Once common 'domestic' skills that are dying out

[Shippou-Sensei]

I think I may be nit the best person to ask about some domestic items. It's all twin or Belfast sinks in our places. And I learnt to cook on this...




It's about 100 years old.


In Ireland it was a turf fired range.

 

[mrsfran]

Hoarding 50p coins for the electric meter.

 

[cesare]

Still happens in our house if you count smokeless fuel.

It's easier to light than coal tbf. I can remember using a sheet of newspaper to get the chimney to draw back in the day. That's not necessary any more.

Or maybe it's because I use firelighters now.

My brother has a couple of open fireplaces but I'm not sure.if.its smokeless that he uses - probably, plus wood.

 

[cesare]

Hoarding 50p coins for the electric meter.

And/or the.laundrette!

 

[mojo pixy]

Darning socks. I've never done it and neither did either of my parents, I don't even know how. Repairing clothes generally IMO is a dying art.

Cleaning the house as a chore, rather than as a job someone else gets paid for. Eventually all middle-class households will employ a cleaner.

 

[story]

Skinning/gutting a rabbit, again a thing I learned to do as a child.

Or any game.

I’ve not done anything big but I’ve been present when it happened and probably could do it if pushed.

I’ve been given loads of free game birds because no one seems to know or want to find out how to pluck and draw them. And to my astonishment, when I was doing it with a friend’s nephew nearby, the kid had zero interest or curiosity in the process and remained glued to his screen instead of the expected “What’s that? Can I have a go?”


See also butchering. Just buy a whole chicken and butcher it, freeze the bits you don’t want right away, use the carcass for stock, render the fat for schmaltz etc.



Sharpening a knife properly and safely too.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Pretty much everything that involves using a few brain cells.
The only time most kids learn anything these days is when something tragic happens in their lives, and they have to look to YouTube for a walk-through.
"Shit, the TV remote has stopped working! Better see if anyone on YouTube has a solution!"
Three hours and 64 "Dash-cam Disaster" videos later, and the child has learned what the + and - mean on a battery, and why that knowledge is important if they wish to change the input on the TV to the Xbox HDMI, so they can build cities in Minecraft.

 

[a_chap]

Getting up to change the TV channel.

 

[ElizabethofYork]

Programming the video.

 

[danny la rouge]

Wiring plugs.

(New) Plugs are all sealed now though, aren’t they? I think there’s been a deliberate move away from letting people wire plugs. Probably to make them buy a new one rather than rewire an old one.

 

[newme]

That's a good one. Been aaaaages since I've done that. I'd probably have to YouTube it.

I have one to do after a wire versus hedge trimmer incident. Also had the reset the fuse.

To an extent cooking is moving that way.

Hard disagree, people are cooking more stuff than ever that I've seen. Saves money and things like baking over covid etc seems to have gone way further.

Idk anyone who now cooks less than they did before.

 

[danny la rouge]

I could clear, set and light a coal fire by the time I was eight or nine. My children wouldn't have the first clue.

Same.

 

[spring-peeper]

ironing

 

[danny la rouge]

ironing

We don’t even own an iron.

 

[newme]

Same.

Yeh same, we had a coal shed and everything, used to be where they loaded the barrels for the pub.

 

[newme]

We don’t even own an iron.

I threw our ironing board away as soon as I got a remote job. Tumble dryer works near enough the same with a quick fold and it's just more stuff to do.

 

[two sheds]

When I was about 8 I learned how to knit string vests

well I learned how to do the straightforward knitting bit, very variable stitches and I never learned how to cast on or cast off so now my mum's gone there's another domestic skill I'm unlikely to ever knit, or wear, one.

 

[iona]

I can do (and in some cases regularly do) all the things mentioned so far, apart from using a twin tub and starching collars. No idea how to write a cheque though, I've done it maybe four times in my life and had to google instructions every time.

 

[BristolEcho]

Was thinking about this the other day as I sewed Scout badges onto son's shirt. I can basically sew two things together very untidily, I can sew on a button - not sure if I learned this in school or from home (though definitely did textiles for a few years at secondary school) but I guess it's not something taught much anymore outside the home and I'd better show my kids.

Of course, loads of people on my grandmother's generation (my grandmother among them) could full on make clothes and that's totally died out. I don't imagine anyone knows, or needs to know, how to starch a collar anymore either.

What other formerly common skills do you think are on their way out?

My friend crochets and makes her own clothes. She's brilliant at it.

Hotwiring cars doesn't seem to be a thing these days.

 

[UrbaneFox]

Baking bread, unravelling and reknitting jumpers

 

[nogojones]

Skinning/gutting a rabbit, again a thing I learned to do as a child.

I bet that was the last pet they bought you

 

[UrbaneFox]

Getting up to change the TV channel.

Putting the TV on 10 or 15 minutes before the programme started, so the set could warm up.

 

[MickiQ]

Quite a few of these posts are taking me down memory lane, I too learnt how to make a coalfire, use a mangle and skin a rabbit as a kid. None of mine have ever done such a thing. Other than the last which might come in handy should Brexit eventually deliver on its full promise and reduce us to gibbering in the ruins of our once proud nation.

With the death of my mother knitting is a skill that has been lost to the Q clan, my mother was a profilic knitter knitting for her children, her grand and great-grandchildren not to mention the local charity shop. Neither of my sisters can knit nor can my wife and daughters. Mrs Q has joked that she isn't sure she can rightfully claim the title of grandmother since she can't knit.
Something that also never gets done these days is darn the holes in socks, it's easier to just throw them away.

 

[UrbaneFox]

Sides to middling sheets.

 

[Mumbles274]

Letter writing?

I still write letters. I got an ink pen and nice paper to be able to do it properly. In fact, I've stopped using biros for work and use an ink pen, albeit a parker, but it's so much nicer to write with

 

[mentalchik]

I have one to do after a wire versus hedge trimmer incident. Also had the reset the fuse.

Hard disagree, people are cooking more stuff than ever that I've seen. Saves money and things like baking over covid etc seems to have gone way further.

Idk anyone who now cooks less than they did before.

Think it depends on what social circle you move in ( and there is no intention to make a judgement here) but my observation after working in a smaller supermarket (one down from a superstore) for just over 8 years is that a lot of cooking skills are being lost and whole generations of people are losing them......lots of people are just going for the convenient option....you can now get heinz beans with cheese already in them ffs

 

[mentalchik]

Using the leftover carcass from a roasted chicken to make another meal...soup etc...was one of my kids favourite things

 

[Epona]

Hoarding 50p coins for the electric meter.

Now it's keeping a £20 note on top of the gas meter so it doesn't get spent on other things to top up the card when we're running short!

The darning/sewing thing - everyone used to be able to do it, my granddad and his brother might not have been into the full tailoring thing (probably cos my grandma was a tailor & dressmaker by trade), but they did their own hand-stitching to do small repairs on their own clothes.

 

[Mumbles274]

Brewing tea in a tea pot.. I make tea as a mindful activity these days. Loose leaf tea, tea strainer, warming the pot, milk jug, sugar pot. I need a new tea cup because the handle broke on the China cup I had. I love it. Plus the tea is so delicious when you put the time in to make it properly.

 

[og ogilby]

Polishing your shoes or polishing the brass.