Could you live like it was the 1950's? [Archive]

flowerseverywhere

11-9-11, 1:42pm

I could and did. As Florence said girdles, garters and stockings could fly right out the window. What I would like most of all was the feeling of community as most mothers were home and kids played outside because there were no video games, tv all the time, cellphones, computers and other gadgets.

Another part of the 50's that I could leave behind was the segregation and racial hate that was prevalent in many areas. Although there is still enough hate around today, it was markedly worse then. Also, women did not have nearly the opportunities they have now.

goldensmom

11-9-11, 1:42pm

I lived in the 1950's for a couple of years. My family was behind the time so we lived the 1950's in the 1960's and even though I could live that way again, I would not want to.

bae

11-9-11, 3:05pm

Aqua Blue

11-9-11, 3:32pm

OhDear, I wasn't thinking of the social 1950's-I've already lived thru them once. LOL I was thinking more in terms of frugality, conviences etc.

Heidi

11-9-11, 5:07pm

I would love to live in a time before plastics took over our world. The amount of trash and waste has increased exponentially since then. We had no TV in the 50's, one rotary phone, life was simpler then. I would miss my washing machine, can do without dryer or dishwasher. I remember wash day was an absolute nightmare, that would be the only drawback for me. Overall, yes I would love to go back to the 50's, especially to the 50's world population and pre-climate change.

goldensmom

11-9-11, 5:15pm

OhDear, I wasn't thinking of the social 1950's-I've already lived thru them once. LOL I was thinking more in terms of frugality, conviences etc.

Oh, well, in that case, yes, I certainly could live like we did in the 50's.

Charity

11-9-11, 6:33pm

I did for a couple of years. I don't remember much but a vague memory of dumping soup in my high chair tray on purpose. I don't think I'd like living in the 50s as an adult. Just watching Mad Men is enough to convince me of that. And I remember as a little kid in the very early 60s that we used to watch Kraft Theater or something like that. They'd show recipes during commercial breaks that were utterly disgusting. I think the food alone would kill me in the 50s.

Bastelmutti

11-9-11, 7:31pm

I've already got a Chambers stove, so I'm set in the kitchen. Now what to do about my job? It's almost entirely virtual - I have never met most of my clients, get all my jobs and return them by e-mail, and do my research mostly online, too. Well, I guess with all the slaving away at the Chambers stove, I won't have much time for that anyway! :laff:

daisy

11-9-11, 8:13pm

Bastelmutti, I commend your choice in stoves! :)

I think there are good points and bad points to any time period. Certainly we've grown more accepting of different kinds of people since the 1950s, but I think we've also lost the sense of community that existed then. As for modern conveniences, I would be willing to give up some of them, but I would be in a world of hurt without the internet!

bae

11-9-11, 8:16pm

I like modern pollution control technologies, modern low impact development technologies, and similar things far too much. People live far lighter on the land where I live now than they did in the 1950s.

Modern medicine is sort of handy too :-)

razz

11-9-11, 10:20pm

Nope, i wouldn't have the job that I did, most people would be wearing dentures, advanced education was limited to the wealthy, DDt on everyhting, very limited finances with little hope of improvement - nope, nope, nope!

jp1

11-9-11, 10:26pm

Nope. Along with various things others have cited, especially Bae's comments regarding pollution controls and much better efficiency of almost all items mechanical, I very much appreciate the ability the internet gives me both to seek out other non-local people such as this board, and the ability to access a much wider range of media beyond the big 3 tv networks and MSM newspapers.

JaneV2.0

11-9-11, 10:41pm

No. Aside from its solid, bustling economy, that era has little to offer me. Being a woman and all.

flowerseverywhere

11-9-11, 11:04pm

Wear a suit, travel into work on the train every day, smoke, drink too much, and treat my stay-at-home wife like a servant as she quietly goes mad, and drop from a heart attack in my '50s?

I think I'll pass.

