This post is just to show how with time our expenses increased. Definitely our income did increase as well. But just imagine if we didn’t have to pay money in those areas as I’ll describe to you – what wonder it could make to your finances. Suddenly your mortgage payment would look easier to make or your debt recovery would speed up!
Comparing things you do now and things your parents did when they were of your age, draw a huge distinction. Oftentimes, you may think that what you are doing is way cooler than what they did and vice verse, but ultimately, the perception of what was or is cool lies in the eyes of the beholder.
1: Shopping for fun
Today, we shop for the fun, as opposed to shopping for what we really need. They in earlier years used to have shoes and clothes mostly for special occasions. For example, a new cloth would come in special occasions such as Christmas or a birthday, but today, most of us need clothes or shoes because we want them and because their peers are having them.
And most importantly, they are available every where, in the shining glimmering mall near by or in your computer browser. What’s more interesting is the fact that you can buy them even without having money!
2: Gadgets
Forget about having to buy an iPhone or a iPad or whatever device you need, that costs money! What differentiates us these days with our parents is that our parents didn’t have to worry about where they would get the money to buy the latest gadget, there were none!
It was basically simple for your parents, all they had to do was tape record songs off the radio by holding their portable tape recorder player to the speaker and there was their favorite song for the time.
3: Fashion
These days when a shoe gets a problem, then it is best to chuck it! Not so much in the days gone, for as long as a shoe could be brought back to life, then it would be repaired. For example, when the sole begs for leave, then it would be re-soled and look as good as new!
Same goes for clothing, these days, a little tear to the cloth means binning the cloth, but back in the day it meant sewing the cloth back into shape with your own hand or your mother, grandma or other relative.
4: Luxurious Cars and Vehicles
Going from place to place back in the day meant hitch-hiking a ride from a person headed in the same direction, making use of your roller blade or bicycle. Much as hitch-hiking may not be advised due to crimes associated with it, and roller blades due to dangers of running into an obstacle, a bicycle meant not only a mode of transport but a way to keep fit.
Today’s men and women need a car and not just any car but the latest car that they can afford. Back in the day, if you needed a car, then you had to save I order to buy one, today, you can buy a car that you technically can’t afford.
The same went for any other property that was desired for example a house, today, with the numerous loan schemes, many are living beyond our means, trouble!
5: Services for Hire
A car that was owned back in the day was mainly washed by the owner, all you needed a water hose and a bucket full of soap water. This is not so much with these days where there is an expense incurred with taking it to the car wash. You had to mow your own grass not hire someone else to do it.
We have washer and iron still we go for dry cleaning, not everyone but, many. We can plan and book our travel perfectly well. Still we hire travel planners.
6: Communication
Do you remember when you last hand wrote a letter and mailed out? That was the norm in 1960s and 1970s. When there was an urgent need of communication a telegram or a telephone was used. Today, you must have a phone, or make use of the internet.
7: Games
You didn’t need to buy a game back in the day in order to have fun with your friends, all you needed was a creative mind and a thirst for fun and off you went. These days, you need to have the latest in video games, the latest in gaming consoles and the rest which all cost money.
8: Food and Drinks
Soft drinks and special kind of food if you were lucky were only served over the weekend, otherwise you needed to wait for very special occasions to indulge in them. There was nothing like buying special meals for each member of the family unless it was health related, meaning that a meal prepared at home was to be enjoyed by the whole family.
Today, with the numerous food joints, chain fast food restaurants, many of us stopped cooking at home. Water from a bottle was not that common, instead, you had to use tap for your watering needs! Today, you need to spend money on bottled water. Ask yourself, are you healthier than your parents at your age by drinking bottled water?
9: Electricity and Playtime
Playtime meant having fun with actual people in the real world, not playing with or against virtual people as it is today. In addition there was no expense incurred in maintaining over 999 channels on SKY, buying video games, play stations then having to clear the electricity bills for using the same gadgets.
10. Self Wellness
They mostly concentrated on maintaining hygiene by having bath daily and occasional use of herbs fresh from the garden. Applying talcum powder (you heard of it?) after a bath was another norm.
But today, you need to smell nice, you need expensive perfumes, deodorants. We need to visit spa and massage shops, nail shops, expensive parlors. We need to look more sexy, more cool, more handsome. It’s not only for women, men are also increasingly spending money on personal care items.
I am not asking you to cut back on all the above, many of which aren’t really possible these days. Just give it a thought and see if anything seems unnecessary expense to you. If it is you may cut back, isn’t it?
You are so right. I’m 53, and this is basically how we lived. When I was a teenager, I wanted a leather jacket. It cost $100. It took me months and months of babysitting to finally buy this. I used to take my leather purses to be repaired.
I didn’t know second hand clothing stores even existed. On occassion I did get hand me downs…and that was exciting.
There were no dollar stores. I remember my first small apt (I was 17). I wanted to bake a cake, and I had to buy everything..bowl, pans, spatula etc. That first cake cost me $13…and I only made $3.68 an hour.
Ahhh, the good old days 🙂
We were better off, in many ways, back then.
True! Things have changed a lot, because in the past people focused mainly on needs, but these days our wants simply transitioned into our needs.
You totally hit the nail on the head with this list. My parents hardly ever go out to eat and my mom basically thought I’d lost my mind when I told her that we were thinking about possibly hiring someone to clean our house once a month (we’ve since decided not to).
I absolutely agree with your sentiments. Teens nowadays seem to can’t get enough of what they have and obviously spend more than they need, or worse, more than they can afford. It is a very very sad truth.
Our parents were given the perfect environment to further their finances, I can completely relate to this article. In the past I probably incurred all 10 of the expenses, now that I’ve got a handle on my spending habits I’m much more disciplined. Thanks for sharing this thought provoking content.
Some more:
Cable Television – 30 Years ago this industry was in its infancy
Internet
Cell Phone
Insurance Payments on those Cars – Not every state had a mandatory insurance requirement 30 years ago (some don’t have it now)
Gym memberships
PMI –While it existed it was very hard to obtain since most had to put 20% down
http://www.myjourneytomillions.com/articles/what-monthly-expenses-exist-today-that-werent-there-in-the-past/
This is so true. THere are many expenses around now that weren’t around before. Mostly luxuries. Eating out is one of them too. Every once in awhile, my parents would go to a restaurant on a day like their anniversary, but other than that we ate at home.
We certainly have come up with new ways to spend/lose our money. I think a key difference is that people didn’t struggle with boredom as much as we do now. Thus we have come up with many new ways to keep ourselves busy. Don’t get me wrong, I love my xbox but I do pay quite a bit in games and online membership in order to enjoy it.
Technically, these are included in the sections above, but definitely: internet, cable, and cellphone bills. Those three combined eat up a lot of monthly cash flow.
Today’s smartphone plans and Internet message services are a bargain compared to the long distance landline phone bills of even 15 years ago. Imagine trying to call someone who lived just 20 to 30 minutes away for logistics such as booking a business appointment, checking in with elderly parents, but having to pay long distance fees whose rates were charged by the minute and time of day.