Life 75 Years Ago Compared To Now! (the cost of living)
87I found a couple of dozen old newspaper in the far corner of the attic. It was probably some of the most interesting read I've had for quite a while as they dated back to the years of 1933 to 1934. I made up a list from the ads that were in these papers. Here is a list comparing the prices of the past to todays.
2007-2008
New Cars
starting at $13,500 the sky is the limit
Clothing
Men's shoes, sport, 49.95/pair
Men's slacks, 39.95/pair
Women's cotton blouse, 29.95each
Women's wool coat, 199.95each
Food & beverages
Meat
Beef, prime rib roast, 6.99/lb
Beef, chuck roast, 3.99/lb
Minced Veal, 4.49/lb
Ground Beef, medium, 2.99/lb
Chicken,whole frozen2.29/lb
Duck, whole frozen 4.39/lb
Lamb chops, 8.99/lb
Side bacon, 4.29/lb
Fish
Atlantic sole, 3.99/lb
Salmon steak, 5.79/lb
Staples
Bread, white, 1.59/20 oz loaf
Cereal, Corn Flakes, 3.99/lb pkg
Eggs 1.99/dozen
Sugar, granulated, 3.29/5 lbs
Flour, 18.99/50 lbs
Coffee, 5.99/lb
Doughnuts, jelly, 3.99/dozen
Dairy
Milk, 1.19/quart
Milk,evaporated, 1.19/12oz cans
Sour cream 1.19/pint
Cheese, Cheddar, med, 12.99/lb
Ice cream, 2.29/quart
Fruit & Veggies
Oranges, California, 3.99/dozen
Lemons, Sunkist, 3.99/dozen
Lettuce, iceberg, 1.29/head
Cucumbers, 1.59/3
Can & Jar Goods
Mushrooms,sliced, 1.39/6 oz can
Olives, stuffed, 4.49/11 oz bottle
Miracle Whip, 2.99/pint
Peanut-butter, 3.99/lb jar
Tomato soup, .89/12 oz can
Household goods
Laundry soap, 4.99/45 loads
Lightbulbs, Westinghouse, 1.19/each
Paint, NO lead & zinc, 39.99/gallon
Towels, 21" X 42", 6.99 each
Personal care & health
Aspirin, 5 grain strength, 1.79/12 pill
Laxative, Ex Lax, 3.79/pkg
Razor, sensor, 5.99/5 pack
Shampoo, Pantene, 5.99/bottle
Soap, Irish Spring, 1.39/cake
Baby powder, 3.99/pkg
Home & garden & lawn equipment
Adirondack chair, unfinished, 129.00 each
Rake, bamboo, 18", 18.99/each
Range, gas, from 689.00/each
Refrigerator, from 989.00/each
Houses for sale
Average 2-3 bedroom, from 100,000.00
Houses for rent
3 bedroom home, from 875.00/month
Apartments for rent
2 bedroom, from 700.00/ month
Recreation & amusements
Banana split, 4.29/each
Baseball game, 25.00/admission
Dance, at a Club 25.00/couple
Lunch, starting from 7.99/plate
Movie ticket, 5.50/matinee; 9.50/evening
Lets compare the prices of 1933-34 to
New Cars
Various models, starting at $445.00-565.00
Clothing
Men's shoes, sport, 3.00/pair
Men's slacks, 1.95/pair
Women's cotton blouse, .39each
Women's wool coat, 6.75each
Food & beverages
Meat
Beef, prime rib roast, .27/lb
Beef, chuck roast, .5/lb
Minced Veal, .6/lb
Ground Beef, medium, .4/lb
Chicken,whole frozen .19/lb
Duck, whole frozen .22/lb
Lamb chops, .21/lb
Side bacon, .21/lb
Fish
Atlantic sole, .9/lb
Salmon steak, .25/lb
Staples
Bread, white, .06/20 oz loaf
Cereal, Corn Flakes, .07/pkg
Eggs .14/dozen
Sugar, granulated, .24/5 lbs
Flour, 1.03/50 lb bag
Coffee,.23/lb
Doughnuts, jelly, .17/dozen
Dairy
Milk,.16/quart
Milk,evaporated, .17/3 tall cans
Sour cream .6/pint
Cheese, Cheddar, .23/lb
Ice cream, .39/quart
Fruit & Veggies
Oranges, California, .21/dozen
Lemons, Sunkist, .19/12
Lettuce, iceberg, .10/head
Cucumbers, .10/3
Can & Jar Goods
Mushrooms,sliced, .15/4 oz can
Olives, stuffed, .25/11 oz bottle
Kraft, Miracle Whip, .10/half pint
Peanutbutter, .25/2 lbs jar
Tomato soup, .7/12oz can
Household goods
Laundry soap 25/9bars
Lightbulbs, Westinghouse, .18/each
Paint, lead & zinc, 2.75/gallon
Towels,21" X 42", 1.00/6
Personal care & health
Aspirin, .09/12 pill
Laxative, Ex Lax, .13/pkg
Razor, gold plated, .19/each
Shampoo, Palmolive, .29/bottle
Soap, Life Buoy, .05/cake
Baby powder, .14/pkg
Home & garden & lawn equipment
Chair, Adirondack, unfinished, 1.98
Rake, bamboo, 18", .15/each
Range, gas, 68.25/each
Refrigerator, 96.00/each
Houses for sale
Average 6 rooms, from 4750.00
Houses for rent
6 room house,from 22.50/month
Apartments for rent
5 rooms, from 35.00/month
Recreation & amusements
Banana split, .16/each
Baseball game, .35/admission
Dance, at a Club 2.50/couple
Lunch, from .50/plate
Movie ticket, .10/matinee; .20/evening
1933-1934
Minimum wage was established around that time at .33 cents per hour. However (if one was lucky enough to have work) it took anywhere from 50 to 60 hours per week.
