Broke to the point of the lights being turned out, going to order pizza, have to call sister to ask for candles and batteries (why can't she go to the store?)
Bowling night.
Going to see a movie.
Have cable, a video game, and two cars, plus a Harley.
Huge breakfasts every morning that no one eats.
What else?
Ha-HA! This is the thread of all threads, lol. I concur about those darn gluttonous breakfasts. To this day, it's a packet of oatmeal for me in the mornings!
-Pizza for dinner. Even the "Two for one coupons" sound suspect, since I never have seen a two-for-one coupon, honestly. Okay, very rarely.
-That huge, constantly stocked pantry shelf in the kitchen! (Okay, I know it was mostly a technicality for the sitcom universe, to have it visually stocked).
-All the toys in DJ's room
-All the knickknacks in the girls' room.
-The Disneyland trip. I know. I'm bringing it up. Lol.
All that spending on decorations and food etc for Halloween.. Even though I love most of those episodes.. Can you imagine all that it cost to decorate that house, the costumes, the food etc..
shareEvery time there is an exterior shot of the house at night, every single light - from the back porch to the girls rooms, is on! I agree about the breakfast gluttony. NO ONE EEEEVER EATS IT!!! like the epi where jackie takes care of the kids, and she makes about a whole loaf of french toast, a pound on bacon, milk and oj for all, and to top it off, DJ SITS DOWN AT THE TABLE THEN GETS BACK UP WITHOUT EATING A SINGLE THING?
shareFunny thing about episode where Jackie watching the kids the big breakfast she make turn into Becky eating oat meal and Darlene and DJ eating a bowl of cereal
Lara Croft Himiko! The First Sun Queen! This is Yamatai.
While caring for the kids she preps 2 breakfasts.
First is oatmeal, which the girls leer at suspiciously. DJ had cereal, which spilled all over him when Becky held down the edge and let go. A continuity error with DJ's pants follows.
(Jackie preps while on the phone.)
The second is the massive stack of french toast/bacon no one touches.
(Dan had just left the house after taking some to-go and being super impressed with Jackie.)
And yes, DJ sat down for a good 2.5 seconds, was made to get up, shrugged the biggest shrug I've ever seen and they were promptly on their way to school.
We've met before, haven't we?
I agree about the breakfast gluttony. NO ONE EEEEVER EATS IT!!! like the epi where jackie takes care of the kids, and she makes about a whole loaf of french toast, a pound on bacon, milk and oj for all, and to top it off, DJ SITS DOWN AT THE TABLE THEN GETS BACK UP WITHOUT EATING A SINGLE THING?
Now that I think about the Connor family eating pizzas, how many pizzas would the Connors have ordered at one time? I don't think them getting two larges would be enough. I think Dan would/could easily consume one large by himself... So coupons or no coupons, I think pizza would still be a pricy meal for their family.
I remember Roseanne telling the politician that came to her home that she couldn't afford to grocery shop unless it was double coupon day, but I didn't get the feeling that the family considered costs when it came to food. Plus, they drank lots of sodas and beer, which is an unnecessary expense, IMO.
Now that I think about the Connor family eating pizzas, how many pizzas would the Connors have ordered at one time? I don't think them getting two larges would be enough. I think Dan would/could easily consume one large by himself... So coupons or no coupons, I think pizza would still be a pricy meal for their family.
i agree. one large pizza with 5 hungry people isnt enough. 1 large pizza is just enough for Dan and Roseanne . The kids would have needed their own large pizza.
reminds me of my husband. he said when he was a teenager, with two teen siblings and his parents.
his father always ordered 1 medium pizza and they only had 1 slice each for dinner. he said his siblings would fight over the last pizza. he said they were always hungry afterwards but his father for some reasons always ordered a medium.
and his parents have always been upper middle class.
while my family was lower class. my father , me and my two sisters always ordered 2 large pizzas from papa johns.
papa johns was actually cheap in the mid 90s.
one of the best part of pizzas is left overs the next day =)
They needed 2 large pizzas. One large for Roseanne and Dan and the other for the kids. 3 kids can eat a lot.
