You know you are getting on a bit when....

[Lockback]

And a college education was not something for which to go in debt. We are doing ourselves and others a disservice forcing them to into indebtedness most of their lives when, in fact, we will benefit from their professions. When I consider the extravagance of college campuses, surely, they are benefitting from the higher costs of a college degree.

I went to Ohio State back in the early/mid Seventies. Cost: $175 per quarter when I started, a bit more by the time I graduated 4 years later. My grandfather had left $5,000 to each of his grandkids for college. I got through all four years (plus an extra quarter) and still had $1,000 left!

Another way you're getting old ...
The aforementioned grandfather built a very nice ranch home in one of the nicer suburbs of Columbus, Ohio in the late 1950's. Three bedrooms, two full baths, central air conditioning (a big deal back then!), a screened in porch, even a greenhouse in the back. Very, very nice.
I recently priced it just for the hell of it on the internet. Estimated asking price?
$1,700,000.
This is not the world I grew up in.

 

[R181]

Colleges and universities have become businesses, imo, and will take anyone who can pay whether by out of pocket or through student loans. I also suspect the entrance requirements have also been lowered to allow more people to attend. There is no way in hell that a college/university degree is worth as much as it used to be on the open labour market when much fewer people had them. I suspect that you need to have more than just a BA and be in the top 20%, at a guess, of your graduating class to gain employment in your chosen field. As a bonus, if you are a student, you are considered as unemployed.

New homes that the average worker at a pulp and paper mill could buy in the late 1950s/early 1960s are now unaffordable unless you have 2 good incomes coming in. I am talking 1100-1200 sq ft new 3-bedroom bungalows in which you could raise a family on one income. Never mind that those are considered too small by some today.

Besides inflated expectation regarding housing, the thought of buying a new car back in the late 1950s-early 1960s was generally not considered. A 3-year-old car in good condition with most of the depreciation gone was considered to be a better deal. Only people who needed 4x4s and pickup trucks had them. I don't recall going on long expensive vacations growing up either. Now you are hard done by if you can't go at least once a year on an out of country vacation or maybe 2.

Yea, it is definitely not the world I grew up in.

Bob

 

[Twelvefret]

I went to Ohio State back in the early/mid Seventies. Cost: $175 per quarter when I started, a bit more by the time I graduated 4 years later. My grandfather had left $5,000 to each of his grandkids for college. I got through all four years (plus an extra quarter) and still had $1,000 left!

Another way you're getting old ...
The aforementioned grandfather built a very nice ranch home in one of the nicer suburbs of Columbus, Ohio in the late 1950's. Three bedrooms, two full baths, central air conditioning (a big deal back then!), a screened in porch, even a greenhouse in the back. Very, very nice.
I recently priced it just for the hell of it on the internet. Estimated asking price?
$1,700,000.
This is not the world I grew up in.

My new old house was built in 1958, a traditional red brick rancher. They are cool old structures. Probably cost the first occupants less than $15k.

 

[Twelvefret]

Colleges and universities have become businesses, imo, and will take anyone who can pay whether by out of pocket or through student loans. I also suspect the entrance requirements have also been lowered to allow more people to attend. There is no way in hell that a college/university degree is worth as much as it used to be on the open labour market when much fewer people had them. I suspect that you need to have more than just a BA and be in the top 20%, at a guess, of your graduating class to gain employment in your chosen field. As a bonus, if you are a student, you are considered as unemployed.

New homes that the average worker at a pulp and paper mill could buy in the late 1950s/early 1960s are now unaffordable unless you have 2 good incomes coming in. I am talking 1100-1200 sq ft new 3-bedroom bungalows in which you could raise a family on one income. Never mind that those are considered too small by some today.

Besides inflated expectation regarding housing, the thought of buying a new car back in the late 1950s-early 1960s was generally not considered. A 3-year-old car in good condition with most of the depreciation gone was considered to be a better deal. Only people who needed 4x4s and pickup trucks had them. I don't recall going on long expensive vacations growing up either. Now you are hard done by if you can't go at least once a year on an out of country vacation or maybe 2.

Yea, it is definitely not the world I grew up in.

Bob

My industry required at least as undergraduate degree. Many had MBA degrees.

I built the same house twice thanks to a house fire and added 12 acres. When I sold it in 2020, I got a nice profit.

The Tahoe has 290k miles and ain’t worth $1500 on the market, but just got back from a camping weekend with boats and a bike on the Yakima racks and everything else inside.

 

[R181]

My industry required at least as undergraduate degree. Many had MBA degrees.

I built the same house twice thanks to a house fire and added 12 acres. When I sold it in 2020, I got a nice profit.

The Tahoe has 290k miles and ain’t worth $1500 on the market, but just got back from a camping weekend with boats and a bike on the Yakima racks and everything else inside.

