I found myself with a little time on my hands and was thinking about a conversation we'd had yesterday in the pub.
It was all to do with the first wage you took home.
Mine was in 1968 and after tax was £4,6s,6d doesn't sound much for 44 hours does it?
But after putting it through here:-
£4.50 in 1968 ? 2018 | UK Inflation Calculator
It works out to be somewhere around £75.80 which makes it sound much better.
I went home feeling quite pleased at the time thinking of all the things I could spend this money on, I was met at the door by my mother, where is your wage she demanded to know.
I showed her the brown envelope and my wage slip.
right said she, I'll take whats needed for your board money and you get to keep £1.50 a week.
I hadn't even considered this expense but back then you didn't argue but meekly gave in to your parents.
As the shock of this expense started to wear off I started to do some calculations.
Before starting work I had this as my personal income:-
Paper round £1.50 About 5hrs per week
Spending Money from Dad £0.25p per week
Selling wood Saturday mornings £0.50p 4 hours per week
Peeling potatos for chip shop Sat Afternoon £0.50p 4 hours per week
Finding and taking back bottles to shop for deposit £0.25p Hours depended on luck
This came to a total of £3.00 per week call it a total of 12 hours work.
Now of course I was working full time I wouldn't have time for any of these jobs plus, the people I used to work for had already got some other enterprising youths to take my place.
I went back to Mum and explained how working longer hours had cut my money in half and asked if we could come to a better arrangement i.e. I gave her £1.50p per week and I kept the rest.
I could duck a lot quicker back then and avoided the back hander she aimed my way.
No she said, your working now and have to pay your way in the world, you wanted to leave school without finishing your exams had you stayed on you would still be getting what you used to, but it's a fact of life and you will now have to put up with it like all other adults.
I put up with it what other choice did I have?