Boomers share 20 life skills they’re proud they learned but are rarely used today

Baby Boomers (those born from 1946 to 1964) grew up during a time that required them to learn lots of life skills to get by. Without the technology and digital benefits available to younger generations today, they had to be resourceful. Turns out, this resourcefulness is something that Gen Z (those born 1997 to 2012) envies. According to a May 2025 survey by Resume Builder, Gen Z is flocking to learn trade skills, with 42% of the young adults surveyed currently pursuing or working in a blue-collar job. This shift has earned Gen Z the nickname “the toolbelt generation.” Undergraduate certificate enrollment, which includes many trade programs, rose 10.2% this spring compared to last spring, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. Boomers over 70 shared the seemingly “useless” life skills they learned growing up, which are rarely used today, on the r/OverSeventy subreddit. Here are 20 of the skills they said they’re proud of. The 20 skills they still know by heart Sewing, mending, and household skills “Back in the day most everyone knew how to sew even if just to hem pants or darn a sock. I remember my mom’s sewing machine that was used to repair clothes.” – LMO_TheBeginning “I darned a ski sock that was super comfortable and pricey. I couldn’t bear throwing it away and I couldn’t bear throwing money away on another. Some life skills are just so necessary. I still have a sewing machine from the 90’s. I need to pull that out and practice hemming my jeans :).” – CApeaches “When I was a kid my mom tried to teach me how to iron a shirt. I never used it to this day my reaction to ironing is ‘iron?, what’s that?’” – sashmii “Social graces, how to set a formal table, make a flower arrangement, place cards, fold a napkin, which utensil to use for different dishes, which glasses get used for what. How to sit, talk, stand, and speak like a lady. I learned all of that in Home Economics before I was in 8th grade.” – greenexitsign10 Cooking and preserving food “Canning. I homecan pretty much anything and have it come out just lovely…and it lasts for YEARS. handy because I grow all the vegetables and chickens we used too.” – SpitefulGramma “I can make almost any food from scratch- tortillas, crackers, candy, yogurt, bread, desserts, gravy, frosting. It’s natural for me but people are always shocked.” – Ok_Second8665 School days and classroom skills “Being able to read and write cursive.” – AdRevolutionary1780 “Use paper bags to cover school books. It was amazing!” – PixiePower65 Office skills from before computers “Proofreading and editing. And writing without AI!” Quirky_kind, SmileSagely_8worms “Gregg Shorthand diamond jubilee edition.” – ActiveOutrageous9533 “My first job was at a fast food restaurant and when I worked the drive thru I collected cash and had to figure out their change in my head. There was a calculator available but it sped things up if you could do the math in your head. I was pretty good at doing quick and accurate cash math. Now that everything is on cards, it has become a useless skill.” – Acrobatic_Ranger248 “Use a slide rule to solve arithmetic and math problems.” – Mjmcd929 “Phone book fastest first competitions.” – GeekOlive Getting around without a screen “I still own a manual transmission car. I seem to recall there was a time that was a requirement when getting your driver’s license. Maybe not but I’ve pretty much always had at least one manual transmission car in my household. Having a car that’s a stick shift is almost like a theft deterrent these days because nobody knows how to drive them anymore.” – LMO_TheBeginningOP, After-Temperature638 “Parallel parking without a rear camera.” – PalmOilduCongo “Map reading. I was the last person in my circle to start using maps on my phone. It’s infuriating. I have recently gone back to using paper maps. Interestingly, some incorrectly believe that people who have aphantasia (can not voluntarily visualize) can not read maps. I am an aphant and almost became a cartographer.” – msmicroracer, mabbh130 Print and newsroom crafts “Using a Linotype machine and setting the galleys of type for print using wax. We would sometimes cut out and replace one letter if something was misspelled. Also using a graphic arts camera to create a halftone from a photograph so it would be printed on a press. Lots of graphic design skills which are no longer needed.” – elsadancesinthesky “All the cut-and-paste and darkroom skills that went into putting together the daily newspaper. Knowing points, picas and agates and being able to calculate a percentage for enlargement or reduction on the fly. Once the floors started to vibrate from the press rolling up we could all take a moment to breathe. Damn, I miss it all.” – DM_Pidey Hands-on trades and outdoor skills “Mounting an iron tire on a wooden wagon wheel. I thought I was set for life when I learned. Turned out I had to get another job.” – Smart-Difficulty-454 “Starting a campfire with one match and no paper. Pitching a heavy canvas tent. Using a 2 person hand saw. Cooking over a campfire. Sewing an invisible hem by hand. Using a drop spindle. Starting a car by pushing it or rolling it down a hill and popping the clutch.” – bombyx440 Why these skills still matter today There’s something quietly remarkable about this list. These aren’t skills people learned because they had to memorize them for a test. They learned them because life required it. Whether it’s starting a fire with one match, calculating change in their head, or setting type on a Linotype machine, these are the kinds of competencies that came from doing, not watching. And maybe that’s exactly why Gen Z, the so-called toolbelt generation, is circling back. Some things are just worth knowing with your hands. This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.