I recently came across an article on Mother Nature Network that discussed things our grandparents did that we all could take a lesson from, especially the ones that helped conserve personal and natural resources. It got me thinking about things my grandparents (and parents for that matter) did that I really need to rediscover and recommit to.
When you think about it, our parent and grandparents did many “eco-friendly” things long before we knew our ecosystem even needed a friend! Just one more example of “everything old becomes new again.”
17 Eco-Friendly Things Our Grandparents Used to Do
1. Dried Clothes on a Clothesline
Clothes dryers have come a long way in energy efficiency over recent years, but the average dryer is still an energy hog. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “the biggest way to cut the environmental impact of cleaning clothes is to stop using a clothes dryer.”
Clothes last longer when they are consistently air dried, and on top of that, is there anything better than sheets and pillowcases hung in the sun to dry? I rest my case.
2. Grew Their Own Food
Not only is there an incredible sense of accomplishment in growing your own fruits and vegetables, but you can also avoid pesticides and control the types of seeds and transplants that you sow and grow, like heirloom varieties. My grandparents ALWAYS grew their own food—all you need to do it is soil, water, and sun!
3. Preserved Their Own Food
Canning the food you grow in your garden is a great way to preserve them without having to invest in an enormous freezer. I would love to have a “root cellar” full of home-canned goods like my grandmother did. Very little food was wasted back then, and if people today preserved even a fraction of the food our parents and grandparents did, there would be a lot less food going to waste today.
4. Collected Rainwater
A rain barrel will save most homeowners about 1,300 gallons of water during the peak summer months. And diverting water from storm drains can alleviate stressed water systems and conserve limited resources, especially if you live in an arid climate like I do.
Note: Several states have rainwater collection laws, including Colorado, Illinois, Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, and Virginia. Most states’ laws outline allowable methods for collecting and using rainwater, while prohibiting people from “diverting water” in large quantities or selling rainwater without proper treatment.
5. Cooked at Home
Nothing beats a home-cooked meal, and preparing your own food is good for the environment and your wallet alike. Home cooking typically uses fewer packaged ingredients, which conserves resources like paper and plastic.
And if you buy those ingredients from local farmers or grow your own, you’ll make an even bigger impact on the environment by significantly reducing the number of miles your food has to travel to get to your plate.
6. Saved Eating Out for Special Occasions
In the modern era, it’s not uncommon for people to eat out several times each week, but for our grandparents, eating out was saved for special occasions. Even fast food, which wasn’t as common back then, was considered a treat. (I remember my parents used to pack food for our road trips, and we’d stop to eat our meals at roadside picnic tables.)
7. Entertained at Home
Today we spend plenty of time and money on going out. Our grandparents spent more time outdoors during the day, and in the evenings were devoted to board games, reading, and other hobbies. Going to the movies or to a concert was considered a rare luxury.
By finding more free activities to do and family activities you can do at home, you can save a lot of money and get more quality time with the people you love!
8. Drank Water from the Tap
When our grandparents were thirsty, they got their water from the tap instead a plastic bottle shipped from who knows where. Bottled water would have seemed a ridiculous notion 100 years ago, but today it’s everywhere you go.
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9. “Brown Bagged” It
When grandpa or grandma went to work, they brought a packed lunch from home, and it’s still a great way to reduce food waste and conserve resources! Fast food and fast casual restaurants often serve meals in single-use packaging that ends up in a landfill. With little effort, taking lunch to work can be easy, inexpensive, healthy, and green.
10. Played More Games
Hopscotch, red light/green light, jacks, hide and seek, roller skating, tag—the list of outdoor games goes on and on. Being outdoors helps children connect with nature and the environment around them, and outdoor play develops disposition for the outdoors, for physical activity, and for care of the environment.
11. Bought Less
Our grandparents didn’t buy nearly as many new things as we do today. If something had a hole in it, it wasn’t thrown out–it was patched or mended. Christmas and birthday gifts were often homemade, and things were frequently handed down from child to child. These practices not only saved money, but they were eco-friendly too.
