One topic of conversation among all my friends and acquaintances is the shock of today’s prices – for everything.

When I was a kid, I remember vividly that Saturday movies cost 12 cents. Granted, that was 70 years ago, but it was for three cartoons, the Movietone news of the day, two movies, with the continuing serial at the end. Looking back at it now, that was an afternoon’s entertainment for 3 cents an hour. Today it costs me 3 cents every time I sneeze – just for the Kleenex. I bought ginormous Milky Ways whenever I could scrounge up a nickel. Today’s movies cost $8. For one film. And popcorn is $10, not 10 cents like back in the dark ages.

I grew up living with my mom in a two-bedroom apartment. It was a small town similar to Warren except that it was 18 miles south of Boston. Today it’s a commuter town. Mom paid $55/ month rent which included light, heat, and water. So, $1.83 a day rent. She argued with the landlord whether it included heat, because mostly, it didn’t. During department store sales, she invested in blankets, warm robes, and cardigans. I checked online and a comparable two-bedroom apartment in Stoughton, Massachusetts today averages $2,300/month. Without utilities. More than 42 times as much.

When I was 16, I was a supermarket cashier. I still remember many of those prices. Campbell’s tomato soup cost 19 cents, while soups with meat were 23 cents. White bread was 22 cents. A good-sized jar of Jif – a brand-new peanut butter – was 47 cents. That was the same price as a half-gallon of milk grocery prices. When I calculate the increase of groceries then to today’s prices, the dairy farmers have taken the biggest price hit of all. With a half gallon at $3 today, milk has only increased 6-fold. White bread can be priced up to $6 for artisanal, but basically it’s $2-$3/loaf. At least ten times more than my youth.

But it’s today’s price of ground beef that’s knocking my socks off…at $7.38/pound, a whopping 13 times as much as 70 years ago. Back then, my mother bought an entire week’s worth of groceries for $25. With the only addition being the milkman… another piece of ancient history.

When I began waitressing in college, a shrimp cocktail with 6 jumbo shrimp was 25 cents. Five years later, 5 shrimp cost 50 cents. Had one lately? Me neither.

And speaking of college, I will never forget that my tuition at Boston University was $900/year. Without scholarships and financial aid, I couldn’t have attended on day one. But today? That tuition bill alone is $68,000 – 75 times as much. When I got to this numbing number, I began to wonder what if everything else had inflated at the same rate? OMG.

I’m not even going to bother with history at the gas tank. An explosive subject. When I earned my driver’s license, gas was 19 cents a gallon. ‘Nuf said.

But cars? Now that’s an interesting exploration. In 1966, when I had been self-supporting for three years, I bought a new Mustang convertible. Well, the American Airlines Credit Union and I bought it together. It cost $3300, fully loaded. Today’s Mustang is $40,000 for the basic model, and the sky’s the limit for how much you want to add on… mega-thousands if you go crazy. Basically, it has increased a little over 12 times. But to me the most interesting fact is that a 1966 Mustang is still available – for $40,000! Talk about holding its value.

All these numbers can leave your head spinning, but I find them interesting – and horrific – at the same time. The takeaway for me is that the most expensive items, judged by how much they have increased, are education and housing. No wonder young people have a difficult time heading out into their world. Ten years ago, kids coming home to live with their parents was the punch line of a joke. Unless you were living that reality, it was hard to understand. Not anymore.

Young people are marrying later, having children later (if at all), and buying their first house at almost age 40. Our traditional way of life – with each new generation stronger than their parents, cannot succeed when our children and grandchildren can’t gain a foothold.

Frankly, if I had to do it all over again, I’d save my money for a down-payment on a liquor store… usually a cash cow. And as soon as it turned a profit, I’d begin buying real estate, especially apartments. Then maybe, when I reached this age, I’d never look at the price of ground beef. I’d just have the personal shopper load that hamburger, along with the artisanal bread and the shrimp, into the trunk. Of my new Mustang. Dream on.

Marcy O’Brien can be reached at moby.32@hotmail.com.