I don’t get the cereal thing. For both me and my millennial daughters cereal is the very staff of life. Moreover, there is a trendy ice cream parlor in Washington DC whose gimmick is that the ice cream flavors all taste like various versions of the milk that’s leftover in the bowl after you finish the cereal. I went there with my daughter and it did indeed taste very much like cereal milk. And the place was packed with millennials.
(Thanks Bunsen - fixed it in time)
“…sions of the milk that’s leftover in the bowel after you finish the cereal.”
I knew you mean “bowl” but lol @ autocorrect!! :))
DH and I are genX, and only one of our kids barely makes the millennial cutoff. The others are post millennial I guess. My boomer parents still watch a lot of TV but are thinking of going to a streaming service. DH and I are testing DirectvNow but will almost certainly drop it at the end of the trial period. We cancelled cable and went to an antenna a while back and just quit watching live tv for the most part. We watch a few shows on Netflix and Prime. Kids use our Netflix. I don’t know what they’d do if they had to pay for their own streaming but I’m positive they wouldn’t get cable.
DS age 16 wears a watch but I don’t know if he ever looks at it to tell the time. I noticed yesterday my parents don’t wear watches any more.
In spite of being raised with a much higher income than I was, my kids care much less than I did at the same age for designer, diamonds, name brands, and status symbols. They shop clearance and love thrift stores. My 16 year old son has a thing for paying almost nothing for really nice shoes. I can’t complain. It’s easy on the budget.
UCB… yup. As I said. That’s why I made that distinction.
We use paper towels even for guests. I’d actually love to move to cloth napkins. I’m not sure why we haven’t. Seems much more sustainable.
We use paper napkins and cloth towels. 
I find cloth napkins a pita to deal with - the synthetic ones don’t work as intended yet wash well, the cotton ones work well but are a pita to wash and need ironing to be presentable. 'Cause I am allergic to wrinkles.
Re: the “killer” in the title - sorry, I just copied off the actual headline.
Re: paper towels over napkins. Unless it’s a really substantial paper napkin I prefer paper towels because they are more substantial! Those Mardi Gras type brand napkins?? I need to grab 3-5 of them to feel like I have an appropriate thickness - I like to use my napkin/towel!!! I think that’s why I do like cloth napkins though - substantial.
We buy big packs of Vanity Fair dinner napkins from Costco. They are substantial and absorb a lot!
^^ we do too, BB. I “love” those napkins! Although, I must admit, when I’m just eating on my own, I often grab a paper towel. No idea why. But they both work equally well.
When we have guests, we use cloth napkins but I agree with others that, if they’re useful as napkins, they tend to need to be ironed. If anyone has found good cloth napkins that don’t, seems like we have a group here that would be happy to purchase them!
I own these. They don’t need ironing, especially if you fold them right when you take them out of the dryer. They are very generously sized. Obviously, they are a little funky pattern-wise so might not be to everyone’s taste but I love them - and so do others based on the great reviews.
Love this thread. Things make more sense now.
@oneofthosemoms OMG, you made me snort my morning coffee.
. I read the same thing. D actually doesn’t have dining chairs at the moment, they eat on the couch. Their apartment just doesn’t have room to spare for a small dining table.
On another - completely non related note - I remember watching the evening news (Walter Cronkite) while growing up. I was about 5 or 6 and every evening he’d give the stock market report. I thought he was saying "and today XXX number of CHAIRS were traded on the exchange’. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what one would do with that many chairs or why one would care.
Okay…back to the regular topic.
No longer or never have
Cable TV
Never watch sports
Never used fabric softer (just not worth the cost to me)
Never own a designer bag
Napkins (not worth the cost paper towels work just fine)
Never Golf
Never owned a Motorcycle
Light Yogurt (Why?)
Never had a diamond ( would like one lol)
Bank haven’t been to a branch in years ( that’s pretty normal at this point)
Big Box Gyms or working out period ( this should be a yes lol)
I only brought one home. I didn’t buy until I was 30
Still use
Bar soap
Cereal (Really how hard is it to clean up)
Home improvement stores
Department and Furniture stores. (I want everything delivered and set-up. That put together yourself is not for me)
^Ha! Funny what we remember. When I was the same age, I distinctly remember Walter sharing how many American casualties in Vietnam there were that day. 
I guess my MIL was ahead of a trend. H and I fought for over 25 years over paper napkins vs. paper towels and it’s MIL’s fault because she (93 now) raised H to use paper towels. I capitulated and use them now but feel like a low class loser. When my aunt passed, she had about 5 unopened packages of dinner napkins, which I used till I ran out of them. I don’t buy more because it’s easier to switch than fight (to paraphrase an old commercial).
I have cable because I can’t bother to figure out streaming. Then again, I never even recorded a show on video. If I wasn’t home when it was on, I waited for reruns. Oldest son has a Netflix subscription but I don’t think I have ever watched anything on it. H has watched some vile stuff and I told him to only watch when I am not home.
I have never liked diamonds - my engagement ring is a CZ. I don’t wear it anymore, nor do I wear a wedding ring. None of my kids wants to get married or have kids. The former doesn’t bother me, the latter makes me sadder than I want to admit.
