In 1949 I was three years old.
My Dad worked two jobs.
My parents rented a small apartment.
We walked everywhere we went.
We burned wood and coal in a fire place.
Mom did laundry by hand with water she heated on the stove.
In 1950, my dad got a promotion, quit his second job, and over the next ten years:
My parents bought a new house.
Dad bought his first new automobile.
We bought our first TV.
We got air condition.
Mom got a washer and dryer.
Dad bought a second automobile.
We had natural gas heating installed.
That was a disastrous period, indeed.
My Dad’s story:
First house: ‘47.
First new car: ‘47 Chevy.
First TV: ‘49 10” Motorola console.
First new house in suburbs built to specs: ‘51.
Second new car: ‘51 Buick Special.
First automatic washer/dryer: ‘52 Norge.
First LP Phono/AM-FM console: ‘53 Philco.
Third new car: ‘55 Buick Super.
First high-fidelity component system, from kits (built by geek-in-training son): ‘57.
Founded own business: ‘58.
Left this earth: ‘60.
Hermann is a little off on that statement. I think if you looked at the overall record of economic and technological advances, the fifties would look pretty good. The history of my family somewhat mirrors yours. Poor at the start of the fifties and doing a lot better by the end of it. Even with only one wage-earner pappy, a mother, and six children. By the mid-sixties we were actually middle-class. I knew that because my dad went from driving a basic Chevy to an Impala. By the ‘70s, my folks were taking trips to Vegas...something unthought or unheard of ten years earlier.