Growing up in the seventies comes with a punch line. Over the years I have heard every joke there is about shag carpet and gas lines, and fair enough on both counts.
Something funny has been happening lately, though. Every time I open the internet, some young person has discovered a habit my whole childhood ran on, given it a brand new name, and declared it revolutionary.
I am not complaining, I am celebrating. Here are twenty-five habits from my seventies childhood that are finally coming back around, and every one of them deserves it.
Hanging Laundry Out to Dry
Every yard on our street had a clothesline. On Mondays, it looked like everyone on the block had surrendered. Now families claim they are saving energy, and influencers call it a luxury to have sun-dried sheets. My mom always called it a Tuesday. Whatever the name, sheets that dried in the sun truly do smell better than anything a dryer sheet can provide.
Growing Some of Your Own Food
We had a garden because groceries were expensive and Grandpa considered a yard without tomatoes a wasted yard. For decades after, gardens gave way to flower beds and lawns. Now the raised beds are back on every block and the seed companies sell out by March. Turns out a homegrown tomato was the whole argument all along.
Baking Bread From Scratch
You could depend on homemade bread fresh from the oven at least once a week. The smell of baking bread physically controlled the temperature of the entire house. Eventually, bread became solely your earthy aunt’s domain. Then everyone caught on to sourdough at the same moment and never looked back. The starters have names now, which is new, but the bread is the same old miracle.
Cash in Envelopes
My mother had a recipe box system for budgeting. She had groceries, gas, church, and Christmas envelopes for grocery, gas, church, and Christmas spending, respectively. The system was very simple, spending would stop when an envelope was emptied. The finance bullet journaling movements have renamed this method ‘cash stuffing’. There are pretty cash stuffing binders for sale, but the methodology and math are the same, and they still hold more appeal than watching an app slowly drain a number.
Mending Instead of Replacing
Socks got darned, jeans got patched, and a missing button was a five minute fix, not a reason to shop. Fast fashion nearly killed all of it. Now visible mending is a movement, and young people show off their patches like merit badges. My grandmother would be delighted, and possibly a little smug.
Sunday Dinner With Everyone at the Table
On Sundays we used to have a roast or a bird, all the leaves on the table, and nobody was excused early. Then everyone’s schedules separated and scattered. But I’m hearing some families bring it back. Everyone puts their phones in a basket by the door. One anchored meal a week holds a family together better than any group chat.
Canning and Preserving
Canning anything was a late summer tradition as jars, steam, and yelling filled the house to seal lids. Not too long ago people saw canning only at the county fair. Now the canning aisle at the store empties out every August, and nearly half of the internet shows off their fully stocked pantries. Whether people prepare for the apocalypse or to start a homestead, the final result is great jam.
Riding a Bike to Get Somewhere
Bikes took me to all the places a ten year old needed to go. My bike did its job. Then bikes spent decades on car racks, only coming down for exercise. Now, adults load up their bikes with grocery store purchases. It looks like the most natural thing in the world, because it always was.
Using the Library Like It Is Free, Because It Is
The library card was the first ID I ever got. It felt like a passport. Somewhere along the way, people started buying every book they read once. Now the library apps have waiting lists and the buildings are full again. The library card has always been the best deal in America, we just forgot it for a little while.
Board Game Nights
A Friday evening with dreary weather was a great excuse to haul out the card table to play a board game as evenings before bedtime would be dominated by Monopoly. TV and computer screens nearly replaced the tradition, but board game shelves are back in the living room and dedicated community cafes are now available. Playing a board game with friends and family in order to financially ruin them is fun and entertaining.
Front Porch Sitting
Back in the day, entertainment consisted of porch visits and spending the evenings waving to passersby. Forty years ago, everyone and their moms were glued to their TVs and air conditioners. New houses advertise big porches again, and rocking chairs are selling like it is 1974 all over again. The neighborhood comes back to life one porch at a time.
Buying Secondhand First
Half of our house and most of my wardrobe came from hand me downs, church sales, and classifieds ads. Next came new and cheap. Now thrifting is the coolest way to shop, and my granddaughter brags about her five dollar finds exactly like my mother did. It took the circle fifty years, but it finally closed.
