Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel
’90s Status Symbols That Screamed “We’re Rich!”
Thu, 22 May 2025
📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. From Abercrombie jeans to Juicy Couture tracksuits, some things just felt fancier in the ’90s. In this episode, Rachel and George invite you to play along as they reveal the price of nostalgic status symbols and decide if they’re still worth the splurge today. Next Steps: 🎥 Watch our video Do We Have It Harder Financially Than Our Parents? 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. 💵 The simplest way to budget. Download the EveryDollar app for free! Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹Coconut Mojito Mocktail Recipe: Kale Junkie 1/4 cup light canned coconut milk 1/2 lime 2 ounces ginger beer 2 ounces sparkling water 10 mint leaves Sea salt for rimming the glass Instructions: Cut the lime into slices and rub one of the slices along the rim of a tall glass, so that the lime juice coats it. Place the glass rim-down into the sea salt and rotate until the sea salt sticks to the rim. Add the mint leaves to a tall glass , then, using a muddler or a spoon, muddle the mint leaves together until the minty smell begins to release. Add all the ingredients and stir. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What nostalgic items are discussed as ’90s status symbols?
Today we're talking lava lamps, water beds, and other signs of extreme wealth in the 90s.
A 64-pack of Crayola crayons with the sharpener built into the box.
Are you kidding me? The name brand Crayola with the sharpener? Lunchables. People gathered around to watch you assemble that pizza.
Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.
I'm George Camel.
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Chapter 2: What drink do Rachel and George enjoy during the episode?
And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money.
And before we get to the 90s, let's talk about right now what we're sipping on. This is a coconut mojito mocktail.
Yeah, it's delicious.
We're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode. So stick around if you want to learn more.
So George, I feel like we could probably list a hundred different things today. in life in the 90s that makes you think like, oh my gosh, that family was so rich. But now looking back, you're like, okay, it didn't even cost that much. But we thought like, oh yeah, they must be rich because of fill in the blank.
What's the first thing you think of?
A fridge in the garage. If you had a refrigerator in the garage, so it was like for drinks.
You were doing real well. I can think of the friend. And they not only had a drink fridge in the garage, lived in a cul-de-sac. And I thought, oh my gosh, who can afford to live in a... It just ends?
In a cul-de-sac.
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Chapter 3: How do Rachel and George assess the value of ’90s items today?
You're there. You know what? My friend had a driveway that was a circle. You could pull in one end and it connected to the other. It wasn't a straight one. Who has the time? And she had the garage fridge.
That's how you know.
I'm looking at you, Kate. That's right. Shout out to Kate. Exactly. And she had the cool tube socks in the sixth grade.
There was cool tube socks?
The socks that were up, and then you just crinkled them a little bit up at the top. Oh, that was the thing.
Missed that trend.
And you know what? It's kind of back.
Is it?
It's a little lower for the Gen Z-ers, but they're here.
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Chapter 4: What were common household symbols of wealth in the ’90s?
Oh my gosh, the trampoline. That's a big one. We got one when I was in the fourth grade. And no net. Nets didn't exist then.
Oh, like the net that goes around the sides? Yeah, no, we didn't have those. That did feel like ultra luxury. It was like, wow, all right, you get it.
I don't think we knew people that had those. Those didn't come until like, I was like later high school.
It was like a safety thing. That was 2000s.
Yeah, so I'm talking like straight up 96. And I sprained my arm on the trampoline. I did a flip off of the trampoline.
You what?
Sprained.
Oh, sprained. I think you said sprang.
Oh, man. I sprained my arm.
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Chapter 5: What was the cultural significance of trampolines and waterbeds?
I believe it.
Makes sense. 100%.
Oh my gosh, God bless.
That's a fun one.
All right, next is a computer room. So computer prices have dropped nearly 50% between 2006 and 2007 after the iPhone 1 came out. So people went, I have a computer in my phone. Yeah, you basically had a computer on your phone.
So they had to cut their prices down. That's interesting. Did you have a computer room?
No, ours was in our playroom.
Okay, it was all in one.
Yeah, so like our playroom and that. Yeah, did y'all?
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