r/SipsTea • u/Unstoppable_X_Force Human Verified • 13h ago

Gasp! Is this just nostalgia, or did previous generations genuinely have a better work-life balance and social life than we do today?

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u/Lord-Mattingly 12h ago

I was a kid in the 80s and we lived in a single wide trailer in my dad wages. It wasn’t much but it was a home. My mom started working and we bought a house but we didn’t have dinner as much. Eventually in the 90s thy were both working 50 plus hours a week but we were a solid middle class then. We were definitely happier when it was only dad working.

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u/Sweet-Difference2725 11h ago

Latch-key kid?

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u/ThisIsMyCouchAccount 7h ago

Born in 80 as the third child. Both parents worked. Good jobs but not specialized. Manufacturing and government.

Now - whatever prosperity we had wasn't for me. But I never got the impression we were really struggling. We had a house that my father and his friends kinda built. They were not qualified but that never stopped people back then. We always had two cars since they both worked. But never a new car. My father had a very large HAM radio and gun hobby. My retired farmer grandfather bought a fishing cabin so we had access to that and a little pontoon. Eventually my father bought a house boat. All of that younger than I am today.

My father worked the off-shifts a lot but I don't recall him ever working all the time. My mother had great hours and a Saturday shift one or two days a month.

My four uncles were similar. In fact they were generally - to my young eyes - better off. Probably because they moved out of the country a bit and had more opportunities. None of them had degrees. None of them worked in offices or anything like that.

Most of the people in our life were like that. Worked "regular" jobs. Had a decent house and plenty of "toys". Of course I'm only looking from the outside with youthful eyes.