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10-03-2015 02:59 PM
DH & i are just sitting here talking about the years when we were growing up in the 50s and 60s- so much more common sense. For instance - a family had one car.Usually the Mom stayed home but even those Mom's who worked rode the bus. That was ok - most of the businesses were in downtown and it was a simple bus ride. Then all the companies moved out to the suburbs and most women went to work so now everyone needed 2 cars.DH & I recently got rid of our second vehicle and went down to one car - the financial savings is phenominal, and we rarely miss having a second car.
And remember taking back bottles - you paid a deposit when you bought beer or pop and then when you returned the bottles you got the money back. Built in recycling. The milk, eggs and butter were delivered to your door and you recycled those bottles as well.
We still do this where I live in Florida. Several of us all buy one magazine - read it and pass it to our next door neighbor. Everyone gets to read several magazines each month but only has to pay for one.
And riding the bus - we rode the bus everywhere. My high school we had to ride public transportation to school.We purchased a bus pass each month and with it we could ride any bus in the county for free at any time. We went everywhere, I bet when I was in High school I knew almost every bus route in the county.We thought nothing of it - rode the buses at night, in the heat and the cold. That bus pass gave us freedom.It saved me a lot of money when I got a job after school I could ride the bus to work and then home from work all for free.I thought having a bus pass and some cash to spend was just about as good as things could get.
10-03-2015 03:25 PM
My parents lived through the Great Depression and having to sacrifice so much, they learned to be frugal and to live simply. They spent their lives only buying what they could afford and taught me to do the same. "Mend and make do" was their motto."
Like you, I walked or rode the bus everywhere, my mother never learned to drive, and we only had one car. I wore hand-me-downs, but didn't mind. To me, they were new clothes. We had coal, milk, and occasionally even hot, fresh, melt-in-your mouth doughnuts delivered to the front door.
We created our own fun with simple homemade toys made for pretending. We made use of what we had. We rode stick horses and our creativity ran rampant, because the toys didn't do everything for us. We played outdoors more than inside. I used to put on shows for a penny or a nickel, sold popcorn and kool-aid, and did not expect my parents to entertain us.
We never had a lot of money, but were happy going fishing together as a family or just for a ride in the country.
If people would just stop and think for awhile, they would realize there are probably a hundred ways they could cut back on spending and still have a great, more fulfilling life.
10-03-2015 03:32 PM
151949: We must have grown up in similar (mid sized) cities! We used public transportation EVERYWHERE. The best times I remember was my mom and I taking buses everywhere. We were able to look out the windows, see 'this and that' along the way. While I'm here, I might as well say that it would be very difficult for kidnappers without cars to kidnap kids, using the bus.
10-03-2015 04:13 PM
Sunday was "mend our clothes" day because we used what we had until it was threadbare or could no longer be repaired. My Mom made my clothes (and beautifully I might add, she had a real talent!). I learned to sew, crochet and knit. I was allowed to draw on fresh clean paper but I HAD to use both sides or my privilage would be revoked (after all it took trees to make that paper)!! .... also I had to use up pencils. Even if I couldn't get it all the way into the sharpener, I would take a one-edge razor blade and sharpen the end of it myself (oh gad... a kid using a razor blade). I turned off lights when I left a room.
I was taught not to waste by parents who did not waste! I had to laugh at the big recycling movement that came later (and still exists, which is good!). My parents have ALWAYS recycled and reused and taught me to do so as well!
10-03-2015 04:18 PM
Oh, and lights! My dad taught us to always turn off the lights! No matter what! Now-a-days, some folks leave them on, even when they are away at work. (Hopefully, in that case, they are energy-saving.)
10-03-2015 04:21 PM
Most parents nowadays have to be dual income because the cost of everthing is so much more.
And... many women want to work, become professionals. I know you did.
10-03-2015 04:39 PM
One size does not fit all. Public transportation was not a viable option in southern CA back then. We always had two cars.
10-03-2015 04:46 PM
@NoelSeven wrote:Most parents nowadays have to be dual income because the cost of everthing is so much more.
And... many women want to work, become professionals. I know you did.
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Spot on, Noel!
I don't yearn for the "good old days".
I prefer to look and move forward.
10-03-2015 05:13 PM
Geeze guys, the OP is just wanting to wax poetic on a quiet Saturday afternoon.
Relax.
Take a deep breath.
I can't help but think for some posters you could give them a couple million $$...and the only thing they would get out of it is bi*ching about the taxes.
10-03-2015 05:21 PM - edited 10-03-2015 05:34 PM
I think those days made children in so many families (certainly not all) feel very safe, as the routine was settled. If all was not OK in the family, a curtain was drawn and everyone in such a family suffered. Nobody was to know; problems were kept secret.
I'm not a big admirer of some things about the 1950s, especially the hats and the foundation garments.
I am extremely thankful for the struggles that have led to better opportunities for all which began during the immediate post-war era. Still, Eisenhower began the real impulse to change by desegregation back in the mid-1950s--and good for him.
The 1950s weren't paradise, but they weren't a cultural desert, either. My love for opera comes originally from operas that used to be shown on TV back then. Anyone remember "Amahl and the Night Visitors"? An opera commissioned for TV, and intended for a child-audience. That was the 1950s, too.
All that's on now, when I surf thru the 800+ Directv options, are reality shows and corpse-intensive police procedurals. Depressing! Give me "Our Miss Brooks" over that junk anyday. I was little then, but I have a good memory and they were neither the best nor the worst of times. I agree with the OP that, if the family was even fairly stable, they were excellent times in which to be a kid. An adult? Not so much. Few opportunities for higher ed for women; compulsory smoking and drinking for so many men--in some occupations anyway. I am not channelling _MadMen_: things really were like that for people in high-pressure occupations.
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