Totally agree. I spend $20 on 1 large pizza with 2 toppings for 3 people with average appetites. I can't imagine what enough pizza to feed 6 people (Jackie included since she's always there), 2 of them who obviously have large appetites (as proven in other episodes)
shareThe pizza for dinner after the bike shop goes under really bothers me. If you're broke, you definitely don't have the money for pizza! You eat what's in the fridge or in the cabinets.
shareGreat thread. I'll repeat a few already mentioned, since I agree with them so much, and add a few-
-Yes, the waste of breakfast food.
-Ordering pizza when there's a casserole (or was it meatloaf) already made.
- Ordering pizza when you haven't paid a power bill. (even two for one costs more than a can of ravioli or a tuna casserole.)
- Knocking back drinks at the Lobo
- Dinner out, followed by a few hours in a motel to teach the kids a lesson (and again, ordering pizza!, even after a huge meal.)
- The California trip/kids go to Disneyland.
- The Florida trip/whole family goes to Disney World
- The bell for the boat and the perfume.
- An $80 dress for an ungrateful brat who will wear it once.
- Jackie's therapy. She didn't need it. She knew what was wrong in her life, all she was doing was paying someone to validate her whining.
- Not quite sure if this fits, but it does bug me- even after the restaurant was supposedly successful, why was Jackie on Medicaid and expecting the taxpayers/a private hospital to pay for the delivery of her child?
-Haha, I agree about Dan and Roseanne ordering that EXTRA PIZZA in the motel, after they already had their special anniversary dinner a few hours before! Yeesh!
-And yeah, that California trip seemed inordinately gratuitous, even if they WERE leaching off the Tildens in terms of transportation expenses. Keep in mind, Dan was woefully UNEMPLOYED during this time period. Also: with that HUGE travel party, they must've had to rent a motel every night, you know... I mean, could they feasibly squeeze into that RV for the night? I don't know...
-Well, Jackie's therapy was HER OWN expense, and she was a trucker then and truckers make very good money. But to clarify: I agree that she already knew what was wrong with her lol... but lots of patients like her aren't brave enough to acknowledge it, hence forking over tons of money to have the obvious explained, ha.
-Re: the Lunchbox being successful... um, that's relative. It'd only been open a year and a half, when she had Andy. Small businesses are notoriously difficult to steer into bona fide success, you know. I know--I briefly worked for one that was open for years, and we had no health insurance lol.
Therapy is more than just having someone tell you what's "wrong" with you and then you're done.
shareJackie wasnt the one broke. Wasnt she living with her mom when she started therapy. sure she couldnt afford to buy a house but i dont think she was broke as roseanne.
and i am not sure why she couldnt buy her own insurance. my only guess. she didnt have insurance before she got pregnant. when she got pregnant . she couldnt get insurance because pregnancy is a pre existent condition.
you need to get insurance before getting pregnant or you wont get accepted. only medicaid will accept you.
this is before Affordable care act. Now with ACA. you can get accepted with pre existent condition.
Gia-C, You're correct. Even if Jackie had purchased health insurance if it didn't cover pregnancy then when she did get pregnant it would be too late.
"There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on." - Rod Serling
And even with the ACA, if you have a pre-existing condition, it's not going to be cheap. In fact, it's cheaper to take the mandatory fine at the end of the fiscal year. Unless you're pregnant, because having a baby costs like what, at least 50K? I don't know the exact number, but I know it's expensive even if you have insurance, too.
But one wonders why Jackie, at the time, never bought private health insurance. For a single person who didn't smoke, it wouldn't have been terribly expensive. Depending on her plan, it could have covered a pregnancy.
