$5.63 fed the Cleavers & Andersons each week? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Tankeryanker · 01-30-2021, 05:44 PM

Caught this on Youtube. It includes a "Sunday" roast. What a deal.

How much of your income/retirement pay does your weekly food bill take?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gu8QFMlAg0

I did not know that dog food came in jars back in the day.

GentlemanJim · 01-31-2021, 06:54 PM

When I look at the food prices on store window advertisements in old TV shows such as TAGS and the sort.....I am absolutely floored over how cheap things were. Of course, $200/week was considered a good paycheck back then, as well.

When my mother passed early in this century, other goings on in my life made it convenient for me to simply move into her house while I prepared it for sale. She had been a secretary, and consequently was one of those uber-organized type people. She had utility and other bills "filed" in old shoe boxes going back to the 1950s. All in chronological order, separated by vendor.

It was astounding what her gas, water, and electric bills were back in the 1950-60s, compared to what I was paying in the very same house during 2003-2007. A monthly gas bill of like $19 in December/63? good grief!!

The mortgage payments were obscenely low "back in the day" as well.

Food, utilities, auto, and mortgage/rent seem to be the big budget killers these days, while things that used to be seen as prohibitively expensive, such as TV sets, are dirt cheap today.

Cx · 01-31-2021, 10:18 PM

I plugged $5.63 into an inflation calculator, using 1958 as the benchmark, and got $50.42 in today's value.

That'd be tough to do for just a couple today, and that would assume strict economy measures and forgoing many pleasures, even if they be minor.

Maybe because it's that they may have made more dishes "from scratch" as they say. I spend 40 dollars a week on beer and beef jerky alone. Just enough left over for 2 or 3 avocados.

CosmicCharlie · 01-31-2021, 10:23 PM

Boston Area
1960 we paid $11,000 for our house & bought a 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible for $6700 LOL
a Chevy was $2500, a Regular house was like $6000 +-

Minimum Wage was $1.15 / Hr

Figure: a good job paid $2.50 Hour or $100 a week or $5200 a year +-

So 1 Years gross pay was the price of 2 cars or 1 house

vs today average family income is about $45,000 a year and the average car is about $25,000 and an average house is about $250,000

So 1 Years gross pay today is the price of 1.4 cars AND the cost of a house is WAY more money

if any of this is reality +-

GentlemanJim · 02-01-2021, 11:59 AM

And then in one of today's episodes, Beaver is concerned that his dad is going to be upset and hold a grudge over some misdeed, and June reassures Beaver that "Tonight we're having lamb chops, maybe that'll help" .

Truly one of the things about June that forever endears her to my heart. I suppose it might be considered a sexist stereotype by some, but her willingness to combat the dark influences of the world with her toils over a hot stove...are dabombz!!

Lamb chops on a weeknight? That wasn't a cheap meal.

GentlemanJim · 02-01-2021, 12:30 PM

BTW, a fantastic book on the retail food trade in America, over the years.

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Struggl.../dp/0809051435

They outline how in the early part of the 20th century, most families in typical urban settings lived within walking distance of several "corner grocery" type operations. Often, each grocer would have a specialty, be it meats, cereals, produce that knowledgeable shoppers would gravitate to their stores looking for bargains, with the hope that the shopper would also pick up several non-specialty (higher profit) items in the same visit. But, it was not at all uncommon for a motivated shopper to go to one store for their produce, and another for their meats, and yet another for seafood.

These stores tended to not have parking lots, because most customers walked there to shop.

When the Big boys, such as A&P decided to compete for this business, they would open several identical stores in the same area, carrying identical inventories, with uniform, strategically low prices.

Outcry was immediate, and very closely paralleled the criticisms we hear today about Walmart having an"unfair" advantage, due to their size.

