It is obvious what my kids play with - a mountain of plastic.  Actually, it is obvious what my kids think they want to play with because they do not play with most of the toys you see in the picture.  Right next to this mountain is a ”camper” my boys built out of blankets and chairs which they prefer.  This picture only represents one third of the toys in my house.  Toys seem to have a life of their own.  It is like they multiply when I am sleeping.

Unfortunately, most of the toys in my home will go the way of the landfill.  Plastic cracks and breaks and cannot be repaired.  Toys from my grandparents’ generation were most often made of metal and wood.  Metal and wood dent but rarely do they crack.  My grandparents did not buy plastic toys for their kids and they turned out just fine - some would argue better because they more readily engaged their imaginations. 

This is one of the primary reasons I decided to start My Grandma Was Green.  I realized if my grandparents could teach me a thing or two about living without plastic products - toys included - they could probably teach me about other issues related to sustainability and simplicity.

With that said, I know plastic has brought me a lot of benefits.  However, I want to reduce its presence in my life and use it when I really need it - like when I had emergency surgery a couple of years ago.  There was a lot of plastic involved and it may have literally saved my life.  That may sound a bit dramatic but I think it represents how difficult it is to sort through these issues.  There are no easy answers, but I think there are better answers.  I know I can learn a lot from my grandparents as I go looking for those answers.

What Would Grandma’s Kids Play With?  This is a picture of a toy made by a distant relative from my grandparents’ generation.  It is a wooden board with a series of metal hooks.  To play the game you had to try to toss the paper rings onto the hooks.  Each hook represented a different amount of points.  Apparently it occupied kids for hours.  My kids would probably enjoy it today.

My blow dryer broke last week.  I had another one for backup.  Actually, I had a third one I gave to my mother-in-law when her blow dryer broke.  I have no idea why I had three of them sitting around.  I tried to fix the broken dryer by unplugging it, plugging it back in and pushing the reset button on the outlet.  I also tried cleaning out the spongy piece that captures lint.  Nothing worked.

My husband’s cell phone also died last week.  It was a little over two years old.  When he brought it in to have it replaced the clerk said most phones do not last that long.  Apparently our cell phone company’s “new every two” program is not an option but a necessity because the phone was not designed to last that long anyway. 

It is a great marketing gimmick.  Get people dependent on your product but design the product to break so people will need to replace it every couple of years.  The other marketing scheme that seems to work well is to create enticing upgrades.  I just bought a new lap top computer but it doesn’t work with my “old” printer.  The printer is 5 years old and it does not recognize the operating system in my new lap top.

This is depressing because my house is filled with this kind of stuff.

Most of my stuff will not wind up in an antique store.  Most of it will end up in a land fill.  It was designed to break, and I don’t know how to fix it.  It often costs more to repair a product than to buy a new one.  My grandparents probably knew how to fix a lot of the things they owned.  My husband and I are handy but we do not know how to fix a hair dryer, a fridge, a cell phone, a dishwasher, or a coffee maker.  The list goes on and on.

I am glad only one thing usually breaks at a time.  But what happens when every one’s cell phone takes a turn at breaking?  Apparently 426,000 cells phones are “retired” in the US everyday.  Some cell phones are recycled.  But what about all of those broken hair dryers?  There isn’t a recycling program for those. 

My Grandma and Grandpa worked hard.  Their hands and feet were their most dependable tools for getting the job done.  They did not exercise because their bodies grew stronger with use, and when their hands and feet stopped working someone else stepped in to literally “lend a hand.”  I like that warranty policy.  What Would Grandma Use To Get The Job Done?

The link for the cell phone statistic will take you to www.chrisjordan.com.  Chris Jordan does amazing photo art depicting products of mass consumption.  His art leaves me speechless everytime I look at it.

“My grandmother came from a farm background. She was born in the 1880’s when horse and buggy was the only method of transportation. Shopping was a major undertaking that took the whole day. She was forced to plan ahead because she just didn’t have the time to pick up a few things for supper.”   This is a quote from Dennis’ comment to A Letter To My Grandma.  It ties in well with my last post What Would Grandma Use To Get Around?

We live in an extraordinarily mobile society.  Although I currently stay home full-time with my kids, I rarely ever stay home.  I feel like I am in a perpetual state of motion.  My ability to be mobile impacts what I try to accomplish in a given day.  I live in a mindset of always trying to get the next thing done.  Rushing around from one thing to another creates an underlying feeling of discontentment in my life.  I never allow myself to settle emotionally or physically.  I consume my moments just like I consume my stuff.  Nothing satisfies when I live this way. 

What Would Grandma Try To Get Done?  I envy Grandma because she seemed to know the limits of her life.  She knew what each day required of her.  Her life had boundaries and structure.  Grandma’s week had a rhythm.  Dennis’ comment went on to describe his Grandma’s weekly rhythm as follows:

Monday: wash
Tuesday: iron
Wednesday: gardening
Thursday: sewing
Friday: baking
Saturday: shopping
Sunday: church

What would it feel like to have a daily, weekly, monthly rhythm?  What if I just focused on doing the basics instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off?  Grandma knew exactly what that looked like and it wasn’t pretty!  What would I be giving up?  What would I gain? 

Learning to live like my Grandma is not just about sustainably and simplicity.  It is about having a rhythm to my days - not a longer to do list.  My frantic pace makes me feel disconnected from the details of my own life.  I am no good for myself and no good for others when I live this way.  I want to know what I am doing and why I am doing it. 

What Would Grandma Try To Get Done?  Did your Grandma have a rhythm?  Did it make her life more simple or more complicated?  I can get the basics done a lot more quickly than Grandma.  I should have time left over, but I cram a lot of unecessary activities into my day.  What if I had a rhythm that just covered the basics?  I wonder if it would open up space for the things I truly enjoy.