Habits from the USSR that seem wild to the modern generation

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Habits from the USSR that seem wild to the modern generation. Today we will talk about everyday habits and customs that those who were born in the USSR know about. Let's imagine a dialogue between a grandmother and a grandson, let's see who seems more convincing to you:

Grandson:

These habits are peculiar even to people of very good income, who (often without hesitation) continue to do these things automatically - "because their parents did it / because they always did it before." For example, the example of a collector of glass jars (from point number 8) concerns one businessman I know - a person earns, but at the same time continues to collect empty jars (without knowing why).

Grandmother:

Habits are not from poverty, but from the fact that people were economic.

1. Darn torn socks

Grandson:

According to fans of the USSR, all the inhabitants of this country lived richly and freely and wasted money left and right, but everyday habits from that era speak of the opposite. One of those habits is darning holey socks. In the USSR, there were even many "proven ways" of how exactly this is best done - one of the ways was to pull a torn sock over a light bulb - they say, this would help the sock to keep its shape.

If you have holey socks - be sure to throw them away, do not disgrace yourself. A pair of good socks is now cheaper than a roll and coffee in a cafe.

Grandmother:

Darn socks knitted woolen, handmade.

2. Repairing shoes forever

Grandson:

Another household habit that was born in the USSR due to total poverty and scarcity - people for years patched / shoved their shoes, because in order to buy something new / decent there was simply no money.

Soviet citizens could have "their" shoe-maker (as well as "their" dentist and "their" sausage seller) who could do the repair a little better than others - for a small additional prize in the form of a chocolate bar or a bottle of alcohol. At the same time, they even repaired and patched things that could no longer be repaired - they stitched the collapsed backs of shoes, glued "prophylaxis" on the soles worn out from time to time, tinted the worn out skin, and so on.

If you have been repairing the same old shoes for years, then it is better to just throw them in the trash or give them to homeless people, good shoes are not so expensive now, and you can freely buy them.

Grandmother:

Shoes were given for repairs, because it was mostly of good quality, and if the heels were worn out, that did not mean that the shoes had to be thrown away.

3. Never have teeth treated

Grandson:

In the "country of victorious socialism" people ate rather poorly - good protein was in short supply, there were few fruits and vegetables on sale (especially in winter), which is why many citizens had bad teeth by the age of 30-40. Plus, normal dentistry did not exist in the USSR - holes were drilled with a "torture" drill at low speeds, without anesthesia, and then covered up with gray and rough cement (with a hardener, from which an acetone stench was carried 5 meters away) - which is why people in the USSR they really disliked going to dentists.

As a result, few people in the USSR had good teeth and a snow-white smile. Many even now, according to the old habit, continue to be afraid of going to the dentists and bashfully hide their teeth, smiling in the style of "chicken ass". Remember, friends - now there are no unsolvable dental problems, and besides, everything is now done completely painlessly. So there is no need to be afraid of dentists)

Grandmother:

They took care of their teeth, and generally they didn’t go to the doctors. the food was without chemicals, the water was clean and the toothpaste was environmentally friendly.

4. Buy products "for future use"

Grandson:

A purely Soviet habit left from those times is to stuff kitchen cabinets with kuli with porridge / pasta / potatoes. I don’t have a logical explanation of why this is happening - I think this is due to the feeling of psychological comfort of the one who does this, a kind of "hamster syndrome". It was possible to understand this habit in the USSR - food was often in short supply, and if the store "threw away", for example, good pasta or stew, it was better to take 4-5 packs, otherwise they might not be on sale for a long time.

Now any food remains available at any time of the year and at any time of the day or night, and there is no practical point in filling kitchen cabinets with kilograms of buckwheat, pasta and potatoes.

Grandmother:

We bought products for future use, because shopping was not the main occupation. and shops were open until 6 pm.

5. Do not throw away old clothes, wash the floor with a T-shirt

Grandson:

Another indicator of purely Soviet poverty is never throwing away old clothes. Even the most tattered, stretched and darned T-shirt will be worn for years as home clothes, after which it will be solemnly transferred to the category of rags - she will be washing the floor in the apartment for a couple of years.