For 60 hours work the total pay at the end of the week would have been the great sum of $19.80. Which calculates to 85.80 per month (less deductions)
2007-2008
Minimum wage was established here in Ontario at $8.00 per hour, not very long ago. The average person works around 40 hours weekly.
For 40 hours work the total pay at the end of the week would translate into the great sum of $320.00. Which calculates into $1386.66 per month (less deductions)
The wages and expenditures from 75 years ago compared to now look very different until one starts to look into it all in detail.
If the formula, loan companies use, were to be plugged into our comparison numbers one would be surprised of how same the results turn out.
Approximate formula :
- housing 50 % of income
- food 25 % income
- miscellaneous expenditures 15 % of income
- savings 10 % of income
Our two base wage numbers are:
- 85.80 - 20% deduction about 68.50 per month
- 1386.66 - 20% deductions about about 1109.00 per month
housing:
- 34.25 (apartment on list 35.00) -.75 cents
- 554.65 (apartment on list 700.00) + 145.35 {that's 13% increase from the allowable 50% for housing)
food:
- 17.12 (even with the prices for food looking low, to feed a family with that budget just didn't work) {it would have taken another 5-6 dollars per month serving only cheep meals} that's a short fall of 7.3%
- 277.25 per month would be a very tight budget for food and at least 2% increase would be needed again seving only low,low priced food. {shortfall of 2%}
misc:
- 10.27 for everything from laundry, to bus fare, to clothes, to entertainement etc. would have to come out of this fund.
- 166.35 for everything from laundry, to bus fare, to telephone, to clothes, entertainement etc. also some of the short-fall will have to be saved from here.
savings:
- 6.85 well there will be no saving as the shortfall in the food will have to come from here...
- that's the same for the 2007-2008 there is no savings possible. The 110.90 will not even cover the extra needed for the rent.
In conclusion a person working for minimum wage is just as bad off now as the person was in 1933...except todays person can get an additional job and put in the twenty extra hours ( if they're lucky enough to find extra work)
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
That's they way inflation works, doesn't it? -- Everything increases in price for working people.
In Ohio, some of our prcies are always worse -- our cucumbers are $1.00 each, many soups are over $1.00/12oz, can; Head lettuce at Kroger = $1.50. WalMart grocery is now just as expensive as Kroger.
In the 1950s, USA dumped coffee and milk into Gulf Mexico to drive up prices. Today, Ohio has many silos full of corn that are 4-6 years old - way too old to eat.
Thanks for publishing this to bring light to inflation! If people would only stop buying some things for a time -- like until stores lose whole binsful to spoilage just once - the prices would come down.
Our nearest Kroger stores throw out really good food, and lock the dumpsters so no one can get into them (stroy int he newspapers). The stores won't give the food to shelters or the foodbank, either, because they fear lawsuits.
Our local family-owned groceries have reduced prices - that's where many of us buy.
Abhinaya! I agree that life was simpler before...but I'm not so sure that I'd want to live in the 30's, the great depression made it almost impossible to be able to feed ones family.
Glad you came for a visit. regards Zsuzsy
Patty! Thanks for taking a look and for the comments. It's sad how progress has really not progressed. The "minimum wager" has almost no chance of succeeding. The poor are doomed to stay poor...
regards Zsuzsy
You know,I once heard there was a study done and belief is if they split all money evenly between all people,before long the same would be rich and the same would be poor---I think I would like to try anyway.
Great hub--Zsuzsy
Thanks Froggie for taking a look and the comment. I keep trying too.
regards Zsuzsy
Froggy - it's a function of mathematics and physics, like water seeking its own level. Redistribution will likely reverse itself within a single generation without passing laws that are/maybe unconstitutional - you know, nationwide price freezing, government-mandated CEO salary caps, mandated stock dividend caps - it won't fly. Where you have free enterprise, you have a skewed income distribution naturally. We need a long-term answer beyond a single generation or a single US president.
