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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MoogleEmpMog" data-source="post: 2328261" data-attributes="member: 22882">A slight misrepresentation.  If you have a $1000/month mortgage payment, you probably have a nice house (albeit a fixer-upper, from what you said below) or live in a moderately expensive area.  You could survive by living in a smaller house or a worse neighborhood or a cheaper state, or, best of all, by refinancing your home to get a better deal <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> My comment about housework and technology applied to the '50s and '60s.Taking multiple jobs is often a choice; a lower standard of living (which would still be 10x higher than in most eras of history) could accomplish much the same thing.BTW, I'm not just talking out of my rear with this standard of living stuff - throughout the '90s, my family lived quite comfortably in a safe though unspectacular neighborhood on a single modest income, and in a city no less.Actually, the major values shift is older now than 20 years. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> You're personally very busy.  I don't contest that.Statistics seem to indicate that most people are a great deal less busy than you, though.  Including, I wager, the OP's World of Warcraft playing friends.Then game from 9:30 PM to 3:00 AM, like the crazy (er... dedicated) gamers I know! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  Just kidding.However, you do make the choice to be a volunteer firefighter, hence the term.  If you were like most people and had no sense of civics, you could dedicate that time to gaming - even as pressed for time as you are, you still make a commitment and keep it.I think you may be right.  The standard of living jumped more significantly in the '90s than it had since the '50s.  Since much of the '90s standard was based on a temporary economic surge, the end of that surge left many (most?) people living beyond what could reasonably be described as their means.My family was fortunate enough not to believe the hype.  Our standard of living kept on climbing at a steady rate, with no debt, low payments and no post-90s dropoff.  It is (or rather, was) possible and in the long run, it's been a lot more pleasant.I don't disagree if you're making a comparison with 1960 or even 1980.  But 1930?  1530?  I don't buy it.</blockquote>

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