Broke to the point of the lights being turned out, going to order pizza, have to call sister to ask for candles and batteries (why can't she go to the store?)
Bowling night.
Going to see a movie.
Have cable, a video game, and two cars, plus a Harley.
Huge breakfasts every morning that no one eats.
What else?
There used to be "cheap nights" at movie theatres, like $5 (in the late 80s, I remember paying about $3 on cheap night). Bowling isn't that expensive, and they stated many times throughout the show that they didn't have cable. In the 80s and early 90s, you watched what your antenna picked up. I seem to recall the grandparents chipping in for things like video games, too.
The Harley, Dan had owned since high school. Since it wasn't really road-worthy until he and Ziggy fixed it up, I have a feeling it wasn't insured. Dan did most of the work on the cars, so just licensing and insuring them may not have been that expensive. I've had beaters that only had third-party liability insurance for about $10 a month.
That said, you're right that some of their expenses seemed excessive for their financial situation at the time, particularly the Hallowe'en episodes.
One time, Becky told Roseanne exactly what she did at the mall. She and her friends window shopped, tormented a guard, and shared some fries. I don't think she really spends that much.
Pizza, yes, that always seemed excessive, especially in the days before the $5 walk-in specials. But most people will eat dinner and have a couple of slices left over for lunch the next day, so it's not that excessive. I do it on occasion, and I'm pretty broke, too!
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Oh man... Did they really spend that much? Lol. I mean, my family had no money, and we'd have pizza Fridays. I LOVED PIZZA FRIDAY. We never went out to eat, but I have fond memories of ordering pizza and getting a few videos from Blockbuster every Friday night.
I'm sure it would've been cheaper to just have some tuna casserole, but damn. Sometimes you just got to live a little.
Pizza Friday sounds like a great way to kick off the weekend🌟
shareThis is a great subtopic: No, you should absolutely not live too far beyond your means—but you shouldn't deprive yourself of all pleasure altogether either. Treat yourself now and then. You have to strike that balance: shrewd, but take advantage of your limited time (and resources) on Earth—because you never know how long of a chance you'll have.
shareI don't think I've ever craved pizza so much as I do now after reading through this thread!
"Paint something cool... Don't paint the sun!"
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What could they have done instead?
Would have cost Dan a lot more to build their own bowling alley in the back yard, which wouldn't be usable in the winter.
Have you and your family made movies your family could watch? Is there enough time and creative energy? Equipment costs were a lot higher back then, too - at least for working families. Movies didn't cost nearly as much as much back then (and the cost to make them wasn't so excessive, and the theaters paying for the movies have to make those costs back.)
Cable? I didn't pick up on that (maybe they had it for season 1). The story behind the video game in season 4 was reasonable. Their cars weren't ever the newest, and they couldn't build their own bike.
Yeah, food costs a lot. The show could have varied up the ol' bare cupboard routine.
I suppose they could have embraced communism, and not be free and never have fun or outlets - ever, to be robotic worker drones and assimilate their children into that existence, instead of walking out of the factory after x amount of abuse.
Movies didn't cost nearly as much as much back then
Dpcole -
You know some families that don't have much cash find other things to do
free.
Hiking is free. Fishing (save the permit fee) is free. Going to the park is free. Playing in the snow is free, and so is skating. There is a library there, and small towns always have free to dirt cheap events to attend.
But I guess you don't think about that kind of thing when you're too busy downing beers (probably at two bucks a pop) at the Lobo every night.
But like even when they got the check from the passed relative. Rather than balance it out to have a semi-nice dinner someplace and have some to pay the bills, and a couple bucks for the week, they blew it all in one shot by going to a restaurant they couldn't afford to eat at otherwise paying for everyone.
Jackie is a freeloader, and never once does it show they are getting any money from her for anything. She's always an expensive tag along, which is funny because they only borrowed cash from her once. She's always had a job, and maybe once or twice she shelled out for the kids.
You would think for what it's worth that Jackie would have at least filled the fridge once in a while for all they did for her.
And by the way... after that fit Becky had pitched in the mall about that dress, over my dead body would I go back to mall and get it for her.
shareFishing might be free if you're using your hands or a whittled spear, but equipment and bait cost money. And yes, hiking is free, but in Landford, it didn't seem like there were too many mountains to venture up. It always looked flat as a pancake (which is mostly true for Illinois). But yes, going to the park and playing in the snow are free, but Dan and Roseanne aren't in elementary school.. Those kind of activities would only suit DJ.
I agree, though, that going to a bar is never a cheap activity. Drinks are expensive.
I agree about the fishing equipment.
But you don't need mountains to go hiking. All you need are hiking trails, and every state has those.
And who says that you have to be a child to go to a park?!!! Of course you don't!
There's more to do at a park than play on the swings or slide.
You can play Frisbee, play baseball or badminton or even volleyball.
Or you could even just toss a tennis ball around.
Same with playing in snow. Anyone can have fun doing that!
