Things we just did not spend money on growing up

PeoplesElbow

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
Larry's buying by price thread made me think of things that we just did not spend money on when I was a kid. Here is my list.

Long Distance - Calling long distance was just something you did NOT do.
Internet - Didn't exist
Cell Phone - Didn't Exist
Air Conditioning - House was built in 79 without it, was added about 84
Bottled Water - Tap was fine
New Cars - Dad drove the ugliest cars I ever saw, we did have a vacation car that was covered and garage kept (1974 Ford Elite)
Music - You can listen to the radio, that was good enough for us growing up (my parents)
Expensive Tennis Shoes - The ones from Payless were all I got till I was in high school
Designer Jeans - I was lucky to get some Levis once and a while, everyone I went to school with wore Guess in the late 80's early 90's.
Firewood - we drove out to the middle of no where, cut trees down and hauled the wood back in dads ####ty car
Pets - was told I didn't need an eating or ####ting machine, the free goldfish from the school far was enough
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
PeoplesElbow said:
Long Distance - Calling long distance was just something you did NOT do.
Click to expand...

This was the first thing I thought of.

Also going out to eat. That was a huge treat when I was a kid, and even after I was an adult. Even a trip to Mickey D's was a big deal.
 
PeoplesElbow

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
vraiblonde said:
This was the first thing I thought of.

Also going out to eat. That was a huge treat when I was a kid, and even after I was an adult. Even a trip to Mickey D's was a big deal.
Click to expand...

Same here, I rarely remember going out to eat when I was smaller. Later on we would go to Ponderosa once and a while. My grandparents never went out to eat, like ever and made the comment once about how fancy we lived.
 
Bird Dog

Bird Dog

Bird Dog
PREMO Member
PeoplesElbow said:
Larry's buying by price thread made me think of things that we just did not spend money on when I was a kid. Here is my list.

Long Distance - Calling long distance was just something you did NOT do.Yes
Internet - Didn't exist
Cell Phone - Didn't Exist
Air Conditioning - House was built in 79 without it, was added about 84. 1970
Bottled Water - Tap was fine. yes
New Cars - Dad drove the ugliest cars I ever saw, we did have a vacation car that was covered and garage kept (1974 Ford Elite No, one of my fathers lux
Music - You can listen to the radio, that was good enough for us growing up (my parents)No, loved my eight tracks
Expensive Tennis Shoes - The ones from Payless were all I got till I was in high school Yes
Designer Jeans - I was lucky to get some Levis once and a while, everyone I went to school with wore Guess in the late 80's early 90's.sYea
Firewood - we drove out to the middle of no where, cut trees down and hauled the wood back in dads ####ty car Yes
Pets - was told I didn't need an eating or ####ting machine, the free goldfish from the school far was enough
Click to expand...
no, dogs were family

New ones....
College-I'm not sending you on a 4 year vacation
Yard work...thats why you live here for free
Boat work...that why you fish for free
Crabs...you can sell them on Monday
I have more......
 
Monello

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Travel sports teams. We played in local leagues that were free. Baseball, football & basketball
ADHD meds - we got our asses beat and that was enough to keep most in line
Nintendo/gameboys - we played outside running around all day
Gastric bypass - Look at pictures from 40 years ago. Very few obese people around
Starbucks - 10 o'clock coffee sufficed
 
GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Long Distance - Calling long distance was just something you did NOT do. - not as a child NOPE ... Letters and Cards at Christmas
Internet - Didn't exist
Cell Phone - Didn't Exist
Air Conditioning - house in 73 had AC built in ... I cannot remmber before that
Bottled Water - wtf was this - there was NO Bottled Water in the 70's [one might get 'distilled' water for something, and that was a Gal Jug]
New Cars - only NEW Car my father bought was a Toyota in 73 after the gas crunch - we had that car 6 months dad traded it for something with 400 CI
Music - 76 TA had an 8 track - parents has a 'stereo' played 33 LP's
Expensive Tennis Shoes - Keds ... High School Chuck Taylor's All Stars last pair I bought in 1982 was $ 14 bucks [they are 50 now]
Designer Jeans - Sears Tough skins growing up .... Levis at some point in the 80's not even 501's those came later
Firewood - not sure where dad got the wood, we did not have fires often - maybe a dura-flame log
Pets - grew up with a cat

for reference I was born in 65

vraiblonde said:
Also going out to eat. That was a huge treat when I was a kid, and even after I was an adult.
Click to expand...

up until 77 we went out occasionally - after dad passed away, mom would take me to a local Pizza Joint on grocery shopping day in the late 70s / early 80's we ate out more often .. swanky places I sometimes had to put on a tie for :dead:

Monello said:
ADHD meds - we got our asses beat and that was enough to keep most in line.
Click to expand...
:howdy: a Ritalin Taker from the 70's That did not work for some .... partly my mind wandered because school was BORING ...
 
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PeoplesElbow

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
Monello said:
Travel sports teams. We played in local leagues that were free. Baseball, football & basketball
ADHD meds - we got our asses beat and that was enough to keep most in line
Nintendo/gameboys - we played outside running around all day
Gastric bypass - Look at pictures from 40 years ago. Very few obese people around
Starbucks - 10 o'clock coffee sufficed
Click to expand...

I had never heard of such a thing till I moved to Maryland, I played Little League and high school baseball. Travel was to the next town over, less than 20 minutes away.
 
RoseRed

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
Dakota said:
Yep that is a biggie at the top plus everything else that has been mentioned.

We went out to eat maybe twice a year as a family... my parents did go out a few more times than that leaving us home. :lol:
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We didn't go out a lot, but I am a serial eater outer. :lol:
 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Is this when America was great? When we were sweaty, wearing may-pops and fish heads, and jeans from Sears that you had to wear the stiff out of, mowing lawns for $.50 an hour, 3 channels, movies were a treat, eating out was a treat, talking to grandma every couple months was a big deal, EVERYONE smoked, ash trays in the clothing store and grocery store and the theater and the plane and the restaurant? And our parents couldn't conceive of us being any more spoiled?

Imagine what our kids are going to be saying to theirs about the inadequacies they're suffering now, how poor the iphone 7 is, how slow the net is and how limited WiFi is, how you had to DRIVE cars, how the lawn mowers used to have brown people operating them. You had to go to Redbox or pay more for On Demand which didn't have EVERYTHING.
 
Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
RoseRed said:
Television.
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I was about 9 years old when we got our first TV..used...one of the big boxes, black and white, of course, with the tiny screen. With the right combination of coat hangers and tin foil hung off the rabbit ears, it would pull in 3 channels, two from Baltimore and one from Washington DC (farm was in Howard County). We were allowed to watch it for one hour a day, except for weekend evenings where Lawrence Welk, Walt Disney and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom stretched the time out a bit farther.
 
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