I grew up in a one income household at that time. It was a 1000 square foot house, I shared a 10x12 room with my brother right up through high school.
We had one (used) car for the family, one TV set, and one phone.
Vacations were one week at a small tourist cabin on a lake in Wisconsin, every summer.
Now - I am not trying to tell anyone how "tough" my life was. In fact, we always had food on the table, good clothes to wear to school and church, and never felt "poor" in any way.
My point is that most families today who want to live on one income, and are willing to live the same lifestyle that young families did in the '50s, could probably do it.
But if they think that a separate suite for every child, two new cars and a boat in the driveway, and two weeks at Disney every year are the bare minimum of subsistence, they ain't gonna make it through any rough patches.
I’m, not talking about your specific situation.
Back in the 40s 50s and 60s my folks and millions of others brought homes on one single income. Mom was able to stay home. Jobs were secure and had benefits and yes retirement pensions.
You do understand that’s all but history for the boomers and their kids right?
My Mom could not understand what boomers were paying in 4 or 6 months of mortgage payments, was what they paid TOTAL price for their homes. Read this again real slow.
These are the ugly brutal facts, millions deal with it.
BTW, that's total bull sh*t. Most would never have zip today. Try buying homes, delivering 3 babies and everything that goes with it, insurance, 75 dollars to fill their freaking gas tanks and on and on. In fact, most don't have squat and are barely making it on *two* incomes today. That's if they're lucky enough to have full time jobs.
Why do you think the American middle class is all but dead on the floor?
Get real.
In fact it was government and the greedy corporations looking for more suckers when as things became obscenely expensive, like homes, cars, schooling, insurance, medical etc...
What they did was convince all the woman they had to have careers. Stay at home moms were portrayed as stupid fat simpletons. Fact is the corrupt corporations were looking for more low wage employees. Endless lines of them.
Now millions of “career” women are suddenly working at chicken licken, Walmart and auto parts stores are wondering how they got so screwed. Ya seen the attitudes of most of these people?
They can’t afford to stay home and have babies and raise families. They have no insurance or worthless insurance they’re forced to pay for.
And since few can afford all these traditional family things, like babies, the government just imported tens of millions more low wage illegal to fill the holes. They have lots of babies, regardless if they can afford them. Government then got the what’s left of the middle class to subsidize millions of their imported low wage workers. A win win for the employers!!
You need an update.
“My point is that most families today who want to live on one income, and are willing to live the same lifestyle that young families did in the ‘50s, could probably do it.”
It’s a nice story, but it isn’t true. Where I live, the little bungalows from that era are still everywhere, the market is full of them. Still, you just can’t buy one with a single income, unless you are lucky enough to make 6 figures.
Newer or larger homes? Forget about it!
Your childhood experience was almost exactly like mine and those of most of my Boomer friends and all of my first cousins. Hardly like being born on “third base.”