Do you still follow old routines your parents did years ago ??

Most of these posts reflect a time when women were housewives. Mine returned to teaching when I was about 6. She loved her career and her children. Housework and washing was done on a Saturday morning. She often baked cakes and biscuits in the afternoon. We four children had allocated tasks to do after school and on Saturdays.
So often it's assumed that ALL women were housewives in the 1950s and 1960s. They weren't. My Mother was an excellent role model for me.

My mother was a stay at home mother. As far as I know she didn’t have any routines, she washed when the laundry basket was full, I can remember her ironing in the evenings.
We had potatoes with everything, she called pasta - foreign muck, had fish on a Friday - yes she was RC.
My father had an allotment where he planted all the veg that we used. We had a small garden and initially an outside loo, I was so grateful when my father installed an inside bathroom. We used to get a lot of snow in the winter and going outside to the loo was a nightmare, I still loathe snow to this day.
Mt grammar school was 4 miles away and I had to go to school on a public, service bus. There were hills both sides of my commute, another reason why I dislike snow as I walked to school in 1963, bad snow year and got absolutely soaked in 6 foot drifts.
My mother taught me how to iron and I then had to take over the ironing. I was cooking family meals at 10 years of age. I now make a list of meals for the coming week and only go shopping once a week. My mother was up and down to town virtually every day. My mother lived to 88 and my dad was 90 when he died, I think they would have said that they had a good life but they didn’t travel much and see other cultures like I had had the opportunity to do.
Both good and bad memories. So no I don’t follow my mothers routines, I worked and had to fit things in.

When I was a child, living in a tenement, the washing was done on set days because the tenants shared a wash house, and had an allocated day. There would be trouble if anyone deviated from their day! Once my mum went out to work, there was absolutely no routine. We had a twin tub washing machine soon after, so the wash house was seldom used. I too have very little routine.

my mum had her routines.
every monday (until she got her electric washing machine complete with mangle) she would drag her old gas boiler into the kitchen from where it was kept at the back of the house.
she would take the stove gas pipe off the pipe and attach the boiler instead - i hated the smell of coal gas!
then she'd fill the boiler with water and light it up to heat.
the sheets and pillow cases would be put in - poked with a wooden stick - soap added and the sheets boiled.
after the boiling the sheets were transferred to the sink and rinsed a couple of times (with a blue bag added to the last rinse). manually wrung out the sheets would be hung up outside to dry.
i remember the sheets froze in the winter and we got so cold bringing them in but wet or dry the washing never stayed out at night.
and i remember the high teas we had with bread and butter to be eaten before cake.
and always jelly and blancmange for birthday parties.
thanks to google i've found a source for blancmange as no supermarkets sell it these days.
if you shop online go to www.greenscakes.co.uk and you'll find not only their lemon meringue pie mix (and a few other things) but also blancmanges sold individually. they do raspberry, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla and, i recently found, caramel.
so every now and again i make myself jelly and blancmange for my tea.

I can't remember any routines, apart from the dreaded Saturday bed changing, but mum must have had some.

My Mum didn't do routines; you were lucky to get breakfast in the morning unless you did it yourself. I used to really resent this but as time as gone on and we are more aware, I realised that she probably suffered from ADHD. As she got older and needed caring for, it became a standing joke that if anyone could scupper a routine, it would be her. She didn't even realise she did it.
As teenagers, the three of us had instructions to do the housework on Saturday mornings. We had a room each to do plus our own bedrooms and we'd take turns in doing the bathroom, mopping the kitchen floor, hall stairs and landing, etc. Every night we took turns in washing up, drying up and cleaning all the sides in the kitchen. She had a very understand lady in during the week who would also do the ironing but sometimes she had to do the washing instead! We had a routine or risk her wrath, she didn't.
I have turned into her!

Sunday was always a roast and eaten at lunchtime. Monday morning was washing and then monday afternoon was baking. Thursday was cleaning upstairs and Friday was cleaning downstairs. I grew up in the north east and this happened while growing up with mam and dad. All of this was dropped by me once I got married as I used to work and it was all totally impractical except for the sunday roast. Years later we sometimes have a sunday roast but around 6pm and not 1pm. We also used to have supper back then with something light to eat around 6pm, after my dad had finished work. That might have been beans on toast, bacon sandwich or crumpets. Ah life was so blissful then and how I miss my parents.

