What 'mod cons' did you have when growing up?

[Gemini]

I started this thread after Daisy and I started to talk about the things we grew up with, over on the the Back In Time For Tea thread.

Although we are all grandmothers, there is a bit of an age range amongst us all, so what we grew up with will vary depending on when we were born. The part of the country we grew up in, how many children there were in the family and how affluent, or otherwise our families were will make a difference too.
So, what did your family have when you were growing up?
A TV? A fridge? A washing machine? A car? central heating?
Do tell us

[Gemini]

We got our first television when I was a baby. Dad had a small win on the Pools, and that was one of the things they bought.
I have no memory of being without a washing machine or fridge, but I am going to ask my mum when they appeared. We had a single tub washing machine, and mum had that until after I had my first baby (I know because when we lived with them for short time, I bent all the poppers on DD1s babygros out of shape with the wringer )

We didn't own a car until I was grown up. We could borrow a car from my dads work when we needed one, as he worked in the offices of a big family run garage.
I was 16 or 17 when we got the phone and I was really happy about that.
I remember us getting an over bath shower (the ones that you fastened to the taps) in my teens and I was excited about that too!
We never had central heating. My mum still lives in that house and still doesn't have central heating.

[Oma]

No one that we knew or lived beside had a car or a phone when I was growing up , only one family in the whole estate had one and they were the bookies runner , they would collect mens bets and ring them through ,
My Uncle who had a Tobacconist & Newsagents had a Jag he also had Rolls Royce's as he had a wedding car hire firm . my eldest sister learned and passed her test in a Rolls ,
I remember feeling very important if he came to our house and I got to ride in his car ,

We did have a little TV and a Radiogram that also played records but that was only when my older Brother & Sister started work ,

I was about 17 when we got our first Fridge and Twin tub washer , till then we still had a big Gas boiler and Wringer & a larder ,

Gem I remember those showers you put on the taps they were forever slipping off
No central heating till about 1976 then only downstairs ,
We were the first in our street to have a colour TV though

[Nanto2girls]

I don't know how old i was,but i can't remember not having a tv.

Can't remember either,how old i was when we got a fridge, but in the little freezer compartment at the top,we always had a box of fish fingers in.

[Libra Gran]

I remember my parents had a TV for the Coronation,but I was only 1 and this was something they told me,the first in our street to own one.No central heating,only hot water bottle at bed time,there was ice on the inside of the windows as well as out. I think I was about 12 when Mum got a twin tub washing machine, no telephone until much,much later.We always had a car,I remember Dad had a little Austin 7 with the orange things that came out the side as indicators. Can't remember us having a fridge when I was young and definately not a freezer.

[Plantaholic]

Inside toilet no central heating, kitchen range in the living room although that was changed into a tiled surround fire, small fireplaces (the type they go ecstatic about on TV shows) in all the other rooms except the small box bedroom. It was gas lighting when they moved in but I don't remember that. Certainly no central heating or hot water for some time, we had a large copper in the kitchen and bathroom. No fridge, no washing machine, my mother never had a washing machine. Iron was plugged into a light fitting, very dangerous. My father inherited some money from an aunt and he bought a huge radiogram and a motor bike and sidecar. Don't remember when they got a television. We did have a phone because of my father's job, all the neighbours used it for incoming and outgoing calls, very annoying.

[Grauntie Mag]

My Mother was gadget woman herself. We had a TV when I was about 10 but not the first locally by any means. We had a freezer from my Dad’s shop, the kind you opened each side at the top and mother used it for all sorts. Veg, fruit etc. She was way ahead of her time. We had an oven with an automatic timer when they first came out, breakfast was cooked when we got up, a microwave when they first came out, (They went to the ideal home exhibition every year). Rotary ironer, sauce maker, you name it, she had it. We always had a phone because of the business. No central heating however until I was a teenager. We always had a car as we lived way out in the sticks in Kent.

[Daisy]

We had a tv just before the Coronation. It was tiny and took about 5 minutes to warm up the valves. We got a car when I was about 10 and dad used it to deliver groceries to customers. We didn5 have a phone until mum and I were living in an isolated village and she was frightened of being there on her own when I went out. I paid for it.

We we got our first fridge when we moved to the village I was about 17. As I said in the othe4 thread we also got central heating then as well. It was a coke-fuelled boile4 and became the bane of my life as I had to deal with it when it went out as it often did. 😢

We always had a proper bathroom and indoor loo, although I had lots of friends who didn’t have such luxuries.

I can remember OH and I getting a big chest freezer in 1971. It lived in the spare bedroom, and had it until about 4 years ago!

[WeeGranny]

AS a child I lived in a 'building' (Scottish term!) which had gas lighting and an outdoor toilet. There was a black range at the fire and the radio ran on batteries. Remember taking the battery to the local garage to be topped up or whatever they did with batteries. It was a room and kitchen. My db and I slept in the room, M&D had bed in recess in kitchen where life was carried out!
We moved to a new council house when I was 10. This had electricity and indoor bathroom and we had our own bedroom!No central heating, open fire in living room, but the bedrooms had a little vent which led off the chimney so you could get some heat through that!
Can't remember when we got a fridge,TV or washing machine certainly was well into my teens before we did. The children from the street used to go to my cousin's house to watch TV because he was the only one who had one! We did have a phone though because of Dad's work. We used to get calls for the neighbours and then we had to go and pass on the message. If it was urgent, they used our phone,otherwise they went to the phone box down the road!
Watched the Coronation on a TV specially installed at the community centre! Only place with electricity!
I shall no doubt remember lots of other things now that I've started! Grandparents lived in same building but they were downstairs and had a front and back door!

[Glammanana]

We got a TV in time for the Coronation and my dad bought one of those daft screens that you put in front of the screen to give the illusion of colour he was a salesman's dream my dad he believed any one in a suit and tie who called door to door !!
Mum got a twin tub when I was about 6/7 and had it for yrs but no fridge for a while she used a food safe given to her by my nanna and bought milk/bread veg daily.
Mum won just over £100s on Spot the Ball in the local Echo and had a phone put in when I was about 16 but I can never remember her using it she used to get me or my sister to make all her calls or to answer it.

[aggie]

I Remember we had a glass scrubbing/washboard , quite. Posh , the neighbour's was galvanized tin

[Avo]

We had a tv all my life, I remember getting a colour one for princess Anne’s wedding. We had a phone, upstairs and downstairs but none of my friends had one! We always had a car. My family house was a new build and had solid fuel central heating, we had a boiler in the kitchen. We got a freezer when I was about 9 and Mum used to buy us choc ices from Bejam. We were ‘comfortable ‘ wealth wise, we had our clothes made for us by a dressmaker. I hated the fittings and having to stand still! Dad worked in Fleet Street so did earn well.

[Mimi]

OH informs me several times that I was brought up in a posh home as our early childhood was very different.
I don’t remember life without an indoor toilet, electricity, TV , carpet in the sitting room and fitted cupboards in the kitchen.
He lived in a house with no electricity, no TV (obviously) outdoor toilet and no carpets anywhere .

I can however remember mum getting a vacuum cleaner and being absolutely terrified of it . I thought it would suck me up if I got too close.

[Gemini]

Glamma, my auntie had one of those 'colour TV' screens! Fine as long as the scene on the TV is a field

Mimi I tell my OH she was a well off household too! They had central heating and a car!
Avo, our house was a new build in 1957, with all new and well equipped, but no central heating.

[Libra Gran]

Imagine surviving without central heating nowadays, youngsters would moan like crazy. Yet we survived okay. 😱