I grew up on an island where my Dad worked at a government installation. We pretty much had free roam of the island by bike and I spent many days swimming in the ocean (unsupervised) and we spent much of our time outside. I don't think my mother was unhappy. Some of her friends went to secretary or teacher school, but most stayed at home or worked part time. They would do a lot of things together during the day and each evening there was a homemade meal on the table. There was little traffic and we never heard about all of the bad things that happened to people. I only remember one kid in our elementary school really getting sick, and he made it through high school. There was way less cancer, as there were so fewer toxins in the environment and of course we had no genetically modified food and we weren't surrounded by plastic. I remember going with my dad to meet the fishing boats and get dinner, or digging for Quahogs. There was way more violent punishment from parents, but I recall everyone surviving. I was recalling with some friends my age that when you became 18 and were a female you had a few choices. Go to Secretarial, nursing or teacher school. And know how to type because it was a skill you might need to rely on. There was no divorce and High School was so small that you knew everyone and could walk anywhere at night safely.

Of course, time marched on and my area became a huge rich person and vacation mecca so gradually we moved away because of housing costs. I married someone I met at College and we could not afford to go back, it was on the cusp on turning into a tourist mecca and there were no jobs except for service and no affordable housing. I do have one sibling there who lives in our family home, actually a two bedroom cottage. Keeping up with the taxes, and dealing with the ridiculous traffic is a problem, and a huge influx of people brings crime of course.

So my vision of the 50's is likely skewed.

Marianne

11-10-11, 7:52am

For some reason, it'd be easier for me to live like 'Little House on the Prairie' than to live like June Cleaver.

I agree, every era has it's drawbacks, including our current one.

Rogar

11-10-11, 11:26am

I could live in the 50's quite easily. The global population was about a third what it is now, so I pollution was just a different different spin. Not so much global warming, deforestation, and habitat loss but more bad chemicals like DDT. At least my childhood recollections were of a slower lifestyle. I can remember Dad coming home for an hour lunch each day and laying on the grass in the front yard to watch the first of the sattelites.

Being a guy I'm not sure if gender roles would be a big deal. Again some trade offs. The man definately had the burden and sole responsibility of being the provider. And roles were very well defined with little confusion. Yes, less opportunities and equality for women.

I would be happy to get rid of cell phones, computer games, facebook, 50" TVs, made in China junk, four lane highways, ski resorts, ATVs, SUVs, digital cameras, McMansions, gas grills, shopping malls, and credit cards. I'd definately miss the internet and the treasure of information. Would have big problems with racial discrimination.

Then again, maybe it's all nostalgia.

Float On

11-10-11, 11:55am

What I'm noticing in this thread is that the 50's were very different based on geography.
My parents 50's experience growing up in Mid-west farming/ranch community was very different from New York City's 50's experience.

Mrs-M

11-10-11, 1:38pm

For sure!!! I ran this topic question by my husband and he said, "as long as I could drive a vehicle with today's technologies, yes". Such a simpleton he is.

Me on the other hand, I have a gamut of reasons as to why I could live like it was in the 50's, my old-fashionedness being at the very top of the list, serving as my main driving force.

Healthier, more natural food.
Less population.
Less consumerism and spending.
Families/family life stood for more (had more meaning).
Less choice.
Simpler times.
Less waste.
Less pollution.
Everyone possessed a course of respect for everyone.
Reusability was tops!
In relation to the working class, more bang for the buck.
No electronic technologies of today that have turned so many into robots, machines, and recluses.
Jobs were plentiful!
Careers (for the most part) weren't based on what you knew, but instead, how hard you wanted it and were willing to work for it. Unlike today...

herbgeek

11-10-11, 2:25pm

Healthier, more natural food Mrs. M? I've read cookbooks from this era and most every recipe depends on at least 1 can of cream of something soup or a boxed cake mix! :laff: Tons of sugar, tons of processed food. If you were a modern woman, you used these modern conveniences. At least, that's how it was marketed. Cooking from scratch was for suckers.

Heidi

11-10-11, 2:31pm

Tradd

11-10-11, 3:22pm

I have heard many stories from older relatives, as well as the older folks at my church - one of my favorite folks at church is a woman in her late 70s, who is still very active.

About the higher education thing, I have been told over and over that you didn't need education beyond high school unless it was for a specific profession. The women I know were very well able to get a decent job right out of high school in secretarial/accounting.