Houseplants in Every Window
The ’70s house was a jungle with macrame spider plants, bathroom ferns, and a corner rubber tree. Houseplants almost became endangered, only existing in grandmas’ kitchens. Now millennials name their monsteras, trade cuttings, and even brought the macrame hangers back, which I never saw coming. However, unexpected trends like this are what give me the most joy.
Making Do With Less Car
A lot of families relied on one car, and many trips were made by looping different errands together. It developed a great sense of route logic and patience. Families are now reevaluating what it really means to have two cars. It is actually getting families to utilize the loop once again. My mother had errand efficiency down to a science and could easily teach a master class.
Packing a Real Lunch
Lunch was a sandwich in a paper bag with a piece of fruit and something homemade wrapped in wax paper. Then the era of the drive through happened. Now it’s grown adults taking photos of their packed lunches. Though bento box fans have pretty customizable boxes, it’s essentially the same genius idea my mom had every single night at nine.
Writing Letters and Real Cards
There was a time when letters had actual handwriting and a letter could replace two phone calls. Email transformed it all to pixels. Stationery stores are still open and pen pals are back to being a hobby. A handwritten note now lands like a small event. It always did, we just needed the contrast to notice.
Records on the Turntable
Music was a physical experience: the album sleeve, the needle drops, and the crackling of the first song. We were told convenience had won, but vinyl made a comeback and ended up selling more than CDs. Music that makes you play the other side brings about the engagement that was the true purpose of making music.
Cooking From What Is on Hand
Dinner was invented nightly from whatever the kitchen held, and my mom could make three meals out of one chicken and a wish. Her recipe box beat any delivery app on cost, every single time. They call it pantry cooking now and pretend it is a technique. It is a technique, it is also just how everyone’s mother survived the seventies.
Letting Kids Roam a Little
We left before breakfast, checked in at lunch, came home after dark, and somehow our parents never lost it. Then the pendulum swung awfully far the other direction for a while. Now the free range parenting community is making the case for scraped knees and unsupervised afternoons again. Somewhere between then and now is a sweet spot, and I am glad families are hunting for it.
Saving Jars and Containers
Each jar in our house had three lives: jam, leftovers, and nails for the garage. Disposable everything almost killed the habit. With the zero waste phenomenon, special jars have been purchased to do what my mother did with free jars, which I love because the instinct is still there. The margarine tub filled with anonymous leftovers is a family heirloom.
The Neighborhood Potluck
Forty years ago, some of the most vibrant social institutions were built around the casserole economy. Participants brought one casserole and returned home with twelve new recipes and a full stomach. Then came a long stretch when neighbors barely learned each other’s names. Nowadays, old bonds are being renewed and new bonds made through food clubs and bring-a-dish meals. It is simple to create a community from a collective effort.
Homemade Gifts
Half the gifts under our tree were made by hands we knew, knitted and canned, sewn and even sawed! Then gift cards nearly finished off the whole tradition. Now handmade gifts are the premium option and a jar of someone’s jam is a flex. The best gift math has not changed, time spent beats money spent.
Drying Herbs From the Garden
Our kitchen was hung with upside down bundles of oregano and dill, looking like delicious laundry. Spice aisles made it seem quaint for a few decades, but now every homestead account on the internet has herbs drying in the window and hand labeled jars. Winter spaghetti made with your own summer basil is a small, smug pleasure that never went out of style, it just went quiet.
Delivery Coming Full Circle
We had a milkman, egg lady, and bread truck, and my mom left notes and empty bottles out for them. Everyone found it funny and old fashioned, right up until grocery delivery apps reinvented it with extra steps. Now local dairies are using the milkman method again and are doing glass bottle deliveries. The seventies would like their royalty check.
Fixing Things Instead of Tossing Them
The toaster got repaired, the shoes got resoled, and the TV repairman made house calls like a doctor. Somewhere we got to the point of throwing out entire lamps for a couple dollar switch. Repair cafés are starting to pop up, and now the right to repair is a real movement. My father, who had only owned one hammer for forty years, has finally been rewarded.
