Is it just me getting old or........

[Josie G]

bought zanussi washing machine 10 years ago - still going stronhg... might last longer than me!
got combi microwave via NextDoor: £30
and ergonomic office chair £15
got 4 vacuum cleaners that neighbours had left on the street: all free, all working!
got fully working radio/CD player, also left on street
and a picnic ha\mper/rucksack with plates, cutlery, cutting board, and glasses, again free from the street
and 4 tall lamps
and 5 rugs in good condition
and 4 suitcases
6 small tables
4 fold up chairs
and lots of assorted 'homewares' and kitchenware

So I do believe that things can be lasting, it's just that so many people want new stuff... and can afford it

 

[FlyByNight]

bought zanussi washing machine 10 years ago - still going stronhg... might last longer than me!
got combi microwave via NextDoor: £30
and ergonomic office chair £15
got 4 vacuum cleaners that neighbours had left on the street: all free, all working!
got fully working radio/CD player, also left on street
and a picnic ha\mper/rucksack with plates, cutlery, cutting board, and glasses, again free from the street
and 4 tall lamps
and 5 rugs in good condition
and 4 suitcases
6 small tables
4 fold up chairs
and lots of assorted 'homewares' and kitchenware

So I do believe that things can be lasting, it's just that so many people want new stuff... and can afford it

In parts of Holland they define one day a month (or every two weeks) where everyone leaves unwanted, but working houshold goods on their boundary - and if you see something you want, you take it. Dealers do not go round sweeping stuff up either.

 

[CBE]

So everyone doesn’t feel as depressed lol. From an electrical point of view (as that’s why i joined this forum).

Prior to pvc cable we used to use vulcanised Indian rubber and it doesn’t age well and can effect electrical systems badly when it does start to fail. So your electrical cables have only got better.

led lights used to have a separate transformers that were that big they were separate from the light fitting. A lot now are small enough to fit in the light housing now (seen countless transformers externally with heat damage).

residual current devices used to be so big they were separate on your consumer unit. Now they are small enough to fit in each individual circuit breaker. So now one rcd doesn’t take out half of your circuits just the individual one.

there are some good things to come out from manufacturers for the betterment of day to day life.

 

[CBE]

In parts of Holland they define one day a month (or every two weeks) where everyone leaves unwanted, but working houshold goods on their boundary - and if you see something you want, you take it. Dealers do not go round sweeping stuff up either.

they do that everyday in london. Leave it outside and as if by magic it’s gone in the morning lol.

 

[FlyByNight]

they do that everyday in london. Leave it outside and as if by magic it’s gone in the morning lol.

I know ... and it saves on skips too! I had some materials delivered on pallets. Unloaded it all to the end of my large garden, and stacked pallets by entrance to drive - gone within 30 minutes so save me burning them.

 

[CBE]

They’re actually really useful and underrated those pallets

 

[Josie G]

Is it just me being older or are things not made to last as good as they were years ago?

It's not just the stuff I buy and install is the cheapest stuff? Nothing lasts a decent amount of time before needing to be fixed or replaced these days.

I think things were made differently years ago and many things we have now weren't made at all
'Vorsprung durch tecnik' (translation: 'progress through technology'
)
I remember when my pocket money was sixpence, and we had no telephone, and we hadn't been to the moon!
("Ay, we'd get up before we went to bed, werk for eleventeen hours a day, ... oh yes, people today don't know they're born... all their fancifications and 20 varieties of lettuces...")

 

[MGW]

I would change a light bulb on average once a fortnight, today rare I need to change one, my dad would remove the back off the TV when it stopped working, and had a box of valves, he would try them one at a time until it worked again, but once the big valve or cathode ray tube went, it was normally a new TV, maybe if lucky it would last 5 years, not had a new TV in years, they just seem to go on and on now.

Same with cars, as a boy a 5-year-old car was getting past it's best, today 20-year-old cars everywhere. Yes, always the exception 100-year-old light bulb in a fire station in the USA etc. But in the main today things last longer, and need less maintenance.

OK, never needed to fit a new battery in my slide rule, but easier to use a calculator. My micrometer still works well, but limited to 1/2 inch, the calliper may need a battery, but will measure 6 inches.

And the old fire has to be relaid and relit every day, but my central heating only looked at once a year.