I think the answer is to stop inflation by stopping raises in prices of goods and services because shareholders want higher dividends and CEOs want more income. It won't work in a free society, but if prices were locked in, then the only ways to produce more income would be to 1) cut labor (which some WOULD/already do), 2) produce cheaper quality goods and services (happens), or 3) sell MORE things at the same price (might happen). Largely only 1 and 2 generally happen, anyway. They did after minimum wage increased recently.
Other ways would be to steal the raw materials (outlandish, but I knew one small business owner that did this until he was caught), place embargoes on all foreign goods (not likely) to keep US money at home. or we could print more money and give it away ala the Civil War in the south (didn't work).
So, make sure everyone has a certain level of income and healthcare so they do not suffer, even if the govt has to pay it (may need a tax increase), and prevent companies from raising prices, while locking in the minimum wage. OH! :) - sounds like a small corner of Reaganomics - everyone formerly receiving govt. help go start your own business, even if (like one of my patients) - you are in a body cast, both arms and legs in traction), 60 years old, female (widowed) that has never worked, but has HS education. Benefits were all cut. God is not always going to make it possible to be healed and have a business handed to one. But sometimes that happens.
An overall answer - I have no idea what we can do long-term. They solved it in Holland when my friend worked there - but income tax was 70% for all. Nearly everything major was free or very low cost, but you didn't have much discretionary money to spend.
We can try to help ourselves in smaller ways, by each not purchasing inferior goods at inflated prices. Green living, green collar jobs, and green industries all help with that. That might be part of a longer-term answer. Commendations to anyone that comes up with it! :)
Does anyone think we can do away with money altogether, as in some science fiction epics?
Wow Zsuzsy great hub. Unbelievable how prices have increased. My husband was born in 1935.
Green living, dealing and growing is the way to the future...I'm convinced of that. As for money I would love to say sure lets get rid of it. Barter, lets bring back the barter system...BUT humanity being what it is, soon money would be replaced with another idol to cherish ie gold,diamonds, oil,natural gas etc. of the past and the now, will be replaced by Sun power or Wind power ? What will the idol be, who will have the most wind?(I'm talking about real wind..hehehe) I'm not sure that we of this generation will be here to see the right future established.
Thanks for your comments Patty. regards Zsuzsy
I LOVE IT! - 'who will have the most wind?" That is GREAT! You are right about idolatry, for that it what it mostly is.
Wonderful Hub Zsuzsy.
heehee I types "idolidiotry" without even thinking the first time through on this. What fun.
Human nature is the real culprit. Some people need to have more money than the next guy in order to soothe their egos. Corporations will go anywhere the money is, and let the masses fend for themselves. The "economy" is always great for the wealthy. It's the little guy who suffers. Unemployment, minimum wage, sub-prime mortgages, little or no health insurance, inadequate retirement income all hit the poor and middle class, and the list goes on and on. It won't be changing soon!
I'm afraid your right William. Changes will have to come soon; I just hope it's not going to come with some god-awful drastic measures.
thanks for your comments regards Zsuzsy
Very interesting. I've been worried about the US economy for awhile now. And really don't know of a solid way to solve it that would actually work and people would buy into.
Angela thanks for visiting. I'm sure it's not a quick fix for sure.
regards Zsuzsy
Great hub, ever since 9/11, the prices have gone up, before that it was stable for some time. The gasoline prices are the main culprit, everything is tied up on them. Some are saying the prices will go up to $200 per barrel within the next 10 years, the prices will be double by then.
CGull! I guess ir will be time to start walking or greasing upthe bicyle chain...I'll refuse to pay those kinds of prices.
Thanks for coming for a visit regards Zsuzsy
Wow Patty you hit on a good one--I would like to see us go back to a barter system.I will butcher your cow if you make me a table and so forth.I know it is just a dream but I know I could adapt to that system easily.Many wouldn't.
I've always loved the barter system. Now for that cow you're going to butcher for me? What kind of table did you have in mind Froggy?
thanks for visiting regards Zsuzsy
Froggy & Z -- It could work -- there are a few communities in the US that live by barter. I will need to look them up again. Zsusy - if we start a restaurant, we can barter for supplies easily, but the foodstuffs would need to be pretty local i think :)
The location of our restaurant will have to be near our farm where we can grow our veggies, meat, fruit...We'll be so busy we won't care what politics are screwing with now...
I think I like the idea more and more
Zs
This is an interesting hub, and I had a good time comparing the prices.
Some costs do go down. Fitness centers cost about 60 per month 5-10 years ago and now they are about $30 in my area. Some gadgets go down in price over time, too.
It'll be interesting to see if people can get over using so much gasoline. I can walk to stores, groceries, playgrounds, post office. However, lots of people have to drive.
Working from home also cuts down on gasoline usage.
Very interesting hub, zsuzsy! It is a bit sad, though. Sure would be nice if we could have the wages we have now with the prices back then, wouldn't it? LOL. I know, that is impossible but still it would be nice! :) Great work!
