Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

How to live like its the 1990s?

234 replies

Coffeeandcake12 · 05/07/2023 19:17

Inspired by a thread about how people were happier in the 90s, how can I live more like we did in the 90s?
Obviously no Internet, I already don't use social media apart from mumsnet.
But what made the 90s so good that I could recreate for me and my children a bit more?

OP posts:
PerspiringElizabeth · 05/07/2023 19:18

A not-conservative government.

Amazing sunflower wallpaper

Wallpaper borders around your room. I had a tropical fish design!

Sweetashunni · 05/07/2023 19:21

Have Angel Delight for pudding
Watch game shows and bad Saturday night TV 🤪
Have long phone calls about not very much with friends
Buy inflatable furniture for the kids rooms
Listen to Oasis and Backstreet Boys…

They’re my memories anyway 🙃

blackice · 05/07/2023 19:21

I'm not sure most of the 90s were that brilliant. Wasn't Labour elected in 1997 using the slogan "Things can only get better"?
There was a good feeling post 97 though.

WomanFromTheNorth · 05/07/2023 19:21

We'd just joined the EU and the world was opening up and felt hopeful. Not sure how we can recreate that other than getting rid of this Tory/ Brexit government.

InjuryTime · 05/07/2023 19:22

I used the internet as a child in the mid to late '90s. Of course it was very different.

WomanFromTheNorth · 05/07/2023 19:23

Well that was my take on it anyway. I was so happy when I finished uni in 93 and went to live in France; it was so fun and it makes me so angry that our children won't have that opportunity.

QueenCoconut · 05/07/2023 19:24

Cycle everywhere.
don’t watch to on demand- wait for favourite shows to be on live to and watch together with the family. Wait the full week until the next episode. Get snacks and enjoy the anticipation.
go to funfairs
collect music on vinyl or cd’s
use cash

illiterato · 05/07/2023 19:25

WomanFromTheNorth · 05/07/2023 19:21

We'd just joined the EU and the world was opening up and felt hopeful. Not sure how we can recreate that other than getting rid of this Tory/ Brexit government.

Britain joined the UK in 1973.

Dogsitterwoes · 05/07/2023 19:25

Take lots of drugs 😁

Nothingbuttheglory · 05/07/2023 19:25

Get your tits out on page 3.

Frith2013 · 05/07/2023 19:26

I had the internet in the 1990s. I got my first email address in 1994.

Sweetashunni · 05/07/2023 19:26

Nothingbuttheglory · 05/07/2023 19:25

Get your tits out on page 3.

For the lads

Frith2013 · 05/07/2023 19:27

WomanFromTheNorth · 05/07/2023 19:21

We'd just joined the EU and the world was opening up and felt hopeful. Not sure how we can recreate that other than getting rid of this Tory/ Brexit government.

I'm sure we didn't join the EU in the 1990s! More like 1974.

TrundleWheel76 · 05/07/2023 19:27

Fantastic music!

Pulp
Suede
Blur
Wonder Stuff
Nirvana
The Pixies
Pearl Jam
Faith No More
L7
Tori Amos

😁

Abzs · 05/07/2023 19:27

Tie your phone to the wall so you have to stand in the hall to use it. Tut about the bill at your children every five minutes while they are standing there using it.

YellowAndGreenToBeSeen · 05/07/2023 19:29

Neck a pill and go and dance in a field or warehouse.

Come back to mine for spliffs, tea and dawn chill out sessions.

Hardbackwriter · 05/07/2023 19:29

Have you considered getting 30 years younger?

TeensToday · 05/07/2023 19:30

Don’t text anyone. Phone them!
Arrange to meet someone and if they don’t show up, don’t text to see where they are. Wait and wait until they show up.
Eat cheese on toast with a bit of Worcestershire sauce.
Hide plastic toys in the cereal boxes as a surprise when your DC pour them.
Watch Saturday night tv when it’s on live rather than on demand.
Go for picnics and take a bottle of pop that you share and pour into plastic cups.
Lots of butterfly clips in your hair, wear combat trousers and channel All Saints.
Dance around the room to all of the old boy band songs.
Have a roast dinner every Sunday.

Original poster
Coffeeandcake12 · 05/07/2023 19:31

@Nothingbuttheglory 🤣🤣

OP posts:
Qbish · 05/07/2023 19:32

Only allow yourself to watch BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4.
Lots of sexism in the workplace.
Mortgage rates in double figures.
No internet.
Page Three still a thing.
Tory govt for most of the nineties.

Why, OP, do you think people were happier in the nineties? Which bits of it were they happier in, and why?

Dogsitterwoes · 05/07/2023 19:33

More seriously-

Watch a limited number of films repeatedly, otherwise stick to live TV

Old-school gaming console

Simple, cheap days out in a country park or at the beach, walk there or go by bus or train with a picnic, frisbees, kids cricket set, climb trees, explore, get muddy. No cafe.

Find an ice cream van for a 99.

Let your kids go out to play unaccompanied

Egg and chips for dinner

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 05/07/2023 19:36

1996, when I went to university for me! Those heady early internet days of hamster dance et al before social media went and spoilt it for everyone...

ZenNudist · 05/07/2023 19:37

Go to university but don't pay any fees. Live in really cruddy lodgings not swish student apartments.

Pretend that feminism achieved its goal, racism is in the past and we are all equal now. It's OK you can still be homophobic.

tectonicplates · 05/07/2023 19:37

Be a ladette 😄

CriticalAlert · 05/07/2023 19:37

WomanFromTheNorth · 05/07/2023 19:21

We'd just joined the EU and the world was opening up and felt hopeful. Not sure how we can recreate that other than getting rid of this Tory/ Brexit government.

We joined the EU in 1976..... didn't we??