What modern convenience do YOU live without that most of your friends and family believe is a necessity?

My sister has no clothes dryer. She dries everything on old-fashioned wooden racks in her bedroom. In the nice weather, she opens all the windows so it is the same as drying outdoors.

I have a cell phone only for emergencies. I pay $25/month for 50 minutes..my car in a ditch in the winter or the phone lines down at home during the occasiocal high winds.

I keep paper road maps in my glove compartment of my and the nearby counties.

I often use a broom and dustpan to sweep floors, uncluding the garage.

Hiya ibstubro ,
I live without cable/antennae TV or cell phone .
=)

@gailcalled Wow, we’re almost like kin, but you probably have TV and I use my cell phone a bit.

Your sister not having a clothes dryer is REALLY extreme!

Thanks.

@lx102303 Really? All this time and I didn’t know that. So internet is a BIG lifeline for you? How do you get service? Satellite BITES.

TV – cable or antenna. I don’t have either.

Home high-speed internet. 1 year ago I bought a smartphone. It was my first home internet access in four years. Three days ago I turned on the WiFi hotspot. The service at my house blows. Speedtest.net says my current speed is: 0.18 Mbps down, 0.27 Mbps up. Not enough to watch movies, but enough to Fluther, Facebook, and do most everyday surfing.

I don’t have a washer or dryer at home.

I don’t have a dishwasher, either (this makes me want to cry on a daily basis)

I have a 25 year old car that doesn’t like to move. I don’t go more than ten miles away from my house in it. Anything within 3 miles, I take my bike unless I have to haul stuff.

PS. No cable or satellite dish but a sturdy roof antenna installed in 1986 that is wonderful and free. I did buy a second TV, reluctantly, after recent surgery, for my bedroom since I couldn’t do two flights of stairs for a while. It is a godsend now while I do PT exercises on the bed. I get to watch the most unbelievable daytime crap and the shopping networks…a world I was not familiar with.

My car, 2006, has 35,000 miles on it. I usually don’t use the dishwasher and just wash everything by hand.

I have a busy day today: be back later

A spouse.

If you had asked me 3 years ago I would have said GPS and smartphone. Now, I have both of those, but still regularly use paper maps and rarely use the internet on my phone. I do use my phone sometimes for GPS ironically, because I only have one car that has GPS and it is not the car I usually drive. But, I use it for local stuff, any long trip to an area I am unfamiliar with I would have a paper map.

I don’t have Netflix or a blueray DVD nor any of the movie channels (I have had Showtime and HBO in the past here and there temporarily when my cable company was trying to make up for being incompetent). I don’t use a debit card, never have.

@ibstubro I get internet through a telephone land-line compliments of Verizon(-sux) who have a monopoly on internet services in this area .,
=/

Smartphone
Dishwasher
A car made in this century

I cancelled my cable long ago and haven’t regretted it yet. We had a lot of issues with the service provider and instead of giving them our business, we realized we never even watch tv, and decided to cancel. We have rabbit ears and they allow us to get the basic channels for news and my favorite tv shows.

tv, mobile phone, dishwasher, car

I have a cell phone, but I only use it when I travel. no texting or web access.

Apparently today it’s life on fluther.

Cell phone and cable TV. I subscribe to Netflix for movies and documentaries and don’t want to be tethered to a cell phone. If you need to talk to me that badly call the house phone or email me. lol

Wine cave instead of wine refrigerators.

Cable and video game consoles.

Facebook. Car.

A ‘smart’ phone. My wife has one, but I couldn’t toot or tweet or text or twitter if my life depended on it. I’m amused by all of these people at the gym who stand by the machines, constantly “checking-in” with who-the-hell-knows-what.

“My” cell phone is an old-fashioned ‘flip’ one, and it never leaves the house.

(Who wants to be ‘reachable’ at all times ?.....Not me….)

Oh yeah, and Facebook. What a pitiful time-suck. Mrs. Apple spends hours on there every day, which allows me to take nice, long, quiet mid-afternoon naps whenever I want

Freedom.

TV, social media , and smart phones.

Still got me a flip phone :P

I was without a TV for 8 months and I loved it, but my partner had to have one for football season. I want to get rid of it.

TV – cable or antenna. I don’t have either.

Any fancy updated cell phone. I have a flip phone. I use it for infrequent calls and the occasional photo.

Clothes dryer (not by choice, believe me)

Dishwasher

I also have never had/used GPS

iPhone. I have shitty old McGuyver cell phone and it suits me just fine.

I think what is really interesting is when I was in Central America for seven months I really didn’t have any modern conveniences. Like yes obviously there was still tv’s, computers, phones and all that such I just didn’t use any of it. I washed all my clothes by hand and hung them out to dry and walked pretty much everywhere(~7–10 miles a day) .

I didn’t care that I didn’t have any of these things. I think part of it had to do with just how nice it was there and how much there was to do but also because I was actually really happy there so I didn’t need things like a computer to distract me from my life.

