Back in 1962, when I was first married, my grocery budget was $15.00 a week. With that amount I easily bought a week’s worth of groceries, including lamb chops and other expensive cuts of meats. Today, I spent $140.00 on groceries. Not a lamb chop in sight. The meats, in fact, consist of hamburger and chicken. When pork is on special, I buy that. This really is a sign of getting older, isn’t it…the ‘remembering when’ about so much, not just food costs.
Our first wedding anniversary dinner was at the Coachhouse in Glenmont. The meal was almost $20.00…for both of us, including cocktails, elaborate dinners, and dessert. We were shocked by our own indulgence, but what the heck, it’s only once a year, right?
Our first house was a small (probably 1,000 square feet) brick ranch in Selkirk. The mortgage payment was almost $200.00 a month. We were panic stricken. Now, can you imagine?
Perhaps the main thing we had that is different today was the knowledge that our fortunes would rise. Pay raises were expected…and received…every year; housing prices increased, and our net worth right along with them. Now we have the phenomenon of underwater houses; zero down payment mortgages; risk, risk, risk. Maybe it’s a good thing we were afraid and cautious. Even when we weren’t in over our heads, we sort of felt we were, so we saved, planned, made do rather than race out and purchase. It worked for us, too, all that frugality. It’s why we are able to live comfortably in retirement now, although that wasn’t the goal back then. In so many ways we were just plain lucky. I’ve only recently come to appreciate how much government policies affect our ability to achieve financial well being. I hope our children and grandchildren will benefit from some of that kind of luck, too.
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