Personally, I never store old clothes at home - I give them away or simply throw them away, and my floors are mopped with a cloth attachment.

Grandmother:

I think that there is no rag better than a good old towel.. and those lazy mops (mops) that are now selling are designed for the fact that the belly of many does not allow it to bend again.

6. Have a bag with packages at home

Grandson:

Good plastic bags were in short supply in the USSR, and this applied to both large bags (with handles and prints) and small transparent bags. Usually, if a Soviet person bought something that was packed in a plastic bag, then the bag was carefully preserved, and then used many times and periodically washed - if, for example, meat was stored in the bag. Some even managed to store, wash and use milk cartons for years - this was a very popular "household packaging" in the late eighties and early nineties.

Remember, friends - if you do not want to seem like a scoop, then never keep a bag with bags at home, especially washed ones - it looks terrible.

Grandmother:

In the USSR there were no plastic bags. And … it is better not to take bags at all.. they litter our Earth.. in the USSR there was paper packaging

7. Keep a jar of old buttons at home

Grandson:

Another mysterious Soviet habit that emerged from poverty and scarcity was that in many apartments in the USSR there was a huge jar full of old buttons, and more often than not, the owners could not even remember where it came from. At the same time, everyone continued to perform the ancient Soviet ritual - if, for example, an old shirt was preparing to be degraded into rags, then the buttons from it were carefully cut off and put into this jar. "Because my grandmother did that."

In the USSR, it was still possible, at the very least, to understand - normal buttons were in short supply, and keeping them at home was justified. But now no one really needs it - especially since the buttons on modern things are of a completely different style. So if you have such a jar, throw it out of the balcony.

Grandmother:

The buttons were kept because did a lot of creativity, especially with children. Yes, every second woman knew how to sew.

8. Collect glass jars

Grandson:

I noticed that some of my friends have such a habit - glass jars from under purchased canned food (say, pickled cucumbers or peppers) are not thrown away, but washed carefully, after which they are sent to the kitchen cabinet or to the mezzanine for eternal storage. My question, why do you actually do this, made my comrades think, after which they gave an answer in the style of "I don’t know, maybe it will come in handy." At the same time, the banks continued to stand like this for years, taking up useful space in the closet.

In the USSR, such a habit could be understood - almost everyone there was engaged in "rolling", preparing homemade jam and pickles, but now very few people are engaged in this, and collecting cans that later stand on the mezzanine looks like some kind of Soviet atavism.

Grandmother:

Banks were kept for conservation. these were environmentally friendly preparations, now in the supermarket you will buy only GMOs, processed with nitrates, formaldehyde, and sulfur vegetables and fruits

9. Finish off old bread and all food from the plate

Grandson:

Another purely "beggar" habit that was born in the USSR is to finish all food from the plate, even if you are already full. This is also affected by the behavioral family model - "my grandmother always did that." You need to understand that my grandmother's youth fell on the hungry years - and if there was lunch in the house, it had to be eaten all over, because there might not have been dinner, but now there is no practical sense in such a habit.

There is nothing wrong if you throw leftover food or half-eaten bread in the trash - no "kitchen spirit" will get hungry and hunger will not come, nothing bad will happen at all - you just will not overeat)

Grandmother:

And in order not to eat up excess food from the plate, you do not need to pile too much. And to throw away bread is blasphemy

10. Make permanent repairs

Grandson:

The renovation, which lasted for years, was typical for Soviet apartments, and this could be understood - there was practically no private market for hired workers in the USSR, and repairs in the apartment were done in most cases on their own - the head of the family came home from work and slowly, for an hour or two at the day was doing repairs. In total, the repair took years, and often when a strip of wallpaper was glued in the last room, then in the first room (from which it all started) it was necessary to start repairs again)

If you don't want to be a "shovel" and bother your neighbors by drilling holes in the walls for years, just save up some money and hire a team of 2-3 well-established guys, they will make you repairs in a maximum of 2-3 months.

Grandmother:

Repair, in our time, it is redevelopment, and a complete replacement of furniture. In the USSR there was a regular cosmetic one, the lack of finance did not interfere with this. It was cheap.

Well, how, which character is closer to you, did you recognize your habits in anything? What do you think about this?