On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
My husband and I were reminiscing this week about used Coke bottles and the part they played in teaching us that money had to be earned. If you are old enough you will remember that each soda bottle required that a 2¢ deposit be paid. Just like today some people were too lazy to properly dispose of the empty bottles. Often they were flung out car windows, dropped by walkers or cyclist. Their trash became our big time treasure. I can still remember how dirty and disgusting some of them were. Smokers used them for cigarette butts.
If we had a craving for chocolate or other sweets we hit the streets. No we didn’t mug anyone, we scavenged for empty soda bottles. At that time you could still buy penny candy so for an hour or so of “work” we would have enough bottles to take to the store. Most stores had some sort of bin for bottle returns. We would show our bottles to the cashier, put them in the return bin and choose our treats. If we had been really lucky we would have enough for a soda too but we had to drink it in the store to save the deposit cost. Man did that soda taste good after spending time under the hot Florida sun looking for bottles. Sometimes though we had to “share”, meaning we could only afford one soda.
I can’t remember a time when my parents just handed me money for no reason. Once I was in junior high school I was given a set amount of money each week for lunch. If I wanted something my parents felt was not necessary, I saved a little bit of my lunch money until I had enough to buy it for myself. Today that sounds harsh but it wasn’t really. I learned that gratification of my wants was not instantaneous. I’m sad the state of our culture has diminished to the point that children aren’t safe to walk the streets and woods. So many lessons were learned during those freewheeling days.
What about you, did you ever collect soda bottles?
You might want to check out “The Next Big Thing” at RebekahLynsKitchen. She will be talking about her upcoming book set in these same “free-wheeling” times.
Old Things R New 
I saved bottles of all kinds, plus green stamps. Lots of memories. Thanks for the reminder.
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I’m glad you didn’t have to wash the coke bottles. I always wondered who cleaned the nasty ones.
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Yes, I collected bottles sometimes too. I turned them in to my dad who owned a restaurant and bar. i was never given money, but I was paid to wash tons of dishes in the restaurant and do a bushel basket of ironing at home every week, that included my brothers jeans, but not the lace curtains, we dried them on frames so that they didn’t need ironing. Thanks for sharing this Onisha. It’s something I’d forgotten and enjoyed an oppotunity to recall.
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