I was born in the 1940's during the big one...... WW11 .... Growing up we had no indoor plumbing. Water was from a hand pump out in the backyard pumphouse/woodshed. Mom cooked on a woodstove or on the Hearth of our fireplace. The privy was way out in the back yard. Man that seat could be cold in winter. In 1951 we got an electric engine put on the hand pump and a cold water pipe installed in our Kitchen. ( sheer luxury ) so you didn't have to go outside anymore for water. In 1955 the city finally got a sewer system and we hooked up. I still remember the different neighbourhoods one by one in turn having outhouse burning partys as the sewer line finally reached them. TV made it to the valley in 1956 but we didn't get one till I was 20 and bought one for my mom and dad on a payment plan. Black and white TV was $225.00 in those days. colour tv was about $500.0 wages were 75 cents per hour so thats about 600 hours of work for the average person. With no TV in town we had plenty of Sports teams to go see. TV all but killed baseball and basketball In the 1960's as attendance dropped sharply.
Virtually everything we ate was free because we grew it outselves. We had a root cellar in the back yard to store vegetables and fruit over the winter. We had a milk cow for milk, cheese, cream, yogert etc. This was ranching country and most people wouldn't pay for the organ meats. The butcher, ( our neighbour ) Would give us all the organ meats such as liver, tongue, tripe etc for free. We had a small orchard with cherries, apples, pears, peaches, apricots and grapes etc that we shared with him. My mom canned huge amounts of fruits and traded them for stuff we couldn't grow ourselves. I raised about 200 chickens and sold eggs and Pullets for my pocket money and to help out. for sweetener I had 20 hives of bees and we used honey not sugar. I don't ever remember missing a meal or being hungry. The worst thing For us kids was when they straightened the river and made it into a canal then dammed it down below so the 5 types of Pacific Salmon that used to run up it each year dissapeared.
As for now I have a good pension that although it doesn't make me rich it serves my needs really well. Can't complain. Wouldn't do any good if I did anyway.