For Fun only: Cost comparison of Then v Now

[Milkyway]

Not to be taken too seriously... it’s just how it is interpreted.

Using this converter, so that comparisons will remain constant. see how things have changed over the years.

They refer to it as the ‘equivalent purchasing power’... so what you would have to spend now to obtain that item.

https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1990?amo...


EG:
1980: First wage packet.
Then: £28 Wk
Now: £142 Wk

1986: MG Maestro EFI
Then: 10K
Now: £34,600

1990: Calibra 8v
Then: 15K ( 18K inc finance / 24mths)
Now: 40K ( 48K)

1993: My house.
Then: 45K
Now: 108K ( 250K+ really)
( Mortgage £250pm v £600pm)

1993: Peugeot 205 Junior (Diesel)
Then: 10K
Now: 24K

Edited by Milkyway on Thursday 8th December 14:40

[Boom78]

Some things from my 90s youth:

Nike air 180
1992 - £110
2022 equivalent - £269

Technics 1210
1993 - £399
2022 equivalent- £960 each!!

10 B&H
1994 - £1.10
2022 - £2.59

Edit to add this..

Amstrad CPC 464 with colour screen

1984 - £299
2022- £1135!!!!!

Edited by Boom78 on Tuesday 6th December 18:25

[Randy Winkman]

I remember paying 3 new pence to get home from school on the bus in 1973. And my brother recounts a conversation he had with a pub landlord about how they were going to put the price of a pint up to 50p in 1980. He told the landlord he'd never pay 50p for a beer.

Edited by Randy Winkman on Tuesday 6th December 18:11

[OldSkoolRS]

Boom78 said:

Some things from my 90s youth:

Nike air 180
1992 - £110
2022 equivalent - £269

Technics 1210
1993 - £399
2022 equivalent- £960 each!!

10 B&H
1994 - £1.10
2022 - £2.59

I was talking to a smoker at the weekend and he said that 20 cigarettes are now about £10, so your theoretical 10 B&H (since apparently you can't buy 10 packs anymore) would be £5 now. I was trying to remember how much I paid back in the early 90s for a box of 100 but I guess that must have been about £10 going on your figures.

From my youth:

1982 A Squier Stratocaster guitar £250 (ish I can't remember exactly what I paid)
2020 A Squier Stratocaster guitar from £135 (though you can spend up to about £400 depending on exact model)

[Milkyway]

Randy Winkman said:

I remember paying 3 new pence to get home from school on the bus in 1973.

Only about 43p today....
1972: Car & car conversion was 20p ( £3.12 )

Advert: Join the Royal Navy... £3000pa ( £46,800)

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 6th December 21:51

[Seventy]

I’m sure I remember curly wurlys at 3p back in the early seventies.

Seem to be about a pound now.

[Milkyway]

Seventy said:

I’m sure I remember curly wurlys at 3p back in the early seventies.

Seem to be about a pound now.

...& a lot smaller
(Or used to look massive in my tiny hands).

[bloomen]

Car and house prices are so warped by the differing availability of finance they can't really be compared to the past.

[Milkyway]

Google: June 1979... petrol hit £1 a GALLON ( 22p / litre)
( £5.98 v £1.32)

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 6th December 19:06

[OldSkoolRS]

Milkyway said:

Google: June 1979... petrol hit £1 a GALLON ( 22p / litre)
( £5.98 v £1.32)

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 6th December 19:06

I wish it was that cheap now.

Curlywurly, Mars bars and Marathon (as they were then) seemed huge and I don't think that's all because I'm bigger these days.

[Milkyway]

OldSkoolRS said:

I wish it was that cheap now.

Curlywurly, Mars bars and Marathon (as they were then) seemed huge and I don't think that's all because I'm bigger these days.

Just finishing a (free) tub of Roses, & the wrappers are twice the size of the actual choccy... swindlers.

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 6th December 19:17

[TwigtheWonderkid]

My first pocket calculator, 1974, had plus, minus, times and divide, £110
Now, around £2.50. Or splash out on a full scientific for about £7.50.

[Milkyway]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

My first pocket calculator, 1974, had plus, minus, times and divide, £110
Now, around £2.50. Or splash out on a full scientific for about £7.50.

1975: B/W VCR for a school... approx £600.(6K).
Just sounds plain daft.

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 6th December 19:28

[Error_404_Username_not_found]

Milkyway said:

Google: June 1979... petrol hit £1 a GALLON ( 22p / litre)
( £5.98 v £1.32)

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 6th December 19:06

I was working in Los Angeles when gasoline hit $1 a gallon. There were riots.
I can remember buying petrol for 1/11 a gallon including two shots of twostroke oil.

(One shilling and eleven pence - nine and a half pence in decimal). Roughly nthe same for a ten pack of No.6 cigs at the time but I was too young to buy either legally.

[Type R Tom]

My starting grade in 2006 was £29k, which would be £49,500 now. That grade currently pays £43k

Am I doing this right?

[grumpy52]

I seem to remember when I entered the workplace in the early 70s the price of a gallon of petrol,a pint of bear ,20 fags and a loaf of bread were all about 32p .
The biggest increases are due to the increase in government duty on things like fags and booze .
This certainly tilts the inflation indexes out of kilter .
I do remember me and a mate thrashing an S type Jag for the weekend and burning through £100 in fuel ! Felt like proper gangsters.

[heisthegaffer]

Occasionally I'll. Look through old argos catalogues from the 80s for nostalgic reasons. A couple of things that struck me were:-

- TVs etc were hideously expensive
- A toaster costedcabout £7.50 back then. Same as now.

[Milkyway]

Type R Tom said:

My starting grade in 2006 was £29k, which would be £49,500 now. That grade currently pays £43k

Am I doing this right?

If it’s anything like my old company... they loved moving those goalposts.

[CypSIdders]

grumpy52 said:

a pint of bear

Tell me more, doesn't sound like fun, to be honest!

[Milkyway]

heisthegaffer said:

Occasionally I'll. Look through old argos catalogues from the 80s for nostalgic reasons. A couple of things that struck me were:-

- TVs etc were hideously expensive
- A toaster costedcabout £7.50 back then. Same as now.

When the first ‘mobiles’ & car phones came out... they cost almost the same as a small car.

Edited by Milkyway on Tuesday 6th December 19:43