’90s Status Symbols That Screamed “We’re Rich!”

📈 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

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05George Kamel?

  Today, we're talking lava lamps, waterbeds, and other signs of extreme wealth in the 90s.

• 0:10Rachel Cruze?

  A 64-pack of Crayola crayons with the sharpener built into the box.

• 0:15George Kamel?

  You kidding me? The name-brand Crayola with the sharpener?

• 0:18Rachel Cruze?

  Lunchables.

• 0:19George Kamel?

  People gathered around to watch you assemble that pizza.

• 0:28Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:29George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:31Rachel Cruze?

  And this is Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:39Rachel Cruze?

  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.

• 0:46George Kamel?

  And before we get to the 90s, let's talk about right now, what we're sipping on. This is a coconut mojito mocktail.

• 0:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 0:52George Kamel?

  We're gonna 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.

• 0:58Rachel Cruze?

  So, George, I feel like we could probably list 100 different things 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.

• 1:14George Kamel?

  What's the first thing you think of?

• 1:16Rachel Cruze?

  A fridge in the garage. If you had a refrigerator in the garage that was like for drinks, you were doing real well.

• 1:24George Kamel?

  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... It just ends?

• 1:34Rachel Cruze?

  In a cul-de-sac.

• 1:35George Kamel?

  The privacy.

• 1:35Rachel Cruze?

  You're there. You know what? My friend had a driveway that was a circle, like you could pull in one end and it connected to the other. It wasn't a straight one.

• 1:45George Kamel?

  Who has the time?

• 1:45Rachel Cruze?

  And she had the garage fridge.

• 1:47George Kamel?

  That's how you know.

• 1:48Rachel Cruze?

  I'm looking at you, Kate. That's right.

• 1:50George Kamel?

  Shout out to Kate.

• 1:51Rachel Cruze?

  Exactly. And she had the cool tube socks in the sixth grade.

• 1:55George Kamel?

  There was cool tube socks.

• 1:56Rachel Cruze?

  The socks that were up and then you just crinkled them a little bit up at the top. Oh, that was, that was the thing.

• 2:01George Kamel?

  Missed that trend.

• 2:03Rachel Cruze?

  And you know what? They're kind of back. It's a little lower for the Gen Z'ers, but they're, they're here.

• 2:07George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah. I don't know what's going on with Gen Z and the tube socks, but it's a lot.

• 2:10Rachel Cruze?

  Have you done it yet? No, no, you haven't.

• 2:12George Kamel?

  I'm still showing a little ankle.

• 2:13Rachel Cruze?

  I see that.

• 2:15George Kamel?

  Hey, these people are paying good money for this show.

• 2:17Rachel Cruze?

  I haven't done it. The socks?

• 2:19George Kamel?

  No, I only wear socks that go above my ankle at home.

• 2:23Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 2:24George Kamel?

  Otherwise, no need to show that off.

• 2:26Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we don't need to see a sock.

• 2:28George Kamel?

  No, I'm fine. I still wear skinny jeans, so I'm out on all the trends.

• 2:31Rachel Cruze?

  That's good. That's good.

• 2:32George Kamel?

  Well, uh, we could, we could go through the list, but we're gonna put the theory to the test and play a little game. So we have a list of throwback status symbols and our team looked up how much each of them cost today.

• 2:42Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, good.

• 2:42George Kamel?

  So we're gonna guess the current price, reminisce a little bit, and give each one a yes or no based on if we would pay today's price to scratch that nostalgic spending itch.

• 2:50Rachel Cruze?

  Ooh, that's a fun one. Okay. I love it.

• 2:52George Kamel?

  So, and you have to play along at home.

• 2:54Rachel Cruze?

  For sure, yeah.

• 2:55George Kamel?

  Encourage the viewers and listeners.

• 2:56Rachel Cruze?

  And let me put a little asterisk that I think some of these items, possibly, I haven't looked at the full list. But some of these items may have been more expensive back in the 90s, right? From like a inflation standpoint, and they've gotten cheaper because they...

• 3:11George Kamel?

  Technology.

• 3:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, because they're more, more available, if you will, right?

• 3:15George Kamel?

  Okay. Let's start with, uh, the home category.

• 3:17Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, the trampoline. We got, we got one when I was in the fourth grade.

• 3:21George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 3:22Rachel Cruze?

  And no nets. Nets didn't exist then.

• 3:24George Kamel?

  Oh, like the net that goes around the sides?

• 3:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, we didn't have those.

• 3:26George Kamel?

  That did feel like ultra luxury. It was like, wow, all right, you get it.

• 3:29Rachel Cruze?

  I don't think we knew people that had those. Those didn't come in till like, I was like later high school.

• 3:33George Kamel?

  It was like a safety thing. That was 2000s.

• 3:35Rachel Cruze?

  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.

• 3:43George Kamel?

  You what?

• 3:43Rachel Cruze?

  Sprained.

• 3:44George Kamel?

  Oh, sprain. I thought you said sprang.

• 3:46Rachel Cruze?

  Aw, man.

• 3:47George Kamel?

  I sprained my arm? I was like, wow, you did grow up into anti-...