Bonnie
Seamus! Thanks for taking a look and for your comments. In 1933 when those prices came from gasoline was not much of an issue I guess. But it sure is a culprit now in our budgets.
regards Zsuzsy
Bonnie! I'm with you there...I think everyones money trouble would be over. I'll vote for that...
thanks for your visit
regards Zsuzsy
Wow... and the cost of living in former soviet bloc countries is shocking today compared to just 20 years ago. Great hub, Zuz!!
Hi! How are you Isabella? I'm always glad when you pop in for a visit. Thanks for your comments. regards Zsuzsy
I just published lots of hot men for you to drool over. ;)
Hi there, interesting figures. in 1969 in South Africa, cigarettes cost 25c a packet of 20, and petrol was 25c a gallon. After the recent price adjustment and luxury tax increases, cigarettes cost R20 odd for 20 and petrol R8 odd for a litres, which is about R36.00 a gallon.
In some instances the cost of living has maintained the same sort of ratios, but in the major area cost ratios are majorly out of kilter.
Basics are getting disproportionately higher, as companies vie for better returns for their shareholders.
Thanks for taking a look Rodney. I guess all of us are in the same boat.
regards Zsuzsy
The prices for things sure have changed over 75 years. Although I wish I lived in a place where rent was 700 dollars a month, that would be nice :). Interesting and well researched hub, good job.
My area I live in is pretty well the lowest in southern Ontario. For how long is debateble. Thanks for taking a look.
regards Zsuzsy
Southern Ontario sounds like a nice and affordable place to live. I live in Southern California and the prices are more like $1,100 per month for a two bedroom apartment. I enjoy living here, but I think it is a little too expensive. Of course I hear San Francisco and New York are much more expensive, so I guess I should not complain.
Very interesting hub ZB--and fascinating comments too. I'm thinking that it is hard to make valid comparisons not only because of inflation but because life was so different. People had radios, but no TV. Few families had cars and nobody had more than one. People traveled by bus and car not by air. Crude oil came from Texas in those days, not Venezuela. There was no such thing as medical insurance, but then there were no antibiotics either. Cigarettes were dirt cheap and Doctors smoked them too--nobody knew they caused cancer etc. etc. etc. It's like comparing apples and oranges--just think, some day people will look back and think that food was cheap in 2008 and will marvel that gas was only $4.00 a gallon LOL--that is if peopleare still using gas then. Hmmmmmm. Good hub--makes me think. Thanks.
SweetiePie! Right now I'd gladly trade There are snowdrifts in front or the barn that are as tall as me. I'm so tired of this winter and antsy to get out into the garden etc. regards Zsuzsy
Robie! My comparisants was only to show that no matter what unfortunately we have not progressed much. Yes technology is jumped million fold, yet the poor are still poor....Thanks for taking a look
regards Zsuzsy
I understand the wanting to garden part. Maybe a nice greenhouse? Some of our friends up north did that. I like the conversation on this hub, it would make a good economics lesson for a high school class.
SweetiePie! Greenhouse would be nice but there is still the cold and snow. Well soon spring will be here. zs
Hi ZB-- I always enjoy reading your hubs and you are right--the more things change the more they remain the same-- the poor are still poor and the rich are if anything, even richer.....not progress at all.
Thanks Robie I enjoy reading your hubs too. zs
ZB:
Your comparison is enlightening. My take is that values are the same, but we're just using a shrinking measuring tool (the US dollar) to measure. A comparison in ounces of gold would reveal that there hasn't been a lot of change.
You may be interested in my chart of the purchasing power of $100. It's appended to my hub: Buds-Market-Observations---March-1--2008.
Love your hub!
In 1961 my mother earned $65 a week, and that's what the monthly rent on our apartment was. Heating fuel was .35 a gallon. A loaf of bread was about the same. My mother bought me a fabulous red cotton dress for $5, and that was a lot. We could buy pure wool cloth by the yard at a 64-inch width for about $2. *Sigh*
Yes, all of that is proportional. However, in recent years we've seen spikes in utilities, goods, and food products that exceed the proportional increases. And I have to hand it to my mother about my thinking on this. Some years ago, coffee prices spiked because of a drought in South America. My mother said to expect the higher prices to stay after the drought. She said the reason the prices spiked that high was because coffee distributors (NOT the growers) were hedging their bets on the world buying coffee no matter what the price. The price of coffee in a restaurant went from 15 cents a cup to a dollar in a few short months.
She was right. Coffee prices never came down again. CEO compensation packages followed the same strategy many years later. Just hike up the price, and people will go along with it.
Much food for thought here, Zsuzsy. Thank you.
Thanks for visiting Sally. I agree a hundred percent with what you're saying. Unfortunately I can't see any changes happening...As you say much food for thought...
regards Zsuzsy
Yesterday after the weekend blizzard was cleared away, gasoline immediately went up from 2.99/gallon to $3.45, 3,55 and 3.65 per gallon.
We have GOT to get off oil...or off the big shots and elected officials that own it.
