How We Used to Live was a long-running British educational history television series, produced for most of its run by Yorkshire Television. The series, encompassing drama and documentary, remained in sporadic production from 1968 to 2002, airing on ITV and Channel 4.

Written by Freda Kelsall, the series traced the lives and fortunes of various fictional Yorkshire families from the Victorian era until the early 1970s, in and around the fictional town of Bradley, using self-contained short dramas interspersed with archive footage.

Each series was broadcast as part of ITV Schools, on ITV between 1968 and 1987 and then on Channel 4 and S4C. The series, generally running for 20 programmes, was split into two-halves – with the first ten episodes transmitted in the autumn term (usually September – December), followed by the remainder of the series in the spring term (from the second week of January until late March). The programmes were repeated frequently, enabling new generations of children to learn about modern history.

The series was mainly shown during the main schools schedule, although it was occasionally transmitted at other times. The British Film Institute lists Thora Hird Introduces How We Used to Live for 30 August 1984, describing it as "a documentary on the making of the award-winning schools series". It further says that it was shown late at night on most of the ITV network.

Part of the first series was repeated late at night in its home region of Yorkshire Television in early 1969. Also, the episodes 'Blitz' and 'Victory', first shown in 1976, were repeated on the ITV network on 8 May 1985, the 40th anniversary of VE Day.

There have been several series of How We Used to Live.

Series 1 centred on the late Victorian era. It was first broadcast in 1968. Some additional episodes were added to this series in 1972/1973 but this was not a separate series. This series featured on-screen presenters including Geoffrey Wheeler and Redvers Kyle.

Series 2 covered the periods 1908–1918 (autumn term 1975) and 1925–1945 (spring term 1976). The first half of the series (Episodes 1-10) centred around the Ackerley family, who move into their new home, 13 Sultan Street, Bradley in 1908. Albert, the father, is an assistant at a printing works. He earns 22/- per week. His son Harry takes a job as a grocers boy, earning 5/- per week. The rent of their terraced house, with gas and water laid on, is 6/- per week. Albert's wife Daisy must make the rest of the income cover food, fuel and clothing. Jane, their daughter, is still at school until the age of 14 when she goes to work as a housemaid in a middle-class home. Episodes 11–15 see the Dawson family move into the house formerly occupied by the Ackerley family. Stanley Dawson, the father, works as a stores clerk in a factory, earning £3/2/6 per week. He becomes unemployed in the thirties and he, his wife Doris and son Gerald are forced to rely on the earnings of daughter Marjorie, who works as a library assistant. The Boothroyds move into the terraced house just before World War Two – the last five episodes describe how they cope with the varied hazards of civilian life in wartime Britain. The series is narrated by YTV continuity announcer John Crosse.