12. Spent More Time Outdoors
In our grandparents’ day, being indoors meant you were grounded or sick. The outdoors was everyone’s playground from dawn ‘til dusk! Especially in the age of smartphones and tablets, spending time in nature is a great way for everyone in your family to take a break from screens.
13. Cultivated Community
Before Facebook, texting, and email, Grandma and Grandpa just talked to people face to face. Research shows that connecting with people around you makes you healthier and boosts your lifespan and gathering on front porches creates a feeling of community and family.
14. Used Home Remedies
Many of us have been taught home remedies that have been passed down from generation to generation. Learn how to combat a cold with garlic, ginger, and onions, or soothe a bug bite with lavender essential oil or a plantain poultice.
15. Made Their Own Cleaning Products
Our grandparents used basic cleaning agents to keep their homes clean, and they still work just as well today. In fact, baking soda, vinegar, lemon, castile soap, and essential oils can cover most of your cleaning needs.
16. Used Public Transportation, Rode Bikes, and Walked
It was common for many of our grandparents to walk or bike to and from work, and more people used public transportation because they didn’t have a car to drive. People took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked, and if we drove less today, we could save money and help the environment.
17. Recycled
Our grandparents may not have had a recycling center in town, but they knew how to make something into something else. Dresses became quilts, and milk bottles and soft drink bottles were returned to the store to be washed, sterilized, and reused. Everything had a secondary use and nothing was thrown away until it simply couldn’t be reused again.
Did you pick up any environmentally friendly habits from your parents or grandparents?
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This is an old post concerning the “old” days where our grandparents, our parents and us did most of what’s written here.
I still–over 50 years–hang laundry outside. I still do most of what’s written here, with the exception of raising chickens or cattle. I don’t can my food. I grow food then blanch and freeze.
We no longer have a milkman; that was when I was in grammar school.
And that reminds me: A few years ago, someone here wanted to know where to get the clothespins that have a hook on them so you’re not putting the actual clothespin on the line.
The company was located in Maine. The name of the clothespins and the company is: Penley…made in Penley Maine.
I had a photo of the package, but I must have deleted it.
Etsy sells clothespins, but not this one.
Thanks for a trip down memory lane…
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My Grandmother had rain barrel, grew most of & made all her food from scratch. She was a fabulous cook, too! She lived in an urban area but had a large fenced-in backyard where she had chickens & grew her garden. They kept a watch dog that was part sled dog who came in only when it was very cold. She made all of her own clothes without a pattern & presents to the family were either canned food, or children’s clothes she had made. She had one of those sewing machines that had a large pedal that you worked with your feet, & it was in front of a west-facing window, so she would sew in the afternoon. She knitted & crocheted as well. Her one fault was that she used moth balls in her closets- I hated the smell!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.trouble is people are far less friendly than they used to be
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Like Corinne, many of these things are normal to me. I don’t have a clothes dryer, bottle (can) produce, make jam (jelly), drink tap water, use vinegar for cleaning, and so on. I live in New Zealand and it seems that more and more people here are going back to the “old” sustainable ways. It’s cheaper too!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I recycle/reuse, cook and entertain at home, brown bag meals, wear consignment shop clothes, have a rain barrel, and drink tap water every day. It never occurred to me these things were noteworthy vs simply normal.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Recycle articles that are over 7 yrs old.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I enjoyed this entire list and the photos. I remember as a kid sitting on the front porch with my grandmother, my next door neighbor, her rabbit and our family dog (this isn’t a typo.) We’d sit together talking and laughing. It wasn’t unusual for friends and neighbors to stop by and join us.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.There were no convenience grocery items. We cut our own melons and other produce. We made salads without the 5 small individual ingredient bags. We made our own salad dressings.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.While these are good ideas, not all of them are practicable, especially with most mothers working outside the home. Housewives who performed the above activities certainly “worked”, although feminists refuse to recognize that fact. In addition, do you know that in some jurisdictions it is illegal to collect rain water? Where we live, rainwater belongs to the state, which considers it necessary for adequate storm sewer drainage.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jillee, you are on target! We have become a consumer driven society. As a whole, we buy something only to throw it away later. It’s not just the landfills that we are filling, it’s the air or water pollution that was generated in creating and shipping those temporary must haves. Think of all the potential retirement money one might have had they resisted an impulse buy over the years!