I love looking at stuff with old prices. Once we were at a restaurant and they had a menu circa 1962 on the wall and it was so fun to see the prices from back then. Of course wages were lower so it evened out but it was funny!
Lewreader..I am a bit older than you, I think. Gas was 16 cents a gallon, and I was paid a whole whopping 75 cents to pump it. Kerosene was about 3 cents a gal, and diesel was a nickle. Of course, when Mickey D’s was new, and had only served “millions and millions” (and yes, I remember the count going up the ranks to a million) they were 10 for a dollar. S&H Greenstamps were all the rage.
Now you guys are really making me feel old. Axe, you talking about your mother & grandmother saving Green Stamps….I collected them too. But it is fun to see the old prices compared to now. I bought a house on 1/4 acre lot, the price tag for that was $10,000. It had 3 bedrooms and a full basement.
I remodeled a room and after peeling the old drywall found old newspaper and magazine pages used for insulation. The prices were great except for electronics. Old TV’s were a lot more back then.
my parents sold our house on 1/2 acre for $4000 and the buyer paid in cash 4 $1000 bills. first time I had seen any. museum pieces now, if you can find them anywhere at all. and gas wars between stations, wash your windshield, check your oil, check your tires.
I was soo much older then, I am younger than that now
I remember my mom getting those green stamps this was in OK. Dad had to get work then as Boeing in Wichita was not doing that great. And when someone like my dad mentioned working at Boeing, company’s didn’t want you.
My mom talks about those old day’s all the time even before I was born.
My husband’s mother use to call those old days good old day’s.
Loved reading all those comments. It took me back. My husband and I bought our 3 bedroom house on 3/4 of an acre for $10,000. Then we bought three acres behind the house for $1,000. He was making $75 a week at the time and I was a stay-at-home mom. Things are a lot more expensive now, but we can afford things we couldn’t afford back then.
Technically speaking, McDonalds hamburgers were ten cents apiece unless you ordered a dozen. Then you could get a baker’s dozen (13) for $1.00. So, if you had a crowd, it made sense to order the baker’s dozen because you got three extra hamburgers for free. The order of 13 hamburgers also came with four cola drinks and four orders of fries. So two couples could double-date for a movie, then stop off at McDonalds for hamburgers, a coke and fries. Usually, the two guys ate four and a half hamburgers and the girls only ate 2 each.
When my folks bought their first (and only) home in 1949 - they paid $5,000 for it and their mortgage payments were $45 per month. The average family today spends more than that for a WEEK’S worth of groceries!
Also, when I went to High School, our home economics text book had a list of “modern day” appliances and explained how they all functioned. There WAS a notation that a machine known as an “electric clothes dryer” HAD been invented - but went on to theorize that it was highly unlikely that the electric clothes dryer would ever become very popular because, besides costing a lot of money to begin with - the machine was also notoriously bad at guzzling energy. Which, naturally, made the “electric clothes dryer” notoriously expensive to operate AFTER you had laid out a lot of money in order to own one in the first place. In the meantime, it was simple and CHEAP to just string a clothes line in the backyard and hang your clothes out to dry. The text book offered the opinion that it would be highly unlikely that very many people would ever be able to take on the added expense of owning (and operating) an electric clothes dryer. Then the textbook went on to explain how to go about stringing a backyard clothes line, a discussion about the best type of clothes pins to use (the text book was opposed to the clothes pins with springs in them because the springs were inclined to break and you had to go out and purchase new ones all the time). There were instructions on the best system for hanging each piece of clothing on the clothes line and then instructions on the best way to bring the clothes in, fold them and put them away!
Didn’t know if anyone else had realized this or not - but FLINTSTONES - which still airs on the Boomerang Channel - debuted in 1960 - making that FIFTY solid years for Flintstones on the air! If you ever catch any of the old Flintstones episodes, you will notice that, while the “modern stone age” housewives Betty and Wilma had stuff such as “vacuum cleaners” - Betty and Wilma were STILL hanging their clothes (including diapers) out to dry on a clothes line, then bringing the dried cloths inside to fold! I think that Pebbles and BAM BAM were introduced on the show about 1963 and the show only ran until 1966 - so even as late as 1966 - and even in the Hollywood establishment which later came to define what was considered “modern” for most Americans - the average household was STILL seen as being able to function quite well WITHOUT that newfangled apparatus known as an “electric clothes dryer.”
Steve Bartholomew almost 15 years ago
That’s the most intelligent commentary on the economy I’ve heard yet.
BigGrouch almost 15 years ago
And yet somehow Rufus and Joel seem happy…
alondra almost 15 years ago
I love looking at stuff with old prices. Once we were at a restaurant and they had a menu circa 1962 on the wall and it was so fun to see the prices from back then. Of course wages were lower so it evened out but it was funny!
axe-grinder almost 15 years ago
Gasoline Alley is the bastion of nostalgia.
lewisbower almost 15 years ago
My first job gasoline cost thirty five cents a gallon. I earned a dollar fifteen pumping it. I think I’m better off now.
eagleowl almost 15 years ago
Lewreader..I am a bit older than you, I think. Gas was 16 cents a gallon, and I was paid a whole whopping 75 cents to pump it. Kerosene was about 3 cents a gal, and diesel was a nickle. Of course, when Mickey D’s was new, and had only served “millions and millions” (and yes, I remember the count going up the ranks to a million) they were 10 for a dollar. S&H Greenstamps were all the rage.
