We were a coupon collecting household. My mum smoked Embassy Regal, and my dad smoked Benson & Hedges Gold. Between their habits (40 a day and 60 a day respectively) we always had plenty to spend in the catalogues they sent out. Lots of Viners stainless steel in our house. We had 2 cars (quite a big deal back then) so also had loads of Green shield stamps... and petrol coupons (all our everyday glassware came from the petrol station, and we always managed to collect whole sets of glasses). Then we got tea and coffee from Ringtons who also had their own tokens on their packs that you could collect. I think we used to use them to get tea/coffee related items.
My brother and I rarely got to get new clothes from the shops, unless there were no hand-me-downs from the neighbours or other family members that fit or were suitable... and even then it was down to the sales. My dad only took us to department stores or men's outfitters. My school coat came from John Colliers, and most of my trousers came from there too (I was a tall enough girl it was possible, but I think the men got a bit of a fright finding a young girl in the changing rooms. We had hula hoops and clackers, and the much-desired footsie-ball, if anyone remembers those? My bro had a brand new Chipper... I had a used RSW14 once we were both too old for the old trike we had which my dad had fixed up for us - it had one of those metal trunks on the back...
this one is close to what we had.
When we did get new clothes or toys they were normally home made. My gran made most of my clothes, and my dad had his workshop where he refurbished and repaired what we had (and did up second hand stuff for us and other kids in our street) as well as making stuff from scratch.
Nowadays the thrift of repairing what you have has largely disappeared. No more rag and bone man for the stuff you couldn't repair these days. We had the travelling repair men - grinding down chipped rims of glasses, sharpening knives. My dad repaired shoes and slippers and if he couldn't they'd go to the cobblers. Socks got darned, frayed collars were removed, reversed and reattached. Very little got wasted and very little got thrown away either, mind if you're just buying food to make from scratch there wasn't much packaging, and mostly that was paper which went in the paper recycling we used to have every week when the binmen came.
It's quite shocking to see what progress has given us in some ways, and a number of people have gone full circle. I know you can't really turn back the clock (and in many areas you really wouldn't want to), but a lot of the things which are now seen as an extra service (home delivery of food) were commonplace where I grew up - all the groceries and greengroceries, fish from the fishmonger and meat from the butcher would be delivered to the door - as well as the milk and the papers. My brother and I used to drop off the orders on our way to school on the specific day. In terms of the amount of waste we generated there really wasn't so much as there is now - peelings would go into compost.
I still have fond memories of Woods Ware china, which we used at home. They had different names depending on the colour. We had green so it was
Woods Beryl in our house. I still have plain green china now... just from IKEA instead of Woods (not sure there was loads of choice as in 1960s we were still recovering from all the restrictions of rationing and then making for export-only).
I wasn't allowed to get my hair cut as a girl, so I don't have to regret a bad feathercut hairstyle... something I'm now very glad about. I wasn't allowed platforms, or any tartan-trimmed trousers (loved the Bay City Rollers). I'm sure my generation had less freedom than the one before, but it was still more focused on playing out with friends, even when we got into the teenage years, as we were expected to look after the younger kids, but we could be outside all day without any issue... in fact if you didn't go out you would get turfed out as all the parents in my street were great believers that fresh air was essential for kids.
My dad wore Old Spice (actually like the smell) and Brut. My mum was a bit posher - Coty L'Aimant. My nana was an Elizabeth Arden Blue Grass lady. I just wanted Charlie - and it smelled terrible on me!