If you were in a more urban area or an older suburb, there was also no shame in having to rent an apartment, even if you were married with a family. I can't tell you how many couples I know take having to live in an apartment rather than having a house as a sign of failure. Even now, in the current economic downturn. I know of one young couple that was engaged for THREE years simply because they HAD to have a house before they were married.

From what I've been told by the older folks, you didn't put your life on hold (waiting to get married, for example) for everything to be perfect. There would never be a prefect time. Unless there was a REALLY good reason for waiting, you got married and began life modestly. Weddings were also much simpler. Among the folks I know, cake, punch, and mints/nuts receptions in someone's home or maybe the church hall were the norm, unless there were women in the family who cooked the wedding dinner themselves.

Kids were free to run around the neighborhood, most everything was close. My paternal grandmother didn't learn how to drive until sometime in the late 1960s. She was married in either 1939 or 1940. She walked everywhere. She made some extra income by giving music lessons - piano and accordion - in her home.

I think I could live like the 50s easy enough. I don't have a TV and prefer radio. I like to cook. I can live (and have) without a microwave. I could live without a clothes dryer or dishwasher (I've lived most of my life without a dishwasher!), but a clothes washer is a must. I think I could adapt without internet, although it would be difficult at first. I've always loved typewriters, and even a manual doesn't scare me, as that's what I first learned to type on in 1982! Music on records or the radio, having to see movies in first run, using the library, getting news from the newspaper, handwriting letters (something I still do) more than long distance phone calls - I could deal with that rather easily.

Some of the social aspects of the 50s I'm not exactly thrilled with, but living with less technology and simpler, heck yes, I could do that. The only thing is that in modern life, it's often very difficult to do without. For example, if you're a working class person and have to do things with unemployment, applying for jobs, etc., much of that is online now. That's what many of the computer users at my library are there for.

goldensmom

11-10-11, 3:44pm

I have heard many stories from older relatives, as well as the older folks at my church - one of my favorite folks at church is a woman in her late 70s, who is still very active.

Oh, Tradd, I had to laugh at the term 'older folks' because from reading through this thread I realize I am in that category. To youngins' like yerself, I am an older folk but to the 'truly elderly' I'm a youngin'. It's all relative I guess.

Tradd

11-10-11, 3:50pm

Goldensmom, well, comparatively they ARE older than my 42! ;-) I love sitting and chatting with the "older folks." I love hearing about how life was in the 50s. The one lady in her late 70s shares a music stand with me in choir. She can see fine without her glasses if she stands further back, so we both joke I'm her "page turner."

jennipurrr

11-10-11, 4:02pm

Oh wait!! Birth control. That wasn't widely available until the 60's. Nope. Not going back there!!

My grandmother, who is in her 80s now, told me that I should be thankful everyday that there is birth control. My aunt and my Dad (both born in the 50s) are right at a year apart and my grandmother (somehow?!) finished her Masters degree in Library Sciences when my Dad was 6 weeks old. No thanks to that aspect of the 1950s. I really cannot imagine being a woman before contraception. I've been watching Boardwalk Empire, which is a show set in the 1920s, and more than once it has shown women using Lysol to douche...I just cannot imagine!

There are aspects of each decade I like, but it seems like the 50s image is just a June Cleaver facade...maybe it just seems that way to me since I didn't experience it. I don't think personally would like all that sameness in society.

Mighty Frugal

11-10-11, 4:10pm

I think I would like it. Yes, there are a lot of issues but for the most part, I think I would fit in. I have about 100 1950s and 1960s magazines I snagged for 50 cents each and have been making my way through them for the past 6 months. There are many witty essays and articles by women.

Yes the recipe are about canned goods and boxed cake (the worse so far was a lime gelatin base and inside was canned peaches, ONIONS, celery and it was rounded off with a generous dollop of sour cream:sick:)

But I love the sense of community and family.

I find that the area I live in is very 50s-esque. We walk everywhere. Our main street has everything we need. theatre, bank, school, candy store, butcher, bakeries, fruit stands.

We have young teen girls who babysit for us. When we're walking along our Main street we often see people we know.

We frequent a small park where we meet up with neighbours. We have a crafting social, and the dads meet regularly.

