14 Skills Adults Were Expected to Know in the '60s That Are Rare Today

The daily life of adults during the 1960s necessitated solving common problems through their own initiative, memories, judgments, and patience. People drove cars by consulting a paper map, changing tires, and using gear shifts. Families would reconcile accounts through checkbooks, mend clothes, iron out clothes, cook from raw materials, and do small repairs within their houses. Simple activities such as reading an analog clock and computing money owed were skills that would later be performed easily with technological advancement. These skills did not make every adult an expert in all things, but they depicted a world where few tools or gadgets were available to assist.

1. Reading a Paper Road Map Without Help

Before GPS devices and mapping applications on phones were invented, adults had to navigate their way to unknown destinations by unfolding a roadmap on the dashboard. They had to learn how to interpret route numbers, symbols of highways, scales of distances, compass directions, as well as street names. Gas stations often provided maps to customers, and associations like AAA created maps for drivers to use when traveling long distances. Any wrong turn would take more distance since there was no friendly voice that helped to calculate the route again. The drivers had to trace routes with their fingers, follow the signs, and remember landmarks.

2. Balancing a Checkbook by Hand

People had a check register next to their checkbooks and would manually record each transaction that they made, including each payment, deposit, and bank charge. With the arrival of the bank statement each month, people would cross-reference each transaction, mark off each cleared check, and look into discrepancies. An overlooked check would make for an unwelcome discovery in a few days, so accurate math was important. Manual subtraction and calculation of the account balance took place without the help of any apps displaying how much was left in the account. Even the bank would send back canceled checks along with each bank statement.

3. Changing a Flat Tire at the Roadside

The bursting of a tire did not guarantee that a tow truck would immediately be at hand, nor an app to be summoned via a smartphone. Many grown-up motorists knew how to take the spare tire out of its rightful place in the vehicle along with a jack and a lug wrench. They would loosen the lugs, raise the vehicle, take off the damaged tire, mount the spare tire and retighten the whole thing. Driver education and car ownership taught the basics of mechanics and self-sufficiency, especially since sometimes travel could take one away from telephones. There were service stations, but not always nearby.

4. Ironing Clothes Properly

Prior to the advent of permanent press fabrics, well-pressed attire meant ironing the clothes on a regular basis using an iron and an ironing board. People were familiar with the right temperature that certain kinds of fabrics would need, the requirement of using a wet cloth, and pressing collars, cuffs, pleats, and seams without burning them. Clothes made out of cotton fabric could come out from the laundry extremely wrinkled, so ironing was something that was usually done on a weekly basis. Some households preferred to sprinkle their clothes with water prior to pressing them, while some preferred using a steam iron.

5. Mending Clothes by Hand

Loose buttons, dropped hems, and even broken seams did not necessarily mean that the clothes would be discarded. Needles, thread, pins, scissors, and extra buttons were always available for such minor repairs. The art of threading a needle, making basic stitches, attaching buttons properly, and mending small holes and other damages before they got worse was acquired by many adults. Sewing supplies were sold in department stores across the country, and sewing classes in home economics were taught in schools to many generations of pupils. Despite the availability of sewing machines in some households, hand sewing was still needed for emergency repairs. Clothes were expensive enough to make mending worth the effort.

6. Typing Accurately on a Typewriter

Office workers in general had to type correctly with a manual or an electric typewriter. Any mistakes would be problematic since there was no backspace button that could automatically return you to a blank page. Erasers, correction paper, or even Liquid Paper were utilized for correcting mistakes, but too many errors would make your paper look unprofessional. Secretaries and clerks learned how to touch-type, enabling them to hit the buttons fast without even looking down. Carbon paper made copies of all the letters and papers written by a typist; another reason why one had to avoid mistakes. To create a professional-looking letter required complete focus from the very beginning.

