The expectations of working class people were much lower then. Most lived in poorer rented accommodation or in council houses, it was unusual for them to own property, holidays were much less common and never abroad, far fewer people had cars, no mobile phones, far fewer electrical items, far less clothing, no named brands, much lower fuel and food bills- processed food was rarely bought. People did not have gym memberships, visits to hairdressers were for a cut and set at most, usually hair was cut at home. Make-up was very cheap and very little was used- my gran and her sisters had a powder compact and lipstick and perfume would be a luxury for most people. There were no computers, gaming stuff, ipads. Life was much simpler and cheaper. People made stuff- knitted, crocheted, sewed. They had one coat for cold weather and it lasted years. Furniture was passed down and re-used, not changed on whims. Very few children attended nursery and those who did probably went to a free nursery.
None of my grandmothers, my mam or aunts worked while their children were young. They stayed at home. No cleaners. They kept the house, shopped (no cars), lived near each other, visited each other 3 or 4 x a week and helped each other, cooked, baked, knitted, sewed, managed the money. Eating out was very unusual other than tea and a bun in a cafe. Takeaways were unusual and a rare treat. They worked later when the children were older. We all had holidays in the UK- at seaside places or in Scotland or Wales or (to relatives ) in Ireland.
I think if you add up what we all spend on the 'extras' now that we expect, you can see why it's so much more expensive now and harder to manage without two decent salaries. Most people don't have that kind of family support around them- me and my friends all went to our gran's once our mum's started work again when we were around 8 or 9. My grans looked after all their grandchildren regularly (eg every day after school, or every day at lunchtime or took us for the whole of half-term to a caravan) at some point. Most people have far more clothes than they need or wear and so do their children. We expect centrally heated homes, we expect to own our homes (and as there is now very little council housing, the alternative is expensive private rental), we expect to have one or two cars, mobile phones, computers, games stuff, most people expect holidays abroad, to eat out, have takeaways. I'm not saying we shouldn't want those things but they have to be paid for. Add in the costs of property, fuel rates, nursery fees (which are quite staggering) and you can see how much of incoming money is going out very quickly.
We have 3 DC between 4 and 9. I was a SAHM, from choice but also I couldn't do my job they way I had to and look after DC and stay well. We had saved hard but if DH didn't earn a good salary we would really have had to reduce how we lived. We'd have had to stay in the smaller house we had, we couldn't have had 2 cars (and we don't have new cars ever), had holidays abroad , spent money on clothing the way we did, ate out, ever saved. I became a really good money manager- our DC had almost all of their clothes as secondhand or handme downs, DH and I buy hardly anything new now for us (occasional treat), lots of our housestuff is secondhand. I am a careful shopper and rarely buy ready meals and always buy offers and freeze stuff or store it until I need it. I'm not really much of a make-up buyer or wearer, and my hair is cut at home once every 2 months and costs £8. I dye it myself. She also does DH and the DC and total cost is £40. 10 years ago I paid £120.00 every 6 weeks just for me.
We're lucky, PIL live 5 minutes away and are a godsend. I am back at work full-time and they give us so much help and support. It would cost us a fortune if we didn't have them.