People Are Sharing The Wildly Out-Of-Date Things Their Parents Refuse To Let Go Of, And Honestly I Get It
We learn a lot from our parents. How to cook, how to budget, how to be a good human being, and of course, how to hold on to things for years and years because, despite being completely obsolete, they still work fine. Like, why get rid of something if it's not broken?
I recently asked the BuzzFeed community to share all of the outdated things that their parents just won't seem to let go of. Here are some of the best responses:
1."I'm almost positive my mom has the same dark blue eyeliner she had from the mid-'80s. She only wore it for special occasions, so it lasted forever. I'll admit, it was not a good color on her."
2."Regular cable TV service. My mom complains about the high cost but keeps it since changing channels is much easier than streaming."
—anonymous
3."My mom refused to give up her avocado green kitchen mixer she got as a wedding gift in the ‘70s. Jokes on me — the kitchen mixer I bought ten years ago died this week. My mom used her kitchen mixer tonight, and it shows no signs of wearing down."
—anonymous
4."My dad has been teaching a niche class at a nearby university for over 30 years and used an overhead projector and transparencies until they forced him to change to PowerPoint in 2016."
5."Encyclopedias — at least two full sets of 30-year-old, outdated books in my mother-in-law's living room. She has both a tablet and a laptop."
6."My grandparents still own their phone in a bag."
—anonymous
7."My dad still uses a flip phone. Like actually uses it — it’s his only cell. He texts on it too (pushing every button six times) and uses it to browse the web and everything. It’s painful to watch, truly. My dad just turned 50. There’s no excuse."
8."When their phone goes to voicemail, they leave an outgoing message circa the Jim Rockford-era: 'Please leave your name, number, and the time you called, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you and have a good day.'"
—anonymous
9."My parents get the daily newspaper delivered, plus the Sunday edition from another newspaper."
10."My mom still uses her old IBM Selectric typewriter. She even has a backup. And we’ve driven across the state to take them both to a specialty repair shop multiple times before."
11."My dad still uses two spaces between each sentence. This hasn't been the standard for years, but I cannot convince him to let go of it."
—anonymous
12."My dad used his old flip phone as an alarm clock up until like a year ago. Yes, he knew his smartphone had an alarm. No, I don't know why he preferred the flip phone."
13."My dad has a landline, but all he gets are spam calls. He even has an answering machine attached, but the spam systems recognize the answering machine and hang up."
—anonymous
14."My dad doesn’t have a credit card. He pays for everything with cash. He has a debit card that he uses to get cash every week, but that’s all. If there’s anything he wants from Amazon or other online retailers, he pays me to buy it for him with my card."
15."My mother really appreciates antiques, especially things like vases, crystal, and random knick-knacks. She hates clutter though and regularly thins out her collection by selling or donating pieces. Someone gave her an antique chamber pot one time. (First of all, gross!) She will not let that thing go. She’s tried it as a statement piece, as a planter, as a package receptacle for the front porch, you name it. She’s even tried to pawn it off on me and my siblings with no success. Neither of my parents even like it, but because it is a gift and an antique, my mother refuses to part with it. I’m curious to find out what ultimately happens to it because no one in our family admittedly collects old toilets, priceless antiques or not. So weird!"
—anonymous
16."For the longest time, my mom insisted on keeping her VHS tapes, not even just the home movies, but like all of them. She didn't even have a VCR anymore. It took moving and having to pack everything up for her to finally get rid of them."
17."My in-laws have a humongous china cabinet full of antique plates and dinner-wear stuff that have never been used and will never be used. But they’ve managed to move all of the cabinet's contents with them twice in their various moves."
18."A non-smart phone. My 68-year-old father has only just now started using a smart phone. He avoided it for this long until his little Nokia started malfunctioning. He went to the store to get a similar phone but they didn't have a non-smart phone so he had no choice but to upgrade. Even now, he doesn't use his phone for anything besides making and receiving calls. His phone is pre-paid and he buys credit like you had to do back in 2005. He had me remove all the apps and anything internet-related from it. I wouldn't say he has an aversion to technology, he's just not very patient with it and not interested in dedicating time towards learning something he doesn't want to know. For him, phones are for phone calls and nothing else."
—anonymous
19.And finally, "I am the parent. Years ago, my son bought me a Sansa MP3 player. It's not Wi-Fi nor Bluetooth compatible, but I downloaded all of my CDs and vinyl albums (which I still have). I bought a case with a belt clip and some good wired earbuds. Every time I go on a trip (it’s great on the plane), cut the grass, walk, etc., I listen to my music. And yes, I have music on my iPhone that I use in the car, and I listen to my Apple Music library, but the endless amount of music on the MP3 player lasts forever and so does the battery."
—anonymous
What about your parents? Is there anything outdated they still use that they just refuse to part with? Let me know in the comments below!
