[truthkeeper]

Uh-oh...I remember doing most of this too. Does that make me a selfish old person? :-)

[Sacajaweau]

We saved our newspapers. When we had a monstrous pile, all neatly tied with twine into "packages", we called the garbage man. He took them away AND PAID US FOR THEM.

Now we have to pay to have them taken away.

[NativeSon]

I am 41, grew up in Philly. "Di-Dee" Diaper service for cloth diapers, milkman, Charley's Chips - pretzels and chips in tins that were returned/reused. Hucksters - that dang pa system; "Jerseee toe-may-toes, 3 lbs for a doll-lar", Schmidt's brewery in the hood, that's where your beer came from in those returnables. Frank's, local sodas in returnable bottles.

All your cousins lived within walking distance so you could easily get to all those "hammidowns". And yes, we all did walk to school and we walked home for lunch made by Mom -you knew when it was noon when the 12 o'clock whistle blew.

[Pessimist]

As do I.

My wife and I talk about this sort of thing from time to time.

When we were kids, we were “green” before it was cool. Not so much to save the environment, but for simple economic reasons.

Of course that was before it was known that the free market system couldn’t possibly work, either. :)