I want a wind-up car! Can we have that on the farm? lol
A couple of years ago a friend had a Volkswagon Bub. Her husband gave it to her as a gift. In the back he had installed a huge fiberglass wind-up key. I think that would be a good way to get around our island Patty. zs
I love it!
I placed a link to this Hub in my Hub on Environment Sin. I hope that is OK with you, Big Z (??)
wow great analysis on cost of living at two different periods. It gives us an idea of the past living.
Great analysis. In the 1970's people had small closets and even smaller wardrobes. Then I could actually count the items in my closet now it jumps at me every once in a while. Those new homes are huge about three times the size of the average 1930's home. Great hub!
Patty! sorry I missed your last comment. You know your welcomed to link to my hubs anytime. I consider it a compliment. thanks zs
Vijayanths! thanks for taking a look.
regards Zsuzsy
Broalex! Thank you for coming for a visit. I guess the problem with poverty is spread worldwide. regards Zsuzsy
Raven! You're right about the sizes of homes getting bigger and bigger...My opinion the bigger my home the more I have to spend on utilities the more time I have to spend on cleaning...a small home is just good enough for me.
I'm gald you came for a visit
regards Zsuzsy
Great analysis Bee! Well just imagine how are things going to be 20 years down the line? Just be prepared!
Cleanclover! I don't want to even go there. It's too scarry to imagine.
Thanks for visiting and your comments
regards Zsuzsy
There could be a cycle where after a certain period of expansion reaches a critical threshold, houses begin to get small or we will all live in a single room (barracks) as in the novel 1984.
I like a small house and a ig garden.
I'm with you there Patty. The bigger the more it costs for upkeep and worse it takes all that more time to clean. I think we hord possessions. Big house, tv + dvd player + phone in every room of the house...cell phones for every family member, dogs included...where will it end? zs
Zsuzsy, this one got me to remembering a few things...especially since I may soon need to go back to working a "wages" job to keep us housed and fed. I don't quite go back to 1933 but do recall that in 1958-59, my Dad kept a hired hand (who had worked in the hayfields for him during the summer) on through the winter at $5 cash plus room and board. The board part amounted to a place at our table for meals. The room was a 8 x 12 bunkhouse made of creosote-soaked, used railroad ties and heated with a woodstove.
Gasoline prices do fascinate me. I rather liked the "gas wars" of the early 1960's, when the "usual" price of 29.9 cents per gallon would drop as low as 18 cents. Not much price fixing going THEN, I suspect.
Ghost32
Hey there. I needed to edit that last comment, but the site wouldn't let me for whatever reason, so: That "$5 cash" entry was meant to read as: $5 cash PER MONTH."
Ghost32
Wew! It blows my mind of how much things seem to change yet they're still almost the same. Thanks for your visit and your comments Ghost. regards Zsuzsy
Amazing the differences. My parents paid $8,000 (1950's) for the house I now live in, which is now worth about half a mil/ they had to borrow the $50 for the deposit, which was alot of money back then!
Thanks for visiting Dorsi and your comment.
regards Zsuzsy
When I was a kid, Zsuzsy, old folks used to bore me with what they could get for how much. Now, I have started telling kids how cheap things were in the good old days, and they are not interested. Sigh.
Some ancient scroll will probably contain the complaints of an ancient ancient Greek who used to live cheaper in his times, LOL!
Thank you for tracing it out through the years.
Kenny ! My kids are teasing me about this hub.....We know, we know you had to walk to school up-hill both ways wearing your dad's pjs with a hot potato in your pocket for had warmers and for lunch. (not that it really happened...I never ever said anything so silly hahaha)
thanks for your visit regards Zsuzsy
im all for price increase as long as wages increase at the same time.! Hopefully in another 75 years we will have no cash and we will all have card based payment systems because one would need to have a big wallet or purse to go shopping the way prices are continueing to go up!!
Compu-smart! Isn't it funny that you would say We would need an enormous wallet etc. My neighbor just mentioned that at least the back-hoe and crane manufacturing industry would flourish as everyone will need one soon when going shopping just to carry the money.
Thanks for visiting regards Zsuzsy
:D
I'm still reading and digesting all of this !! great information wow time flies when we're spending money, yes? ha =) thanks for the info!! I think, it's kind of depressing isn't it....I want the prices of the 30's and the technology of the 2000's eek impossible
Sally's Trove: I liked the coffee illustration; I have also based my economics on the price of a gallon of milk. When it goes up to nearly $4.00, we can tell the other news is bad...and it's proven to be true. It's a domino effect and like toll roads...once they get your money...they forget "temporary" was the motto during road construction. HA, temporary hikes are hype.
Marisue! Thanks for taking a look. I just bought 4 litres of milk (1 Gallon) and it cost me 5.69 Canadian dollars. It just went up. Last week it cost 4.89.
80 cents in one big swoop...I just can't believe it.Where will it end?
regards Zsuzsy
5.69 Canadian Dollars for a gallon of milk? That is awful. Here prices have been climbing for months. That famous chef Pepin remembered his Mom cooking lungs for dinner! This inflation might bring frugal living as a trend? Do you think offal cusine might be coming back?