What I find interesting is I had this whole revelation down there and thought for sure I’d be different now. Nope. I am a product of my environment.

I made do without a cell phone because in Canada, the providers do not compete to keep prices and charges fair.

A car, TV, bathtub, electric/water/sewage hookup (I’m self-contained), alarm clock, phone (I have a cell somewhere, but I never use it), vacuum cleaner, a full-size kitchen, automatic dishwasher, garbage disposal, central heating, eight-foot ceilings, bay windows, a foyer—and a whole bunch of other stuff that I can’t think of because I am used to not having them around. I do have excellent communications via radio, internet, GPS (if needed), a small gas range and oven, a micro-wave, an up-and-down washer/dryer, and a king-size berth with a nightly view of the stars.

A 12 step program.

Currently we have a lot of services that I can live without, but my husband thinks we can’t, like cable TV.
I’m going to rewind about 15 years. All of these things overlapped:
I was without a refrigerator for about 3 months.
I had no dryer for about 3 years.
I had no heat in my van for 2 years.
I didn’t have a shower (but I did have a tub) for 4 years
I had no cable
I didn’t even have regular TV (no reception)
I had no internet
I barely had heat and air in the house.

Real books. No e-reader, no tablet.
No smartphone. I have a cellphone (“basic”), but I also maintain a landline.
No GPS. I use paper maps, and I do also use Google Maps.
No cable. I don’t watch TV. I use the equipment for DVDs, though.

@jonsblond I never had a dishwasher before, I have one now, I never want a dishwasher again. In case that makes you feel better. :)

@ItalianPrincess1217 cable is such a racket. You can choose to watch what you want, when you want for so much less. I’d rather watch something again as opposed to surfing commercials…for going on 15 years. :)

@marinelife Do you get a lot of grief from friends and family. I get some complaints that I don’t text back. Most know me though. :)

@Coloma I’m kinda the opposite on the phone. I won’t be tethered to the land-line…if you want me, call me on the cell. Part of that is because of solicitors. ½ of what I get on the land-line are cold calls, the cell is maybe 1 time a month. :)

@Aesthetic_Mess Both cable and game consoles are all about spending more money and getting less of what you really want. :)

@Headhurts I think Facebook can cause a lot of problems in life, and if your in an urban area, who needs a car? :)

@OneBadApple I, too, have a Dumb ‘flip’ phone, although I carry it with me and like it. I tried Facebook. Past tense, and the experiment was about 5 days.

@uberbatman I’m with you 100% on the flip phone and no TV. What do you mean by ‘social media’?

@syz I’m with you. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have one of those old, coin-operated motel TV’s, where he’d have to pump another quarter in for another 15 minutes? lol

@anniereborn I don’t do without a clothes dryer, and hope I never have too. I have had a dishwasher for 9 years…never wanted it, never liked it. Personal choices or economics?

@Mama_Cakes IPhone?? I think mine is an A- or B+ Phone, at BEST. lol

@Espiritus_Corvus You’re in an extreme circumstance. What country, and why so austere?

@Dutchess_III All voluntarily yall did without these things?? Why the about-face?

@Jeruba We’re much the same, technologically. I’d almost like to try an E-reader, but I love paper books and I’m afraid the reader would change my experience.

THANKS all!

@ibstubro Oh thanks. So ibchoppedliverbro?

ibchoppedtoobro.

The only thing I could think of is I have no iPhone, Smartphone, or any of those complicated cell phones where you can listen to music, go on the internet, etc. My cell is very simple: calling, texting, taking pics, the basics. Those other phones are way to difficult for me.

No smartphone, laptop or GPS. I don’t care so much about the smartphone, but I’d like a laptop so I wasn’t tethered to this damn desk alldamndayeveryday, and I’d love to get a GPS. I can get lost in my own neighborhood. I am seriously the person GPS was designed for. No e-reader. Oh, and no heat in the bedrooms of my house and no central AC at all. Those would both be nice.

Also, no health insurance. That will change soon, thanks to Obamacare.

No car
No dishwasher
Regular cell phone for emergencies
No pets

A pet is a modern convenience?

Memory prompted by Auggie: no air conditioning at our house either. I’ve never had it anywhere I’ve lived.

Nor a dishwasher or garbage disposal.

@ibstubro I’ve spent a lot of this past year here in Toucari Bay, Dominica; a mountainous little island in the East Caribbean between Guadeloupe and Martinique. I don’t live austere at all.. or maybe I do. I don’t know. Most of the time it feels quite good this way: it’s simpler than my old life, for sure. I live on this (scroll down the string to the description with my avatar if the hyperlink doesn’t land you directly on the quip as it is supposed to) sailboat, and the only time it gets extreme is during storms (The weather was very active this past October, but I’ve seen worse).

