Remember when you could buy a house with just one income? Those days are long over. But there was a time when those concepts were commonplace. Here are 19 things that Boomers would recall as normal that are now considered luxuries.
1. Full-Service Gas Stations
These days it would feel like an absolute dream to sit in your car while someone filled your tank and cleaned your windshield for you.
New Jersey is the last state to not only have full-service gas stations, it’s actually still against the law to pump your own gas.
2. Affordable Housing
If you owned your home prior to the pandemic, congratulations. If you’ve been trying to buy once since, we feel your pain. Affordable housing is scarce these days.
3. One-Income Households
There was a time when only one-half of a couple went to work and the other could comfortably stay home. That’s called paycheck-to-paycheck or living on a prayer nowadays.
4. Lasting Appliances
Does it feel fishy to anyone else that despite advancements in technology over the years, appliances don’t last as long as they used to?
According to USA Today, the average lifespan for a household product today is eight to nine years, where it was 12 to 13 years from 1995-2005.
5. Affordable Concert Tickets
Going to concerts used to be a common extracurricular activity and that’s because it used to be affordable. We’re pretty sure it costs a kidney to go see a big-name performer put on a show (*cough* Taylor Swift *cough*).
This is in part because of the massive resale ticket market, but even face-value tickets have increased over the years. For instance, if you got the best seats available to see the Beatles in Kansas City on Sept. 17, 1964 (well into Beatlemania) it would have cost you $8.50 ($86.42 in 2024 money). If you wanted tickets to Taylor Swift on the Eras tour, the good seats would cost you $499 (plus fees).
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6. Vacations
Family vacations feel so out of reach now, but 40-50 years ago, families went on one every year. Disney trips could take up their own category for this round up too because the “Vacation Kingdom” used to be a right of passage for every family and is now a luxury only some can afford.
7. Pensions
If you find a job these days that offers a pension, you’ve basically found a four-leaf clover.
8. Actual Privacy
The internet ruined privacy for people, and it’s only just begun. Imagine the horror if 40 years ago someone told you that your cell phone would listen to your conversations and cater online ads to what you’ve been talking about recently.
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9. Abundant American-Made Products
If you want to buy items exclusively made in the U.S. of A., it’s not as easy as it used to be. “Made in China” stamps are on the bottom of more products in stores today than we’d have ever been able to imagine 50 years ago.
10. Free Time
Everyone is always busy, all the time. We long for the days where we felt like we actually had time to sit back and relax.
11. Quality Furniture
You used to be able to buy quality real wood furniture. These days the prices of such things are so astronomical that most people stick to the particle board wannabes.
12. Going Out Every Friday After Work
Celebrating the weekend used to be a ritual. Now it’s a rarity.
13. Comfortable Airplane Accomodations
Airplanes used to be roomy, have comfortable seats, and decent food. These days they’re designed to hold as many people as possible, and the comfort aspect took a major hit. You’ve got to pay for first class if you want to fly like that now.
14. Savings Accounts with High Interest Rates
Savings accounts used to come with attractive, high interest rates, which made them worth your while. Nowadays, savings accounts don’t do much at all and you’ve got to invest your money if you want to grow it.
15. Driver’s Education
Driver’s ed used to be part of the high school curriculum. Today, you’re going to pay at least $500 — and that’s just for the first segment.
16. Having Free Rein of the Neighborhood
Remember knocking your kickstand back and taking off on your bike with your buddies to explore the neighborhood ’til the street lights came on? Cell phones and fear of crime have ruined that type of freedom.
17. Apartments
Back in the day, if you couldn’t afford a house, you got an apartment instead. These days the rent for an apartment will cost about the same or more as a mortgage payment.
18. Affordable Education
Good luck affording tuition on your own today. You used to be able to swing it, but these days tuition is extremely expensive.
19. Clothes Made with Quality Fabric
What happened to being able to say, “I’ve had this shirt for 15 years?” Clothes nowadays have super-short lifespans because the fabric quality just isn’t there.
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