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I recently read a post about recycling and it made me think about past years. After WW2, there were shortages of many things, and ‘make do and mend’ became the norm. But even before that, much was reused. I read that Jane Austen bought ribbons and lace to bring her old dresses up to the latest fashion.

But this post is entitled ‘Memories’ and I think I should stick to what I remember.

Recycling, or repurposing, isn’t a new thing. It’s been going on as long as humans have existed. In fact, it’s our own age that has changed. We now live in an era of throw away. In the 40s, 50s and 60s things were not thrown away after a brief use.

Thinking back to the times I remember, my grandmother used to darn socks. If a sock had a hole, she wouldn’t throw it away, but get out her ‘darning mushroom’ and wool, and mend the hole in the sock.

Food wasn’t thrown away unless it was bad. It was either reused for a different meal, maybe along with other leftovers, or, if it were something that had bones, the bones were used to make stock. The stock was then used in soups, casseroles and for gravy. (Incidentally, gravy wasn’t made from a packet, but from the juices of the meat, thickened with some flour. It’s much nicer than packet stuff.)

50 years ago, if you had something that your child had grown out of, you passed it on to a friend or family who had a child a bit younger. It was then often passed on again. Children’s clothes could be made from adults’ clothes that were a bit worn in places.

People took shoes to the cobbler to get them mended when they started to wear out.

Milkmen brought milk to the door in pint bottles. These bottles were made of glass and people washed them and put them out for the milkman to reuse. Similarly, bottles containing pop were made of glass. When you took them back to the shop, you got a small amount of money. I can’t remember how much, but it was probably something in the region of a penny. Children used to go round and collect them in order to get the money. A good way to supplement their pocket money.  

Newspapers, I remember, were cut into squares, hung on a string and used as toilet paper. This wasn’t as awful as it sounds, as the toilet paper of the time was hard and very scratchy. The newspaper was probably softer than the toilet paper, which was more like greaseproof paper than our current toilet paper.

Old, worn out knitted garments (probably hand knitted) were often unravelled and knitted into something else. I do remember my grandmother knitting my school cardigans. I was very jealous of those friends and classmates who had shop bought cardigans!

And clothes were mended or patched. Sleeves of men’s jackets often had leather patches on them where the elbows had worn, but the rest of the jacket was in good condition. Trouser knees were often patched, too.

When I was first married, I had some bedroom furniture that an aunt was getting rid of as she had bought a new bedroom suite. In fact, I had the dressing table until this year when I gave it to a charity that sells old furniture. It was from the 1920s and was solid oak, so was an antique. Nowadays, the young newlyweds all want something new.

Do you have any memories of recycling?  Let us know in the comments below.

If you would like to receive an exclusive, free short story by me, called The Haunted Table, simply click the link. This will take you to the page where you can download it.

Maria and Tom have bought an antique table for the old cottage they have bought. When they hear strange noises in the night that sound like crying, they worry their house is haunted, but the sounds seem to come from the table.

They set about trying to find what is causing the disturbances. The answer is stranger than either of them had thought.

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