Roseanne actually borrows money from Jackie in at least 1 episode. So it wouldn't surprise me if she did often enough as Jackie came over often and used their washer and dryer and food. I would help out with money if I had to do this. I think she did it without saying something to Dan as he is a very prideful man.
shareDitto to the enormous waste of food at every meal, as well as the soda and beer mentioned. Those were definitely unnecessary if the family is truly trying to cut back. Also, Dan's cigars for his poker games. Maybe his buddies brought them, but I suspect Dan did.
Lunch money for the kids. Make them a sandwich instead, it's cheaper!
Cable TV
All of the kids' toys and junk in their rooms and the girls' bathroom.
Bowling nights, Lobo nights, Roseanne's nights out with her friends.
Definitely the Halloween excess, and the Christmas excess in a later season (and the electric bill to pay for all the lights!)
Giving Becky money for clothes when she and Dan were at the mall together, giving Darlene money every time she wanted to go to the movies.
Darlene's basketball and baseball, DJ's hockey. Surely they have to pay for the uniforms, at least.
I can't believe no one has mentioned the kids getting an allowance. If one or both parents are unemployed and no one is independently wealthy, an allowance may not be a good idea, IMO. And the girls, at least, were old enough to work, but they still got an allowance.
And, semi-supporting the sister-in-law. Jackie ate a lot of meals there and used their utilities to do her laundry, etc. She brought stuff over occasionally, and she mentioned that she once bought Darlene's baseball glove that Dan and Roseanne couldn't afford, but she seemed to leech off of them quite a bit.
Jackie paid for her own therapy. And the restaurant may not have been turning a profit when she had Andy, so I can see why she was on assistance. They had to earn back their initial investments and pay all their bills and then start making money off the place. I think it takes several years for that to happen.
I wound't count extra-curricular activities as being "wasteful." Those are the types of activities you cut out the extra spending to support.
And I know it's not your thread, but someone else mentioned allowance. I see nothing wrong with that, if the kids help out around the house. It teaches them responsibility. No chores = no allowance. Mine was only like $5 a week when I was a kid. Maybe $20 in junior high.
I wound't count extra-curricular activities as being "wasteful."
I agree on all your points except for the school lunches. When my daughter brought lunch to school, buying lunch food was half my grocery budget, multiply that by 3 kids and I would always be broke. It's cheaper giving out lunch money
shareHaven't read replies yet but what about throwing away food? Remember when Roseanne was getting on a diet kick and she goes over and just starts throwing away the junk food until Dan stops her? It's in the house--either eat it in moderation and never get the junk food again or at least give it to somebody.
And yeah, we have throwing away food again when Dan has his heart attack until Dan speaks up again and they decide to give some of the food away.
As it was shown, Roseanne, like most people didn't have the willpower to eat junk food in moderation. Throwing it away really is the best step. Attempting to pawn it off on someone else would be a wasted effort.
Just Blue Sweeeeeeet!
That pizza-power outage thing bugged me too. You have the money for a pizza but don't use it as a partial-payment toward your electricity???
I don't think having cable TV is a bad thing, pricey as it is, I still would shell out for it unless I was REALLY in the red.
But the other things I would get rid of, such as constant trips to the Lobo (buy a couple bottles of liquor to have around, its MUCH MUCH cheaper!
And I never saw such a collection of junk food, no wonder Ro & Dan were tanks.
Even when Darlene says she snuck out past Roseanne on the couch, she says she saw her mom eat an entire quart of ice cream in one sitting. A QUART?!
I couldn't even eat a pint!
How about those shoes Dan bought for the (then) outrageous cost of $79.95. They sounded fancy, by the way he described them. Why does a construction/drywall worker want a pair of fancy shoes? You got the feeling they were his ONLY pair. You'd wreck those in a day, at work.
Surely he could have found a cheaper pair for what he did in them.
But the topper was when Roseanne started pitching out junk food. Um....just because you refuse to have self-control, you don't waste groceries!
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
Even when Darlene says she snuck out past Roseanne on the couch, she says she saw her mom eat an entire quart of ice cream in one sitting. A QUART?!
