I've always been intrigued by the stories I hear from older people about what life was like before I was born. It's amazing to see how much things have changed (and what somehow remains the same). Recently, u/helpmegetthrough1 asked older people on Reddit to share signs that they were wealthy in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and I was surprised by many of their answers. Here's what they said:
1.
“There are two cars in the driveway.”
2.
“There will be meat at dinner every night.”
3.
“Color TV. 27-inch color TV. I remember the first one I saw was a 30-inch one, then they moved to 36-inch. Believe me, as a kid I used to think that people in the future who watch movies with 85-inch TVs must be living in movie theaters. That's bigger than the pull-down screens I watched movies on in grade school when I was a kid. The Jetsons I feel alive again!」
Four.
“An extra living room for guests.”
6.
“Children wearing braces to straighten their teeth”
7.
“The perfect lawn and mowing service. Lawn services have never been as common as they are today.”
8.
“In the '70s, if you had a tennis court at home, money.“
Ten.
“Your house has an in-ground pool and an intercom system. The house I currently live in was built in 1995 and originally had an intercom system installed, but I can't bring myself to remove it.”
11.
“Going on vacation anywhere other than to visit relatives; traveling by plane.”
12.
“All the poor people had short, straight, unpaved driveways. The rich people had circular driveways. I'm sure this wasn't the majority of them, but even now when I see a circular driveway I think, wow, those people must be rich. Yeah, I know this makes no sense, but it's funny how first impressions of young people last a lifetime like this.”
13.
“In my neighborhood, we have two toilets. That's pretty unusual.”
14.
“At Christmas time, wealthy people put up big, white flocked trees in their living room windows. They always leave the curtains open so everyone can see inside the house.”
15.
“Each child had their own bedroom.”
16.
“There were extracurricular activities like ballet lessons. Most of us got to spend time outside instead of staying at home.”
17.
“Our wealthy neighbors had their basement done up in the 1970s style: shaggy carpeting, an 8-track player, strobe lights, a maid's quarters, a waterbed, an air hockey game, a pinball machine and one of the earliest VCRs (about $2,000).”
18.
“A coastal town in Massachusetts. A yacht club parking sticker, a country club parking sticker, and a private beach sticker. Very wealthy people, especially old money, drove pretty nondescript cars. Someone who had all three stickers was definitely upper middle class.”
19.
“In our wealthy, middle-class household, we gave out full-sized candy bars for Halloween.”
20.
“I grew up in a working-class neighborhood. One day (1970) I went to a classmate's house after school and got a surprise. The housekeeper greeted us at the front door and said, 'Hello Amy. Who is your friend? Can they stay over for dinner?' and took my friend's coat. The front door had an open foyer with light coming in from above, lots of large plants, and a big circular fountain in the middle. Her house was huge (both parents were professionals, she had 10 kids) and a huge garden. But what impressed me most was the huge refrigerator with a 5-gallon milk bottle with a stopper. It was amazing!”
twenty one.
“My grandparents always said that having an American Express card was a sign of success back in the day.”
twenty two.
“Well, according to my sister in her early teens, if they had a TV Guide instead of a Sunday newspaper clipping, they could apparently afford paper towels. She would go to people's houses and come back wide-eyed and astonished at how well-off their families were. Her explanation was that paper towels were not yet in vogue. Most people still had cloth kitchen towels, which some people called tea towels, but we had a good laugh about it.”
twenty three.
“Having your own phone line. We had a shared line where four families could call on one phone line. You picked up the phone, and when someone was talking, you just hung up and waited your turn!”
twenty four.
“Entertainment console: a large horizontal cabinet that can house a radio, television and a hi-fi record player, or a stereo if you actually built one.”
twenty five.
“About three years ago, a friend of mine told me we must be well-off because we built our house of bricks in the early 1960s. All the houses around us were made of wood.”
26.
And finally, “I remember when my neighbors would watch MTV, and I'd go there and watch for hours. We didn't have cable TV or anything.”
Did anything on this list surprise you? Or is there anything you'd like to add? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
