“Oh no, not again,” I used to think when my father reminded me that hamburgers used to cost a nickel. Sure, I too, bemoan the rising cost of just about everything.  But I wasn’t prepared for what I found when I happened upon my 1968 to 1971check ledger.

When Peter and I got married in 1968, the rent on our half-house in now-very-expensive Cambridge was $250 a month.  We wrote $15 checks to our cleaning lady, and it looks like $50 in cash was enough to get us through the week.  I ordered something from Lillian Vernon’s catalog (no idea what), and the check I wrote was for $3.23, including postage and handling. And our Harvard Cooperative Society membership was $1.00.

Seth was born in 1970.  His like-new used crib was $25.00 and the DyDee diaper service was $4.00 a week. It cost $3.00 to fill the gas tank of my Volkswagen Beetle.

One consolation–We’re about to renew our Harvard Cooperative Society membership and it’s still $1.00.