What "old school" things do you still do?

[disneysteve]

The threads about check registers and balancing checkbooks got me thinking about this. Since we're mostly an older crowd here, what "old school" things do you still do that perhaps your kids (or grandkids) just roll their eyes about.

Landline phone - Honestly we only keep this because of my mother. Whenever she leaves us, we'll get rid of it.
Paper bills - I want to review a paper bill, not on my computer screen. Credit card bills get tax-related transactions highlighted for tax time reference. We are paperless for all investment statements except the bank statement which I use to balance my checkbook (see other thread).

I'm sure there are plenty of others but those are the first two that come to mind.

 

[rembrandt]

Listening to talk radio on a radio.

 

[Pointby2]

• I still like some of my bills on paper, like our credit card statements.
• I listen to music on my 1970's era turntable on vinyl. But I do try and keep a good percentage of my vinyl "current" like artists from the last 10-20 years anyway.
• I have a printer that I still use.
• Using Facebook is old school. I check it once a day anyway.

 

[MC Rider]

I use internet forums.

 

[athena53]

I'm fine with tech but had too much trouble with on-line calendars. I don't know why but I really need the hard copy and I'd update the electronic and forget to update the paper version or vice versa. Last year I remembered how much I liked the bright red leather-covered Economist pocket diaries years ago. I bought one for 2024 and now have 2025. It comes in a cardboard slip case so the gold-edged pages don't get mussed up in my purse. A mini-BTD at about $100 but I like it.

Too bad the map inside with the London subway system is getting too tiny for my old eyes. Nice table of world holidays, though.

 

[disneysteve]

• I have a printer that I still use.

Same. I use my printer daily. I’m shocked when I read how many people don’t own a printer anymore.

 

[FlaGator]

-Still have an AOL email address
-Do regular maintenance checks on the thoroughly modern car-fluids, tire pressure and top off as needed
-Like Athena53, still write things down. Helps me remember them.
-Levi 501s are a part my wardrobe.
-Firmly believe that Led Zep 4, Sticky Fingers and Dark Side of the Moon are among the best rock albums ever.
-Think the movie M*A*S*H is better than the TV series
-Pick up every stray coin I see on the ground.

 

[disneysteve]

I'm fine with tech but had too much trouble with on-line calendars. I don't know why but I really need the hard copy and I'd update the electronic and forget to update the paper version or vice versa.

I carried a pocket day planner calendar book until 2023 I think. Once I was down to only working once or twice a week I found I just didn’t need it anymore and finally switched to iPhone only bit I was a long holdout on that.

 

[disneysteve]

AOL email here too since 1994.

 

[Gumby]

Use only a paper calendar/planner.
Have rotary dial landline phones.
Have a doorbell with two actual tubular bells and an electromagnetic striker.
Shave with a straight razor.
Make my own soap.
Grow my own vegetables.
Pressure can my home grown vegetables.
Make and can my own chicken broth.
Play vinyl records.
Use paper maps.
Read only paper books.
File my taxes by US Mail.
Maintain a checkbook and register.
Have a pocket full of folding green in a clip.
Carry a pocket knife.
Polish my shoes.
Drive only manual transmission cars.
Do most of the maintenance on my cars.

 

[GrayHare]

(btw, Gumby posted that via Morse Code telegraph.)

 

[REWahoo]

Use only a paper calendar/planner.
Have rotary dial landline phones.
Have a doorbell with two actual tubular bells and an electromagnetic striker.
Shave with a straight razor.
Make my own soap.
Grow my own vegetables.
Pressure can my home grown vegetables.
Make and can my own chicken broth.
Play vinyl records.
Use paper maps.
Read only paper books.
File my taxes by US Mail.
Maintain a checkbook and register.
Have a pocket full of folding green in a clip.
Carry a pocket knife.
Polish my shoes.
Drive only manual transmission cars.
Do most of the maintenance on my cars.

At what point does one cross the line from being old fashioned to being a card-carrying Luddite? Asking for a guy I know on an internet forum...

 

[Gremlin]

Sticky notes on the refrigerator for appointment reminders. Th only full proof method I’ve found. Is that a reflection of my eating habits?

 

[Purslane]

The threads about check registers and balancing checkbooks got me thinking about this. Since we're mostly an older crowd here, what "old school" things do you still do that perhaps your kids (or grandkids) just roll their eyes about.

Landline phone - Honestly we only keep this because of my mother. Whenever she leaves us, we'll get rid of it.
Paper bills - I want to review a paper bill, not on my computer screen. Credit card bills get tax-related transactions highlighted for tax time reference. We are paperless for all investment statements except the bank statement which I use to balance my checkbook (see other thread).

I'm sure there are plenty of others but those are the first two that come to mind.

I would never have given up my landline. Phone company made me switch to internet based.

 

[reneeh63]

Still write down my grocery shopping list on paper as well as the order of the errands I'm running...and use post-its as reminders but along with notes/appts. in Google calendar (kind of like a belt + suspenders thing).

Just got a car with my first ever back-up camera (as well as blind spot cameras and all-around) - I don't know where to look now! ha So, I'm breaking that old-school method, and the car's an EV so I'm forced to learn all kinds of new stuff...maybe I'll put post-its on my first ever display in the car?

 

[audreyh1]

I’m married to an early adopter. Not much old school here!

We were both enginerds in a previous life anyway.

 

[More Cowbell]

I use the iPhone calendar, in conjunction with a paper planner, a tickler file and a 3 month per page wall calendar. The planner, tickler file and wall calendar are in my office.

I find that I remember better when I hand write appointments in the planner. However the iPhone calendar performs the actual alert when it’s time, plus it’s more legible than my handwriting these days!