If you are north of England, Booth's still sell blancmange. I got some only last week to make an old fashioned trifle like my mum used to make. If not have you looked at amazon?

God No, Only kept a few Christmas traditions but that's all, my life is very different to my mums.

Siope

I suspect my mother had routines - although she worked outside the home as well as in it - but I’ve no idea what they were, and I wouldn’t copy them anyway.

Same here.
I do things when and if ( I feel like it)

Witzend

*paris123*, you can make blancmange quite easily - cornflour, milk, sugar, plus any flavouring you like, or colouring if you wanted it e.g. pink.

I still make what my MiL called ‘chocolate blancmange’ now and then for dh, who loves it. My mother called it ‘chocolate pudding’ and we had it warm.

l never thought of that. iv just looked and lv got a box of cornflour already and some vanilla essence. ll have a go making hm blamange sunday..wonder how much cornflour l need to make it set though ?

paris123, you can make blancmange quite easily - cornflour, milk, sugar, plus any flavouring you like, or colouring if you wanted it e.g. pink.

I still make what my MiL called ‘chocolate blancmange’ now and then for dh, who loves it. My mother called it ‘chocolate pudding’ and we had it warm.

flappergirl

Oh paris, how strange. Our next door neighbour had a huge cherry tree and there were beautiful laburnum trees locally. One of my friend's brother got poisoned from eating a pod and they were cut down. We had apple and plum trees in our garden and there was an orchard backing onto us with pigs in.

Our general store was almost exactly as you describe. Everything from a tin of peas to wool and watering cans. They also sold plants and some cut flowers. I would buy a bunch of anenomies for 6d for my mum for Mothering Sunday.

We almost led parallel childhoods!

l was worried for a moment that you was going to say you were the daughter of the butcher after l had been running him down lol. ll would have been mortified if you had been lol
l guess that why people are anonymous on forums lol.

l wonder if there are still old fashions butchers that put down woodsahaving on the tiles floor like our did. l was alwasy in troubel wehn l went in there with mom as l used to kick the daily fresh woodshaving around the floor as l waited and would get my ankle white socks covered in them.
l was fasinated by the bacon slicer where mom could ask for l or 2 slices if she only wanted and cut thick or thin. If butcher didnt have a sunday joint she liked on display he would open a massive freezer door and bring out the full lamb carcass and cut it up on
the huge carving block that was scrubbed white by the young trainees ..l felt so sorry for them// they looked worn out as butcher told them to scrub harder lol.

I could tell which day of the week it was by what was served as a main meal .
There was never any variation .
I think that a routine was essential to the wellbeing of the household .

I've been more flexible though I admit to having a baking day - Friday .
I used to cook for the weekend to free up time that I could spend with my children .

Oh paris, how strange. Our next door neighbour had a huge cherry tree and there were beautiful laburnum trees locally. One of my friend's brother got poisoned from eating a pod and they were cut down. We had apple and plum trees in our garden and there was an orchard backing onto us with pigs in.

Our general store was almost exactly as you describe. Everything from a tin of peas to wool and watering cans. They also sold plants and some cut flowers. I would buy a bunch of anenomies for 6d for my mum for Mothering Sunday.

We almost led parallel childhoods!

Thank you all sharing your own memories , iv read every single one and its been so enjoyable.

like flappergirl we too had a 'general' shop a few houses down our road. l loved going in there. It was ran by a very elderly sister and brother and they sold everything form wool to tin stuff and biscuit etc, but no fresh veg or foods.

the sister was a kindly stoutly grey hair
victorian dressed spinster who worn tiny spectacles on her nose.
she could hardly walk as she had l think it was called at that time;' water on the legs' Her legs were huge and she could hardly walk and had to shuffle in from her parlor into the shop when the bell over the shop door rang., She would sit and talk to us kids as we looked around what we thought was a magical shop of brickabrack.
You buy anything from a reel of cotton to a metal watering can for the garden.

