6 cent childhood.
The 1950s... there wasn't much to do as a kid in comparison to kids today. We had toys that you used your imagination with. Kickball, curb ball, catch, hide & seek, board games, and our bikes. We played cowboys & indians, we played army, and matchbox toys would occupy you and your imagination for hours. We built plastic model cars from model kits and painted them. Frisbee was an old tupperware lid in place of the real thing, and a yo-yo was a test of your skill. Any type of a ball was a play thing. Marbles were another past time. Can you imagine giving a ball or marbles to today's kids and telling them to go outside to play?
But I digress... the 6 cent childhood. Your bike was the biggest part of you life, and the older you got, the greater your ability to go further. Summertime bike rides made you thirsty. Bikes made the hunt fast & easy.
Solution? The 6 cents solution! Hunting empty soda bottles! The value of empty soda bottles was 2 cents deposit refund. The cost of Coke was 6 cents.
Adults would in one sense litter the empty bottles everywhere, and in another sense, know that kids would pick them up for the deposit fee, so it really wasn't littering. For me... 2 cents per bottle. I'd collect 4 empty bottles... 6 cents went to the purchase of the 6 1/2 ounce bottle of Coke... and the other 2 cents for the deposit on the bottle you were carrying away. Ahhh... ice cold coke... made with real sugar!
If it wasn't raining you we outside playing, and you were not allowed to run in and out of the house... Outside was outside! Finding and returning empty soda bottles got you sodas and candy. Full size candy bars were 5 cents... or 6 for 25 cents. There seemed to be endless things to do outside... including the 6 cent childhood.
Yep... the times have certainly changed. 6 cent Cokes , 5 cent candy bars... and there was still penny candy... yep, single bite candy was only 1 cent.
Today... smaller candy bars are $1. Cokes are $2.. if you are at Disney $4.50.