Raven! Glad you came for a visit. I remember in 1973 when I got married my food budget for the week for the two of us was $20.00. I had to put in a day of offals or chicken wings (that was before they became a fashion party food) each week. I never cooked lungs or kidneys. Just remembering something I read not so long ago even the offals are getting costly because there is a high demand for them in Japan and China. I'm not sure what the solution to all this will be...regards Zsuzsy
I like chicken wings. It is interesting how did you stretch your dollar then and how do we do it now?
Interesting hub, well done. Everything costs more, there are still too many poor for whom life is a struggle, and too many disproportionately rich for whom the world is arguably a playground. BUT ... look at the increases in life expectancy. For most, life is better now than it was; with a far higher standard of living, many more opportunities, much safer working conditions and better health care (even if it doesn't meet expectations). Prices have always increased over time, and people have always complained about it. :)
Definitely true Ink. Thanks for visiting and for your comment.
The point I was trying to make when I was putting this hub together was just that. Everything is so different and yet still the same.
regards Zsuzsy
This is an awesome hub! It was all stuff I kinda knew on the peripheral part of my brain anyway, but you've pulled it together so well (and so organized!) and thrust it into the light in a way that makes people think. Kudos to you and your awesome hub!
Earl! Thanks for taking a look and your kind comments.
regards Zsuzsy
Thanks for this article- I needed to be depressed!
Argh!
WeddingConsultant! Don't be too depressed. It's not that much different really. The poor are still poor and the rich stay rich or get richer.
regards Zsuzsy
I just found this one and I have to say I'm not surprised that things really haven't improved much for us ordinary folk. The major differences that I can see is that products in the 1930's were made to last - shoes, household furnishing etc whereas today we throw things away too quickly. And many people these days own their own homes (even if they struggle to pay the mortgage) whereas in 1930's most poorer people rented. Perhaps the barter system and using what you can produce tog et by is the way to go. It would certainly give those overpaid stockbrokers something to worry about!
tjmum! Your right we, ordinary folk have not progressed. Mind you the rich are richer...
glad you came by regards Zsuzsy
Good hub! You have done your research on the prices. It is amazing how the prices have risen over the years.
No, things have not become any better for people in the long run. Today the economy, in the US, is poor. The real estate values are dropping and companies are closing. Thus making the situation worse for most people. At least then people could hold onto what they had. There was a dream.
Today they are losing everything. That is a sad reality.
I still would like to go back to 75 years ago, and purchase a few things that I need, and then come back to this year.
Sandilyn! You and me both. Thanks for taking a look and for commenting.
regards Zsuzsy
I am flagging this hub as misleading.
I did the quick math quiz in your profile. Result: I know that you are not old enough to have a hang on prices of 1933. Then how did you know all this? :-)
Jokes apart, I really loved it. Great idea, full of facts. I m joining your fan club :)
Stooge! your comment is misleading and I won't approve it...just kidding
thanks for taking a look and joining my fan club
regards Zsuzsy
I agree with what you said to Sandilyn....go back, stock up and then return here. That would be GREAT!! As soon as you build the time machine, I'll buy a ticket. :)
You're right about our economy being a sad state of affairs. I know before I left my office job, I lost one week's pay a month to income tax, and I know people who made a lot more than me lost even more than that. But that's old news for us Canucks. What saddens me is the fact that I never see anything happen to help improve things. No, I don't have any suggestions, but I wish the government could come up with something - especially for those that are in the most dire straits. Come to think of it, the government seems to be the only one that has lots of money...hmmm. :)
Thx for another great hub, Zsuzy!
Shirley! Glad you came for a visit and thanks for your comments. I wish we could come up with a solution.
regards Zsuzsy
I will glady pay you if you could write a hub on how to travel back in time. Of course I will pay you 1935 wages! Nice work!
I knew there was going to be a catch...Thanks for coming for a visit and your comment.
regards Zsuzsy
Just found this hub! Fascinating data...interesting too that ratios work out the same! More trivia...I remember from an economics class that interest rates climbed to about 15% right after WWI, so mortgages were quite out of reach to many returning soldiers...just as many returning soldiers today find such high prices FOR EVERYTHING!! FYI...ANYONE remember when mortgage rates that high more recently? Early 1980s! When they hit 10% people freaked....but they were catatonic with interest rates hit 16%...yes, right here in the USA! This is the time the famous political slogan became...It's the Economy...seems like we're right there again!
Desert Blondie! Thanks for taking a look and for the comment. I'm not quite sure where we're all headed. But it sure is not through easy times that's certain.
regards Zsuzsy
Very interesting, thanks for the great hub!
Watkins Lady! Thanks for taking a look and commenting.
regards Zsuzsy
A 2500$ car is due soon! :)
Nice hub
Best Regards
SunSeven! Glad you came for a visit. Thanks for your comment.
regards Zsuzsy
Interesting and informative hub Zsuzsy Bee! Makes me think of when my dad used to say stuff like, "I remember when a candy bar only cost a nickel."