I dislike GPS because I am proud of my old-school navigational skills and don’t want them to atrophy, so I rarely use it. But I would be a fool to not have it onboard as sailing solo can be risky and disorientation due to combinations of weather, dehydration, long-term nutritional deficits, sudden illness or injury is always a possibility. So I have units above and below but I keep them covered so I don’t have to look at the damn things. (I have sat-comms on the console and the laptop for access to the latest charts and navigational changes and shipping tracker software which tracks commercial shipping worldwide so I usually know when one of these leviathans is in my neighborhood—which is very cool.) Most of what I do is dead reckoning anyway. The washer & dryer outfit is superfluous and only takes up valuable space, but I keep it because it improves the value of the boat in case of resale.

I bounce around the islands a lot between St. Kitts and Grenada doing charters, transporting other boats from point-of-purchase to their new owners—anything legal that can put munny in me parse and keep me out here. I left Key West on December 3rd, 2012, originally out of Tarpon Springs and Cedar Key, Florida. Every once in a while this Caribbean Sea gets too small and I have an urge to just head her west to the Canal and out into the Pacific or even east to the Azores or Africa. But the Caribbean, especially this island, is packed with shellfish, fish, fruits and veggies for the taking. I get along with the local establishment, the med students in Portsmouth, the Kalinago, and the local Peace Corp contingent. Life is easy here and I consider myself lucky—and it is really hard to leave.

@augustlan Acck! No central AC? Now that’s too primitive for ME. ;-)

@LornaLove No car? You are surely in an urban area, though? I did without a car for years, but I was in town and could walk or cab my way around. I STILL don’t like my first dishwasher, and it’s been 8–9 years. My last pet of about 14 years ago was my last pet. I miss him but not the responsibility.

@Jeruba I’d MUCH prefer disposal to dishwasher. Alas, I’m on slow septic.

I can’t imagine never having AC, but I’m in the Midwest. I remember getting it when I was a kid and my dad being so cheap that he set it on, like, 80°. I swore I’d have it as an adult and use it. Kept my promise. :)

Ah, well, @Espiritus_Corvus well, what’s a convenience in Paradise? :-)

Honestly, though, did you read what @uberbatman had to say? There’s a strong thread there. Given your circumstance, there are certain people that would be the same way…enthralled by their surroundings (I believe I’m one), other’s that would chafe without a big screen.

Green Acres writ big.

Microwave Oven and dishwasher.

@ibstubro No, it wasn’t voluntary. I was poor. ... Wait the cable was voluntary. When I moved here I moved into a big old 3 story house. The tenants above us had cable. At some point, after about a year, I realized that the cable covered the entire house so I had free cable, but only for about 4 months. I got disgusted with the programming that came on during the evening times when I might not be around to monitor, so I sabotaged the connection so that we “lost” our cable. It was definitely worth it. We spent a lot more time together as a family (doing homework with my kids and stuff :D).

Oh, reading the responses: I also have just a flip phone. That is voluntary. I have absolutely no desire what so ever to have access to the ‘net 24/7, everywhere I am. There are those who want to look down on me as maybe being too stupid to know how to use a smart phone. They don’t know that when my husband, or any of my kids, have a problem with their phones, or want to know how to do something, they give it to me to figure out.

@Dutchess_III At some point prior to 9–11 I got into it with the local cable company and had the cable disconnected. At the time it was about $30 a month and there was a video store a few blocks away that rented (VHS) movies for $1. There was no way I was watching cable 60 hours a month! I bought rabbit ears 9–11, they didn’t work worth a crap, and I never used them again. I did a LOT of reading, baking, etc. Then the internet came along. lol

I like my old Motorola Razr so much, I bought a back-up replacement on eBay for $10.
:)

@Smitha I have to admit a genuine fondness for my microwave. I never use it to cook, but the reheat thing is wonderful!

LOL @ibstubro! Yep, I called Cox the other day and they said, ” You’ve been with us for 12 years!”
I said, “Yep. Ever since September 12, 2001.”
They said, “Wow! You know the exact date you signed up with us?”
Me, “Well, what was the day before that….?”

Too bad they don’t make tiny microwaves, not much bigger than a bowl of soup or a small plate. That’s all I use mine for too is reheating.

@ibstubro by social media I meant facebook, twitter , vine and whatever other sites there are like that.

Never having had A/C after I moved out of a NYC apartment in 1972, I forgot that I don’t haveit and never think about missing it.

What’s the problem with a flip phone?

@uberbatman good, cause where you’re headed, you’re not going to need it.

;-)

@gailcalled Too many people think they have to keep up with the latest in technology so they appear to be smart, cool and with-it. Flip phones aren’t with-it. And I don’t care!

My flip phone is the shit IMO. It does what I need of a phone (text/call) but as an added bonus it’s shock resistant/water proof, or as I like to refer to it, “drunk proof”. I’ve been able to upgrade for the last 3 years now but I refuse :P