When I started driving gas was $1.08 a gallon, minimum wage was $5.15 and $30 bought you enough food to make it a week or more.
Worked at a security place making $12.80 an hour and felt like a king, sirloin steaks every night, road trips on the weekend, I fueled my raging gambling addiction and still had money left over to pay bills.
Now though it seems like it takes two people working just to make the bills and you're lucky if you've got more than noodles to eat for the week and enough gas to make it into work.