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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we have lived in third world countries now for over 30 years….may I recommend Lehman’s non-electric catalogue – stuff we have had to use since…some places we didn’t have electricity and/or running water or sporadic provision of both
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m 39 and do almost all of these – except line dry my clothes. Unless you count a drying rack in the basement. Of course, I’m not perfect but it’s hard to cook for only one person.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Of course you should count your basements drying rack as line drying. You are still not using the dryer. I live on a gravel road on a ranch in a part of the country that gets a lot of wind so if I line dried outside my laundry would be exposed to gravel dust, pollen, etc. I use my dryer for towels, socks and undies, but usually only partially dry my clothes in the dryer (or not at all, depending on the item) and then hang to finish drying.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My grandparents always had a garden in the backyard of there suburban Portland OR home. They canned food from that, they went to farms close by and up-picked other produce & fruits and canned, froze or dried those. We always hung our clothes out on the line when the weather permitted, saving the clothes dryer for rainy or snowy wash days. My grandparents drove to the mountains every fall to hunt for dear & elk. They hung the meat to cure, then cut wrapped and froze it for later use. They bought beef & pork for farmers they knew & trusted, by the 1/2 animal, it came from the butcher all cut wrapped and frozen to put in the freezers. They had 2 or 3 huge chest type freezers for food storage and the root cellar what a couple thousand jars of produce to get us through to the next year. My mom & grandma were good seamstresses making all the families clothes including tailored shirts for the men & jeans with flat-felled seams, no Levi’s for us. We had a compost pile in the back yard for all the kitchen, garden and leaf & grass clippings to amend the soil and make it better for growing food & flowers. My grandfather used to regularly make my skate keys because it seemed everytime I would stop to tighten a skate I would leave the dang thing on the sidewalk instead of putting it back in my pocket. We got our milk delivered in glass bottles, that were given back the next delivery and we did eat at home rather than going out, even for special occasions. Everyone in the family gathered at Grams and all the women were in the kitchen, laughing, joking & cooking together. The men usually gathered in the living room & TALKED, instead of watching tv. In those days the tv was a big black & white cabinet tv and we mostly just watched the news on it. I am only 65 so life has changed a lot since I was a kid.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Just love your web page. I just discovered it! So thrilled. THANK YOU! I do recycle as much as possible also reuse. Always looking for new & great ideas. An unfortunate decline in income came our way, so every little bit helps. And U sure helped a lot! God Bless Always and forever
Please log in or create a free account to comment.LOVE the article today……………I use a clothes line every day possible (in winter, bad weather, hang indoors) except for towels (too stiff on clothes line) and for the clothes pins, I use an old apron with a big front pocket to hold them…………….as for the fabric/ plastic grocery bags, I spray with rubbing alcohol after use or wash them ( if used for meat.)…………….I also was raised with reuse, reduce and recycle mentality …………..Have an awesome day all……………..
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When I was growing up, we had very little. Our home was small and so was my parents income. At an early age I learned to “can”, help out in the garden, and save a penny. I’ve plucked more chickens than I would like to admit and have spent many a hour stringing green beans. Though I’m grown now and my house hold income has improved, I still live like I did when I was young. I shop resale stores and good wills, yet my children are always dressed well. I learned to sew, so that I could make those adorable boutique outfits for my daughter, for a 1/10 of the price. When something gets broken, we fix it, or find another way for it to be used. Every year I put up veggies and fruits for the winter season and shop for groceries on a tight budget. The save, conserve, repurpose attitude of my parents ( and grandparents) has helped me and my family through hard times, and helped us to bless others in good times.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great post!! LOVE thanks!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Wendy
Dear Jillee,
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My brother and I inherited our grandparents farm, through our mother when she passed away three years ago. It is a small wheat farm in the center of Kansas. Our family has had the privilege of stewarding this land for 70 years now. My nephew lives here full time, and I am only able to make it back to visit twice a year. Imagine my surprise, then, when I arrived here today at noon, watered my mother’s geraniums in the south window, sat down to check in on One Good Thing by Jillee and saw the headline “17 Things Our Grandparents Did” pop up. Well, of course, I just burst into tears. I have a lifetime of memories of every one of these things being done faithfully by my grandmother, and then by my mother. The timing of this post could not be more personal or profound for me. I cannot thank you enough for covering such a wonderful topic, and for doing it just….now.
