These once-popular household products are now on the endangered list

Unless you’ve been living in an 18th century mansion, isolated from your neighbours and, well, the internet, you might have noticed that our homes are changing, and many of the things we once believed we could never do without are becoming extinct.

While some people may cry out in protest, and tell us that to discard them is idiocy, the fact remains the following items are currently on the endangered list.

The landline phone

According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, 36 per cent of us have said goodbye to our traditional handset in favour of our mobile phones. (And even then, let’s be honest, we’re still not picking up to chat.)

The report, which was released in 2017, estimated that by 2022 most Australians would be mobile-only households. By that estimate, it’s likely half of us have ditched the old banana in favour of screening anyone who wants to call us.

Bar soap

If you’re wondering about this one, chances are you’re someone’s dad because the rest of us have moved on.

According to US marketing intelligence agency Mintel, sales of bar soap have dropped 5 per cent between 2010 and 2015, with Millennials in particular – 60 per cent of them, in fact – finding the entire concept of “one bar to soap it all” utterly disgusting.

They’re not wrong to choose liquid over the hand-held bar – research has found that there is indeed a plethora of bacteria on bar soap, although not enough to harm you.

The top sheet

Once a dirty secret between you and your spouse (and children, and pets), it would seem the cat is well and truly out of the bag, with people finally admitting that while the bottom sheet is a must and a Doona is a non-negotiable, the sheet with the Doona is fast becoming redundant.

The public confessed en masse to the discarding of the bed cloth on Twitter in April of last year and it quickly reached the mainstream media.

”All top sheets really do is create extra work in your day-to-day life.” So says Danielle Tullo, who wrote a manifesto railing against the use of the top sheet for House Beautiful.

“When you’re making your bed in the morning, you have to get the wrinkled and disheveled linen to cooperate and tuck it back in to place.

“When you’re sleeping, it disrupts you and makes you wake up because it either fell off in your sleep and now you’re shivering, or it’s wrapped so tightly around your body you are a top-sheet burrito. There is zero consistency.”

The toilet brush

If you thought this was a hygienic way to keep your poo at arm’s length while still keeping your toilet bowl clean, boy do we have news for you.

The toilet brush – and its heinous partner, the brush bowl – has officially been condemned as a veritable hell mouth of repulsive bacteria, with UK cleaning expert Aggie MacKenzie, who has hosted over 50 episodes of Hoarders, having very firm views on the matter.

“There is a fetid liquid bacteria soup at the bottom of every toilet-brush holder,” MacKenzie told The Guardian earlier this year.

“[I] would much rather get a pair of thick rubber gloves on and use my fingernail under the thick rubber gloves to get any bits.”

Yes, she did indeed use the term “bits”.

The dining table

This one’s a biggie. Apparently as dining rooms are now on the decline with people using the space as either an office or a laundry, so too are dining tables.

“Back in the 1950s and 1960s, society was different and how you entertained was different. These days, people gather in the kitchen and they want that open floor plan where all spaces are connected,” is how one builder put it.

“Apartment living makes a dining room table seem like the ultimate luxury” is how Claire Margine described it on the decor website Apartment Therapy.

“But like a Birkin bag or a ritzy tasting menu, it’s a luxury that doesn’t do much for me. I make dinner almost every night. Homemade family dinner is the norm in my household. And part of that is the coffee table.”

That’s right – coffee tables, kitchen islands, and people’s laps are fast replacing the old polished table of your childhood.

But if any of these changes make you feel old, take heart – the household clock has pretty much vanished, too.