Our community is a 50s styled community (except many of the women do have careers) but with the modern conveniences like dishwashers, polio vaccines and the Pill

The reason I yearn for 'yesteryear' is the simpler slower life and the more 'common sense' people seemed to have. Nowadays (uh oh, am I old for just writing 'nowadays'?) everyone hast o have it all. Designer shoes and purses, ipods, vacations, nice cars, etc. It seems so 'showy' these days. And God..reality shows....can't we get rid of those?

JaneV2.0

11-10-11, 4:42pm

Random thoughts: Lots of middle class people got college degrees as part of a classical education; it was expected in both sides of my family. Though meat and potatoes ruled the dinner table (yay!), overcooked vegetables (often canned) were mainstays, too (boo!) Food choices are a thousand times better now, IMO.

As far as respect is concerned, maybe children were more likely to show respect for their elders, but minorities and women were too often treated poorly. Sexual harassment was commonplace, though it wasn't called that. Women--with very few exceptions--could be nurses, teachers, secretaries, or housewives. Librarians, if they were lucky. Birth control consisted of barrier methods and crossed fingers, and abortion was an illegal, clandestine, often fatal mess.

Since very few women were capable of supporting themselves on the slave wages they were routinely paid, they stuck it out in dismal marriages. Domestic violence was another foreign concept. If you knew your neighbor was being beaten, you kept quiet about it. And so did she.

Entertainment was slim: westerns at the drive-in, radio dramas and comedy, dismal black and white TV with shows about a half-step up from vaudeville. Books were rarely illustrated--high end ones might have a few washed-out photo plates in the center. For no other reason than that, I'd never go back.

Animals were rarely neutered, so if your cat had kittens (and she did) you'd scramble to find homes for them. A lot of people just put them in a sack and drowned them.

I've said it before; I like living right here, right now. Having lived through those "good old days," I can only say this--you can have 'em.

Karma

11-10-11, 4:57pm

I'm guessing that our black and Hispanic members might not want to go back. I don't think it was such an idealic time as we want to believe.

Spartana

11-10-11, 6:35pm

OhDear, I wasn't thinking of the social 1950's-I've already lived thru them once. LOL I was thinking more in terms of frugality, conviences etc.

Well if you remove all the environmental stuff (polluting cars, polluting factories, minimal environmental regulations) and the social stuff and I could live the life like a man did in the 1950's with the freedoms they had as well dress how I want, join the Navy or set sail on a tramp steamer for far flung exotic lands (while (ex) DH stayed home and did the dishes - by hand :-)!), then yes!! I actually live more 1950ish then most since I don't really need, or even have, alot of the modern conviences and technical gadgets other people have. No "I"-anything, no home internet (and no computer until just a couple of years ago), no cable (use rabbit ears), no smart phone (just an emergency Tracfone), no digital camera or video recorder, no dishwasher, etc... I even have a small house with a big yard that would have been something a 5 person family would live in in the '50's. But otherwise, if I had to live lin the "real" 1950s era, then absolutely not. As a very non-traditional woman even as a kid, I would never have survived the social intolerance and constraints of the 1950's - heck I can barely survive those in this era!!

JaneV2.0

11-10-11, 7:20pm

The thing is, you can choose what you like from the fifties and bring it forward (hey--let's hear it for Eisenhower-era tax rates!). A lot of people here are doing that already. Like Spartana, I've always been atypical and would more than chafe at mid-century traditions. I do like the architecture, though.

Bastelmutti

11-10-11, 7:38pm

I'm guessing that our black and Hispanic members might not want to go back. I don't think it was such an idealic time as we want to believe.

Not to mention our gay members and single mothers. I think there's a lot of fantasizing about what the 50's were actually like! There was both good and bad. My mom hated growing up then herself, but that might have to do with her dislike of anything domestic, all of which she was forced to do as a kid (sewing, etc.) I love that stuff and would have probably enjoyed that aspect of the 50s. Daisy, I recently printed out an original cookbook for the Chambers stove & plan on trying some recipes from that.

gimmethesimplelife

11-11-11, 12:11am

Wear a suit, travel into work on the train every day, smoke, drink too much, and treat my stay-at-home wife like a servant as she quietly goes mad, and drop from a heart attack in my '50s?

