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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Awesome publish, definitely regret not planning towards the USO style dinner. Keep up the superior operate!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.A couple of years ago I bought a dehumidifier after my house had a small flood. To my delight, it keeps my house cooler and I use the collected water for my plants.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I send my trash to a landfill to make that big hill bigger. Is that recycling?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Most of us do but just don’t admit to it. Thanks for the honesty!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I live in Canada where it always snows. Even in June so going outside and growing food in the backyard is not really an option haha
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If you are keen and can afford the initial cost, you can consider growing vegetable or herb garden indoor in a glasshouse with led lighting arrangements, porous soils with liquid minerals and so on.. these are practices which are being pursued..
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Oh come on, surely there are snow free days where you live? I lived in Alaska for years, about 8 hours from the geographic north pole. I had a vegetable and flower garden, and harvested plenty of food. Yes, the season was short and my tomatoes often froze on the vine, but with some effort and a greenhouse that wouldn’t have happened.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just had to add my 2 cents about hanging laundry. I live on the Gulf coast and the spring, summers and fall weather is so warm that the hung laundry dries quickly. I started hanging the clothes about 20 years ago when I decided I didn’t want to pay the electric company money for doing what the sun does for free. Unfortunately, there is a train line running behind the property and the clothes smelled awful from the train fumes. My solution- I have the self-standing portable clothes closets and some clothes drying racks out in the garage. I hang everything out there, summer or winter and when dry, run it all thru the drier’s fluff cycle [no heat]. This gets rid of the dust and pet fur that did not come out in the wash as well as softening the clothes [think denim] and towels.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jillee I love your posts and I appreciate all the feedback from others too. Going green! I don’t like all the ads we get that are “glossy” they don’t break down in the compost very well and takes a very long time. I use lots of plain newspaper in the garden rows and arond bushes and plants to keep the weeds down and cover them with mulch to hold in place. At the end of the season, just rototill them into the soil or cover with another layer in the spring. Glass is sooooo much better than plastic. Plastic can only be recycled so much and most of it ends up in the dump and it does not break down very well either. Glass is heavy, but you can recycle it over and over into anything. Plastic retains the taste of what was in the container and most should not be reused either. Styrofoam when heating leftovers can make you sick also as it is distorted. I can remember the big bins of food that you scooped out what you needed and placed in jars at home. All that packaging just goes to waste, maybe some is recycled. Plastic grocery bags can be used to line garbage cans and etc that has been pointed out, IF they are not so thin and have holes in them. I worry that my groceries will end up on the floor because of this so I too use cloth. Meat should be put in plastic and discarded and not be reused because of contamination period. I read where many said of the bacteria, etc on food containers and carts. Do you have carpeting in your house? There are at least 400 more bacteria in your carpet than on your toilet stool. Many don’t wash their veggies when bought from prepackages in the store, lettuce, spinach, etc and then they don’t know why they got sick. Add a little vinegar to water and soak, not only cleans the veggies, but removes the pesticides. If they are from your own garden and hopefully you didn’t add any pesticides, you will only consume a little dirt!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My parents grew up in the depression. My father became a physician after WWII with the help of the GI Bill. They never lost sight of the leaner times. My father changed his own oil until he couldn’t physically do it anymore. My mother always canned but on the weekends only because she had a career. They had very little “free time”, they always had something constructive to do. They volunteered and wrote plenty of checks to charity. They had what we used to call a “social conscience”, a desire to pay back for the bounty they had been fortunate enough to have. They kept cars until they had a lot of miles on them. My father said “the next mile is cheaper than the one you are on now” and “repairs are always cheaper than payments”. They were very wise but I didn’t see it then, now at 56 I wish I had followed their examples sooner.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Too bad collecting rainwater is illegal in many states! Yes- you heard that right .Fortunately I live in a state where it is legal
