When did "keeping up with the Jones'" start?

saracelica

saracelica

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saracelica
When did "keeping up with the Jones'" start?

Was it the 70's or something? So frustrating. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but I have no other outlet. I'm not rolling around in money by any means (I'm a IR student) But I have some friends that keep saying they are "struggling" to get by...and today they post "Look at this brand new table we bought - anyone want our old one it's pretty good still" If it's pretty good then keep it and save your money! Oy.
 
saracelica said:
When did "keeping up with the Jones'" start?

Was it the 70's or something? So frustrating. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but I have no other outlet. I'm not rolling around in money by any means (I'm a IR student) But I have some friends that keep saying they are "struggling" to get by...and today they post "Look at this brand new table we bought - anyone want our old one it's pretty good still" If it's pretty good then keep it and save your money! Oy.
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Not sure....we live relatively modestly! :D
 
Sometime before WW-II. Probably long before but I wasn't around.
 
Not sure either. Everyone around me seems to always have the latest gadgets and toys. New IPhones, new tv's, etc. Just last year I bought my first new TV. I am 51. Neede a new phone, so I did a little figuring and managed to get one of them newfangled iphones and pay the same price I was paying, only to find out I absolutely hate these phones. They don't do the two things I want a phone to do very well at all, call and text.

I see people everyday from my line of work that have the latest and greatest appliances, yet they live in a hovel and their kids live in filth.

Priorities, I guess.
 
Just after WWII when we had to create a mass consumer society to keep industry pumping at the rate to which it had become accustomed.
 
Not sure, all I know is I don't make much more than my suburban friends. My furniture is all cheap stuff, I don't allow myself to finance anything but the house, we eat at home a lot, don't have as many big fancy vacations, etc, etc...

But I have an airplane and they don't.

I win.
 
Wiki says 1913 from a comic strip.
 
cowman said:
Not sure, all I know is I don't make much more than my suburban friends. My furniture is all cheap stuff, I don't allow myself to finance anything but the house, we eat at home a lot, don't have as many big fancy vacations, etc, etc...

But I have an airplane and they don't.

I win.
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Sounds like me to a tee.
 
wabower said:
Wiki says 1913 from a comic strip.
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Interesting, which strip? In practicality I'd think that the Great Depression and then rationing during WWII kinda gave it a break. Since the post war period though, it's been non stop full throttle. Television advertising put it into overdrive.
 
I suspect that keeping up with the Jones's has been around as long as people have.
 
See Wiki.

Henning said:
Interesting, which strip? In practicality I'd think that the Great Depression and then rationing during WWII kinda gave it a break. Since the post war period though, it's been non stop full throttle. Television advertising put it into overdrive.
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I have boat owning neighbors who, after finding out I take flight lessons, call my lifestyle extravagant. :dunno: I don't even own an airplane...yet.
 
Pretty sure that "Thou shalt not covet..." in Exodus indicates keeping up with the Jones' has been going on as long as the Jones' had a flint fire starter.
 
There's more to it. The latter-day version is "whoever wrote that 'thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife' hasn't seen my neighbor's wife."

Jeff Oslick said:
Pretty sure that "Thou shalt not covet..." in Exodus indicates keeping up with the Jones' has been going on as long as the Jones' had a flint fire starter.
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No doubt part of what makes us human. Likely serves some form of evolutionary prose, too.
 
I got a kick out of a neighbor/friend that 6 months ago apologized for not being able to afford to bring a gift (none was expected) to my wifes birthday party, yet when he found out I was flying recently, asked for details on costs and once informed said he was going to do it too. Just makes me wonder sometimes...
 
Thou shalt not covet....seems to imply its been an issue sometime prior to moses
 
saracelica said:
But I have some friends that keep saying they are "struggling" to get by...and today they post "Look at this brand new table we bought - anyone want our old one it's pretty good still"
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Hence the reason they're struggling to get by. I know people (including family members) who are the same way. Always crying poor, but never pass up the chance to waste money on crap.

Not that I don't waste money on crap once in a while, but at least I don't act like we're scrabbling to get by and can't understand why... or worse yet blaming whoever is currently in charge in that weird little La-La Land out east.
 
cowman said:
Not sure, all I know is I don't make much more than my suburban friends. My furniture is all cheap stuff, I don't allow myself to finance anything but the house, we eat at home a lot, don't have as many big fancy vacations, etc, etc...

But I have an airplane and they don't.

I win.
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Big +1 here. My wife and I do fairly well for ourselves, but we live in a decent modest house and drive vehicles with mileage in the 6 figures - and we fly airplanes. We all get to spend it where we want, but we only get to spend it once. Choose wisely.
 
jmn444 said:
I got a kick out of a neighbor/friend that 6 months ago apologized for not being able to afford to bring a gift (none was expected) to my wifes birthday party, yet when he found out I was flying recently, asked for details on costs and once informed said he was going to do it too. Just makes me wonder sometimes...
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That guy is a born pilot, he just doesn't know it.

I was at an FBO the other day, a guy lands, walks in, grabs about 10 cookies, and a drink. While munching on them asks about some function the FBO was having. The guy behind the counter tells him about it. He asks about the free lunch. FBO manager points him to the BBQ in back. As he is walking out the FBO manager asks him if he needs any fuel. Nope, I use car gas, its cheaper.

FBO manager: F'n pilots
 
If it's pretty good then keep it and save your money! Oy.
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Better to go with the philosophy I heard about a while back, attributed to the New England area: "Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."
 
Want to see over the top keeping up with the Jones's, visit La Jolla, CA. My guess is that only around ten or twenty percent of it's residents can actually afford to live there, the rest are what is known as ten thousand dollar millionaires.

I ran a store out there in the 1960s, what a nightmare that was. We used to joke about going into the bar at the La Valencia Hotel, which at the time was a hangout for the phonies and wanna bees,then holding up a hundred dollar bill and saying you will sell it to the first customer there who can produce one twenty dollar bill.

They all would be trying to write you a check, or handing you a charge card, then cussing you out for not taking it instead of a twenty dollar bill. The only folding money in the place was in the cash register. In those days a hundred dollars was close to a thousand dollars today. We never actually did it because they would have been all over the bartender to trade them the bill for one of their iffy checks.

-John
 
Thanks for letting me vent. Let's see if this can go on 14 pages like the Checkride fail story :)
 
Money's so tight, I don't worry about the Jones' I worry about keeping my pants up. :goofy:
 
I used to worry about the jones ,since I own a boat and an airplane,have since downsized both and am very happy. Now if I could only stay away from what people have for avionics.
 
frfly172 said:
I used to worry about the jones ,since I own a boat and an airplane,have since downsized both and am very happy. Now if I could only stay away from what people have for avionics.
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A boat is a hole in the water you throw $ into.

...just in case you never heard that one.. :D
 
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The phrase was popularized when a comic strip of the same name was created by cartoonist Arthur R. "Pop" Momand.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_up_with_the_Joneses#cite_note-1 The strip debuted in 1913, distributed by Associated Newspapers. The strip ran in American newspapers for 26 years, and was eventually adapted into books, films, and musical comedies. The "Joneses" of the title were neighbors of the strip's main characters, unseen characters often spoken of but never actually seen in person.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_up_with_the_Joneses#cite_note-2
 
Wow. One person links to Wiki and another cuts and pasted from it. I definitely couldn't find it with the Googles. LOL.

Are the Googles broken where you are? ;)
 
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