So you can get a 3 bedroom house in Ontario for $100,000? Wow, that's pretty good....you'd have to go an hour outside of Seattle to find one for more than twice that!
Christine! Thanks for taking a look! About the 100,000 dollar homes, I was talking about an older style home in rural areas...the average 3bedroom in a subdevision will start at 200,000 in smaller cities and go up to 400,000 in and near Toronto (start only)
Real estate is in a weird situation right now as increases seem to happen in certain pocket areas...
talk to you soon again regards Zsuzsy
Great hub!
I am now at an age where I tell my kids how cheap things were back in the 60s and 70s, and they always act impressed - hardcover books used to be a couple of dollars, and an LP (what's that again, Mom?) was $5.
Lidian! I still have a lot of my LPs fom the 60-70 too. I know my first paying job in the summer of 70 paid me $1/hour in the dishpit of our local Hungarian restaurant... (and I was paid more them most other kids with similar jobs just because the owners were friends of my grandparents)
Thank for coming to have a look regards Zsuzsy
Nice Job Zsuzsy. You did all the hardwork for research. Great and thanks for sharing.
Guidebaba! Glad you were able to take a look. Thanks for the comment.
regards Zsuzsy
Hi Zsuzsy Bee! It's always a bit of a shock to see then and now prices compared like that. I moved from a very expensive city (N.Y.C.) and moved here to the midwest, which seemed pretty reasonable by comparison. But one gets used to things and now I'm just as crabby about it as the next guy. I do the grocery shopping for this house and have been shocked by the rise in prices recently of, well...everything. Blame it on the oil. It's true and it's convenient, but it also over simplifies things. It's one little segment in a very large spider web. I love it when we hear that the price of a barrel of gas has come down but it will be awhile until we see the reduction in the price at the pump. Because, you know, they still have that expensive stuff in their tanks that they have to get rid of first. Thats funny, because when the price of a barrel goes up, the prices at the pump go up right away. Don't they have to get rid of the cheap stuff first? Like, Vice versa? It's a conspiracy of liars. Great hub! Got my brain off it's butt! Thanks!
Christoph! Thanks for visiting. You sure have hit the nail on the head about the conspiracy... the prices of gas won't go down here in Canada either till every last drop of the expensive stuff has been sold what ever is in the tanks now and at the refineries. (one lucky thing though, if we were not bi***ing about the gas prices we wouldn't have anything to bi**h about, right?)
Thanks for commenting regards Zsuzsy
Great Hub, I think you in the USA are slightly better off than us in South Africa.
In 1970 my first house cost R17,500 (38 years ago) In 2003 my much smaller townhouse cost R750,000.
In 1970 My Car cost R2500 (this is not a misprint). Last year my new one (same manufacturer) cost R300,000. I remember that a coke and sticky bun cost 5 cents in 1963 today R20.00. A hamburger and coke same year cost 25 cents now R65.00
My first salary was R95.00 per month (1964) Same job today (starting grade) R7500 per month .
Very good hub.
Thanks for sharing those numbers Sixtyorso! At times I wonder how we'll ever make it... Most things here in Canada are even more expensive then they are in the US.
regards Zsuzsy
I missed those sweet old days. Right now the money is keep rising and rising. I meant the cost is keep rising and rising. It would be nice if our salaries on the rise but not the cost of living. Again, thanks for sharing!
Vietnamese translation service! Thank for taking a look. We're all in the same boat. It would sure be nice if our wages were to increase as the cost of living wants to do.
regards Zsuzsy
A lot of perspective here - the thing I think about quite often is: My mother died when I was a child - so it's been nearly 40 years ago. She was a secretary and I can still remember the smell of the ink in those old *Gestetner* machines. The type-writer ribbon ink on her hand, the clicking away on those hard to push down keys of the old typewriters. That smell of INK everywhere in that office.
I think - wow - if mom *popped* back to life and saw computers and microwaves, fax machines and printers, color TV and movies you can watch at Home--just to name a FEW things...she'd probably die all over again! THIS is an entirely different world!
That tells me how much life has changed (and certainly NOT much for the better - just because something is **Possible** doesn't make it Beneficial to human-kind)
Thanks for that comment on Jimmys relationship hub - it was pure truth!
Melanie
Melanie! I feel that I'm at a weird phase in my life. It's hard to explain, through-out our lives we all go through phases you know the terrible two's for children etc. With my youngest "baby" having left home last year for college and being on my own now it's been a time where I've been looking back. Looking at things that I just didn't have time for in the past.
I know we're supposed to look ahead but I have a feeling that the worlds problems can all be solved by looking at what we screwed up in the past. That's how this hub came to be.
Have we changed for the better? Maybe a tiny step with a mega bunch of leaps left in-front of us.
Thanks for taking a look and for your great comments
regards Zsuzsy
As per your analysis.. At present scenario, your savings will be more.. suppose if you don't want ro buy a car, yousave..
in 1933 only $445 now you can save $13500 like this..