After reading this book, I went to my local library and started pouring through depression era city directories for the town I grew up in.......and it is amazing how many of those small brick buildings built in otherwise all wood framed neighborhoods, buildings that I always thought were curious because of the way they "stood out" against their surroundings......got their start as Kroger and A&P neighborhood markets.

With the end of WWII, the return of all the GIs, the mushrooming of the middle class, and their
penchant for becoming the mobile generation, that set the stage for larger, supermarket type groceries featuring parking lots.....and that spelled the end for the neighborhood grocer. by the mid 1960's the mom-n-pop grocers were almost completely gone.

GrtGzu · 02-06-2021, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

And then in one of today's episodes, Beaver is concerned that his dad is going to be upset and hold a grudge over some misdeed, and June reassures Beaver that "Tonight we're having lamb chops, maybe that'll help" .

Truly one of the things about June that forever endears her to my heart. I suppose it might be considered a sexist stereotype by some, but her willingness to combat the dark influences of the world with her toils over a hot stove...are dabombz!!

Lamb chops on a weeknight? That wasn't a cheap meal.

and this is why I LOVE lamb chops now....Listening to June talk about them got me to buying them, cooking them, and EATING them....Can't keep Mr.Gzu away from them either.....Not to mention for dietary purposes, and I even picked up some some MINT JELLY....

Lamb chops used to be kinda cheap though....Now the price is thru the roof for what you get in a pack...

GrtGzu · 02-06-2021, 05:20 PM

also meant to add that in the 70's, Archie Bunker only made 5.50 an hour or so, working on the loading dock (it was mentioned when he got Irene hired and she was paid MORE) yet, he was able to own a home (remember when they burned the mortgage?) and get the bills paid and food on the table until he got laid off. and hired back as a foreman/dispatcher (?) which paid more loot...

GentlemanJim · 02-07-2021, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrtGzu

also meant to add that in the 70's, Archie Bunker only made 5.50 an hour or so, working on the loading dock (it was mentioned when he got Irene hired and she was paid MORE) yet, he was able to own a home (remember when they burned the mortgage?) and get the bills paid and food on the table until he got laid off. and hired back as a foreman/dispatcher (?) which paid more loot...

That is certainly a concept that deserves further contemplation. My very first full time job, back in the mid-70s, paid $6.00/hr. My last full time job, just a bridge to get me from my career to retirement age, paid $12/hr.

After rent, utilities, grocery, and car expenses, I had WAY more disposable income left over in that old $6/hr job.

I thank Nixon, for taking the USA currency off the gold standard, allowing the money supply to be manipulated to the benefit of the wealthy.

Time for the proletariat to rise up against the bourgeoisie, I guess..

01-30-2021, 05:44 PM	#1
Tankeryanker Do you like my monkey picture? Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 22, 2014 Posts: 3,051	$5.63 fed the Cleavers & Andersons each week? Caught this on Youtube. It includes a "Sunday" roast. What a deal. How much of your income/retirement pay does your weekly food bill take? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gu8QFMlAg0 I did not know that dog food came in jars back in the day.

01-31-2021, 06:54 PM	#2
GentlemanJim Concerns, Support, & Feedback Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 26, 2019 Location: The back country Posts: 5,443	When I look at the food prices on store window advertisements in old TV shows such as TAGS and the sort.....I am absolutely floored over how cheap things were. Of course, $200/week was considered a good paycheck back then, as well. When my mother passed early in this century, other goings on in my life made it convenient for me to simply move into her house while I prepared it for sale. She had been a secretary, and consequently was one of those uber-organized type people. She had utility and other bills "filed" in old shoe boxes going back to the 1950s. All in chronological order, separated by vendor. It was astounding what her gas, water, and electric bills were back in the 1950-60s, compared to what I was paying in the very same house during 2003-2007. A monthly gas bill of like $19 in December/63? good grief!! The mortgage payments were obscenely low "back in the day" as well. Food, utilities, auto, and mortgage/rent seem to be the big budget killers these days, while things that used to be seen as prohibitively expensive, such as TV sets, are dirt cheap today.

