PRICES THEN AND NOW

After going to the grocery store again I am sadly aware of how little I bring home compared to amount of money I give them. A couple of “older” folks and I were reminiscing about the “good old days” and it occurred to me that you may get a chuckle at the prices I paid for groceries and other things when I was a young bride. There’s nothing to chuckle about the prices we pay now. Of course, we have to take into consideration the difference in wages paid then and now.

Actually, I think I’ll begin with the price of my wedding dress. I couldn’t afford a fancy, expensive dress and neither could my parents. I was living with my sister, Grace, her husband and their two kids, Rick and Eileen. We had a next-door neighbor who was an excellent seamstress. Grace and Afton were really good friends and we had done quite a few things together. Afton asked me if I’d like to buy the fabric for my wedding dress and have her sew it and that would be her wedding gift to me. My goodness! Yes, indeed! You betcha! That sounded wonderful to me. Grace and I went to a fabric store and they had taffeta on sale. Taffeta was what I had hoped to get. We chose a pattern that I loved. It was quite plain and simple. We bought the taffeta, the lace for the insert and collar and the pearl buttons for the sleeves. It came to the grand total of $12.00.

Immediately after our reception (we got married on Jack’s “boot leave”). Jack was in the Marine Corp and only had about ten days leave so we had to pack our things after our reception and get on the road to California. He was to be stationed at the El Toro Marine Corp Depot near Santa Ana, California. (I understand that now El Toro has been closed down.) We couldn’t find an apartment in Santa Ana so we just started driving south on the main highway. As we drove, we saw a “Furnished Apartment for Rent” sign in Newport Beach so we stopped and were able to rent the apartment and move right in. Everything we owned was in the car so why not? We had a nice furnished apartment with a kitchen, living room with a bed that pulled down out of the closet, a huge closet and for heaven sake, it had a bathroom. No outhouses for us. The kitchen was very nice with plenty of room and the living room was huge. We paid $50.00 a month for that apartment. And, there was a bonus attached. The beach was about 300 feet from our back door.

I should mention, here, that I had a job as a statistical typist with an insurance company before we got married. I was paid the enormous sum of $120.00 per month. If I had been a man I would probably have been paid at least $50.00 more a month. In those days women were second-class citizens and it was a widely held opinion (among the men of the world) that a woman was not worth as much as a man---even though they may have been doing exactly the same work. Go figure!

I don’t remember, exactly, how much Jack was getting as a PFC in the Marines, but $150.00 a month rings a bell. As his wife, I got $50.00 per month. Hey, $200.00 per month was enough, if you were careful. Jack had to drive to the base five days a week so we had to buy gas at 19 cents a gallon. I don’t remember too much about food prices in California so I will skip ahead to Georgia for that.

We had only been in California five weeks when Jack got his orders to go to Korea and they gave us eighteen days leave before he had to report to the base to leave with the troops who were going. Of course, they were to travel on a ship. I stayed in Salt Lake City with Jack’s parents, who very generously invited me to stay in their home for the duration of Jack’s time in Korea. I got my second job at that time at the LDS Church Welfare Department and I was an all around secretary for two men and sometimes three. I was paid $130.00 per month. But, hey, with my $50.00 stipend from the Military, I thought I was rich. I should mention that Mom and Dad Ehlers wouldn’t allow me to pay board and room. Before I got married I bought a sewing machine for $120.00. I paid $10.00 down and was to pay $10.00/month until it paid. Also, I had a ton of dental work done in the summer of 1951. I don’t remember the total on that---probably about $250.00 or $300.00 and I was paying that at $10.00/month. Inasmuch as I was paying no rent or buying food, I was able to pay off the sewing machine early as well as pay off my appreciative Dentist. At that point, we were totally out of debt.

Jack came home from Korea as a Sergeant with a pay raise, and was assigned to the Marine Base at Quantico, Virginia for OCS training. I stayed in a “Tourist Home” at $10.00 per week for five weeks until his training was complete and then we, thinking Jack would be staying at Quantico for a time, rented an apartment. It was furnished. It had a bedroom, living room, big kitchen and, of course, a bathroom. We paid $55.00/month for that one but we only got to stay in it for a week. Jack was reassigned to the Marine Base in Albany, Georgia and was advanced to the rank of Staff-Sergeant (with another pay raise) for the duration of his time in the Marine Corp. Again, we paid $50.00/month for a huge kitchen, a big living/bedroom, a really big closet and—ta-da! A bathroom!