7. Writing and Addressing a Proper Letter

The long-distance phone calls were costly, and short messages could not just pass through a texting application. As such, people learned how to compose good personal and professional letters. They selected the appropriate stationery, put the proper address on the envelope, affixed ZIP codes following their launch in 1963, and put stamps on the correct part of the envelope. The letter should have contained all the necessary data for one to understand its message after reading it days after its delivery. Invitations, thank-you letters, family correspondence, complaints, and employment inquiries frequently passed through the postal service. Good handwriting was also important since the mail carrier and addressee had to be able to read the letter.

8. Reading an Analog Clock Instantly

Prior to the widespread use of digital clocks, people always knew how to tell time using hands on the face of the clock. They knew about the hour hand, minute hand, quarter hours, half past, and phrases like “ten to six” without any conversion on a computer display. Timepieces manufactured by brands like Timex were common items of clothing, and wall and alarm clocks helped keep things organized at home and in the workplace. Individuals also became able to calculate the passing time by looking at the movement of hands on a clock. It was not possible to make an excuse for being late because the phone had run out of battery.

9. Cooking Meals From Basic Ingredients

There was a general expectation that adults knew the fundamentals of food preparation from fresh ingredients and did not rely entirely on ready-made meals and deliveries. A chef would roast meat, make gravy using pan drippings, peel vegetables, make soup, or bake a cake without having to open several packages containing prepared meals. The cookbook The Joy of Cooking and the magazine Better Homes and Gardens became the go-to sources of information for many kitchens. The recipes needed good judgment since there were variations in the ovens used and measurements were not always done using digital scales.

10. Driving a Manual Transmission

Before automatic transmissions were widespread in America, there were drivers who knew how to drive with a manual transmission. Smooth acceleration was achieved by managing the pedals of the clutch, accelerator, and gear shift without stalling the engine. An additional difficulty involved going up hills since the car tended to move backward during transition from the brake to the accelerator. Cars like the Volkswagen Beetle, common in that era, typically featured manual transmission systems. One simply had to listen to the engine to know when to change the gears instead of allowing the car to do so on its own.

11. Troubleshooting Household Appliances

When there was a problem with a home appliance, a lot of people would first try to figure out what was wrong rather than simply purchasing a new device. Appliances such as radios, lamps, toasters, vacuum cleaners, and others were usually constructed in such a way that people could examine and replace some of the components. Supplies such as fuses, plugs, cords, and switches could be purchased from hardware shops; books and magazines gave detailed instructions on how to do things. People could substitute a faulty electrical plug or check a fuse before calling an electrician. It was important to know how to be safe.

12. Doing Everyday Arithmetic Without a Calculator

Prior to the prevalence of inexpensive calculators within every home, adults would perform all calculations using pencil and paper or doing it mentally. Shop clerks calculated change, consumers would make comparisons between prices, and households would calculate bills without even touching their phones. Arithmetic was taught in schools because it continued to have practical applications in life. A shop assistant could calculate the exact amount of change that would be returned from a ten-dollar note. Sales tax, measuring, and budgeting also required arithmetic. Not everyone had the same level of mathematical skills, but the use of a calculator for everything just wasn’t possible.

13. Memorizing Telephone Numbers

Home telephones required knowing the numbers. Adults memorized those of family members, their place of work, doctors, neighbors, and businesses often contacted, while phone directories provided the rest. Bell Telephone Company published massive phone books of the local area, with residents’ names listed on white pages and businesses’ on yellow pages. Making a call from somewhere other than home meant that one had to make a call from a public phone without any pre-stored list of contacts. The numbers that were used most often became engraved in one’s memory through repeated dialing. One could keep a little address book just in case, but routine communication required good memory skills.

14. Handling Basic Home Repairs

Little jobs around the home generally remained in the realm of the home. It was common that adults had the skills to work with a hammer, screwdriver, pliers, wrench, handsaw, and measuring tape to handle their routine home maintenance needs. A loose cabinet hinge, sticky door, misaligned shelf, or leaking joint could be fixed without having to call for help from the outside. Hardware stores offered nails, screws, hinges, washers, and other simple tools along with do-it-yourself books encouraging people to fix up small jobs around the house themselves. Popular Mechanics and similar magazines frequently explained how things could be done at home for average readers.