Another difference was vacations. Hardly anybody I knew ever got on a plane to go somewhere for vacation. You piled into the station wagon and drove to the mountains or the beach and spent two weeks jammed into a cabin. Great fun (seriously). Summer camp was rec at the school, not $700/week private sports camp.
If you were white, had a little money and nobody in the family was sick the fifties were a good time. I'd wager that, for kids at least, the same was true for black Americans.
We were on the bottom of the economic scale. My step father was sick for the last few years of his life. We lived in a mixed neighborhood so we were all in the same boat. And we still managed to get the basic necessities of life and have a decent childhood. We just did not have a lot of extras.
My point is it is the "extras" that are a financial drain on many's monthly budget. Extras are okay if you have the money.
I was not always debt free. Up until I was around 35 I was like everyone else, having a good life on credit. I then realized I was deciding what I could afford to buy based on the monthly minimum payment. I then realized I was still paying for things that had already worn out and been tossed aside. It was time to get my act together.
It was not easy. I went from having it all to having almost nothing. While my friends and family moved up to the big homes, quads, boats, new cars, the latest electronics we stayed in our older home and older still furniture.
But in time all debts were paid (including the mortgage) and my savings took off. I could now afford the extras but discovered I no longer need them.
I lost my job when I turned 59. My skills were good but because of my age it was difficult to find work so I just "retired". It was not the end of the world (actually a beginning to a new life). We cut out some extras, and my wife's salary was able to carry us until I began drawing social security. As it turns out, most of that goes into savings as well. We cut back so far but do not miss anything.
When my wife quits work in a year or two we have a list of things we will cut. We do not spend more than we make, but we still spend more than we need to.