We were in Albany for just a little less than one year. It was an interesting time and I was able to learn more about cooking, sewing and many other things. We made a monthly budget. We allotted $10.00 per week for groceries and that included laundry soap, shampoo, hand soap, dish soap, toilet paper, etc. Amazingly, $10.00 was ample. AND, we frequently fed the Elders. For a couple of months there were four Elders in the area and we fed all four a couple of times a week. Of course, we rarely had steak. Steak was almost $2.00 a pound and we figured it was too expensive.

Bread was 10 cents a loaf. Margarine was 10 cents a pound. Ground beef was 15 cents a pound. They had really fresh fish at the market where we shopped and we could get White Fish at 10 cents a pound. It was scrumptious. I used to make a bread dressing and stuff the fish, I’d place the extra dressing underneath the fish while it baked. Fish doesn’t take all that long to bake and it was quite an elegant dish. I suppose I served potatoes of some kind plus a vegetable and dessert. We almost always had dessert in those days. I usually did the fish on Wednesday and generally there were enough leftovers for dinner the next day. The Elders dropped in one Wednesday so that’s what we served them. They really liked it. I guess I mentioned that I usually cooked fish on Wednesday. After that, they were frequent Wednesday visitors. We loved their company and were happy to have them come. Of course, there were a few other members in Albany, so the Elders were often invited to two or three other member’s homes. Usually there was enough fish left over that we could have leftovers the next day.

Fresh fruit and fresh vegetables were five or ten cents a pound. Milk was 10 cents a quart. However, we usually drank reconstituted dry milk because it was cheaper. I always hated it but I drank it—if I drank milk. It was not as good as what I drank when I was growing up in Blanding. We didn’t drink skim milk. We either made cottage cheese from the skin milk or we fed it to the pigs. I was used to cream on my cereal and whole milk to drink. I refuse to drink skim milk now. It just looks like blue water to me.

Most of the canned products were 10 cents each. Sugar and flour were inexpensive. I made a lot of cookies and I learned to make pie crusts from scratch so we had pies but I was never successful at making cakes in Albany. I knew how to make cakes (from scratch) in Utah but not in Georgia. I’m sure it was the altitude difference. I didn’t know enough about cooking to know that. If there had been cake mixes, the directions would have been listed on the box and it would probably have been okay. I should mention here that with my mindset in those days, using a boxed cake mix would have been “cheating.” I made almost everything from scratch. I didn’t make bread, although I knew how to make bread.

I made puddings and other desserts. I tried new recipes. I read recipe books like novels.
With all the desserts I cooked, I still lost 15 pounds that year. When we arrived in Georgia I weighed 135. When we left I weighed 120. I was too thin. I felt better at 128 to 130.

And, I have to tell you about the watermelons! Spring begins early in the South. By late May we could buy freshly picked watermelons. The farmers would rent a corner lot in two or three spots in Albany (the same lots that had trees on them at Christmas). Those watermelons were absolutely enormous. At the beginning of the season they were $1.00 each. After about three weeks, they went down to 75 cents each. Three weeks later they were 50 cents each. Three weeks later they were 25 cents each. Huge, huge watermelons for 25 cents. Finally, they were 10 cents each. I guess the summer of 1953 I finally had all the watermelon I wanted for one summer. They were so juicy, sweet and delicious they were almost decadent. We kept one shelf in the refrigerator saved for watermelon. Those watermelons were a wonderfully cool treat during the hot, humid days of summer in Albany---with no air conditioning.