Great point! I'd forgotten about... dessert! My parents were immigrants, so I'm accustomed to their mindset regarding this: We never HAD dessert. That was a decadent luxury for us, yes. For me, culturally, it seemed gratuitous. Someone confirm it with me—do all Americans make space for dessert, even the financially strapped like the Conners?? -Cuz it does seem like something you could easily forsake, to save a few bucks.
Another time even, Dan is whining because there are no more push-up pops; Roseanne suggests: "Well, have a fudgey-bar!" Lol.
Desserts are only for holidays and parties in my family.
In my family, we didn't have much money so dessert was so more of a treat than a daily occurrence.
"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."
Same here.
I never got dessert at a restaurant unless it was for a birthday celebration.
I frequently asked for it lol, but the answer was No.
Ditto for beverages with dinners out! I seldom got to have a drink other than water.
To this day, I STILL get a kick out of being able to order a dessert and/or a soda with my dinners out! 
I rarely order dessert, as I don't have much of a sweet tooth now, but the ability to do it still makes me laugh.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
Most Americans I know are full before they'd ever get a chance to look at the dessert menu.
shareThat's so true about Dan's expensive shoes in the mall episode. It's not like they went to church, and remember when he complained about having to get dressed up for date night with Roseanne during an earlier episode? Clearly he didn't like getting dressed up for anything, so he shouldn't have needed a "good" pair of shoes. Heck, he wore cowboy boots when Chip's parents came to their house for dinner, if I remember correctly.
I love reading other people's observations of this show. Makes me realize things I'd never picked up on before.
i can def eat a whole pint of ben and jerrys but i def couldnt eat a quart unless i want to make myself sick
shareBut the topper was when Roseanne started pitching out junk food. Um....just because you refuse to have self-control, you don't waste groceries!
But I can almost understand pitching cigarettes or booze or drugs. Those (except maybe booze lol) won't really be used by others.
Plus, it was THEIR addictions. Not their kids'. Why not let them have the junk food?
They obviously KNOW HOW to control themselves, they're all thin!
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
Well, it was pretty obvious that the pantry was hardly used.
Just Blue Sweeeeeeet!
Wow great topic. The pantry remind of what mom had in the house when I was growing up. It was that big like Roseanne, but my mom would keep a lot of canned goods in it. Canned goods can last a long while so I didn't really see anything wrong with the cabinet. It does seem like The Conners waste food especially when Roseanne cook meals. They ordered out more than anything. Maybe they had a saving account for vacation to Disneyland, that would have been something to do when they won the lottery.
share- The trip to Vegas that got cancelled for snow (not sure if they were refunded or not)...and then the next trip there w/ Arnie and Nancy. Even though it was free they still spent their own money gambling.
- The girls were constantly at the mall, no doubt Becky bought a lot of clothes.
- Roseanne forks over her credit card so Darlene would leave the house and go shopping.
- I'm guessing a lot of trips to the salon as Roseanne's hair styles and colors changed every season
- Make up and accessories bought from Crystal's Avon-like business.
- Movies, concerts, and other events.
- I'm guessing a lot of trips to the salon as Roseanne's hair styles and colors changed every season
I wouldn't pay that much for shoes now and it's over 20 years later. The same thing with becky's $80 dress. My daughter wants a $50 dress and I'm waiting for it to go on sale.
shareWhile I see the point, sometimes when you are living paycheck to paycheck, you still need to go out once in a while and have fun or life can get depressing. They were never at the point to fear living on the streets. What is the harm in a bowling night every once in a while. And nobody actually eats the food on sitcoms.
What is the harm in a bowling night every once in a while.
I agree; I don't think they were ever portrayed as constantly "going out", yeesh. They weren't THAT exciting, folks.
A few beers now and then at the Lobo, yes. But that isn't extravagant; it's a fine line between watching your bankbook and being social once in a while, yes.
