MarylandNed

This was inspired by reading a thread on appliances (yes, I lead an exciting life). Have you any habits that disappeared when you moved to the US? Mine is ironing. My wife and I hardly ever iron anymore. In the UK, it seems that everyone irons anything that can go in a washer/dryer. My mum used to iron everything including towels, socks and undies! We have an iron and ironing board here out of the habit of having them but, apart from ironing a dress shirt once in a blue moon, it never gets used.

Gillymonkey

In my experience even if people in the UK have a dryer they only use it for certain things, eg. towels and sheets. Naturally hung clothes are wrinklier.

However, I also think it is a generation thing. I only very rarely iron and was the same way in the UK. Most of my siblings are the same yet my Mum spends hours every week doing it.

christmasoompa

I agree that it's a generational thing, my mother irons things like sheets on a regular basis (not towels, undies or socks though thank goodness).

I certainly don't think it's a US v UK thing, as nobody I know (aforementioned pensioner parent excepted of course) irons much at all. I don't remember the last time I ironed anything, with M&S non iron shirts, who needs to?!

Gillymonkey

My MIL likes to tease me about not ironing my husband's shirts. I tell her to bolt as we both work full time , if he wants his blooming shirts ironed he can do them himself!

Needless to say whenever we st

Gillymonkey

when we stay with her she irons all his clothes.

Jerseygirl

My mum ironed everything too...but many of today's materials do not need that type of care. Also what I call 'the lived in look' seems to be popular...rather than ultra smooth clothing.

I use a steamer rather than an iron...much faster and great for delicate fabrics.

MarylandNed

I guess another thing might be the pub lunch while out shopping. In the UK, most of my shopping was done in town centres where there were lots of pubs. So usually lunch was a pub lunch. In the US, most of my shopping is done at malls and there aren't as many pubs in malls at least where I live. I've noticed more out of town malls in the UK over the years so maybe habits are slowly changing there too.

username.exe

I swore blind if I ever lived in a hot climate I'd hang everything out to dry.

Nope.

scrubbedexpat027

Smoking.

Bob

I iron shirts and other smart clothes, especially the missus' suits.

Wrinkly, smart clothes look crap and those "wrinkle" free outfits are crap too.

Have got into using a dish washer and a dryer though, but that's partly because I never had either before. Can't dry clothes outdoors either, town ordinance, well at least on our street at least, which is annoying.

Oh and driving every where...I used to cycle every where but now, cycling isn't a means of transport at all, but something for fun. Ish.

Also, the habit to get a bite to eat out, when you're doing stuff like shopping. Never did that in the UK, would just suck it up and go home....but then I didn't have kids then either.

BubbleChog

I'm missing sitting outside country pubs ight now. The weather here is nice but still not too hot and a shandy or cider while lolling round a pub garden would go down a treat

kins

I actually still sit in pub gardens a fair bit but that's because Gritty McDuff's is nearby and has a great garden. There aren't many others I can think of round here.

I eat more sushi.

Dunkin Donuts finally makes sense. Coffee for me. Donuts for the children.

I ski at weekends.

In the summer I always have a bag of swim stuff in the boot just in case. In the winter I always have snowshoes.

Got rid of cable TV in disgust.

Spend a lot more time cutting down/up trees.

Pulaski

Drinks after work are long gone. They'd probably have gone anyway when little Miss P came along, but there is little opportunity these days. A team I was on from 2005-2007 would have a couple of drinks after work 2-3 times a year, but I don't recall it happening since then. ..... I'm probably healthier for it, and rarely drink other than with a meal these days.

Our cable TV went too a couple of years ago. We just watched so little, and that that we did watch was addictive and not of great value for either entertain or education.

WEBlue

I do this, but I don't live in a hot climate, so perhaps seven months of the year.... Just hung a few things out today, but had to whip them inside when it rained. I have a dryer, but hanging outside saves pennies and makes things smell nice.

Oh and if it's windy out there, no need to iron--smooths the wrinkles out very nicely.

lizzyq

I iron no more or less than I did in the UK i.e. once in a blue moon :-)

The appliance I am using MORE than in the UK is the bread machine. Every 2 or 3 days I process 1.5 lb of flour into a dozen bread rolls according to steveq's grandmother's recipe (OK, she wouldn't have used a machine) and they just seem to evaporate. Last weekend I made "banh mi" from scratch - Vietnamese savoury filled bread rolls and they were good too. Good Friday I made hot cross buns In the UK we had a bread machine but it got used only a few times a year - why bother when I could pick from a wide range of breads in Morrisons? (and no HFCS)