What "old school" things do you still do?

[steady saver]

Wow, 7 pages of responses!! I didn't read them all...
I love old and new school. A few "old school" things I do:

1. write letters
2. can pickles, salsa, make sauerkraut
3. make jelly out of wild mustang grapes
4. make soap
5. make bone broth from beef bones, chicken stock from chicken carcass
6. make sourdough bread (I have a starter that has been going 38 years)
7. play board games
8. make good use of the public library
9. have a vegetable garden
10. sit down to home cooked dinner most every night

I do "new school" too obviously...but I do enjoy the satisfaction of doing things that are either predictable (do it on an annual basis, based on the season year after year) and are also hands on activities that require physical work and/or human interaction.

 

[audreyh1]

Not sure if this was mentioned yet, but we still get our TV with an antenna. It is HD and beautiful. 45 miles from the bradcasters, so have a huge antenna strapped to the chimney.

ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, WE and the lots of others such as Cozi and MeTV.

Have an old school Tivo DVR attached for time shifting and recording.

This is 100% free HD TV. I paid for the Antenna and Tivo wit lifetime subscription years ago.

At some point Tivo will go under, but there are other options now that can record off the air.

Oh,and yes, we have the old rotary landline, which also works just fine.

Oh and an old school rolodex with phone numbers in it going back 35 years.

Except for PBS we came to hate the US broadcast TV channels. Good shows were rare. Annoying laugh tracks on sitcoms. Often predictable repetitive plots. Tons and tons of ads with content time constantly shrinking. Cable was a little better, and really got better for the movie channels that had no ads and then started developing their own series. But you still had to learn and keep up with their schedule. Streaming is such a blessing and such a relief! I love on demand programming and not having to deal with a recording device.

 

[skipro33]

I drive a stick shift pick up truck, learned how in high school drivers training in 1972.
I learned how to touch type in the 8th grade and still prefer a full keyboard to hunt-n-peck from my phone.
I mow my lawn with a manual rotary mower, no motor.
I use the Farmers Almanac for planting, fishing and weather info.
I do not have or even know about tik Tok, but coin, Instagram.
I will not text with family, it's a phone call or nothing at all.
I wear the same clothes I did in highschool, graduation 1974; Levi 501's, White T-shirt, Bates Floaters shoes. Even better, I wear the same size now at 68 that I did at 16 for my 501's; 34 waist, 36 length.
I wear a watch and I'm the only one in our 4 generation family that does.

 

[Ronstar]

^ A manual rotary mower. That's perfect. My grandfather had one. Sharp as a knife.

 

[Catkins]

We fix and mend rather than replace.

 

[old medic]

Maps are an endangered species.

Just bought a new Atlas last year to replace the one we had (Copy Right 1981) Fun to compare.
We also have a couple of state "Gazetteer" state map books... love them.

 

[dheb]

I cut firewood, split it with a maul, stack it in a dry woodshed, and burn it in my wood stove. I'm seriously old school.

 

[Koolau]

I cut firewood, split it with a maul, stack it in a dry woodshed, and burn it in my wood stove. I'm seriously old school.

Ah, the good old days. When during oil-shock one ca 1974 our propane went from 17 cents/gallon to $1.20/gallon, I figured out how to cut trees, split wood by hand, store enough for the winter, use the forced air setting on the thermo to circulate the heat, etc. Amazing what you can learn when you have to. Heh heh, to me it was "new school."

 

[Happily Retired 2019]

Still on AOL, use a calculator, have a paper planner, read paper books and newspapers, have checkbook with registry, plan menus and shopping lists on paper, make lists for daily activities on paper, iron clothes

 

[rembrandt]

I remember when we used to order TripTik's for driving directions for a vacation. I think they took about 2 weeks to arrive. Far cry from today's instant GPS.

 

[Walt34]

I remember when we used to order TripTik's for driving directions for a vacation. I think they took about 2 weeks to arrive. Far cry from today's instant GPS.

And you still had to carry a map in case you deliberately missed a turn (to go see something) or accidentally missed it and went off the "trail".

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

I listen to almost all my music from either a 60gB or 160gB iPod.
To me, that's still kind of new-fangled, but to the younger people at my w*rkplace and on other Internet forums, that's considered "old-school".

 

[imjustawarrior]

I enjoy sweeping with a wood handled straw broom. I find it relaxing. I have my trusty two cycle blower, but I find using a broom soothing.

I also enjoy using hand saws to trim trees and cutting up large branches. No power tools here. There is no need to go to the gym when I can saw for a couple of hours.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

I enjoy sweeping with a wood handled straw broom. I find it relaxing. I have my trusty two cycle blower, but I find using a broom soothing.

I also enjoy using hand saws to trim trees and cutting up large branches. No power tools here. There is no need to go to the gym when I can saw for a couple of hours.

