How "vintage" do you go?

[Dawna]

Hi ladies! I just found this site and now I'm wondering where it's been all my life. I've spent most of the weekend reading through threads!

One thing that's often on my mind is just how much of a "vintage lifestyle" one can live, or is willing to live. For example, I read a blog a while ago (Here's the link to her project blog: http://retrochicky.blogspot.se/) about a woman who had done an experiment of sorts for her MA thesis that involved living for several weeks without any technology that didn't exist pre-1950. So, not only did she of course turn off her tv set and her computer, but she didn't use ATMs, for example, so she had to do her banking weekly and take out enough cash, the way people would have at the time. It made me wonder, does anyone here try to make their daily lives more like how they would have been lived in the Era? Does that make any sense? (Sorry, I've been studying all day, now I think I've lost my capacity to formulate sentences).

I think I try to do this a little bit, sometimes - for example, the other night my boyfriend was complaining about the loud tick-tocking of my alarm clock, which is from the 50s, and it made me think that a tick-tock sound was perhaps a pretty common background noise in those days, whereas today I'm pretty accustomed to the sound of my laptop fan, among other things. Or, if I'm reading an old magazine, sometimes I try to pretend that I'm reading it when it first came out, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, to cut this ramble short before I really get going - does anyone try to live a really vintage-y life besides the clothes, and the objects? What else do you try to incorporate in your daily life?

(I hope this hasn't been brought up before!)

 

[St. Louis]

I'm glad this question came up. I'm relatively new to this forum, too, so I don't know whether it's been discussed before. I have searched a bit but haven't found an overall discussion on the rewards and pitfalls of recreating a vintage life. Like many people here, I feel very much at home in the 1930s and 1940s (even though I was born much, ahem, later than those decades) and have never quite been able to accustom myself to the current century.

I've had to make some accommodations to the fact that I have a job that requires me to have an internet connection at home, and the fact that I love watching old movies. So I couldn't get rid of all my modern conveniences. I also don't think I would have the time or energy to cook everything from scratch or to visit the bank once a week, as the lady blogger did. Yet that way of life really appeals to me on so many levels.

About two or three times a year, some friends and I take over a historic village. I also do a mid-19th century "living history" hobby, though I'm not actually trying to recreate that life in my home. I have to say, going for three or four days without a computer, electricity, running water, telephone, or any other modern conveniences, is wonderfully relaxing and refreshing. Yes, I come home dirty and smelly (sorry if this is TMI) but I feel so rested and restored as well. My pals and I try to do an ultra-authentic experience, which requires a lot of research and careful re-creation of the clothing and material culture. It's a fantastic, truly rewarding experience, and I would love -- absolutely adore -- to do something like that for the 1930s. I don't know whether that's even realistic?

As far as my everyday life goes, my house basically looks like a late 1930s home, except that I have relatively modern kitchen fixtures. I can't replace those (couldn't afford the cost of tearing out the new ones & putting in antiques) but it is definitely my dream to live in a house that has virtually no reminders of the current century.

Before I stumbled across this forum I didn't even realize that there were people out there who actually tried to recreate daily life in the golden era.

I don't hate the present culture, I just feel alienated from it & don't desire to participate in it. That's a whole 'nother discussion, of course, but for now I can leave it at this: I find the early to mid-20th century very appealing, both in terms of its material culture and the general mode of civility. Since I can't bring it back, I can at least retreat to it in my private life and in the way I dress and behave.

 

[sheeplady]

Hrm, this is a good question. I work on a laptop all day for work. Literally.

As far as a lot of other stuff, the only time I have used an ATM is when traveling overseas. It just doesn't fit in with my lifestyle- I or my husband go to the bank every two weeks when we do our paychecks. (We do have credit cards, so we only get out the cash we need.) I like talking to the teller. I just never have been an ATMer.

My furniture is a mish-mash, but the only new pieces I have are my jewelry boxes. My taste tends towards mission for informal spaces and eastlake for formal ones.

I kind of view it as "I live the life I live" which means I take some old, some new, and I'm in a life that is comfortable for me. I drive a modern (11 year old) car, I use a dishwasher, but I also do a lot of crafting and sewing. I can and we grow most of our own food from a little garden. Although one of my dreams would be to have an old stove, I don't have gas service where I live and I live too far north for me to feel comfortable with propane (propane does weird things when it freezes outside). So the modern electric it is. I do what is best for me, personally, and I don't give much thought to how vintage I am.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I heartily dislike the idea of "vintage" because it implies that it's some kind of performance. I don't think of the way I dress or live as being "vintage" because it's the way I've always lived -- it's as current to me as modern stuff is to a modern person. I use so-called vintage appliances and household goods and have so-called vintage furniture because that's what I've always used, I prefer so-called "vintage" entertainment because that's what I've always enjoyed, and I wear so-called vintage-style clothing because that's what looks best on me. I don't so much "recreate" as I *maintain.* I'm a 20th Century person, I was born there and raised there, and I don't see any reason to embrace the modern way of life just for the sake of modernity.

