Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel
’90s Status Symbols That Screamed “We’re Rich!”
22 May 2025
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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