Your comment and use of the phrase “the privilege of stewarding this land” really touched me. If only we would look at things less as “ours” and more as though we were simply “stewards,” what a difference there would be in the world. And if we viewed taking care of our earth as a privilege, rather than a bother, who knows how much better we might all be able to live? Thanks, Julie. The world needs more of you.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We are buying a “new” to us home that was built in 1972. Those snobs didn’t want to have anything to do with ecological things–in fact, the covenants BAN CLOTHESLINES. Never in my life did I think I would be an outlaw, but it’s about to happen!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I do many of the rest of these–in fact, we cracked into some of my canned peaches from last year just as this year’s were starting to come in (this year they’re not nearly as good, due to the crazy spring we had), and hubby was just dumbfounded at how good they were, and I canned them in a VERY light local-honey-based syrup but they’re still sweet as you could imagine. These are things you can’t control at the grocery!
Wonderful photos and a great reminder. Since I am (ahem) a bit older now and was born late in my parents’ marriage, it means my grandmothers was born in 1893 and 1896, and my grandfathers were born in 1890. My parents were married during the depression. Talk about people who knew how to reduce, reuse and recycle! Because of my upbringing, I can our garden produce, save things for re-use (and then actually re-use them), hang out clothes, make my own cleaners, etc. Something else they did, that I always did and still do, is hand-me-down. Be it clothes or something else, handing it down is a time-honored tradition, and I still get a chuckle when I remember my school friends complimenting me on a “new” dress — it would be my older sister’s dress, with long sleeves cut to short, trim changed out or added, etc. Even though they’d seen my sister wear it to school before me, they wouldn’t recognize it after my mother got done altering it. She was a clever seamstress and doubled a wardrobe’s life by creative alterations.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I encourage EVERYONE to read Holly Swanson’s “Set Up & Sold Out: Find Out What Green Really Means.” It is an excellent, well-documented, ESSENTIAL book.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I did not grow up with people who practiced many of these things. My grandparents embraced the 2 income lifestyle–“I’m not poor I can afford it attitude”; my parents embraced the disposal income mentality of “go get another one”. Our neighbors & relatives lived that same way as far as I could tell.
When I got married I did all of these things to stretch green ($$), I do it these days not so much to save the planet but rather because why pay top dollar for things when I can do better for less money or even free? Saving the planet is just a bonus.
My kids laugh at a lot of what I do. But someone stopped me to ask about my homemade/IKEA hacking style idea & my son said, “People do think its cool, & we just thought you were crazy”.
SO Like Linda, I was cool before it was cool to be cool.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am 54 and we grew up in these Appalachian Mtn. in every way you have here.We are a very independent people.My mother and grandmother has passed down every bit of the way of a healthy life should be,I love growing and preserving although my health doesn’t allow the way I would love to,we caught rain water,worked in fields picking green beans,tomatoes etc.I love pickled beets,pickled corn and beans.I was taught at a young age how to sew and made my grown daughters clothes.I have granddaughters who now are more interested playing in the dirt and growing beautiful flowers.They love to water them and watch the grow,what we call a Simple Life,but very important to our environment.We use to use a cycle to cut bushes and brush,my husband use to use a push mower to cut grass,the kind with out the motor.Thank you for posting this,makes me realize just how good we have it when I can get out.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m making a clothesline in my basement this weekend! Duh! Our clothes aren’t dry half the time after 90 min in the dryer anyway, & I DO have a dehumidifier in my basement! LOL!
And the rain barrel idea would probably take care of a lot of my basement leaks as well!
And all but the transportation is something I’m going to work on converting to in our home (thankfully my grandma taught me how to do most of these things directly). We live 10 miles from the edge of town, down a US Hwy, so no biking to work for me, but otherwise, we do a lot! I have the reusable bags, but I always forget them, or they’re full of snacks & stuff for soccer games! I recycle the plastic bags I end up bringing home, or scan free cycle for folks needing stuff for crafts!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you so much for that….actually I have been doing those things all my life. However I have been called cheap, and old fashioned but now that its cool to be green I’m cool. LOL.
