What You Remember . . . .

*Cool. I remember a packet of Planter's Peanuts -- on the front it read "The Nickel Lunch."
My first apartment cost $21/month. Got my first car -- used -- for $150. BCCrafton

*Going to the movies (a double feature, of course) and my mother would give me 50 cents. 35 cents for the ticket and 15 cents to buy three things at the concession stand, a drink, popcorn and a candy, all for 5 cents each.

*Debbie, I grew up in a small town in deep south Texas on the Mexican border in the 50's and remember going to Saturday morning movies (mostly cowboy) for 9 cents. We were all irate when it went up to 25cents. We bought popsicles after lunch in the school cafeteria for 5 cents, and if you got a "free" stick, your next one was free. When I was in high school around 1960 gas cost 19 cents a gallon, because my friend and I would wheel in in her jeepster and buy 25 cents at a time and drive a couple of days! I worked in the office part of my dad's medical office when I graduated from high school and earned 75 cents an hour. I felt cheated even then! Dorothy

*a loaf of bread 29 cents. I was paid $1.10/hr. at a Rexall Drug Counter - had to wait on people, make the food/desserts and wash dishes and getting 10 cents for a tip. Jenny

*I remember 25 cents for a Saturday movie that included 2 films, the news and a box of popcorn. Hoodsie cups for a nickel, lemon ice for 2 cents.
My first paycheck for $100 was after a worked a full week and 2 nights of on call as a nurse in the operating room. Pat

*While in high school I worked at a Kresge Dime Store in 1962 and earned $.85 an hour. I received my weekly pay in cash in a little manila envelope. I had to call a supervisor to my cash register if I was making change for anything larger than a $5.00 bill. Mary Cooper

*I remember getting $1.10 per hour - minimum wage - in college (1960's) working in the university library. My first year out of college (1968) I taught 3rd grade for $5,500 for the year! Diane Taggart

*I remember paying a quarter for a movie, a nickel for a drink and a dime for popcorn. I remember 2 sizes of candy bars-the small one was a nickel and the larger one was a dime. I remember my parents paying a quarter for a gallon of gas. Margery

*Ice cream cone $.15; city bus $.15, penny candy $.01; a pair of figure skates $40 (my mother said "Don't tell your father" , so what did I blurt out?); movies $.25; (allowance $.25).
Being a kid who didn't have to worry about money- priceless, as they say . - Adelaide Kent

*I graduated high school in 1957 in the small town of Colby, KS and I remember gas being 25 cents a gallon. My friends and I would pool our quarters to get a dollar's worth before returning the family car. We had a dime store but I think it was called something like Duckworth's. I don't think it had a lunch counter but the drugstore sold ice cream, malts, shakes, sundaes and cola drinks. - Terry Waggle

*When I graduated from U of PA with a BS in nursing in 1958, my starting salary as a staff nurse was $300/mo. I shared a nice 2 bedroon apt. in downtown Philadelphia with 2 others, splitting the rent of $350/mo. (The landlord refused to rent to us at first because we were nurses, Until he received a letter from one of my room-mate's fiancee. It was quite a letter.) Peace, Mel O'Day

*As a newlywed our 1st apt. cost $115.00 a month in 1969. We lived there for one year and "upgraded" to one that was HUGE for $125.00 per month. I was worried we couldn't afford the extra $10.00. Our 1st home cost $26,000 in 1972. I saw the hospital bill for my delivery and my mom's stay and mine and the total was $16.00- in 1946.! Linda M.

*I just came from my 40th high school reunion, so these memories are flitting through big time!
I babysat for two hours each night after school. I watched an 18 mos. old and a newborn, made formula, gave them baths, and fed them before their dad got home from work. 35 cents an hour
I had a car that took $5-6 to fill.
Movies were 25 cents UNLESS you were 12 or older. Then, they were 50 cents. I celebrated the day I turned 12 by being able to tell the clerk I was now at 50 cents.
Buck Night at the Drive In meant that it cost only a dollar for as many people as you could squeeze in Dad's station wagon. Later that night I was pulled over by the police for overloading.
My first "real job" was as a nursing assistant at a full-care nursing home. I bathed people, fed them, walked them, cleaned them up.....$1.25 an hour.
My first teaching job(1978) was in a parochial school for $6900. per year. (you had to buy your own supplies, and worksheets were "mimeographed on the back of church bulletins.
Thanks for this fun "journey back"....Cathy


(If you'd still like to share - email me and I'll add it to the listing.)