And nobody actually eats the food on sitcoms.
they have these great tasting looking burgers and fries sitting in front of them and no one would take a bite...lol.
Excellent post, ilovejnames! I agree.
In some eps, we do see Roseanne eat...and I've got to say: I prefer when she DOESN'T! She always talks with her mouth full, chews with her mouth open. YUK!!
Part of the moving-food around is also because directors often stop in the middle of a scene.
They may not re-shoot the entire scene, just part of it, so the amount of food/bites eaten has to 'match' the previous scene.
In filming movies, so I have read, this is the toughest.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
so the amount of food/bites eaten has to 'match' the previous scene.
I agree with the OP except for one thing. Didn't they go to Disneyland/world AFTER they won the lottery? I might not be remembering right, but I thought so.
share^ LOL, no they went to Disneyland in Season 8, before they won the lottery.
It was because Disney bought ABC around this time, and ordered every family-oriented sitcom to feature an episode visiting their theme parks.
You must not be as hardcore of a fan as the rest of us here, because that's a huge oversight lol. (It's okay that you're not so hardcore, btw lol).
Haha you're right, I'm not really that hardcore about it! Its been awhile since I saw that episode too! Lol!
shareThey also spit out the food, if they don't want to stuff themselves to the point of throwing up when the scene requires multiple takes. A lot of the time, when they're *actually* eating, it's cold and mushy, so it's too gross to eat.
shareWell watching the actors trying to talk with a mouthful of food would be pretty disgusting, so I'm glad they don't do that. It is funny though to watch them just push their food around with a fork. That's why a lot of shows have the characters having Chinese food often. The white box hides the fact that they haven't had a bite of it.
shareThat's because of all the takes and continuity of the show. It would be weird seeing a full plate of food and 2 seconds later the food is all gone because of all the takes in between those 2 points.
shareI feel like Dan and Roseanne were stuck at the same age they got married, which partly explains why they were so irresponsible with money.
That's crazy talk. You're Crazy, Marge!
I was surprise they could afford to buy DJ an SNES with some games to play with it.
shareThat's true.
About the poker nights...
Roseanne made a lot of sandwiches, and meat and cheese deli-style isn't cheap, so she would need several pounds and a few loaves of bread.
I don't think the poker nights cost all that much.
It looked like Wonder-style bread, and back then you could buy a loaf of store-brand for $.89.
It also looked like packaged bologna, probably Oscar Mayer. That's not that expensive even today.
She could have managed the entire poker game for under $20.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
I think Dan said that he'd 'finally managed' to have enough money to buy the game system & games, so he'd likely either saved or had a small *windfall* at work.
Sometimes Dan seemed to get these, extra work or overtime.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
True. But for cash strapped folks, especially who waste so much....
shareI was surprise they could afford to buy DJ an SNES with some games to play with it.
This is a VERY common poor family thing. Poor people often look at their money from paycheck to paycheck and don't think about putting money back for future (even not so distant future) things. They will spend $10 at McDonald's for 2 people instead of eating spaghetti for <$2. Then when they're short on the bills, they freak out and end up getting a payday loan or borrowing money or just letting the bill go. They're stressed so they end up eating more junk food. I grew up in a family like this. My mom is *still* like this. She tends to have 2 or 3 payday loans out and is still behind on bills.
Another point I'd like to make is that it didn't seem like the Conners were that poor. Some of the numbers that were thrown around in the early seasons were that Roseanne's factory job paid $8/hour. That's like $15/hour today. The temporary secretary job at Dan's worksite was $12/hour, I think and that's more like $20/hour in today's dollars. Sure they went without work fairly often but when they did work, they seemed to get paid quite well, especially for a small town in Illinois where the cost of living is fairly low. Heck, I live in Southern Indiana and my husband makes ~$15/hour and we live just fine on his income alone while I am going to school.
This is a VERY common poor family thing. Poor people often look at their money from paycheck to paycheck and don't think about putting money back for future (even not so distant future) things.