I think I'll pass.Good points that I won't deny BUT I see a flip side to this, too - somewhat affordable health care, the notion of pensions and job security, actual chances for career advancement, education without nightmare debts, credit scores not determining too much of your life, get my drift? I do think it is a romanticized time for many Americans but it did have it's good points, too, it seems. Rob

gimmethesimplelife

11-11-11, 12:21am

Not to mention our gay members and single mothers. I think there's a lot of fantasizing about what the 50's were actually like! There was both good and bad. My mom hated growing up then herself, but that might have to do with her dislike of anything domestic, all of which she was forced to do as a kid (sewing, etc.) I love that stuff and would have probably enjoyed that aspect of the 50s. Daisy, I recently printed out an original cookbook for the Chambers stove & plan on trying some recipes from that.And here is the other side of the equation for me. As a gay man I have no idea how I would have dealt with the social norms of the fifties....Marriage, children, house with white picket fence in the suburbs.....This part of it would not have worked for me at all. I wonder how many hid and married and had kids and lived in total misery during those years. There sure have been advances in the gay rights arena since then, case in point, I never thought I would live to see Don't Ask Don't Tell abolished. And the handful of countries and the several US States where gay marriage is legal. So I guess now has it's good in some ways, and back then had it's good in other ways. Rob

JaneV2.0

11-11-11, 12:24am

The closet doors were nailed shut in those days. Stonewall was the watershed, and it didn't happen until 1969.

goldensmom

11-11-11, 7:13am

OhDear, I wasn't thinking of the social 1950's-I've already lived thru them once. LOL I was thinking more in terms of frugality, conviences etc.

Some of the comments about food on this thread sparked a conversation between my husband and I concerning farming methods of the 50’s (my father’s farm) compared to contemporary practices with regard to mass produced/grocery store foods. Food in the 50’s was produced using manure as fertilizer; cultivators, hands and hoes were used to get rid of weeds and insects ate some of the crop. It was labor intensive, there were more weeds and the yield was less. Gardens were organic because there was no alternative. Chemically produced feed was not fed to animals and growth hormones were not used so it took longer for animals to grow to market size. Today the soil is fertilized with chemicals; herbicides and Round Up ready seed take care of the weeds and insecticides deal with the insects. The yield is higher. This practice is common with small farming operations and Amish farmers as well. Chemically produced feed is fed to animals and growth hormones are used. After saying all that, I recognize that health standards and procedures are in place now for the processing and storage of food that was absent in the 50’s. FDA and Organics aside, I think I’d still rather eat food produced back then.

As the OP stated, the intent of the post is the issue of frugality not social. Chemicals, insecticides and herbicides are expensive.

HappyHiker

11-11-11, 11:02am

I think about this a lot. The simplicity of lifestyle of the 50's might go far in getting us out of debt. Much fewer toys and and non-necessities to gobble up our dollars.

Personally, I pick and choose from those days in that I've no cellphone, no microwave, very few electronic devices (compared to many)...just a personal computer and a CD player, an old-fashioned non flat screen TV, the very basic cable package, and our household of two shares one car and we do most of our local errands by bike. Of course, I enjoy the modern washer and dryer and a refrigerator that I don't have to defrost.

Simple living these days is easier, I think, when we pick and choose fewer non-essentials...

Bastelmutti

11-11-11, 11:08am

Good points that I won't deny BUT I see a flip side to this, too - somewhat affordable health care, the notion of pensions and job security, actual chances for career advancement, education without nightmare debts, credit scores not determining too much of your life, get my drift? I do think it is a romanticized time for many Americans but it did have it's good points, too, it seems. Rob

Yeah, I wouldn't mind those things. Of course, as a woman, I may not have had them in the 50s.

I agree that we would probably all be well served going back to the slower pace, at least part of the time.

Rogar

11-11-11, 1:33pm

Out of curiosity I googled, "famous women of the 1950's". The only things that came back on the first couple of pages were entertainers...mostly singers and actors. I'm sure there were writers, scholars, and community leaders, but these didn't come up in the search. Indeed, sort of sad commentary of the times. The flip side is that women who actually wanted to be stay at home mothers had more freedom in that direction. Anymore it seems like it takes two incomes for most families to make ends meet.

