This afternoon, I grabbed a book and curled up on the couch in my dimly lit apartment. The only light in the room was coming from my candle warmer, and the smell of Voluspa’s Pistachio candle had filled the room. It was quiet. My phone was sitting nearby, but for once I wasn’t reaching for it. I was just sitting there, reading, and thinking about what life felt like before we had a screen within arm’s reach every second of the day.
And honestly? It reminded me of simpler times, and how I would go back to the 90s in a heartbeat.
The thing is, I miss the personality of that time. I miss rolling the car windows down by hand, putting a CD in the player, listening to whatever happened to be on the radio and renting a VHS for family movie night. I miss clothes that actually looked different from one person to the next, music that could jump from R&B to rock to pop to country, and homes that looked like people actually lived in them.
I miss the uniqueness.
People had their own faces, their own clothes, their own taste. Not everyone was trying to look like the same person. Holidays felt like holidays instead of photo shoots. A house could have a floral couch, family photographs, a lava lamp and some completely bizarre object somebody loved, and nobody cared whether it all matched.
I think that’s what I really miss. Life felt personal.
But guess what, bestie? The good news is, you don’t have to fully recreate 1997 to get some of that feeling back. You don’t need a VHS player or a closet full of vintage clothes. Most of it is much simpler than that, and a lot of it won’t actually cost you a thing.
Ways To Bring A Little 90s Into Your Life
Actually Watch The Movie
When I was growing up, if we rented a VHS for family movie night, we watched it. There wasn’t a second screen sitting in everyone’s hand, and nobody was scrolling while pretending to watch.
Try that now. Pick a movie, make something to eat, or grab dinner from your favorite local takeout spot that isn’t a chain or a giant corporation. Put your phone away and watch the whole thing.
You can do the same with television. Find an older series with 20-plus episodes and take your time with it instead of tearing through eight episodes and immediately moving on, only to wait three years before the next season. Let yourself get attached to the characters. And yes, that means watching the mediocre episodes, that equate to character growth. Just stay with it.
There’s something nice about letting a story become part of your evening instead of just another thing you’ve consumed, only to soon forget.
Keep Physical Media Alive
I still buy physical media, especially movies and music I know I’ll come back to.
There’s something satisfying about owning the things you love. A CD with songs you know by heart and artwork you still stop to look at. A DVD that’s seen better days because you’ve watched it so many times. A book with a worn cover sitting on your bedside table because you’ve read it enough to leave a little history on the pages. These things stick around. You know exactly where they are, and you don’t have to wonder whether they’ll suddenly disappear from some streaming service you pay for every month.
You don’t need a giant collection. Just keep the things that matter.
And if you’re paying for several streaming services, look at what you actually use. Cancel one you barely watch. Borrow movies from the library. Ask a friend if they’ve got something good. Rewatch something you already own.
You might discover that you don’t need quite as much entertainment as you thought you did.
Listen To The Radio Sometimes
One of the things I miss about 90s music is how much variety could exist in the same place. Pop, R&B, hip-hop, rock, alternative, country, dance music and folk could coexist so seamlessly.
Put on the radio once in a while instead of choosing every song yourself.
You might hear something you love. You might hear something terrible. You might hear a song you haven’t thought about in twenty years.
That’s part of it.
When you’re driving, roll the windows down. Take the long way home. Stop somewhere for a coffee or a snack because you happened to pass it, not because an app told you it’s the highest-rated place nearby.
Let yourself wander.
Go Somewhere Without A Shopping List
There was something nice about browsing before everything became searchable.
Go to a bookstore, record store, thrift store, library or local market and don’t go in looking for one specific thing. Look around. You might find something strange. You might find nothing. Either way, you’ve spent an hour somewhere other than staring at your phone.
And if you do buy something, buy something you genuinely like. A used book. A record. A ridiculous piece of clothing. Something made by a local artist.
You don’t need more stuff. But you also don’t need to pretend that buying something you love is a moral failure.
Just make it yours.