The brother had a greenhouse attached to whole length of the shop and the highlight of my visit was when l went in their with my penny pocket money to buy a plant. The old lady would allow me to buy just one bedding plant!! l was given the top part of our large garden by mom to dig and build what ever we liked.
my siblings built dens and but l liked to make little gardens and plant my penny flowers.
we were always allowed by mom to pick the garden flowers for the house and l remember when l was about 5 going to the sweet shop and seeing our neighbours open gate with a row of the most beautiful red tulips ..to my child eyes all waiting to be picked lol. l manged to get one before being chased off by the old gent lol
Every house in our road had a fruit tree, next door had a massive morella cheery tree that hung over into our garden. We had a eating apple tree, and the other neighbour had apple and plum trees, which l thought was most unfair . At the end of the road was a larger house that had an orchard, and we kids went scrumping !! l was the littlest so was always made to be look out by my brother and sisters lol. If mom had found out we would have been in big trouble lol

In front of 'general store' shop was a tunnel of yellow laburnum trees that led down the path to our school. What a magical moment that was when all the trees were in flower as we walked under them on the way to school, like yellow hanging jewels.
Then one day, out of the blue, all the trees were cut down !!! Mom told me some children had been poisoned by laburnum berries and the trees had to be cut down.

There was always some tragedy that seem to happen..We had the news of the local drunk who we just knew as kids he would one day get run over as he staggered home at night. it was still a shock when we heard, as he left behind a wife and 10 kids.

We had about 10 prefab metal houses at bottom the the road, built to occupy bombed out families. l thought they looked comfy to have lived in , like doll houses lol. l remember going carol singing there one winter and had the shock of my life when our butcher answered his door..He seemed such a posh, toffee nose and seem to look down on everyone who went to his shop, and l couldnt believe he lived in one of those humble bungalows. He was so tight he wouldnt even give us a penny for singing carols lol.

We were a family of 7 and l was no 6 child. Mom had baby brother no 7 who she said was an 'accident'' when she was in the menopause at 40. He was always wrapped up warm and put outside every afternoon in his pram with a cat net over. the pram, My job was to bring the pram in at 4pm after school and play with him while she prepared tea. Dad was home at 6pm, we sat to have our meals while mom feed baby. then baby was bathed in front of the fire and we were all put to bed at 8pm. l dont remember the baby ever waking up for a 10 pm feed, etc till he woke up next morning. He was rosy cheeked and robust ..l guess from having outdoor afternoon nabs in his pram lol.

Our life was strict routine, l guess having 7 children she had to have it that way, Our next door neighbout had 13 children !!! but l died in infancy. That womens house was spotless and the kids so well behaved, l was always amazed at how she coped, reminded me of the nursery ryhme ' the old women who lived in a shoe lol.

No . My mum used to make wonderful desserts but I don’t. She was quite disorganised,though and I think I plan things more. We changed countries so that changed a lot of habits around mealtimes. Interesting thread!

Thankyou so much for starting this thread paris, I’ve really enjoyed reading your, and others’, memories . I can’t remember my mother having set routines and I certainly don’t, like Henetha it often depends on what my back is like!

No routines like that for me, although I do remember my mum pretty much lived like that. Always washing on Monday, Shepherd's pie using up the Sunday roast meat also on Monday.
And definitely fish on Fridays.
I just prefer to act on a whim, and what my back feels like on any particular day. I'm not keen on being tied to routines.

What a lovely post paris.

My mother didn't have a routine as such, but washing was done once a week apart from "smalls" which were washed everyday by hand. She had an old fashioned washing machine with a mangle on it and, like another poster, I hated the disruption of wash days.

My mum went shopping daily and we didn't have set meals although our meals were traditional such as cottage pie, steak and kidney pie, pea soup, homemade faggots and almost always a roast on Sundays. In the summer we had such things as home cooked ham or salmon (my uncle had fishing rights) and salad with new potatoes.

We had an acre of land where my father grew all our vegetable needs and we had many fruit trees so my mother would make jam and pickles.

I remember the baker calling with his basket from which my mother would choose the bread. As you've mentioned, a cob loaf was a real treat and I always wanted to eat the top.

