> I often think about how much of a given it was that they own a house on a single income. Homer has a stable job, they don’t have a lot of stuff but they have some basic securities that I’ve been trying to work towards my whole life, and still haven’t gotten there

This was a common trope on TV shows of that era: Everyone had a cool house with a lot of space. It wasn't a reflection of reality, it was how sets were designed and shows were drawn.

The Simpsons even made fun of the fact in the famous Frank Grimes episode where they pointed out how absurd it was that Homer was a doofus who had a big house and beautiful family.

Somewhere along the line, we started confusing this TV reality with how families actually lived at the time.