And yes, I often wish I could pitch this computer out the window and never have to deal with it again, but earning a living requires it. But I look for opportunities to subvert technology wherever I can, just for the satisfaction of doing so.

 

[Dawna]

I heartily dislike the idea of "vintage" because it implies that it's some kind of performance. I don't think of the way I dress or live as being "vintage" because it's the way I've always lived -- it's as current to me as modern stuff is to a modern person. I use so-called vintage appliances and household goods and have so-called vintage furniture because that's what I've always used, I prefer so-called "vintage" entertainment because that's what I've always enjoyed, and I wear so-called vintage-style clothing because that's what looks best on me. I don't so much "recreate" as I *maintain.* I'm a 20th Century person, I was born there and raised there, and I don't see any reason to embrace the modern way of life just for the sake of modernity.

And yes, I often wish I could pitch this computer out the window and never have to deal with it again, but earning a living requires it. But I look for opportunities to subvert technology wherever I can, just for the satisfaction of doing so.

Yes! This is pretty much how I feel too, especially when you say, "It's as current to me as modern stuff is to a modern person." I just couldn't put it into words so well myself, I'm glad there are people around here more articulate than I am. I really like the phrase subverting technology, I'm going to have to borrow that one!

 

[Flicka]

I kind of view it as "I live the life I live" which means I take some old, some new, and I'm in a life that is comfortable for me. I drive a modern (11 year old) car, I use a dishwasher, but I also do a lot of crafting and sewing. I can and we grow most of our own food from a little garden. Although one of my dreams would be to have an old stove, I don't have gas service where I live and I live too far north for me to feel comfortable with propane (propane does weird things when it freezes outside). So the modern electric it is. I do what is best for me, personally, and I don't give much thought to how vintage I am.

This is me exactly. I do what I do and I happily mix my '30s china, my great-great-grandparent's late 19th century side table and my old IKEA bookcases. I'm not really 'vintage', I just like what I like.

Randomly, we haven't had paper checks in Sweden for years. These days, about 95% of the population pays all bills through the internet.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Randomly, we haven't had paper checks in Sweden for years. These days, about 95% of the population pays all bills through the internet.

The day they do that here is the day they bundle me off to Debtor's Prison. Writing checks that I know won't arrive at their destination for a week, and will take another week to make it thru the clearinghouse has saved my bacon on more occasions than I can say.

 

[Dawna]

Randomly, we haven't had paper checks in Sweden for years. These days, about 95% of the population pays all bills through the internet.

Totally off-topic (sorry!) but I moved to Sweden from Canada quite recently and this still throws me off. I'm pretty sure I was the only university student in Toronto paying their mobile phone bill by cheque but I liked it that way! I can't get used to paying my rent, etc. online.

 

[lareine]

I wouldn't know what to do with a cheque if somebody gave me one as payment. I haven't used them in maybe 20 years and have no idea if it would even be possible for me to write a cheque from my own account. Everybody here uses direct bank-to-bank transfer and in shops it's mostly eftpos (direct debit) cards or credit cards. Even cash isn't used often.

As for the original topic, I'm very much in favour of pilfering whatever we like and can acquire from years gone by and taking a mix-and-match approach. I don't want to give up my modern conveniences or have a period home but I like that I can dress however I want and other people just have to deal with it.

 

[Flicka]

Totally off-topic (sorry!) but I moved to Sweden from Canada quite recently and this still throws me off. I'm pretty sure I was the only university student in Toronto paying their mobile phone bill by cheque but I liked it that way! I can't get used to paying my rent, etc. online.

There is still the option at some banks of paper slip money transfers which you mail in. My completely un-internetted mother uses those as she doesn't even have a computer. If that option disappears, I'm going to have to start paying her bills for her...

I think one of the major features of my 'vintage lifestyle' is that I rarely watch tv. The first tv brodcast here was in '56 and it wasn't until the 60's that "everybody" started to get a tv. When I look at old pictures, like in my grandmother's home decoration book from the mid-40s, you can see how the evening were spent reading, talking and sewing, instead of staring blindly ahead into a box with moving pictures. I much prefer a book, writing or something to work at with my hands with some music or some good radio program (from the public service stations, thank God for P1) in the background.

 

[Dawna]

I think one of the major features of my 'vintage lifestyle' is that I rarely watch tv. The first tv brodcast here was in '56 and it wasn't until the 60's that "everybody" started to get a tv. When I look at old pictures, like in my grandmother's home decoration book from the mid-40s, you can see how the evening were spent reading, talking and sewing, instead of staring blindly ahead into a box with moving pictures. I much prefer a book, writing or something to work at with my hands with some music or some good radio program (from the public service stations, thank God for P1) in the background.

That's a good point. I was visiting an older relative this weekend and I thought it was so nice that her television set was just a tiny thing tucked into a corner. Everyone my age, even people that live in tiny student rooms, seems to feel compelled to have a huge black monstrosity (aka tv set) as the focal point of every room. Even when I have television on, I have to be doing something with my hands, sewing or something, or it just feels wrong. But I prefer P1, for sure!