What 5 things couldn’t our mothers have done without ?

Gin🤣🤣

Agree with Jaxjacky!

A decent bus service
Paraffin heater
larder
clothes wringer
washing line

twin tub
husband who made the fires each day
washing line
vegetable and fruit garden
red lipstick

Me! I was her favourite child, because I was the easiest.

Books, in particular her German books, something she spent most of her adult life learning, she was pretty fluent.
Her religion my mother was a devout Roman Catholic
A hairdresser, she wasn't as adept as me in doing her own hair
A radio she enjoyed listening to programmes such as Classic FM or discussion programmes.
A compact and lipstick in an overstuffed handbag full of receipts which she should have thinned out from time to time, In later life if she asked me to look in her handbag to find something, she'd say "don't say anything I know it's like a filing cabinet"
Her own bank account, she liked some separate money when she went back to work full time, I'm the same, I like my own bank account. .

A big wooden spoon!

A piano
An audience
Me (to look after my younger brother)
My father (to keep her living in the real world)
And an even bigger wooden spoon than kittylester’s mum.

A washboard for scrubbing socks in the sink.
A pot under the bed. We had an outside toilet and a trip to the garden at night wasn’t nice
A husband who lit the coal fire every morning, we had no other heating.
The People’s Friend magazine.

Yardleys face cream
Mr Cordelle, her hairdresser
A part-time job
"Pin money"
My Dad

A pulley to dry the washing
An overall to keep her clothes clean
A pot of soup on the hob
Mac factor face powder (candle glow)
A packet of Senior Service 🤦‍♀️

Allira

Yardleys face cream
Mr Cordelle, her hairdresser
A part-time job
"Pin money"
My Dad

"My Dad"
That makes her sound like a dependent woman but in fact she was a strong woman who had to manage when my father was away.

I'll choose an extra:
Music

Two weekly women's magazines.

A gardener

Help in the house

her children

making a truly marvellous Christmas every year

headscarf worn like the Queen
pacamac
concertina shower headscarf thingy
a large leather purse with 173 different compartments and
a magnetic clasp
her Acme washer and wringer
self basting roaster
pressure cooker
pantry with a built in marble shelf
Woman & Woman’s Own &
Woman’s Realm for knitting patterns
Pins&Needles ditto
mint imperials
American Tan stockings/tights
crimson lipstick
Max Factor Creme Puff in compact with mirror
gloves
snowy white tablecloths
Twink? home perms
same coat for years
pom pom slippers
Morny French Fern
her weekly housekeeping money

@NanKate, I just noticed the 5 limit, sorry, I was carried away, what a great thread though !

Bingo- although she did have to stop going in the end.
Company- my mum loved people.
Her relics-she was Catholic and loved her relics and holy souvenirs.
Her phone- for the times she needed a chat.
Her photos- she loved to spend time looking at them and telling people the stories behind them.

A pulley for the washing
Knitting needles for father’s socks
Sewing machine
Regulation cookery book
Stone jars for wine making

Chanel No. 5
Benson & Hedges.
A spotlessly clean house, I mean 'eat your dinner off the floor' clean.
The whitest wash in the neighbourhood. She would soak white items overnight.
Her jewellery - even when out shopping for groceries. We were sure she would be mugged!! A character and a half but we all miss her so very much.

Knitting needles

Oh yes, knitting needes. My mother was always knitting, she was so much better than I will ever be.

needles.

The gas tub on washday
The hoover
The bookman (delivered books every fortnight for a small fee)
The garden
Us three children at school so she could do her work in peace.

a car
a cleaner
a front loading washing machine
Players No6
a typewriter

@Allira, yes! as well as her collection of Queenly headscarves, steel knitting needles of any size, in a tapestry knitting needle bag, defined my mum.

knitting needles
BeRo slender baking recipe book
Playtex girdle
Kleeneze polish mop for parquet floors
her pearls

Difficult to pick 5 🤔

My Dad & me
Tennis
A cleaner
Her friends
Comfortable home

The gas tub on washday I remember the washing machine heated by gas
The hoover - "Lift your feet up!"