It really depends where you live, if you can make do without a car. Everything has great distances here in Canada and unless you live in urban areas you need to run a car.
thanks for taking a look regards Zsuzsy
great hub, you know that the mind set of the generations are a major factor in inflation since the birth of capitalism
Honestly Nikade I really do not think that the mind set of people has that much to do with this. I'm possitive that capitalism or not, if the masses were to decide to be filthy rich, mind set or not it just wouldn't happen and the same for the reverse...
regards Zsuzsy
Great hub, and I've been telling people the same thing for years. Just because something cost less fifty years ago, means that it may be the same price today when adjusted for inflation.
KDorfman! Thank you for coming by and for commenting. Unfortunately the poor stay poor and the rich just get richer.
It will take a lot of effort to get out of the financial mess that the world is in...
kindest regards Zsuzsy
Interesting comparisons, and a great hub. The comments are almost as good! I don't think costs have remained almost the same proportionately. We bought our first house in Edmonton in 1971 for $28,000, which was about a year's income with both of us working. Now that same house is around $250K, but average incomes have not matched that.
NoLimitsNana! Thanks for taking a look and for commenting. I think it was as hard to pay a mortgage on a home in '33-34 as it is now in '08.
regards Zsuzsy
How did you compile historical costs to all these items?
Countrywomen! I happened to be at the library. I was doing research for another project and went off on one of my famous tangets and collected the data.
regards Zsuzsy
Zsuzsy- WOW!! I must say its one of the most useful "tangents" that we all sure do appreciate. I always wanted to have the perspective of costs in those times. I am sure even in those days it was as tough as it is now since the incomes were lower in those days compared to the costs then.
As the year goes up, prices of basic commodities are also going high. There are no decrease being implemented.
Amazing! Where'd you get all this stuff!?! You know, I can't believe how much things have gone up just in my lifetime. I was in the store today, and I bought a Hershey bar for $1.61. I commented to the clerk that, within my lifetime, Hershey bars have cost 5 cents! When I was 5 years old, a mere 45 years ago, they cost 5 cents! That's a huge amount of inflation!
Astounding! :) Suzanne
Countrywomen! Thanks for coming by and for commenting. With the ways of fabricating and manufacturing stuff going automated so much these days you would think that the majority pricing could go down.
regards Zsuzsy
MCarolyn! Thank you for taking a look and for commenting.
regards Zsuzsy
justmesuzanne! Glad you were able to take a look. I know exactly what you're saying. In 1969 when we came to Canada I was able to buy 1 quart of milk and a loaf of bread with a dollar bill and still have a couple of pennies of change left over. Last night at the grocery store I spent $5.99 on 4 quarts of milk and $1.99 on toast bread. That's a killer as far as I'm concerned.
regards Zsuzsy
It is very interesting to see figures like this. I remember hearing my mother talk about those times. You are right that today we have more options and chances. That is something we should keep in mind.
I will say this. Two years ago I brought home about the same $. Since then, my salary has done nothing, but my expenses doubled. Doesn't help at all.
Thank you for an exceedingly informative piece.
RGraf! Most of us are in the same boat, there always seems to be too much bill left at the end of the money.
Glad you came by for a visit. regards Zsuzsy
This provides a very interesting look back at the past. Like RGraf, I have heard my grandmother reflect on how much she used to pay for food or goods and it really is intriguing.
49er! Isn't is amazing that life changes so drastically and yet it is still the same...thanks for coming for a visit and for commenting
regards Zsuzsy
Good article
I love hubs like these. Did you check out the price difference between the lamb chops? Amazing.
linjingjing! Thanks for taking a look and for commenting.
regards Zsuzsy
RKHenry! Glad you came by and checked out this hub. Did you notice the price of flour too? Awful
regards Zsuzsy
In 1961 my mother earned $65 a week, and that's what the monthly rent on our apartment was. Heating fuel was .35 a gallon. A loaf of bread was about the same. My mother bought me a fabulous red cotton dress for $5, and that was a lot. We could buy pure wool cloth by the yard at a 64-inch width for about $2. *Sigh*
Blaze_xeno, oh, I would love some of that pure wool fabric right now for 2bucks a yard. I made myself a wool blazer last fall, just made from a loosely woven wool (from Ireland) to wear for casual with jeans etc... I paid 75.00 dollars Canadian per meter... I must have been off my rock to pay that kind of money for it... I do think that we are all in for a rough few years.
Thanks for coming for a visit
regards Zsuzsy
That's a lot of money, i am from Ireland if you would like i might be able to get it cheaper for you if you let me know exactly what you are looking for and say what you paid in euro if you like thanks great hub totally mad difference's
Dottttt, thanks for taking a look and for commenting.
regards Zsuzsy
Abhinaya says:
2 years ago
Great analysis ZB.The income : expenses ratio seems to be the same.There is one thing that was really great years back - we led a simple life and were happier than we are now.