On the food side of things, it seems like there is a school of thought that is coming full circle on what is healthy. Things like the omega 3 and omega 6 balance that is in animal fats and eggs, natural or organic meats that are not from factory farms, less pesticides, and diets that are low in refined sugars from GMO products were part of the 50's diet. Most of my 20th century ancestors who didn't smoke lived well into their 80's and 90's, which might be a commentary on modern medicine as well as diet.

Anyway, I would only go back "knowing what I know now". I would like to lay on my back on a summer night and marvel at the stars, and then see that first sattelite one more time. I might also buy a few shares of McDonalds and Winnebago.

Bastelmutti

11-11-11, 4:24pm

The more I think about it, the more the birth control issue is the kicker for me.

pinkytoe

11-11-11, 4:33pm

I grew up in the 50s and early 60s. What I recall and like about that era is that there were just far fewer people than there are now. I don't recall long lines and traffic jams even living in a large city. I think because there were fewer choices that people were sort of mainlined into their careers and living situations though. I recall I had the only mom who was divorced and had a professional career - she was considered an odd duck. I think many women enjoyed the leisure they knew if they married "well." I did not know what a gay person was though I do recall family conversations about Aunt So and So being a spinster or Uncle being a bachelor. Another peculiar thing....I recall feeling bored a lot...when as a child I would just lay in the grass and stare at the clouds. I don't ever get that sense anymore as I can just jump on the computer or find just about anything to do that interests me. I miss the ability to just be sometimes. I carry with me many of the things I grew up with - home cooking, simplicity, domesticity. I wish I could find the sense of community that existed then - it is rare now as people move around so much. Another thing I miss was that people were more courteous. ie civil at least where I grew up. Didn't matter the skin color - they were just laid back and pleasant with each other. Honestly, I would probably go back in a heartbeat.

frugalone

11-11-11, 6:32pm

Well, we only are running one car, which is how I remember life when I was a kid (1964). When mom wanted the car for the day, she drove dad to work. Of course, we lived a block away from a supermarket, which was great. We don't own a dishwasher, never have. Right now we don't even watch TV (just rent videos; never got HD).

Sometimes I think I wouldn't mind staying home and taking care of the house, even though I'm not really Martha Stewart-ish. But it seems better than all the back-biting BS in the work world. That's not necessarily a 50s thing, though.
At least women have a choice now about working and there's no "your husband obviously doesn't make enough money so you have to work" stigma.

Pre Roe vs. Wade? Pre-Pill? No! Would not like that.

frugalone

11-11-11, 6:33pm

Yeah, that's another thing I think would stink. Gay people were considered insane back then, weren't they?

The closet doors were nailed shut in those days. Stonewall was the watershed, and it didn't happen until 1969.

frugalone

11-11-11, 6:34pm

Do you mind if I ask what line of work you are in? It sounds intriguing.

I've already got a Chambers stove, so I'm set in the kitchen. Now what to do about my job? It's almost entirely virtual - I have never met most of my clients, get all my jobs and return them by e-mail, and do my research mostly online, too. Well, I guess with all the slaving away at the Chambers stove, I won't have much time for that anyway! :laff:

frugalone

11-11-11, 6:40pm

I'm going to add one more comment, and I hope it doesn't piss people off. Someone mentioned single moms. I have nothing against single moms, and I certainly would not advocate going back to phony sexual mores and back-alley abortions, but sometimes I think we have gone too far in the other direction.

I think far too many unprepared people (like my junkie cousin and his junkie GF) are having babies and then dumping them on the grandparents to raise. Since there's nothing to be embarrassed about anymore by having a baby when you're not married, it seems to have given some people free license to reproduce like rabbits. An acquaintance of ours doesn't even get along with his GF, and there they were having a kid at age 21. Now he's collecting scrap metal to sell to support his heroin habit, and there's this poor little girl with a whacked-out dad. The guy in back of us? His daughter had one child, and left her with her mom in Fla. Went and had a son, who has Down's, and left it with her dad and stepmom. WTF is wrong with these people?