I'm the same way with raking leaves and shovelling snow. I enjoy raking leaves with a good old-fashioned leaf rake. And I don't mind shovelling snow. While my neighbors will wait until the snow piles up to 6-9" (or more!) and then bring out their snowblowers, sometimes I'll go out there every 2-3 inches and just clear the driveway & sidewalks with a shovel while it's light and easy. Unless we get dumped on overnight while I'm asleep. Then the snowblower comes out.

 

[imjustawarrior]

I'm the same way with raking leaves and shovelling snow. I enjoy raking leaves with a good old-fashioned leaf rake. And I don't mind shovelling snow. While my neighbors will wait until the snow piles up to 6-9" (or more!) and then bring out their snowblowers, sometimes I'll go out there every 2-3 inches and just clear the driveway & sidewalks with a shovel while it's light and easy. Unless we get dumped on overnight while I'm asleep. Then the snowblower comes out.
View attachment 54066

I guess I should have added that I also like to shovel snow, rake leaves, and dethatch yard using good old fashioned hand tools.

I also hand sharpen all my tools, knives, scissors, and such using whet stones, flint, and files. I like to sit on the back patio after working in the yard with a cold drink in the shade and sharpen for a while. I find it relaxing and satisfying.

 

[Gumby]

I always hand shovel my 130 foot long driveway.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

I always hand shovel my 130 foot long driveway.

I usually do, too. Unless we get that 17" dumping-on like shown in the photo above. (keep in mind that there are 11" tall tires on that snowblower that are barely visible!)
Funny thing, we had gotten 8" of wet, heavy snow the previous night, so I had to get the snowblower out 2 mornings in a row. But at least I took care of the 8" before the 17" showed up the next night. Some people didn't and regretted it.

 

[sdawson]

Oh yeah, somebody mentioned home haircuts. We found one of those Wahl hair cutting kits at Goodwill 10 years ago, and it took a few tries for my wife to figure it out, but I'm easy. So have not paid for hair cuts in 10 years, and as they are $30 dollars now! and I need one every 6 weeks --- well it has saved us a lot of money.

Is having your wife cut your hair old school?

But this is not a two way street -- she still goes to the hair dresser for her hair cuts -- which is likely for the better.

 

[Car-Guy]

All of these are true, "except one". Care to guess which one I don't have?

I still have a VHS VCR
I still have a Betamax VCR
I still have a dot matrix printer
I still have a 1800's 22 rim fire rifle
I still have a a CRT TV
I still have a 1962 Volkswagon
I still have a 1893s Silver Dollar
I still have a pre pentium desktop
I still have an 8088 processor
I still have a a rotary dial phone
I still have a cassette tape recorder
I still have an Atari 2600
I still have a VIC 20
I still have a turntable
I still have an I-Omega disk drive
I still have a 50+ year old switch blade
I still have WW2 gun powder
I still have 5 1/4" floppy disks

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

All of these are true, "except one". Care to guess which one I don't have?

I still have a VHS VCR
I still have a Betamax VCR
I still have a dot matrix printer
I still have a 1800's 22 rim fire rifle
I still have a a CRT TV
I still have a 1962 Volkswagon
I still have a 1893s Silver Dollar
I still have a pre pentium desktop
I still have an 8088 processor
I still have a a rotary dial phone
I still have a cassette tape recorder
I still have an Atari 2600
I still have a VIC 20
I still have a turntable
I still have an I-Omega disk drive
I still have a 50+ year old switch blade
I still have WW2 gun powder
I still have 5 1/4" floppy disks

I'm guessing this is a trick question... I say the 1962 Volkswagen.

 

[Car-Guy]

Dang, that was quick, and correct.

You probably have read enough of my posts to know I would have never owned a VW.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Dang, that was quick, and correct.

You probably have read enough of my posts to know I would have never owned a VW.

I'm a "Car-Guy", too. (I've never owned a VW, either)
Plus, you spelled Volkswagen incorrectly.

 

[Car-Guy]

I'm guessing this is a trick question... I say the 1962 Volkswagen.

I'm a "Car-Guy", too. (I've never owned a VW, either)
Plus, you spelled Volkswagen incorrectly.

bingo,

 

[Koolau]

I remember when we used to order TripTik's for driving directions for a vacation. I think they took about 2 weeks to arrive. Far cry from today's instant GPS.

View attachment 54065

Mine were more like a week turn around. Those TripTiks were really good with very current cone-zone info. I miss 'em but I dropped AAA when I signed up for road assistance with my car insurance.

 

[1242Vintage]

My “old school” behavior is mostly from what I observed from how my Dad treated Mom.

Brought flowers on Friday afternoon, always opened the car door for her, called when he was working long hours to make sure she was OK. Cooked meals when he could to give Mom a break. Date nites. I do the same.