No, the Average College Grad Wasn't Making $100,000 in the 1980s

[rachel83az]

Unless it's a weird shape or something, you can always do something with ugly furniture. Sofa covers do wonders to hide patterns that are no longer fashionable. You can do the same thing with other pieces of furniture, too.

Recently bought some of the ugliest dining chairs I've ever seen. I cannot state how much I hate their style. But they're solid wood and decent construction. They should last for years. Just put some dining chair slip covers on them and they fit right in with the rest of the house instead of sticking out like sore thumbs.

[dfrecore]

Unless it's a weird shape or something, you can always do something with ugly furniture. Sofa covers do wonders to hide patterns that are no longer fashionable. You can do the same thing with other pieces of furniture, too.

Recently bought some of the ugliest dining chairs I've ever seen. I cannot state how much I hate their style. But they're solid wood and decent construction. They should last for years. Just put some dining chair slip covers on them and they fit right in with the rest of the house instead of sticking out like sore thumbs.

My sofa is pretty beat up at this point, after 20 years of daily living.  And it's a sectional - a sofa cover would be quite pricy to cover it (and it's just not real comfortable any longer).

Also, I have 2 "leather" chairs in my room that we covered with covers from Amazon.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Unfortunately, while they may LOOK nicer, every time you get up off the chair, you have to redo the cover - tuck it in all around, fiddle with corners, etc.  We finally just stopped sitting in them because they either looked terrible if you didn't do the work, or it was just a pain doing the work.  If you stop using furniture because it's too much of a pain to deal with, I don't think you've gained much in keeping it.  So off these chairs go.

[davewill]

This whole older was better thing certainly didn't apply to cars. You were damned lucky to get 100,000 miles out of a car (at least an American car) back then. Now most cars are good for at least twice that.

Computers are another oddity. For as long as I've been involved with computers, $500-1,000 bought you a basic computer, $2,000 bought you a computer that could actually do everything, and $5,000 bought you a bleeding edge system with all the latest tech. It's not much different now, except that the sub-$1,000 systems are more generally capable and are lasting people ten years instead of five.

[sanantone]

Houses and rent were cheap. Technology is usually expensive when it first comes out, and then it gradually comes down in price.

[LevelUP]

I don't know what year this was made, but this is an example of a well built cabinet.
https://www.tiktok.com/@mryourstruly2/vi...0256149806

[rachel83az]

Judging by the styling, I would suspect late 70s, early 80s. But it could be later and the homeowner(s) made a good investment.

[Pats20]

Yes technology and engineering has been the exception. But a ten year old laptop? I’d hate to have to work with that.