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jo, you are so right. We are all guilty of impulse buys… but hopefully I have offered ways for people to help our environment and bring back some of the traditions our parents had. :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This is so much fun going back and re-reading comments. Both of my parents grew up during the depression. Mom was born close to the end. She and her siblings when we see them talk about all the games they would play – a lot of them were outside. My Grandpa loved to go hunting. They did and still do in parts of Utah have a few days off school for this. Both families had Gardens. My dads family had a farm. His Dad actually taught school and they didn’t rely on the farm for income. Both of my Grandmas were the type that would mend clothes until they wore out or make a lot of their own clothes. All of our houses we’ve lived we have always had a Garden. The house we grew up in didn’t have much space for one. So they actually had and I think still do in some parts of Denver had community garden areas for gardens. Since many of the houses just don’t have much yard space for one.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You can’t reuse coffee grounds for drinking. There fore, the author is really not familiar with the hardships of her ancestors.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sure you can. As they dry a little stir them to keep loose – add fresh grounds the next day and you’re good to go. You can reuse tea bags too – we did when I was a child. People today don’t but it’s not because you can’t.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My grandmother re-used teabags. It used to irritate my father because he thought it inferred that my grandmother didn’t think he could afford another teabag for the next cup of tea.
Roxanne- that’s news to me since I do it all the time! Plus putting coffee grounds into my garden works wonders.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have a small 4 cup coffee maker, and I’m the only one that uses it. When I’m done, I rinse the pot and leave on the counter with the lid open to air dry. I also open the lid where the coffee grounds are to air out. I add more coffee the next day, since I know the original grounds still have a lot of flavor to give off. BTW It’s therefore.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I thoroughly enjoyed this article. Thanks for going to the trouble of collecting the old photos. God bless you, Jillee!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I did see this on it’s “original” site (who knows anymore?) and checked all the boxes so I had a good laugh. Here’s where I had my personal ah-ha, though, and it made me a little sad: I hadn’t realized how far our culture had gotten away from these ideals.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.“Community” is way too far down the list, and it belongs at #1. It all starts there.
Thanks for the lovely community you’ve created, Jillee!
Such a great read, thank you. If we would do just a few of these items today, we’d not have to worry about the environment, our diet, our health, our children, or our money, as much as we do now. I remember my Nana and Granddaddy living just like this and wondering when they would, “modernize.” They never did.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When I was growing up, my mother saved boxes — cereal boxes I especially remember . . to use as boxes for Christmas presents. No fancy bags or pre fab boxes. We would laugh when opening presents, finding cereal boxes or shoe boxes or whatever she had stashed away. My kids don’t appreciate this. ha ha ha ha
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I take exception to those who say our life is too busy to be green – that we have to use convenience items. We are too busy because of the choices we make. We have to work 2 jobs in order to afford the house, neighborhood, lifestyle. Our parents lived according to their means. My grandmother raised 7 children, worked on the farm, helped slaughter the food, planted, harvested, canned, and cooked every meal. She cleaned, did laundry in the wash tub, hung it out to dry – for 9 people. She went to church taking the family with her. They all helped and knew it was part of life. Items were save and recycled.
My parents brought up 4 children and managed to live on my father’s salary. They didn’t use credit. If they didn’t have the money, it didn’t get bought until they did. We played outside and were allowed to watch tv each night after dinner and after homework, if we weren’t sent out to play until dark. Tin foil and plastic bags were washed and reused. Not a twist tie or rubber band was ever thrown away. The grape vine provided dessert. We wore hand me downs and were grateful for the “new” clothes. We had a wringer washer and clothes were hung out. Heavy drapes were hung in doorways to keep the heat in the room and we wore sweaters in the house. We always sat down to dinner as a family.
It was hard to get my kids to go along with the program because of peer pressure, but we didn’t have much expendable income beyond the basics so they dealt with it. And as I reflect on how they are living as adults, they have also chosen simpler lifestyles. Small, but adequate homes for their families, growing gardens that feed not only them but in the case of my son who is a chef, provides much of the fresh produce he uses at work.