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Please be careful to read the entire text The laws protect people from doing harm to themselves or others and DO NOT restrict collecting. Read the next paragraph in the article. I can see people making another urban legend that Swopes has to debug from not reading the full text ERead what it said next! Ut is not illegal but protects people from harm. Note: Several states have introduced rainwater collection laws, including Colorado, Illinois, Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington and Virginia. However, these laws don’t prohibit the collection of rainwater but rather outline allowable collection methods and usage. The regulations are there to prevent people from ‘diverting water’ in large quantities, as well as to prevent the sale of rainwater for drinking without proper treatment.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.As a child of the 70’s I definitely have a lot of these memories. It seems like the 80’s was the decade when things started to change. I was just telling someone the other day that my grandmother would take old soap slivers and put them in a glass mason jar with water. We would use this just like liquid soap.With her being a teenager during the Depression she found many inventive ways to reuse and recycle things around the house.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am definitely one of those 20 somethings who grew up in the generation of convenience food and and the not so natural life style. As a parent of 2 beautiful children now, I am trying to do as much as I can to save money and resources while trying to provide the healthiest (without being a germ freak, definitely believe in building up the immune system :) I love learning about all the “old School” ways that my parents didn’t really use. I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog Jillee, your recipes and DIY stuff is GREAT!! thank you!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am 27 with two kids and we homeschool, most of the stuff on the list are things we do or are in the process of doing at our home. We are lucky ( unlucky in some peoples eyes) we live an hour from the nearest town in the middle of nowhere in the country. We use a clothesline year around, can what we can, and reuse anything i can. My landlord just last week was cleaning a rent house and gave us a bunch of shelves some might throw away but were perfect for us in our garage. I love your site and keeps them coming. I learned all my money saving stuff from my Nanny and now she calls me when she needs helps or wants to know a good homemade cleaner or beauty treatment.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great article I live in the UK and most of the ideas we do anyway like hanging clothes outdoors on a washing line, drinking tap water, saving water to water the garden veggies (I cant believe its illegal to collect rain water in some states) and making house old cleaners (baking soda has so many uses)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Here in the UK we seem to have a throw away culture (bin it and but new) but I believe its because of all the adverts (commercials) telling us to buy this and buy that (its all about the economy the more we spend the better the economy) as for going green is becoming cool again don’t make me laugh here in the UK we are led to believe being cool is driving a Ferrari and living in a million pound house and working 14 hour days to pay for it all (which in my eyes is not cool) and going green is seen as being a cheap skate, its only the tree huggers that can get away with it without ridicule from your neighbors.
Someone else may have mentioned it already, but our Grandparents also used cloth diapers. I admit, there are a LOT of expensive cloth diapers out there, and the concept of washing them out isn’t appealing to most people, but from a person who’s done both, it really isn’t all that bad. Our Health Department has a Cloth Diaper bank for mothers who are interested in saving money. I received some of these and they are the kitchen tea towels found at Walmart. For the cover, some talented ladies sewed up some velcro waterproof polyurethane covers. Most city ordinances want you to flush the No. 2 mattern down the toilet anyway, and how many people do that? Diapers are expensive! When you wash and line dry them, you’ve always got them on hand, and ready to go.
Also, (I realize that this is a hot button topic, and I’m not trying to stir up controversy, so please don’t start a conflict on this thread, that’s not my intention with this post) Our grandmothers breastfed their babies! Have you seen the price of formula these days? I realize that not everyone can, but when they could, they did! It was a very common practice that I think people overlook because it seems too difficult or weird. Just some things to think about..
