunteer and you would help them. We'd have to walk a mile in their moccasins as the American Indian saying goes, to understand how it is to be an immigrant. Kindness is a universal language...we all understand it.

Eating cold watermelon with friends and seeing who could spit the seeds farther. Planting the seeds and watching for a melon to grow. Lining base ball cards on the building and frisbying a card to knock one down. Playing marbles on the dirt and collecting them. Later finding one in the dirt was cool! Berry picking.digging up potatoes after we had cut up pieces with eyes and planted them. Watching new born kittens crawling in a box over our old t shirts. Putting my feet on the coal stove after sledding down a hill in the road near our house. Moms stood watch for traffic. Running through the water when they opened the fire plug for us. Finding a stray dog and getting to keep him. Shiny prayer book and a small silver box with a hinge holding pretty rosary beads. Getting a ceder jewelry box at graduation from the local furniture store. Five and dime stores especially the pizza/ice cream soda fountain at the counter. Waiting for the Easter bunny, Santa and leprechauns. Knee socks and skinny legs I no longer have. Crenolin slips and full skirts. Learning to sew on my mom's treadle machine. Our neighbor's player piano. My Dad's model t ford. The boy next door who combed his hair like James dean. Going down sliding boards that were too hot and having someone push you high on a metal swing. Real christmas trees and scents not from a spray can. Movies without advertisements and people doing the stunts not computer generated stunts. Black composition books. Slang books..my aunt wrote"when you get married and you have twins don't come to me for safety pins." raffle blocks where you pushed the paper out of a hole you poked and it said how much your chance cost. Nice neighbors took chances and I got a radio that had a wire antena you touched to metal to make it play. Passing to the next grade with a high average because I knew the work not because I had grown a year older. You felt special. Nylons that held up with a wire over a button. Rings in plastic bubbles that came out of vending machines. Dagwood sandwiches.

Here, Here!!!!
I would even go back to cigarette comercials if they would just bann all the "men's sexual problem" pill commercials, the incontinence adds, and the pills for anything that causes worse side effects than the original pill is supposed to cure!

Service station attendants & washing machine with hand wringer.. Ah the good old days.

I appreciate the difficulty inherent in working a physical job (something I HAVE done before...for three years) and in being tired at the end of the day....AND having to learn a new language. BUT I personally know of Spanish speaking people who have been in this country for 30 years and never learned English. (My new DIL's mother is one) From all that I have read and studied, that wasn't the case during the time of the "Great Immigration" of the early 1900's. Back then, if the history books are correct, those coming here sought to find a better life for themselves, AND learned English as a means to achieve that better life. I have worked as a Literacy Volunteer before, and found that because there was NO desire or push for the adults at home to learn English, the children were less interested too...just doing it because they we told they HAD to by the teachers at the school (I worked with the children of the "boat" people from Cambodia, North Vietnam, and Laos).....I feel I have been kind and understanding of how hard many Hispanics work...and the struggles they go through when coming here....BUT when you have been here for 30 years and still can't understand or speak English...to me, that isn't about just being too tired at the end of the day....that is just NOT wanting to become an American.

Sorry if I offended you....that was not my intent.

And I agree, kindness is a universal language....and English should be the official language of the United States.