What did "middle class" mean to you when you were 20-30 something? [View all]

[SoCalDem]

One's 20's & 30's are usually the years when we all start to really pay attention as we build families/careers.

"Middle Class" was created out of thin air by the FDR/Truman policies that kicked in after WWII, so when it started, most of us old-timers (here) were just born or were quite young.

To MY parent's era, middle class meant:

Mom stayed home with kids
Family had A car (they could pay it off in 2-3 yrs)
Family could save up for a few years and could afford a house that they WOULD pay off in 20-30 years
Family had A phone
When stuff broke, they had it REPAIRED, or did without it
Family had a window A/C in the living room
Family had A TV (black & white)
Dad's salary supported the whole family
Kids could afford to go to college without loans
Families used Christmas Clubs at the bank to save for Xmas
NO ONE HAD CREDIT CARDS
Families took a vacation (driving) every couple of years
Families shopped at Sears, Penneys, Wards and "dime stores", and local businesses.

Middle Class denoted what you HAD and how you lived..not necessarily a "dollar amount", since money-talk was always taboo. The phrase "keeping up with the Joneses" was the norm then, as now, and all it meant was that people wanted to live as well as their neighbors (or a bit better), but since everyone was limited by their actual money earned, people pretty much had to live like their neighbors.

When my husband & I were first married (1970), we did NOT pick up where our families left off. We started from scratch..square one.. We used a laundromat for THREE YEARS.. had a black & white tv with an antenna that was coax cable attached to a neighbor's chainlink fence. We got our lawn furniture from someone's trash & we re-webbed them. Our furniture was hand-me-down. Our appliances were also nearly freebies.We rented for SEVEN and a half years. We rarely ever ate at restaurants or went to the movies.

We were definitely not "middle class" even though we CAME from middle class families.