Nobody in my family watches sports. We all have defective sports genes and the fact that my H hates sports is one of the things I liked most about him when we first started dating.
I used to use fabric softener but now use Costco brand sheets. We use bar soap but also use liquid body soaps.
H has ridden motorcycles since his teens. D and the 3 oldest boys ride. We won’t let S17 because he has bad visual spatial skills and can’t ride a bicycle either. I rode to Lamaze class on the back of a bike but I was never able to learn to operate the bike.
I just got home from our bank - we use the local credit union. I love the personal attention. H and I recently bought an investment home out of foreclosure. The credit union got us a mortgage in less than a week. I love being able to call up and have someone make a transfer for me. I do pay bills online and have an online account because the interest is higher. I bought airline tickets for myself, D and her bf recently. Her bf told her to “Venmo” me the money. My D laughed and said, no, I have a checking account for people like mom. I’ll write her a check!
I used to enjoy golf but H says he’s not old enough for it yet!
I remember Walter giving the numbers as well. I remember it as being something like “2 Americans were killed today and 683 Viet Cong died.” One of the most vivid memories I have is of being in a Chinese restaurant with my family. I was less than 10. There was a TV and on it a man (I think it was William Westmoreland) was pulling numbers out of a fishbowl. He pulled the first one out and said a date at random. A few tables away, a woman screamed and fainted. My mom explained that it was the draft numbers being called. Turned out the lady’s son received number 1! I don’t know what ever became of them. A few years ago, we checked H’s draft number on line. He had a number in the low 40’s. Fortunately, the draft was suspended that year.
These articles are always interesting as they try to make generalizations regarding any generation. I’ll respond anyway. Have three children who span a 7 year gap between oldest and youngest.
Dining chains- pretty much we all avoid most chains. The one exception is The Habit which 2 of the 3 love. We also don’t have a lot of chains in our area so they didn’t grow up going to them. My D found more of her friends went to chain restaurants when she was in college in the Midwest.
Starter homes- youngest bought a first home last year. She definitely sees it as a first home not a forever home. I see my other two waiting till they can afford a home they would stay in long term. We had a starter home and when we moved to our present area 30 years ago we bought a home on our present site but 20 years ago built a much larger house on same lot.
Paper napkins- all my kids use paper towels. Drives me crazy. I buy the same napkins at Costco that @BunsenBurner buys. I think they absorb great. I reserve paper towels for cleaning up occasion spills.
Cereal- 2 out of 3 eat cereal.
Golf- they wouldn’t be caught golfing nor would my husband. In our area golf was a sport for the preppy kids. My kids saw themselves as beach surf people.
Motorcycles- none of them have them nor want them but one of my D likes them.
No to both light yogurt and bar soap
Diamonds- I am still seeing plenty of diamonds. They might be more concerned about the source but don’t see them not having them. I have noticed a number of the males having silicone engagement rings.
Fabric softener- bounce but not liquid
Banks- they all use traditional banks but only one of them actually goes inside a bank.
Department stores- on occasion but they do order a lot online.
Designer bags- I still see a lot designer bags
Big box gyms- the trend I see is belonging to multiple workout places. My S and his fiancé also have fitness facilities and trainer lead classes offered free of charge at their employer.
Big box Home improvement stores- all of my presently live in single family homes. The one who is a homeowner frequents both HD and Lowe’s. The other two rent and on occasion go to HP. What I’ve seen is that a lot of the smaller home improvement stores and hardware stores have gone out of business. If you need any building supplies where else would the shop?
Dentists- all of mine go to the dentist. I can’t see any of them not going to a dentist. They don’t like paying for it but they like clean teeth.
Philately and numismatics are dead these days.
@sorghum -
My oldest son (27) collects coins and works for the USPS. None of the kids have any interest in my small stamp collection.
I left out -
we occasionally eat at chain restaurants, but mostly when we are out of town.
I hate department stores because I am fat, so I order online. My D shops at thrift shops. My boys usually shop online and I pick up things like socks and underwear at Costco or Kmart. All of my sons will only wear black EMT cargo pants with multiple pockets for every day use and khaki for dress up. None of them will put a foot into jeans.
Big Box Home Improvement stores - H is a Home Depot addict… Oldest boy likes it as well but the others will only go if specifically asked to accompany H.
Dentists - my kids are all still under my coverage. They see the dentist regularly. I have taught them all about seeking care at a dental school’s clinic when/if they no longer have coverage, as I did before I had it.
I love the napkin debate.
I actually buy those Vanity Fair napkins are Costco - but I don’t necessary use them for myself! I just somehow prefer the feel, and weight of the paper towel. Call me weird!
I love those cloth napkins @doschicos and I would 100% buy them. I don’t iron my couple sets of cloth napkins I have - they aren’t perfect but yeah, if you fold them pretty promptly out of the dryer they are fine.
My grandmas a boomer and my moms a late gen x and I missed millennial by a few years. Me and my mom carry designer purses and wear diamonds almost everyday. My grandma won’t carry a bag over $40 and the only diamonds I’ve ever seen her wear is her engagement ring.
I like Ikea napkins.