Yes, some industries did require university degrees for some things back in the early 1970s when I started to work at the mill. I expect our mechanical/chemical engineers had degrees, but the majority of the production crew did not. I worked in production till I retired at age 56. while working I paid off one house and lost it in a divorce and started over at age 35. I bought another house, paid that off and made trips to Europe, Australia (2x) and South Africa (3x) plus a few cross Canada car trips. Retired now for 14 years and owe nothing but for food and utilites, house and car maintenance. All on a grade 9 education. I doubt that would be possible today. It was a different time and place was my point. Could I have done better with a degree to my name? Probably but I hated school. Am I sorry I did not have a degree to my name? No, not really as I am set for life however long that may be.

Bob

 

[Twelvefret]

Yes, some industries did require university degrees for some things back in the early 1070s when I started to work at the mill. I expect our mechanical/chemical engineers had degrees, but the majority of the production crew did not. I worked in production till I retired at age 56. while working I paid off one house and lost it in a divorce and started over at age 35. I bought another house, paid that off and made trips to Europe, Australia (2x) and South Africa (3x) plus a few cross Canada car trips. Retired now for 14 years and owe nothing but for food and utilites, house and car maintenance. All on a grade 9 education. I doubt that would be possible today. It was a different time and place was my point. Could I have done better with a degree to my name? Probably but I hated school. Am I sorry I did not have a degree to my name? No, not really as I am set for life however long that may be.

Bob

We all had different paths, Bob. I made sure the children went to college and had nostudent loans. Paid cash for their first cars. I figure if they still want me around, I did a few things well.

Now I’m focusing on the grandchildren. My grandson and I went to a virtual reality place today then volunteered at a place distributing food to those in need. The later is an educational experience.

 

[R181]

We all had different paths, Bob. I made sure the children went to college and had nostudent loans. Paid cash for their first cars. I figure if they still want me around, I did a few things well.

Now I’m focusing on the grandchildren. My grandson and I went to a virtual reality place today then volunteered at a place distributing food to those in need. The later is an educational experience.

Yea, we all have different paths but so what. My only point is that back in the early 1970s having a degree to your name was not a necessity to make a decent living. It is more so today than ever before and more expensive than ever before for, in some cases, questionable reasons other than they can ask for one as a condition of employment.

Don't worry, I paid my fair share of child support for 3 children until they finished school which for 2 of them meant university degrees and not just a BA. IIRC, that was for about 25 years. No, my kids did not have student loans.

Bob

 

[Chris]

View attachment 137173

I had the same drill from my father, I would guess that it is at least 70 years old. Very simple design, just two
gears and a simple clutch and jaws, minimal moving parts. I suspect that it goes back to pre Black and Decker days when the average household simply didn't have electric drills. I can remember my father drilling a hole in a wall to mount a shelf and saying to my mother, "is it level, is the drill level?" Then he used wood fibre rawlplugs because plastic rawlplugs had not been invented, at least in our house.

It arrived today! Mine's one of the earlier ones with the painted wooden handles (like the one pictured) so it could well date back to the 50s / 60s. I gave it a bit of a clean with an old toothbrush and a drop of oil here and there and it runs like silk. There's a proper heft to it too, you can tell it was built to last. It cost me all of £12 too.

 

[Smiffy]

This picture is from a nostalgia site. I asked my wife why are these regarded as things of the past.

'People don't sew buttons back on any more or repair their clothes, they belong in the past'

'Well I do'

'Yes dear'.

 

[Chris]

View attachment 137524


This picture is from a nostalgia site. I asked my wife why are these regarded as things of the past.

'People don't sew buttons back on any more or repair their clothes, they belong in the past'

'Well I do'

'Yes dear'.

It's sad that that's the way the world is going. I'm one of those people where clothes get worn until they're too tatty for going out in at which point they get relegated to casual wear, then eventually downgraded to outdoor / DIY / need something I don't mind getting even scruffier wear before finally being retired. At this point they're usually not fit to donate to charity.

 

[Smiffy]

My neighbour is an Area Director for Oxfam, she says donated clothes are a real problem and apart from top brands or coats during winter almost all clothes goes to the rag man who pays pennies per kilo. Even coats have to be dry cleaned before sale which makes the coats much more expensive.

She has some choice words about the charity bags that are pushed through our letter flaps, will leave that for another day.

 

[Chris]

One of my friends volunteered at a charity shop, they used to get a lot of clothes donated that were unwashed or in some cases actually soiled. I have donated a few things but it's always stuff that I'd be happy to wear myself.

 

[Smiffy]

You know what this is without opening it

...but I never saw anything like this

 

[Smiffy]

You remember when a trip to the cinema was a real treat and you had one of these during the intermission.

 

[Chris]

You remember when a trip to the cinema was a real treat and you had one of these during the intermission.

View attachment 139776

Also no-one had a mobile phone and anyone being noisy and annoying was ejected.