Let Your Home Look Like You Live There
You don’t need to buy retro furniture or turn your living room into a 90s set. Look at what you already own.
Put the photographs out. Display the weird souvenir you love. Use the colorful lamp. Put your books where you can see them. Hang the art you’ve been meaning to frame.
The homes I remember from the 90s weren’t necessarily stylish. They were personal. Things had accumulated over time. Furniture had stories. Somebody’s collection was sitting on a shelf. There were usually a few things that didn’t match at all.
That’s what made them interesting.
I’d rather have a home that tells me something about the people who live there than one where every room looks like it came from the same Pinterest board.
Wear Your Own Damn Clothes
90s fashion had trends, but there was still plenty of room for individuality. You could be preppy, grunge, glamorous, sporty, minimalist or completely impossible to categorize.
Go through your closet and wear the things you actually like.
Keep the old jacket. Wear the jeans you always reach for. Pull out the clothes you stopped wearing because somebody decided they were “out.”
And if you need something new, try a thrift store or a local vintage shop before buying another disposable version of something you’ll replace next year.
The point isn’t to dress like you’re stuck in 1996. It’s to unashamedly look like yourself.
Bring Back A Holiday Tradition
This one’s free, and I think it’s worth doing: make the recipe your family always made. Put out the same handmade decorations. Watch the same movie. Play the same music. Drive around and look at Christmas lights. Invite people over and let the kitchen get crowded.
I love beautiful holidays, but I don’t want everything to be so carefully curated that it stops feeling like anyone’s actual life.
Traditions get their meaning from being repeated. They don’t need to be original. In fact, sometimes doing the exact same thing every year is what makes it special.
Call Someone
This one might sound almost absurd now, but call somebody just to talk.
Not because there’s an appointment to make or information you need. Call a friend. Call your sibling. Call your mom. Ask how they’re actually doing.
Let the conversation wander.
You don’t need to send six texts back and forth while both of you are doing something else. Sometimes it’s nice to actually hear somebody’s voice.
And if you haven’t talked to someone in a while, call them.
Have People Over Without Making It A Whole Thing
Invite people over even if your house isn’t perfect.
Make pasta. Or just order from the little neighborhood restaurant you love. Put out whatever snacks you already have. Ask everyone to bring something. Play music. Sit around the kitchen.
You don’t need matching dishes or an elaborate menu.
The best nights usually aren’t the ones where everything went according to plan. They’re the ones where everyone stayed longer than they expected.
Leave Some Time Empty
Don’t plan every hour of your weekend.
Give yourself an afternoon with nowhere to be and nothing you have to accomplish. Read. Take a walk. Go to the library. Drive around. Look through old photographs. Rearrange a room. Listen to music.
Or just be bored for a while.
We used to have more empty time, and I think some good things came out of it. You had to figure out what you wanted to do instead of immediately reaching for whatever was on your phone. You might be surprised by what comes back when you give yourself some room.
You Don’t Need To Buy A 90s Lifestyle
That’s probably the biggest thing I’d take from all of this.
You don’t need a VHS player, a vintage wardrobe or a house full of retro decor. You can bring back the parts that actually appeal to you.
Watch the whole movie. Buy the physical copy if you love it. Listen to an album. Turn on the radio. Take the long way home. Eat dinner from a local place you love. Go to the library. Browse a thrift store. Call your friend. Wear the clothes you actually like. Put the old photographs on the wall. Make the family recipe. Have people over.
Most of all, let your life have some personality.
That’s what I miss about the 90s. People were passionate about things. They had favorite bands, favorite movies, favorite clothes, favorite restaurants and strange little interests. Music could be completely different from one song to the next. People looked different from one another. Houses had character. Clothes had character. Even the bad stuff had character.
Nobody needed everything to look the same.
I’d take that back in a heartbeat.
Maybe that’s what making your life feel like a 90s movie really means. Not recreating the decade, but making your days feel a little more personal, a little more colorful and a lot less interchangeable.
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