 

[Alan]

Great list Gumby which I have shamelessly copied below.


Use only a paper calendar/planner. - Electronic for many years, well before I retired.

Have rotary dial landline phones. - No landline for at least 15 years

Have a doorbell with two actual tubular bells and an electromagnetic striker. - Yes, but it is a Nest video doorbell connected to the existing old doorbell

Shave with a straight razor. - No

Make my own soap. - No

Grow my own vegetables. - Yes

Pressure can my home grown vegetables. - No, we freeze all our excess vegetables

Make and can my own chicken broth. - No, we make our own soups using a modern soup maker using frozen vegetables

Play vinyl records. - No

Use paper maps. - No, not even when hiking these days, but do carry paper maps as a backup. (I download the detailed map of the area on the hiking app so no need for cell service)

Read only paper books. - Yes

File my taxes by US Mail. - No

Maintain a checkbook and register. - Yes

Have a pocket full of folding green in a clip. - No

Carry a pocket knife. - No

Polish my shoes. - Yes

Drive only manual transmission cars. - No

Do most of the maintenance on my cars. - No

 

[bbqcoder]

I use internet forums.

I find myself using FB groups more than the forums especially for some of my hobbies like motorcycles and cooking. It’s very easy to create events and to upload pictures/videos.

Same. I use my printer daily. I’m shocked when I read how many people don’t own a printer anymore.

I print a few times per month (recipes, prepaid mailing labels mostly). What are you printing on a daily basis?

-Still have an AOL email address
-Do regular maintenance checks on the thoroughly modern car-fluids, tire pressure and top off as needed
-Like Athena53, still write things down. Helps me remember them.
-Levi 501s are a part my wardrobe.
-Firmly believe that Led Zep 4, Sticky Fingers and Dark Side of the Moon are among the best rock albums ever.
-Think the movie M*A*S*H is better than the TV series
-Pick up every stray coin I see on the ground.

I don’t do tire pressures anymore because you can see the current pressures via TPMS on modern cars.

501s are a classic. I have some.

Those albums are good and I do listen to them occasionally but I made a point of listening to current stuff. It’s great being able to talk old/new music with my daughters.

Still write down my grocery shopping list on paper as well as the order of the errands I'm running...and use post-its as reminders but along with notes/appts. in Google calendar (kind of like a belt + suspenders thing).

I use Reminders & ToDo apps on my phone/computer for this stuff.

 

[old medic]

Great list Gumby which I have shamelessly copied below.

We have a lot in common with Gumby.
Use only a paper calendar/planner.- Easy to review your year
Make my own soap.- And candles too
Grow my own vegetables.- And process meat too.
Pressure can my home grown vegetables. Make and can my own chicken broth.- Pic worth a thousand words. Also a dehydrator and seriously thinking about a freeze dryer.
Play vinyl records.- I downsized our collection to just around 350 albums, couple hundred cassettes, dumped the 8-Tracks
Use paper maps.- We make our Grandson use Rand McNally to track and help plan our road trips.
Read only paper books.- Got a Library... including the Foxfire collection.
File my taxes by US Mail.- Up until 3 years ago
Maintain a checkbook and register.- Yup
Have a pocket full of folding green, Carry a pocket knife.- Got both if my pants are on
Polish my shoes.- Always when still working, Still keep one pair of boots spit-shined.
Drive only manual transmission cars.- Prefer to but leg injury now prevents it.

PLUS
Cut and split firewood, just switch to a hydraulic splitter 4 years ago.
Melt lead and cast bullets to reload.
I can sew some, But DW does a bunch of sewing, including making dresses. Made her own Wedding Gown.
Hang clothes out on a line.
Hand pick grapes fruits from the orchard next door and press for juice/cider/wine. Brew beer
Cook over fire with Cast Iron pots... One Dutch Oven was my Great Grandmothers.
Bake Bread Still use my Grandmothers Hand Kneading bucket

 

[DrRoy]

Printed books.

 

[audreyh1]

Just like we cut out most mail, we cut out as much paper as possible years ago and rarely print anything these days. However we still have printers. One is a copier and scanner too.

Almost never buy a printed book - also got rid of most books years ago and all the magazines. Have been reading ebooks since 2010.

 

[Midpack]

We’re mostly early adopters too. Only things I can think of:

• We still enjoy having the ability to DIY all sorts of things, where most of my peers and younger neighbors “call a guy.”
• We’ve eliminated paper from our lives wherever possible, but for some reason I still use recipes on paper when I cook - probably because I’d rather spill on paper than my iPad?
• I still prefer reading hard copy books, though I never buy them anymore, all checked out from the public library.

Paper maps? Wow!

 

[audreyh1]

I remember finally getting rid of our big Delorme state atlas books we used in our full-time motorhoming days. We had a nice big Garmin GPS for the motorhome which we kept updated but those atlases were still handy planning our birding excursions. Got rid of all that stuff including the Garmins by the mid 2010s as phones were so good by then and very convenient out hiking with downloaded maps.

For printing: the most likely thing I print is sheet music for the piano, or the occasional recipe. I never print financial docs unless I have to mail something in.

I have a stack of printed recipes in the pantry. I have a nice set of cookbooks (culled down to the best) but almost never use them anymore. I’m much more likely to look up a recipe online these days, thus the occasional print. I have a large set of saved recipes on my laptop including my own cookbooks I created years ago.

 

[Retired Expat]

AOL email here too since 1994.

Had a client whose email was something like #4@aol.com. I couldn’t believe my wealthy high tech client used AOL still so asked him. Seems he was behind the start up of aol and had the forth account ever issued.