"The flashback budget"

[Nords]

Liz Pulliam Weston can save us all $15K/year minimum on our expenses right now! All we have to do is...

Imagine it's the '70s, only without bell-bottom jeans.

 

[Sam]

I'm surprised at the % for TV Set and Car A/C and Cell phone. I thought they would be much higher.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Just dont flash back to your 80's budget...

 

[justin]

Thinking about how life was in the 1970's makes me feel pretty good about my LBYM lifestyle now. We have a lot more/better stuff now (it's those hedonistic adjustments!), yet we can afford it all on one of our salaries.

 

[dex]

It is interesting how we talk about life in terms of things.
I wonder how we could compare our lives in terms of interpersonal gains/losses or changes.
What would a survey on that look like?

 

[Sandy]

We certainly couldn't have had this "conversation" in the 70's.

 

[Culture]

Unfortunately, this is why SS is so expensive for those paying and such a deal for those receiving. For current retirees, SS is effectively paying for a 2005 lifestyle based on contributions sized on 1970 lifestyle.

 

[kumquat]

Let's see, in the early seventies I:

1) made $700/month
2) drove an Austin Healy Sprite (998 cc engine, 45+mpg-imperial gallon)
3) lived in a 500 sq ft basement suite (no air, no tv much less cable)
4) spent money on single ladies and partying
5) had the best time of my life

Today I:
1) make more per month than I did per year then
2) drive a Mustang GT (V8) and DW has a vehicle too
3) live in 2500 sq ft house with A/C, cable etc but no cell phone.
4) let DW spend what she wants (or else I might die)
5) have a good time
6) am FI and will be RE (if not ER) in less than a month.

Other factors include DW 'retiring' 27 years ago to look after kids.

But, I never bought/wore/would-be-caught-dead-in bell bottoms. I guess the money I saved back then by not buying them bought me all this stuff. Hurray for me!

 

[justin]

er, I was born in the 80's. The only thing I know about the 70's I learned from history books, VH-1's "I love the 70's" show, and the "That 70's Show" on Fox.

 

[Nords]

er, I was born in the 80's. The only thing I know about the 70's I learned from history books, VH-1's "I love the 70's" show, and the "That 70's Show" on Fox.

Enjoy it while you can, grasshopper!

 

[Texas Proud]

Enjoy it while you can, grasshopper!

He probably doen't know what this is either...

 

[Andre1969]

er, I was born in the 80's. The only thing I know about the 70's I learned from history books, VH-1's "I love the 70's" show, and the "That 70's Show" on Fox.

And don't take "That 70's Show" to be the gospel! Juice boxes weren't invented yet, Intellivision II didn't come out until 1982, and Kitty's Corolla would've been a rusted-out shell after 1 or 2 Wisconsin winters!

 

[justin]

Enjoy it while you can, grasshopper!

Well, I'll always be "born in the 80's". I'll just start feeling old when I start seeing these "born in the 90's" kids growing up.

And of course I got the grasshopper reference, Nords-san! That's an 80's reference!

 

[justin]

Juice boxes weren't invented yet...

Life without juice boxes is hardly worth living.

 

[greg]

And I've become more conservative in my thinking since the 70s:

Never trust anyone over under thirty fifty.

 

[megacorp-firee]

And I've become more conservative in my thinking since the 70s:

Never trust anyone over under thirty fifty. ... make that sixty ... please

 

[loosechickens]

Ummmm....how about sixty-five?

LooseChickens

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My dad pointed out that its only four short years until I hit the big 5-0.

Gosh, thanks a bunch.

In the 70's, I had a crappy car that always needed work, lived in a single room apartment, had a good job that paid well, and was constantly trying to make ends meet. No cable, small tv, about 3 outfits worth of clothes.

I kinda like the 90's/00's version of my life, to be earnest...

 

[ats5g]

Since we're all getting nostalgic a bit, my mom recently pulled out my old Star Wars and SuperFriends sheets for my son. Naturally he started refusing to have anything else on his bed. Ahhhh, just like his ol' man. I'm just glad she didn't save my Green Lantern underoos.

- Alec

ps - just to make Justin jealous, we've still got our old Castle GreySkull.

 

[justin]

ps - just to make Justin jealous, we've still got our old Castle GreySkull.

That would make me really jealous. Except I have Castle Greyskull, Snake Mountain (Skeletor's castle), He-man bedsheets, and a ton of other He-man stuff my mother saved from when I was a kid.

On a related note, up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start anybody?

 

[Deetso]

I was alive in the 70s... for 3 months.
My wife was alive in the 70s... for 48 hours.

Back to the lurking hole I came from and continuing to learn from all you much wiser people

 

[Andre1969]

On a related note, up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start anybody?

That sounds kinda like the code you use to arm Tommy Vercetti with a bunch of weapons in "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City", but it could also be the code you used to make Smurfette lose her dress on the old ColecoVision game!

 

[Texas Proud]

Well, I'll always be "born in the 80's". I'll just start feeling old when I start seeing these "born in the 90's" kids growing up.

And of course I got the grasshopper reference, Nords-san! That's an 80's reference!

Well, then you did not get it... it is from the original Kung Fu in the 70s...

Why is Caine called "grasshopper"?
This question comes up every single week in the Search. One can only assume it is being asked by people who never saw the pilot in which the very first time Caine meets Master Po, he says that to be blind must be the worst affliction. But Master Po shows the young Caine that he can even hear the grasshopper at the young Caine's feet, which Caine couldn't hear.

http://www.veggiedude.com/kungfu/ (many more available)..

 

[Nords]

He probably doen't know what this is either...

And of course I got the grasshopper reference, Nords-san! That's an 80's reference!

Eh, what Texas Proud said. "Kung Fu" went off the air in 1975, you young whippersnapper... "Karate Kid" Ralph Macchio was probably still in diapers... sheesh, kids today...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_(TV_series)

BTW I had to watch KF during babysitting & petcare jobs because parentally it was considered "too violent" for my 12-to-14-year-old psyche.

 

[justin]

I'm foiled by those much older and much wiser again. Guess that makes me the grasshopper here. (although I have seen re-runs of the old kung fu w/ David Carradine, if that's the reference you are referring to)

One day, when you guys are old and frail, I'll finally be able to snatch the pebble from the master's hand!