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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Here's a catelog from 1936 to do some comparison shopping in.
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/cmc/009002-119.01-e.php?uid=nlc003950&uidc=Page_Image&queryString=&plugin=N

It comes from a site the youngest kidlet found awhile back.  She was looking 
for clothing from different eras. 
http://www.civilization.ca/cpm/catalog/cat5200e.html

So, if you lived on a farm in Canada in 1936, your yearly income would have 
been about $500.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene GeRue" <genegerue AT ruralize.com>


> During our recent Branson visit for grandsons and their parents I
> bought one of those little booklets about the year one was born. For
> me, that was 1936, in January, the month before the first Social
> Security checks were mailed. The booklet is somewhat more useful than
> mere nostalgia.
>
> There is a page titled 1936 Cost of Living. The average income then
> was $1,713 per year and the cost of gasoline was 12 cents per gallon.
> I multiplied that by 500 gallons, for a cost of $60.00. Divided by the 
> income,
> the family hit for that much gas was 3.5 percent of income.
>
> A quick Google found the average household income today is about
> $45,000. (Household income in 1936 meant "his." Today it means
> "theirs.") The average cost of gasoline today is about $2.75, so 500
> gallons of gas is $1,375. Divided by income, that is 3 percent.
>
> In 1936 a family may well have used much less than 500 gallons of
> gas, so the household budget hit was less. Today, beyond the
> woe-is-me hand-wringing, gas usage, while arguably more necessary, is
> still a choice, mostly the choice of deciding how far to live from
> one's employment and also whether it makes sense for both to work,
> and therefore likely need two cars.
>
> Bottom line, gas costs less today than 70 years ago.