The Marine Base in Georgia was just being built when we went there. They didn’t have any base housing so we lived off base. There was also an Air Force Base in Albany. They did have base housing for their people. We were quite happy with the apartment we had except for the cockroaches. They were horrible. At that time I didn’t know there were people who came around to exterminate bugs. I didn’t know about exterminators for many years. Anyway, the Marines had bought a huge pecan orchard and were going to knock all the trees down. They told all of us we could have as many pecans as we wanted. I believe I have already told you about the pecans. But the Christmas time we were in Albany, we made batches and batches of chocolate fudge. We enjoyed a lot of it but we fixed nice boxes for our friends and that’s what we gave them for Christmas. We were a good team when it came to fudge. I didn’t have any “easy” or “fast” recipes for fudge then. I had Jack’s mother’s recipe. Apparently Jack had helped make fudge at home. I would measure all the ingredients, put them in the pot and tend it while it cooked. After while I’d get a cup with cold water and drop a drop of fudge into the water; I’d take it to Jack for testing. He’d get it between a thumb and a finger and roll it a little bit and tell me it wasn’t done, yet. In another couple of minutes I’d do it again. He’d check it and determine that it was still not ready. (It had to be cooked to the soft-ball stage.) By the third test, it was usually done. I’d have a roaster pan buttered and ready to pour the fudge into and then Jack would beat the fudge until his arms were tired. He’d let the fudge set for a short time and it would suddenly be ready to mold. In the meantime, I chopped pecans. Jack would get margarine all over his hands and begin to mold a portion of the batch. When he had it sufficiently softened he’d flatten it out a little and I’d pour pecans into the fudge. Then he’d mold the pecans into the fudge. We’d do that with each portion of the candy until we had nice fudge rolls about 2 inches in diameter and eight inches long. We’d put all the fudge rolls into a pan; cover it with waxed paper (we didn’t have plastic wrap or aluminum foil); put the lid on tight and by morning that fudge was heavenly. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken the time to make that kind of fudge. Generally I do the “quick and easy” variety. Quick and easy is good, some of it is very good, but it isn’t as wonderful and the kind I used to make.

We did a good bit of traveling while we were in Georgia. We would go sight-seeing to various places. We always attended the District Meetings for Church. It was great fun and we met a lot of lovely, friendly, kind and generous people. One family invited us to come to Valdosta, Georgia and go fishing with them. After we caught a bunch of fish we had a huge fish fry and invited friends of theirs. It was a fun party. Others would invite us to dinner occasionally. We traveled to various “Gold and Green Balls.” For those of you who don’t know what a “Gold and Green Ball is: It was a tradition, at that time, to have a big, formal Church dance in the spring of each year. In those days, everyone danced. It was customary for people of all ages to come to these lovely dances. They usually had a live orchestra that played real music. In the middle of the dance they’d have a nice program and there were refreshments. We always had to travel to go to these dances in Georgia so somebody would say, “Come stay the night with us.”

When we went to the District Conferences, there would be a meeting in the morning and another in the afternoon. We’d take a couple of hour break between meetings. Those Southern ladies would bring out the food for lunch. It was always Potluck and it was always magnificent. I’m telling you, those Southern women were first-class cooks. They would put out a beautiful and bounteous spread for all to enjoy. We’d fill our plates and sit on blankets on the grass under the trees and enjoy.

We didn’t worry about money for the gas. It varied between 19 and 29 cents a gallon. Never more than 29 cents. Most of the time it was less. Our car got pretty good mileage. We drove a 1947 Dodge four-door sedan.

We could go to an occasional movie at the Air Force Base and the cost was 10 cents each. Of course, movies in the City of Albany were 25 cents but on Military Bases they were always inexpensive entertainment.

I bought fabric and sewed dresses for me and shirts for Jack. Fabric was about 15 to 25 cents a yard. With thread, trim, buttons and whatever else was needed I don’t think my dresses ever cost more than $1.50. I made some really elegant “western” shirts for Jack. They had piping around the collar, cuff, pocket flaps and down the front by the buttons. I think they probably only cost about $1.25 each. To buy a fancy shirt like that now, I suspect you’d be paying upwards of $150.00 or more. There were 18 buttons on each shirt. I sewed every buttonhole by hand. They were gorgeous.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little reminiscing trip into the past. I realize women can generally make as much as men these days (although occasionally someone brings inequities in the male/female pay scale out into the open), and what you make now is a whole lot more than we were making in the l950’s. It’s quite funny to see the comparison. Oh, I do have one more story. We finally did splurge and buy steak one time in Albany. As I said, it was almost $2.00 per pound. I don’t think we bought a whole pound---just two small pieces. We really planned carefully for that meal. I cooked dinner and everything was just perfect. Just as we were sitting down to the table the Elders drove up. Our only option was to set two more places and share. I can truthfully say that even with cutting our small pieces of steak in half, we had all we wanted. When we were through we looked at each other and commented on the big piece of steak we had eaten. It was almost like the story of the fishes and the loaves.

November birthdays: Happy birthday to Danielle, November 13th. Hope you have a wonderful day.

I love you all.