BillTA almost 15 years ago
Eagleowl probably remembers penny postcards.
axe-grinder almost 15 years ago
eagleowl said, S&H Greenstamps were all the rage.
Yes, I remember my mother and grandmother seeking out, gathering and redeeming those ubiquitous Green Stamps.
ORteka almost 15 years ago
Now you guys are really making me feel old. Axe, you talking about your mother & grandmother saving Green Stamps….I collected them too. But it is fun to see the old prices compared to now. I bought a house on 1/4 acre lot, the price tag for that was $10,000. It had 3 bedrooms and a full basement.
Yukoneric almost 15 years ago
I remodeled a room and after peeling the old drywall found old newspaper and magazine pages used for insulation. The prices were great except for electronics. Old TV’s were a lot more back then.
napaeric almost 15 years ago
my parents sold our house on 1/2 acre for $4000 and the buyer paid in cash 4 $1000 bills. first time I had seen any. museum pieces now, if you can find them anywhere at all. and gas wars between stations, wash your windshield, check your oil, check your tires. I was soo much older then, I am younger than that now
kab2rb almost 15 years ago
I remember my mom getting those green stamps this was in OK. Dad had to get work then as Boeing in Wichita was not doing that great. And when someone like my dad mentioned working at Boeing, company’s didn’t want you. My mom talks about those old day’s all the time even before I was born. My husband’s mother use to call those old days good old day’s.
axe-grinder almost 15 years ago
ORteka said, I bought a house on 1/4 acre lot, the price tag for that was $10,000. It had 3 bedrooms and a full basement.
I’ve seen TV ads that suggest you might get that kind of deal again these days!
stringmusicianer almost 15 years ago
Life was a lot of hard work way back then. The older people I have known say they would not go back to those “good old days.”
Wonder what today’s kids will say 40 or 50 years from now?
JP Steve Premium Member almost 15 years ago
“Uphill both ways!”
cstenod40 almost 15 years ago
Loved reading all those comments. It took me back. My husband and I bought our 3 bedroom house on 3/4 of an acre for $10,000. Then we bought three acres behind the house for $1,000. He was making $75 a week at the time and I was a stay-at-home mom. Things are a lot more expensive now, but we can afford things we couldn’t afford back then.
DebJ4 almost 15 years ago
Technically speaking, McDonalds hamburgers were ten cents apiece unless you ordered a dozen. Then you could get a baker’s dozen (13) for $1.00. So, if you had a crowd, it made sense to order the baker’s dozen because you got three extra hamburgers for free. The order of 13 hamburgers also came with four cola drinks and four orders of fries. So two couples could double-date for a movie, then stop off at McDonalds for hamburgers, a coke and fries. Usually, the two guys ate four and a half hamburgers and the girls only ate 2 each.
When my folks bought their first (and only) home in 1949 - they paid $5,000 for it and their mortgage payments were $45 per month. The average family today spends more than that for a WEEK’S worth of groceries!
Also, when I went to High School, our home economics text book had a list of “modern day” appliances and explained how they all functioned. There WAS a notation that a machine known as an “electric clothes dryer” HAD been invented - but went on to theorize that it was highly unlikely that the electric clothes dryer would ever become very popular because, besides costing a lot of money to begin with - the machine was also notoriously bad at guzzling energy. Which, naturally, made the “electric clothes dryer” notoriously expensive to operate AFTER you had laid out a lot of money in order to own one in the first place. In the meantime, it was simple and CHEAP to just string a clothes line in the backyard and hang your clothes out to dry. The text book offered the opinion that it would be highly unlikely that very many people would ever be able to take on the added expense of owning (and operating) an electric clothes dryer. Then the textbook went on to explain how to go about stringing a backyard clothes line, a discussion about the best type of clothes pins to use (the text book was opposed to the clothes pins with springs in them because the springs were inclined to break and you had to go out and purchase new ones all the time). There were instructions on the best system for hanging each piece of clothing on the clothes line and then instructions on the best way to bring the clothes in, fold them and put them away!
Didn’t know if anyone else had realized this or not - but FLINTSTONES - which still airs on the Boomerang Channel - debuted in 1960 - making that FIFTY solid years for Flintstones on the air! If you ever catch any of the old Flintstones episodes, you will notice that, while the “modern stone age” housewives Betty and Wilma had stuff such as “vacuum cleaners” - Betty and Wilma were STILL hanging their clothes (including diapers) out to dry on a clothes line, then bringing the dried cloths inside to fold! I think that Pebbles and BAM BAM were introduced on the show about 1963 and the show only ran until 1966 - so even as late as 1966 - and even in the Hollywood establishment which later came to define what was considered “modern” for most Americans - the average household was STILL seen as being able to function quite well WITHOUT that newfangled apparatus known as an “electric clothes dryer.”