Snowball fights, building snowmen.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
That's true about tennis and volleyball. I guess I wasn't picturing that kind of park in Lanford. Only the really big parks here have tennis courts. I was picturing a little neighborhood park. In the Connors defense, at least they had the basketball hoop outside. That provided hours of free entertainment for Darlene and Dan.
But I still disagree that adults would regularly go play in the snow when bored :-) Especially if they didn't have children to go with.
Maybe they should have taken the money for Beckys dress and bought some gear with that.
You also don't need to hike in a mountain. You mean there are no woods in IL?
Only suit DJ? You must not have children. Even at my age, even without little ones, playing in the snow and sledding is still fun.
Since when does bait cost? It's called a hand trowel and digging. You don't need to go buy sinkos every time you fish.
The only people who can't have fun for free are sticks in the mud with no sense of adventure and no sense of creativity.
Every time you're bored you go spend money? Must be nice.
And being as how it was a small town - and they had Lanford days....
My guess it that there were plenty of things to do that were either cheaper or free...
But you never see them get involved in anything either.
Perhaps if they did it would have given them a better sense of self worth and some free to low cost entertainment.
That's what elderly people do on a fixed income. They find things. Community centers, deep discounted trips....
You can fill a whole day with free activities if you really want to. If you don't think so, check the community page of your local newspaper.
Cheaper than what? Most the time they sat around, watchign TV. They took a discounted trip (mooched off the Tildons), Dan was seen going fishing, bowling is relatively inexpensive. Most of their meals were made at home, from generic brand products. They played sports in their driveway. The only thing I'd say they spent too much money on, entertainment-wise, was booze. Like the rest of America.
The only thing it never showed was them playing in a park. Again, I agree sledding and some snow activities are fun, but it's not something anyone does regularly for fun.
And the bait for fishing depends on what you're catching. I fish. It's not always a cheap activity. The gear at the beginning of every season costs a large chunk of change. Earthworms aren't always the most effective bait, depending on the water source. Not to mention it's generally a half-day activity, so you need to prepare with other things (food and drinks).
You sound as though you hold your creativity to some high esteem. It's always easy to criticize others, when it's doubtful you do all these things yourself.
Evidently I do them otherwise I wouldn't know about them.
Am I broke? No.
But I enjoy going to community activities that are free. Why not take advantage of what you can? Do I make donations? Yes, so that other in my community who may otherwise not be able to afford to can still have these days to go TO.
And you sound as if you have enough money to be able to just do anything you like anytime you please. So it's doubtful YOU do any of these things. You probably are the type to make fun of the people who read the community pages.
I already blocked you once because you can't get a point on without making assumptions about ME based upon what I know to be accurate. You can't be on these boards and not get personal. It's beyond your scope apparently.
Fishing isn't cheap? Well where you do you live because the local bait shop sells sinkos for $2.50 a package, basic poles are 8 bucks, good for usually up to 20 LB string, and you bring lunch and water from home. For less than 25 bucks (since he sells hooks ten for a buck) two people can go fishing for the whole day with new bait, new poles, new hooks, and a couple few bottles of home made iced tea and home made sandwiches.
Two people would be hard pressed to go through a lazy pond fishing trip pack of sinkos in one day. Unless the fish were hot and swallowed the bait.
40 bucks if you have to buy the sandwich meat etc, and at my prices in lower NY that's two days worth of lunch.
I already blocked you once because you can't get a point on without making assumptions about ME based upon what I know to be accurate. You can't be on these boards and not get personal. It's beyond your scope apparently.
How about when Dan got 500 bucks advance for a drywall job and they blew the money on perfume a baptains bell for the boat (lol a boat that was barely mentioned again past season 1) and jeans for Becky.
They could have caught up on their bills but chose not to.
Agreed!
And why couldn't the Connors ever grasp the concept of using SOME of the money for fun...not all?
They could easily have taken $100 out of that $500, for fun....used the rest on bills.
$100 could buy a family a decent dinner (not fancy, just basic) today even, and definitely could back then!
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
How about when they couldn't afford a new coffee maker, had to cancel their cable, was about to get their electricity cut off, and Roseanne still told DJ to go through flyers so they could order pizza for dinner!?!?
shareA lot of people pointed out the family ordering pizza when they had no electricity.
Might I point out...They couldn't COOK with no electricity. So what else were they supposed to do for dinner? Maybe go to Jackie's? Peanut butter sandwiches?
Also, having been there done that, the $20 or so the pizza cost isn't enough of a payment to the electric company for them to turn the power back on. And the family still needs to eat.
Plus, pizza was still pretty cheap then. No biggie.
"Black men and a whole lot of *beep* white men have had plenty fun adoring my ass!"
How about when they couldn't afford a new coffee maker, had to cancel their cable, was about to get their electricity cut off, and Roseanne still told DJ to go through flyers so they could order pizza for dinner!?!?
Haha, I agree. I grew up poor in the Midwest in the early 1990s too, and let me tell you: pizza was a TREAT, not the norm for dinner.
Fast Forward to modern times, The Conners still owed money on their mortgage, you would think the house would have been paid off by this time..
share