Our Grandparents were genius when it came to pinching pennies. It’s a shame our culture has become so wasteful with our way of living. Over the last few years I’ve personally tried to cut the waste one way or another. Love the list, Jillee! Thanks for reminding us that living simple is a whole lot cheaper, and doggone it, I think more family fun!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I agree with the breastfeeding! Yes, I understand that it is not possible for some mothers, but I will never understand why people think it’s weird when that is how God designed it. I don’t know when formula feeding became a “thing”, but i’m pretty sure it was within the last century. There is so much evidence about the health benefits for babies (reducing allergies and boosting immune system, among others) and I know there are adoptive mothers who get breastmilk from milk banks for their babies for that very reason. Of course, you can pump and freeze breastmilk for times when you aren’t available to nurse, are sick, working, or other situations. Not having to carry around bottles and formula and wash the bottles and nipples later is so freeing. There’s is so much support and education available today for moms who want to try breastfeeding.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.awesome post Jillee! I remember all of these and still put most of them in practice today. My only question is – where did you get that beautiful clothesline photo! Thank you ever so much for all you wonderful advice – enjoy reading your blog all the time.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If I could only convince my HOA that clotheslines are not ugly. I love the smell of sheets dried in the fresh air!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Same issues here with HOA…there could be standards in place to keep the clothesline’s from being ugly! The benefits are many to our environment and health! Blessings!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.i did also all this things and do them as much as i can :)
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Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just want to say it is no longer safe to drink water from the tap in cities and municipal areas. They now put fluoride in the water which is poisonous to us. Not only just the fluoride, they also put other toxic chemicals in the water too like estrogen, blood pressure medications, tranquilizers, etc. Even drinking bottled water is not that safe either but it is really the only other choice city dwellers have unless they are lucky to know someone who has their own well or spring in the country that they are able to go collect water from or know of a natural spring. Even collecting rain water is not safe because of the pollutants in the air and the ozone layer.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m sure we all feel much better after that cheery news, Serenity. I was going to go take my daily medications, but now that I’ve heard your news, I don’t have to bother getting down those pesky pills, I’ll just have a glass of tap water!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve researched this topic and it is said to be safer drinking tap water rather than bottled. The main problem with tap water is that you are supposed to run the faucet for at least a minute before filling a glass for drinking due to lead in the pipes. This is also a waste of water just going down the sink.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I agree that drinking tap water is no longer safe. To many contaminants. Even micro plastics! I have gallon jugs that I refill with filtered water from the store. Doesn’t cost much and is so much healthier.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great job on this article, Jillee! This really inspires me to help the new generation of parents today re-capture the simple pleasures of previous generations. I love to share ideas like this on my website frugalgreenbaby.com. When our grandparents raised our parents, so many of the ‘necessities’ today would have been considered wasteful and just plain ridiculous! I love embracing new technology and opportunities, which keeping traditional ways alive. Thanks again for sharing and reminding us!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m a sleep deprived new mother as well- I meant *while instead of *which! haha. Hopefully you understood me! Thanks again for all your great articles :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We made big lovely grocery bags and refrigerator bags out of all sarees and dupatta. My granny made me stitch them (under supervision ofcourse) just so that I have my lessons in reusing and sewing. We made lovely duster cloth out if old sheets, potato and onions storage bags out of pillow cases and last but not the least using veg peels and used tea leaves in the garden. Simply added them to the pots or planters and they got converted into manure in a matter of days. Made lots of door mats too out of old worn out clothes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love this list our family does them all! We get the family together to do canning on the weekends, hunt and fish, garden etc. not only to save money but to maintain some self sufficiency. I am proud that I can make meals entirely from vegetables & meat we harvested as a family.
For those with allergies depending on tge severityyiu may try drying items on the clothesline & then putting them in the dryer for at least 10 minutes on low heat. My allergist suggested it & it helps. He said 10 minutes in the dryer will kill dust mites & will allow time for most of the allergens to be sucked out. It’s worth a try, 10 minutes or an hour.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Wonderful post today! I also was raised to live a greatful life of simplicity. Loved it and so glad my dear talented mother taught me these things and more…calligraphy, sewing, crocheting, roller skating, love of reading a good book, Chinese jump roping, piano playing, writing in a journal, make Christmas ornaments, quilting, paint my bedroom, make the best homemade caramels, bake fresh bread and share with neighbors, how to earn and save money, how to be a great friend and to crack a bullwhip! (Dad was so good at it he could trim the trees!) No need for fire crackers! Thanks for the trip down memory lane with a greatful heart.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Yeah, and now, thanks to Pinterest, we are all doing these things again! And now it is being “trendy!” LOL! I love it!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use my clothes line every chance I get. Sheets, towels, blankets, and tee shirts, and curtains go outside. We don’t eat out that often, I cook. And today I rode bikes with my grandson, sat on our porch and talked to neighbors.
In some ways, I live in the past and enjoy every minute of it.
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