And as the saying goes, it's always the children who suffer. As a former abused child, let me tell you that the abuse goes on in your head for the rest of your life.

Just my little rant for the day.

catherine

11-11-11, 6:49pm

OK, you guys HAVE to check out this--I just found this posted by my SIL on Facebook, and it is the funniest, most irreverent look at 50s/60s/70s crafting I've seen. Maybe it doesn't ENTIRELY fit here in this thread, but it does make me a little glad I am not sitting around making some of these homemade items just to be the pride of the 50s neighborhood.

http://handmadebymother.blogspot.com/

Mrs-M

11-11-11, 10:44pm

I love this thread sooo much!!!

Herbgeek. I too have come across such things, however, having grown up in a home where my dear mother made everything and prepared everything from scratch, taking the easy way out was never an option for me. I like starting from scratch and doing things right. (Looks like I'm a sucker)! :laff:

Heidi. Coming to get you! :)

Mighty Frugal. How I envy your retro magazine find! I am sooo jealous...

Everyone's posts are super-fabulous! Totally loving reading all the content.

I know we have many things available to us today, that weren't available to us back then, but still, when I think back on how it was back then (even though it was before my time), I look at it as being more real. Hmmm... let's see now, how to make living in the 50's better, than it actually was.

JaneV2.0

11-12-11, 5:08pm

Yeah, that's another thing I think would stink. Gay people were considered insane back then, weren't they?

According to the DSM; it hasn't been that long since the "diagnosis" was removed--a clue as to why many don't consider psychology a science.

mira

11-13-11, 6:10am

Life in the 1950s for an average white working-class family in the UK was very different from that of a family in the US! Well, my parents upbringings and living conditions couldn't have been more different, anyway.

I suppose my answer would really depend on what country you were imagining living in.

jp1

11-13-11, 12:42pm

According to the DSM; it hasn't been that long since the "diagnosis" was removed--a clue as to why many don't consider psychology a science.

This American Life did an interesting show about how the APA officially changed its opinion back in 1973. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/204/81-words

Bastelmutti

11-13-11, 5:22pm

Do you mind if I ask what line of work you are in? It sounds intriguing.

Hi, I'm a translator.

Rosemary

11-13-11, 9:24pm

Mrs. M, food was the same in my mom's kitchen, made completely from scratch, and if anything, I've gone even more that way than she was. Everything tastes so much better than the canned/boxed/frozen versions.

I have a funny story, though. A friend of mine in high school had a mom who didn't really cook, and one night her mom had made the unusual request that my friend make dinner, to include mashed potatoes. She called our house because she was having an extremely difficult time mashing the potatoes. Can you guess why? I'm sure you can... they were raw!

Aqua Blue

11-13-11, 10:02pm

Can I add a negative to my own thread?? Child labor: by the time I was 9 I frequently babysat younger siblings and cousins all day while Mom worked, made supper from scratch, baked from scratch, cleaned house etc, could do some mending. bought small amounts of groceries at the store a couple of blocks from the house. It seems so far removed from today. Last summer I had some friends stop thru and their 9 yo still doesn't cut her own meat. I personally think that is too far on the other side.

Gingerella72

11-14-11, 10:51am

I'm surprised no one has brought this up, a gal in New England decided to do an experiment and live for one year as if it were 1955 (this was in 2009). She was a stay at home wife anyway so no outside job to worry about. She adhered, as much as possible, to items (household appliances, dress, makeup, etc) only available in the 50's, with the exception of the computer so she could blog about the experience. Sort of like how in 1900 House they had video cameras hidden away for "video diaries". Anyway, living the lifestyle day in, day out, plus all of the research she did on current events of the day, completely changed her life (for the better) and after the year of 1955 was up she continued on into 1956, and now as 2011 comes to and end so does her year 1957. She's now contemplating doing a year in the 30's. I've been following her blog since the beginning and it's fascinating how she's been able to debunk a lot of the 50's stereotypes that are so ingrained in our collective psyche. Her blog is here: http://www.my50syear.blogspot.com/ To do it justice it really should be read from very first post.