We lived in a similar village to you paris, with a butchers, a chemist, a couple of old world pubs, a newsagent and a fish and chip shop. We didn't have a supermarket but we had a general store which hadn't changed for generations and which sold sweets from an array of tantalising jars, bacon sliced on an old fashioned slicer and butter patted by hand and wrapped in greaseproof paper. Like you, I found the chemist fascinating.

My mum also had Sing Something Simple on the wireless on Sundays and she would often make junket for Sunday tea which I didn't like!

Until dad installed a bathroom, we had tin baths in front of the roaring sitting room fire. In between we had strip down washes at the sink in the old pantry.

Children were not allowed out to play on a Sunday which got on my nerves a bit, especially as my parents and nobody I knew of was religious. So in the winter I would watch an old film on our black and white TV which only received one channel, BBC. In the summer I would amuse myself for hours in our garden.

Grandma70s, our butcher was dishy too. Young Allen mum always called him and I would get all coy when, like you, I went there with mum in the school holidays. Must've been something about butchers in those days!

I certainly don’t have set routines, or do things on specific days. Things get done when they are needed.

The only routine I remember my mother having was washing on Mondays. We had a cleaning lady (charwoman as they were called then - this was the 1950s), so I suppose she came on particular days, but I don’t remember which.

My mother went shopping almost every day, which was a sort of routine, and in the school holidays I often went with her. It was quite a long walk to the village shops. If we met another ‘housewife’ I used to get very bored standing quietly while they gossiped, interminably as it seemed. I didn’t mind the shopping, though. I had a bit of a crush on the butcher, a very handsome and charming man.

Thank you all for sharing your memories.

Knitandnatter

Oh paris123, don't apologise for the spelling errors, it was truly heartwarming to read your response to the comments and all the lovely memories that you recall .
Actually, I can relate to many of your recollections, it must be a generation thing.

yes l think your right, it probably is a generation thing.. l know my two girls who both work from home do housework as needed and do a wash load each day. The youngest daughter tells me she has meals plans for the week, ie fish on friday and meat free Mondays.
l have such lovely memories of my childhood home and a few years ago went with my oldest brother and sister to visit the area and the very old church where our parents are buried..and where most of us kids were married. The old house was still there but the local pub, bowling green and shops all gone. As were our schools we all went to. We had a infants, jr and high school all next to each other, The school dinners were cooked on site in the cshool canteens and l can still remember the meals being brought over at ll oclock along the corridors to the dinning halls.
Our house looked excately the same as it did 50 years ago but the very large back garden is now reduced and has another house built on it !! My sister said mom and dad got the house after there firs marriedt house were bombed in WW2 , all gone after they climbed out of the anderson shelter.. We decided to go see if grans ( who l dont remember ) old house was still up. Amazingly it still was . My old brother and sister were thrilled to see it was still there as they have memories of that old house of grans with chickens kept in the garden. i'm 70 yrs old and my sister is in her 80s so grans house must be over 100yrs old !!! We could see some building going on on inside and l got out the car and told them both to follow me into the back garden to have a look around. No one inside the house seemed to worry about us and the look of joy on my sisters face as she looked around the garden and all her memories flooding back.
The 3 parks we kids had spent so many happy summer days fishing for tiddlers for our jam jars from the adjoining streams are still there but all reduced in size and no boating done on them anymore. But across the bridge of the stream has the still the old railway station where we caught the old giant steam trains to Margate seaside.
The old fashion library that was opposite our schools is still there, but the schools all gone. The library is next to the 'rec' as we called it which was the playing fields with swings etc,.. The playing fields too are all gone now with housing built there.
But l was over joyed to read that they re- opened the old library but l bet its not furnished out in all wood as it was in my childhood. The smell of wood and the sound of tiny feet walking on the wood flooring is for sure gone. And loud sounds ringing around the corridors when the books being stamped.
Funny how l can have very clear memories of those places but l cant remember what l did last week lol.

Same here RosiesMaw and I hate going out then having to do housework on my return.

My life is very different but one thing sticks - housework is for mornings.
I might run the hoover round if somebody is coming in the evening, but otherwise it feels very wrong to do more than a little ironing after lunchtime!