Quote:
Originally Posted by GH85Carrera
No doubt in most households both parents work now. It is not just the cost of living, or the wages. We lived in very modest houses, mostly rentals or base housing that was a crappy barracks type house, because we moved often. Dad was a Air Force officer. Not well paid and he often worked 80 hours weeks, never a penny of overtime, never a single Christmas bonus.
The big difference for today, the standard of living. We did not have an air conditioned house until I was in high school. We had one car. We did NOT have cable TV, internet and cell phones that cost 50 to 100 bucks each per month. We almost never ate out. Mom cooked at home. We did not go on cruises, or fancy vacations to Disney world.
The cost of living was way lower, and the standard of living was much lower. We never worried about going hungry, or being homeless. But we did not have designer clothes, and all the frills and electronics of common middle class citizens of today.
We did not have color a TV until 1967. And it was just one set. We had just one phone line and one phone.
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You had a colour TV....in 67!!!!!WOW.....and a phone?????
My Dad was a highly paid Aero Space engineer and my Mother worked for the AF, we didn't have a phone for years, and I remember listening to the TV as the tube had gone out... It was a 1950 Tele King...
We would eat out occasionally at places like the Sizzler or Wang Yings Chinese ...budget joints...
We mostly drove on vacations, and stayed at the Flea Bag Inn. which later became known as Motel 6. The exception was going to Grandmas house in Detroit then we took the train...
The point here about having a lower standard of living was that it was ON PURPOSE..My Dad had the means for living high on the hog...but didn't because he knew what hard times were...he had grown up and lived them...
I remember when our next door neighbor bought a brand new Buick Wildcat with all the bells and whistles..the kid next door showed me the bells and whistles and when I went home and ouuued and ahhed about it.. my Dad said, "Yeah and they have a payment to make on the car." He was an LA County Sheriff and she was a HS Principle and this was in the mid 60's.