My hubby tells stories of him pooling his change with his buddies on Friday and Saturday nights to put a dollar's worth of gas in his friend Johnny's old car, so they could drive around and hang out together. They would go to Sky Castle's and one of them would order a coke while they sat and talked, and when the waitress would be about to shoo them out, another one of them would order something. It was all like a scene out of Happy Days! That was way back in the 50's, before we met and started dating.
I was reminded of his stories when I saw this in the newspaper the other day:
When I was in high school in the 60's, I could fill up my car with $2 worth of gas. Interestingly, I couldn't afford a tank full of gas back then, either.
So, is gas really all that high even now? I'm not so sure. Our first apartment was $52.50 a month. Our first home cost us $101 a month, and it was all we could do to qualify for the payment. My first teaching job paid a whopping $265 a month, after paying for college to get it. When you put the prices of everything else from way back then in perspective with what those things cost today, gasoline probably is right about where it should be. Not that I like paying $4.00 a gallon, mind you. But considering how much money everything else costs, I think our reaction to gas prices may be more emotional than intellectual.
Any thoughts???Labels: 1950's, first home, gasoline prices, High School Memories, home buying, inflation, mortgage, nostalgia, teaching
When we were dating, way back in the 60's, we often went to a movie in downtown Birmingham. We always got the biggest popcorn bucket they had and ate out of it together. At the time, that seemed so romantic. We still go to movies from time to time, but now we go during the day and get the Senior discount. LOL And we do NOT buy anything from the concession stand!
We went to the movies today at a Rave Theater and really had a good time. It was just too hot to go Estate Sale hunting on our Date Day, so seeing a movie seemed like a "great date" idea. I laughed and laughed, even cried a little, thoroughly enjoying Hairspray.
DH stopped in the restroom before we left, so while I was waiting for him, I started looking at the prices of the concession stand snacks. When we were dating, the boy paid for everything. I don't know if boys do that anymore or not, but I can certainly understand where the change to going Dutch came from. Not only are the tickets to the movie very expensive, but treating a date to popcorn, a large drink, and maybe a candy bar, is downright expensive.
I noticed that the three largest Combo suggestions did NOT have a price on them. After DH listened to my outrage, we started consciously looking to see if the prices were shown anywhere at all. They were not.
By now, the floor manager noticed that we were obviously discussing something in a very upset way, and came to ask if there were a problem. We let him know that we were not at all happy with the lack of prices. The very idea of having a young fellow, eager to impress his date, and she picks one of these combos, without either of them knowing how much it is going to cost? Can't you just see that fellow telling the cashier that he can't afford it, after his date has picked it out? How embarrassing!!
By now, the big boss had come to see what we were all hot and bothered about, and his "reason" for not posting prices on those most expensive choices (he said the most expensive was in the neighborhood of $18.00!) was that they had promotions with different candy companies, so the price varied from time to time. I pointed out to him that the price marquee was electronic, and could be changed at the touch of a button. He then changed the reason to it was a company policy that he had no control over. That's when we asked how to contact the company.
I've complained before to Krystal's headquarters for not having handicap accessible bathrooms in a Birmingham location, and to a large local Realtor, Engel Realty, for not having handicap accessible outside doors on a medical building of all things, so I'm quite willing to complain to the Rave Theaters!
I've written an email to them, offering to post their reply. That should be interesting!
In the meantime, I think our grandson better start saving his money, as he is 13. We were planning to encourage him to start saving some money for his first car. Now, I'm thinking we had better be telling him to save money so he can take a girl to the movies!!Labels: concession stand prices, Date Day, dating rituals, handling money, High School Memories, inflation, movie prices, Rave Theaters, saving
Things are finally beginning to fall in place around here as far as handling Daddy's affairs are concerned. We finally did get the Death Certificate last week, so we have an appointment Thursday with our niece, the lawyer. Our DD and SIL have been busy already planting flowers and painting and re-doing the front porch up at Daddy's, and hopefully soon the house will really belong to them. They've already talked to the mortgage people, so it's just a matter of getting the legalities taken care of, and the house will be theirs. It's so much fun watching their excitement, and it brings back great memories of our first house, and when we built this one.
I can still remember that wonderful rush when we signed our first mortgage and moved into our first home. We barely qualified for the mortgage back then for a whopping $101.00 a month! Back then they wouldn't take the wife's income into account, because she would probably be quitting to have children. That $101.00 got us a really nice house, too!! Now, I shudder to think what our children must pay for their mortgages.
Used to be, if I wanted a quick idea of how prices have changed with inflation, I could multiply what we paid for something way back when by 5 to get an idea of how expensive it would be now. For instance, for a long time this worked for gasoline, as we paid 29 cents a gallon when we got married in the 60's. That would put it about $1.50 now, if only inflation were involved. Obviously, gas is more than that, but that's the idea anyway. At the rate things are going, I'm going to have to change my estimation to 10 times to come closer to modern prices. After all, Cokes were 10 cents when our children were little!!
Well, I digress. I guess the day will come when DD and SIL will look back on the mortgage they paid for this first home of theirs and be just as amazed at how little it was per month. But right now, it sounds like a fortune, just the way our $101.00 did.
It's so much fun listening to them planning all the improvements and changes they want to make to the house, knowing full well that most of them will stay in the realm of pipe dreams, once the reality of paying for it all hits home. But let them dream ... it's got to be one of the most exciting times of their adult lives, and I'm glad to be able to share even a little bit of their enthusiasm.Labels: first home, home buying, inflation, mortgage, remodeling
jan,
Dirty Butter,
help?
