My Grandfather's Budget - My What A Difference

[james.hendrickson]

Hi All,

So here is a bit of an interesting personal finance story for you all.

Earlier this week, I went to my uncles house. He had a bunch of stuff from my late grandfather...including his weekly budget from 1941.

He was using old fashioned cursive writing, so the writing is a bit hard to make out, but the prices are pretty amazing. In September of 1941 my grandfather received $196.50 in income. He paid 40 dollars in rent, 5 cents for postage, $1.34 for cigarettes, $2.12 for drinks and $1.50 for dry cleaning.

All I can say is, things were a LOT less expensive in California in the 1940s than today.

[kork13]

Sure, by absolute dollars. But that was 80 years of inflation ago. Look at it in percentages of income, and it seems pretty normal.

Rent: 20% of income.
Groceries & misc spending: 14%
Utilities: 2%

He seems to have been very responsible with his money (not surprising, being great depression-era).

What I see as more remarkable are:
1) he tracked all of his spending -- great practice, but rarely followed 2) the specific things he spent money on -- shoe repair, haircut & shine, books, periodicals, .... THAT'S what's really changed over time.

[james.hendrickson]

Thanks Kork, its just sort of neat to see that a lot of good basic practices - budgeting and keeping track of your spending - have been consistent since the 1940s.

[riverwed070707]

Really thought I was reading multiple entries for "papers for weed" and then started looking for how much he spent on weed... but then realized it says week and he meant newspapers Under $10 weekly grocery spending and $3.5o for meals out may be the most shocking thing on the list to me besides the concept of a monthly $200 income and $40 rent. Fun share!

[Fishindude77]

Very neat, thanks for sharing.
People knew how to write and do math by hand back then too.

[james.hendrickson]

Very neat, thanks for sharing.
People knew how to write and do math by hand back then too.

To be fair, my grandfather had a doctorate in history - and he seems to have eaten out a lot.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Union initiation and dues. Do you know what union he belonged to? Was his doctorate in history before or after 1941? How old would he have been at this time? Just curious.

My father was in college at this time, one of few young men on campus after December 1941, due to the war. (Draft board kept rejecting him.) Dad worked in a sorority dining room as a server and ate left-overs for his meals. He also worked as a courier on campus, delivering messages, packets, and letters between offices. He did paid typing for other students once in a while. Summers, he worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and grew tomatoes with a another young man. They took tomatoes to market, but then when the toms were coming in fast, they opened their field for pick-your-own. He told me he worked in a movie theater running an orange juicing machine (fresh juice at the theater!), but I think that might have been before college.

[Like2Plan]

I noticed he had: 9-10 Quinine .72 Was he in an area where there was malaria?
It is an interesting look back.

[james.hendrickson]

I noticed he had: 9-10 Quinine .72 Was he in an area where there was malaria?
It is an interesting look back.

Like2Plan, I think he was living in California at the time...so...I don't know why he'd need anti-malarial medication.

[Like2Plan]

Like2Plan, I think he was living in California at the time...so...I don't know why he'd need anti-malarial medication.

i was curious, so I googled the topic. I found a couple of links pertaining to this. It looks like it was last endemic in CA in the Central Valley.

A Short History of Malaria in California
https://www.smcmvcd.org/a-short-hist...-in-california

https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/hi...nation_us.html

https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory...alaria-poster/

https://medcoeckapwstorprd01.blob.co...map04_5355.jpg

[Jluke]

Google search too. Perhaps Quinine tonic water which some people believed could help with leg cramps and restless leg syndrome.

[ua_guy]

Thanks for sharing.

Had a laugh at "Amusement ...... .05"

Simpler times!

[james.hendrickson]

i was curious, so I googled the topic. I found a couple of links pertaining to this. It looks like it was last endemic in CA in the Central Valley.

A Short History of Malaria in California
https://www.smcmvcd.org/a-short-hist...-in-california

https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/hi...nation_us.html

https://bostonraremaps.com/inventory...alaria-poster/

https://medcoeckapwstorprd01.blob.co...map04_5355.jpg

The central valley is where my grandparents lived!

[disneysteve]

Google search too. Perhaps Quinine tonic water which some people believed could help with leg cramps and restless leg syndrome.

I thought that too. For years, I prescribed quinine for my patients with leg cramps. It works well. A lot of people were very upset when the FDA said we couldn't do that anymore as it was the only thing that had ever gotten them relief.

We do not use quinine for malaria (we use Lariam) but it was the treatment of choice back in the day, before my time.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

that is soo cool! I can't believe that you found something so amazing.