01-31-2021, 10:18 PM	#3
Cx Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Feb 01, 2020 Posts: 209	I plugged $5.63 into an inflation calculator, using 1958 as the benchmark, and got $50.42 in today's value. That'd be tough to do for just a couple today, and that would assume strict economy measures and forgoing many pleasures, even if they be minor. Maybe because it's that they may have made more dishes "from scratch" as they say. I spend 40 dollars a week on beer and beef jerky alone. Just enough left over for 2 or 3 avocados.

01-31-2021, 10:23 PM	#4
CosmicCharlie Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 14, 2019 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 2,451	Boston Area 1960 we paid $11,000 for our house & bought a 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible for $6700 LOL a Chevy was $2500, a Regular house was like $6000 +- Minimum Wage was $1.15 / Hr Figure: a good job paid $2.50 Hour or $100 a week or $5200 a year +- So 1 Years gross pay was the price of 2 cars or 1 house vs today average family income is about $45,000 a year and the average car is about $25,000 and an average house is about $250,000 So 1 Years gross pay today is the price of 1.4 cars AND the cost of a house is WAY more money if any of this is reality +-

02-01-2021, 11:59 AM	#5
GentlemanJim Concerns, Support, & Feedback Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 26, 2019 Location: The back country Posts: 5,443	And then in one of today's episodes, Beaver is concerned that his dad is going to be upset and hold a grudge over some misdeed, and June reassures Beaver that "Tonight we're having lamb chops, maybe that'll help" . Truly one of the things about June that forever endears her to my heart. I suppose it might be considered a sexist stereotype by some, but her willingness to combat the dark influences of the world with her toils over a hot stove...are dabombz!! Lamb chops on a weeknight? That wasn't a cheap meal.

02-01-2021, 12:30 PM	#6
GentlemanJim Concerns, Support, & Feedback Forum Veteran Join Date: Dec 26, 2019 Location: The back country Posts: 5,443	BTW, a fantastic book on the retail food trade in America, over the years. https://www.amazon.com/Great-Struggl.../dp/0809051435 They outline how in the early part of the 20th century, most families in typical urban settings lived within walking distance of several "corner grocery" type operations. Often, each grocer would have a specialty, be it meats, cereals, produce that knowledgeable shoppers would gravitate to their stores looking for bargains, with the hope that the shopper would also pick up several non-specialty (higher profit) items in the same visit. But, it was not at all uncommon for a motivated shopper to go to one store for their produce, and another for their meats, and yet another for seafood. These stores tended to not have parking lots, because most customers walked there to shop. When the Big boys, such as A&P decided to compete for this business, they would open several identical stores in the same area, carrying identical inventories, with uniform, strategically low prices. Outcry was immediate, and very closely paralleled the criticisms we hear today about Walmart having an"unfair" advantage, due to their size. After reading this book, I went to my local library and started pouring through depression era city directories for the town I grew up in.......and it is amazing how many of those small brick buildings built in otherwise all wood framed neighborhoods, buildings that I always thought were curious because of the way they "stood out" against their surroundings......got their start as Kroger and A&P neighborhood markets. With the end of WWII, the return of all the GIs, the mushrooming of the middle class, and their penchant for becoming the mobile generation, that set the stage for larger, supermarket type groceries featuring parking lots.....and that spelled the end for the neighborhood grocer. by the mid 1960's the mom-n-pop grocers were almost completely gone.

02-06-2021, 05:20 PM	#8
GrtGzu Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Nov 05, 2012 Location: Ohio Posts: 203	also meant to add that in the 70's, Archie Bunker only made 5.50 an hour or so, working on the loading dock (it was mentioned when he got Irene hired and she was paid MORE) yet, he was able to own a home (remember when they burned the mortgage?) and get the bills paid and food on the table until he got laid off. and hired back as a foreman/dispatcher (?) which paid more loot...