Found a 1950s carpenter's notebook at an estate sale in Ohio last month

The guy had every single job he ever did logged in a pocket notebook, including lumber costs down to the penny. Home Depot prices today are roughly 12 times what he paid for a 2x4 in 1957, which I figured out after comparing a dozen entries. Has anyone here ever found an old trade journal or notebook that changed how you look at your own work?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire_ramirez2222d agoTop Commenter

Man that really puts things in perspective when you look at those old records. It's like how my grandpa's grocery lists from the 60s show butter at 29 cents, but you also realize he made maybe 8000 a year working in a factory. There's this pattern I've noticed where we compare prices but forget wages were way different too, so the actual sacrifice might have been pretty similar. Kinda makes you wonder what future people will think when they find our receipts and see $7 milk, what they'll assume about our lives.

stellafisher22d ago

@claire_ramirez22 the comparison is interesting but I think people overthink this stuff. My grandpa paid 30 cents for bread in 1960 and made $1.25 an hour, so yeah groceries hurt but it's not like anyone was living easy back then either. Future people are just gonna see our receipts and move on with their lives lol.