Thanks for your blog.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Linda
I love the idea of repairing things when they’re broken. We live in such a throw-away society what with all the cheap (and cheaply made) goods available from overseas. Buy less; buy American-made, and repair things instead of tossing them into our over-taxed landfills. Love your blog, Jillee!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We have a large wheel-in shower we don’t use anymore. I put another shower rod inside the shower and hang all our shirts, tops, sweaters, jeans, etc so we have double space to hang the wet clothes over. Something my mom did for us in the summer was to put a large piece of plastic (probably some kind of mattress cover) in the cardboard grocery boxes we would get. Filled with buckets of water from our pump it made a great little personal swimming pool for each of us. My brother had cerebral palsy so she sat him in one, too. We thought we had something really special.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Chris, you DID have something really special! A loving, creative Mother who taught you to appreciate and value the simple things and pleasures in life! A true blessing!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Years ago when my husband and I had not been married long, our young family moved to Colorado and lived with my husband’s family high up in the Rockies at 10,000 plus feet. We had neither electricity or running water. We hauled our water from a spring and it was the best tasting water we had ever tasted. My sister-in-law and I were talking one afternoon about how the water was so good that we should bottle and sell it. Then we laughed till we had tears in our eyes. Who had heard of such a ridiculous idea? Wish I still had access to that spring.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Loved this post. I remember all of this. I do some of it like have a vegetable garden, have chickens for eggs and sometimes hang my clothes out (which I really enjoy doing) I try to cook at home mostly.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When my babies were little I used only cloth diapers. My washing machine didn’t have a hot water hook-up, so I boiled the diapers on top of the stove to kill the bacteria, washed them, tossed them in the dryer for 10 minutes to soften them, then hung them on the line outside to air dry. That may seem like way too much work to some, but the thought of disposable diapers on my babies most vulnerable body parts was abhorrent to me. Still is. Some called me an “earth mother” because of that and cooking every meal at home from locally-grown foods, long-term nursing, using home remedies, etc., but the mainstream approach didn’t make sense to me. The disposable diapers that other mothers threw away all those years ago are still in the landfill. And as our children reach puberty and enter their reproductive years, we may be in for some rude surprises. The chemicals that facilitated our convenience were readily passed on to the baby transdermally. The health of my children was always more important than my convenience.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.we use to make the second pot of coffee by adding just one fresh scoop. that was a savings of two scoops! it was always good. always use butter wrappers to grease pans, and wrap potatoes for baking. those envelopes make great grocery lists with coupons enclosed, its not hard to wash and reuse ziplocs for non food purposes, they make great trash holders in the car, also toy organizers, think leggos, you absolutely cannot substitute fresh air from an open door or window with an air conditioner. old towels become cleaning rags, newspaper works great for drying windows. my grandma watered her flowers with dishwater (she used a dishpan) and she had huge beautiful flowers. the list is endless. leftover food can also be re-invented to a new exciting dish, it really is possible instead of throwing it away. puree vegetables and freeze in small portions to add to soup stews and meatloafs. and on and on and on….
Please log in or create a free account to comment.An old married couple were asked “How did you manage to stay together for 50 years?”
Please log in or create a free account to comment.They replied “We were born in a time that when something was broken, we would fix it and not throw it away!”
During the heating season “go put on a sweater” instead of raising the thermostat. In so many ways, “Green” is the new “Cheap”.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We did all of that growing up. My mother made most of my clothes, too. She taught herself to sew because they couldn’t find clothes to fit a 1 lb. 13 oz. preemie. Even doll clothes were too big. After I grew more, she just kept on sewing my clothes. We didn’t buy dog food either. The dogs received table scraps and were quite happy to get their dinner from our leftovers. Recycled all of our bottles, too. Made our own home remedies for all that we could. Grandma was half Cherokee, so some of the remedies came from her culture, too. Kids today have no clue how much they waste.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Excellent ideas! My great-great grandmother and my great-grandmother both were beautiful quilters. They saved material from clothing, etc., rather than buying it new from the store. I have a quilt made by each woman and cherish the work, thought, time and effort that went into the design and execution. Everyone, male and female, needs to learn basic sewing techniques! Stop spending money on “alterations” and learn to hem pants, skirts, etc. yourself! My other great-grandmother and her daughter after her cooked what was in season and canned: peaches, homemade chili sauce, pickles, jams, jellies, chickens…..their fruit cellar was amazing! Also, I come from a long line of great cooks and have always cooked most meals at home! Saves money, is fun and creative, and you chose, handle and select what goes into your family’s stomachs! A word about the bottled water: Our tap water is not drinkable. It tastes like old pennies and even the pets hate it. Not everyone has good tasting tap water!
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