One of the most remarkable differences between life during the 1930s and life today is the fact that at that time there were no plastics and nothing was disposed of. Tin food cans were used to store nails or were used as ashtrays by those who smoked. The Eatons catalogue had interesting uses. Harry Dzeoba remembers using the Eatons catalogue to protect his shins when playing outdoor ice hockey. Individual pages from the Eatons catalogue were also used as toilet paper. Finally, others remember using the Eatons catalogue as a cover for the pee pots stored under the bed at night. The catalogue prevented the odor from filling the room.
Flour and sugar were purchased in one hundred pound sacks. The sacks containing flour were made of heavy durable cotton which was easily reused. After the sacks were boiled in lye to remove the printing, they were washed two or three times. After washing, they were then hemmed with a sewing machine to serve as personal garments such as shirts, underpants, or household items such as tablecloths or bedding sheets. Vi Stansfield has some tablecloths that were made with those flour sacks eighty years ago. The quality of the material is absolutely remarkable.