Thanks, Jillee, for reminding us to keep on protecting our earth and its resources.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You filled in the details of my life, my parent’s life & my grandparents! We lived very frugally back then . My mother did buy things in the grocery store, but would check the ingredients. If any food item contained artificial color, flavor or preservatives, she wouldn’t buy it. She said they were no good for you. Her friends would laugh at her that she was so strict, but she didn’t care. She taught us to be wary of TV commercials- that companoies would lie. It’s funny- as a kid I would see my friends eating Wonder Bread & felt so jealous I was not allowed to. This was during the 50’s & 60’s. She would write to every President, starting with Eisenhower, asking them to look into our tainted food supply & outlaw chemicals, but never heard back. She bought milk from a dairy farmer she trusted not to feed his cows junk & had an egg man who also delivered vegetables that were grown without pesticides. This was before the “organic movement”. She taught us to read labels & stay away from junk food. She cooked home made food every day of her life.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Love these old time money/economy savers. A few I still use but, mostly because I didn’t have the money to spend frivolously. [and was too cheap to give my hard earned money to others to get rich]. I also use motion detector night lights throughout the house rather than turn on high costing light bulbs. I also found the solar powered lights can be placed in the bathroom for a night time light. Any place really. I also leave one in the kitchen for my 17.5 year old kitty so he can drink from the sink. [he’s losing his sight so a little light helps]
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I make things out of laundry boxes, coffee cans, pickle bottles. I cook at home most nights. I make jelly and grow a garden. I think everybody in the South does most of these things listed.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Loved the simplicity of this article. I’m not sure who audience you’re trying reach is, but I assume it’s not a very diverse one. A simple suggestion I have would’ve been to include people of color in the pictures of “grandparents.” I think the choice of photos makes just as big as a statement as the actual writing content… it truly does make a difference and doesn’t perpetuate a certain narrow-minded narrative of “the good ole days.” Also, many of these suggestions assume that people have leisure time to do these things. I know that sounds dismissive, but I think a reason why we don’t do many of these things is because of convenience and adaption to mostly a demanding work life. But I will assume we know all these things and the format of this was also just for convenience. But nevertheless, I do appreciate these great reminders of how we can all be green in the 21st century!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi Niq! I provide simple tips everyday – not all of them will be applicable to every single person. If you don’t have the time for these tips, then you’re sure to find other posts on my site that will work for your life. :-)
I love your suggestion to include more people of color in the photos that I chose, thank you for bringing that to my attention. :-) Thanks for stopping by!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I like how you referred to your frugal ways as contributing a grain of sand to the welfare of the world. I hope all of us contribute a grain of sand….what a lovely beach that would be!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love this article! And the photos are treasures in and of themselves! My parents were about 20 years older than those of my friends, so I grew up accustomed to frugal habits they picked up during the depression and living on farms. However, my mother was thrilled with the labor saving things available in the 50’s and 60’s because she worked full time. The pressure cooker, the washing machine and dryer, and the supermarket with everything under one roof were her friends. One thing missing: the library! While we had a few permanent items on our bookshelves, most of our reading materials were checked out at the local library. That included records, art works, and periodicals too. While we did get the local paper every day, my dad would either pass it on to a neighbor or relative, or reuse it in many different ways. To this day, I am an avid reader who uses the library constantly, either on line, in person, or by taking classes. I believe the public library is an under appreciated community resource as well as a cornerstone of democracy. Without the written word where would we be?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Visiting the library is a great addition to this list! Thanks Mary Anne!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Loved this post. Although I use a few of these (make my own cleaning products, can/feeze foods, love leftovers for work meals) ideas, I wish I/we used them more, if not just for our environment. Thanks for this insightful post & reminders.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Yes I remember those good old Days. We need to get back to that. I try by canning and making my potions and cleaning cocktails but I’m one person. We don’t eat out much. My children are raised and on their own. I’ve passed all these good old qualities to them. Pass the word. Amen and I’ll second that notion!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.To each of these things I replied “STILL DO” do you.
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