• 3:50Rachel Cruze?

  Spranged, sprained my arm.

• 3:51George Kamel?

  That's gotta hurt.

• 3:52Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, it did, yeah. But, uh, yeah, a lot of doctors do not recommend trampolines.

• 3:57George Kamel?

  I would say any doctor doesn't recommend it.

• 3:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 3:59George Kamel?

  You should get a trampoline. It'd be good for you.

• 4:01Rachel Cruze?

  They don't like them. I know. I, I like them. We, we don't have one.

• 4:05George Kamel?

  Well, the thing is, you also need the yard space. So part of it was, if you had a house that had a big enough yard, you were probably doing pretty well. To afford a trampoline on top of that?

• 4:13Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, let me say this, though. True, true or false? I feel like back in, when I was like, middle school days, it was way more common to have like, an acre lot with like, a rancher home on it. Nowadays, people have an acre lot and build like, a 6,000-foot square home or something. You know what I'm saying?

• 4:28George Kamel?

  More home, but less yard.

• 4:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, we're back in the day, I think the yard was more precious than the home. Nowadays, it's the home versus the yard. Do you agree?

• 4:36George Kamel?

  Yeah, that makes sense.

• 4:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 4:37George Kamel?

  And I grew up in New England, in the Boston area, so we didn't have much yard. It was like, it was kinda like rocky. We didn't play much. Like, I had, I had a little trampoline that was this big, you know, like...

• 4:46Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, like the little, like the exercise ones?

• 4:47George Kamel?

  The little solo, the little solo trampoline, that's what we had.

• 4:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, 100%.

• 4:50George Kamel?

  We had a good time.

• 4:51Rachel Cruze?

  And look, you turned out great.

• 4:52George Kamel?

  I was out there skating.

• 4:53Rachel Cruze?

  Alright, so today's price at Walmart for a trampoline is $200.

• 4:57George Kamel?

  Wait, you're talking about the full-size giant trampoline that's only 200 bucks?

• 5:00Rachel Cruze?

  At Walmart, yes. Would you get a trampoline for Mia?

• 5:03George Kamel?

  No.

• 5:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, doctor, what, why?

• 5:06George Kamel?

  I, I pay for health insurance. I know what it costs. I don't need to have a sprained, especially on my little girl.

• 5:13Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my god.

• 5:13George Kamel?

  If she hurt herself under my care and tutelage, I'd never forgive myself.

• 5:20George Kamel?

  That's a, that's a good start, though, the trampoline.

• 5:22Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man, okay.

• 5:23George Kamel?

  Okay, next up. Clear phone with colorful wiring inside.

• 5:26Rachel Cruze?

  God, all I wanted, all I wanted.

• 5:28George Kamel?

  Loved a clear phone.

• 5:29Rachel Cruze?

  We didn't have it.

• 5:30George Kamel?

  Why did it cost more for you to see what was inside?

• 5:32Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, but they were so, and the, and the wires, they obviously did on purpose. That they're like, green and yellow and like, lime green and like, hot pink and, ugh, so cool. Do you know what, you know what I had, what kinda phone I had at one point? And I got it for Christmas one year. I have no idea why I asked for this phone. You're not even gonna believe it. I don't even know where mom and dad found this. I asked for one of those Victorian-style phones that you pick up, and there's like, a, this, and like, a skinny handle, and then the mouthpiece, and then you lay it on top.

• 6:04George Kamel?

  And it was working? It was a functional phone?

• 6:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and I thought...

• 6:07George Kamel?

  Did you talk in an old-timey voice the whole time?

• 6:10Rachel Cruze?

  No, but I had that phone in my room for like, a few months, and then I realized it's very uncomfortable. And then I got a portable phone when those came out.

• 6:18George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 6:19Rachel Cruze?

  With a headset attached.

• 6:23George Kamel?

  Like you're running a call center out of your bedroom?

• 6:27Rachel Cruze?

  And I could walk around my bedroom and like clean or do what I needed and talk to my friends on the phone.

• 6:31George Kamel?

  What did you even talk about?

• 6:32Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. Isn't that funny?

• 6:33George Kamel?

  Like what was happening on AOL Instant Messenger?

• 6:36Rachel Cruze?

  We talked on the phone all the time. Like we, I would get home from school and call my friends on the phone.

• 6:41George Kamel?

  Just for fun?

• 6:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 6:42George Kamel?

  Because you could.

• 6:43Rachel Cruze?

  And then you had a call out of the school directory if you were calling like a boy, if you had the number memorized. And then the house phone calls and you're like, "Hi, Mrs. Anderson. Is Tyler there?" You know. You had to talk to the mom. She's like, "Oh, hi, Rachel. Who is this?" "Oh, it's Rachel Ramsey." "Oh, hi, Rachel. How are you doing?" "I'm good, thank you." "Yeah, let me see if he's available," you know.

• 7:02George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 7:02Rachel Cruze?

  Like you had to have a whole conversation with an adult. When you were in freaking like 8th grade.

• 7:06George Kamel?

  Can you imagine Gen Z having to go through an adult today?

• 7:08Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, seriously, I'm like, we had zero fears.

• 7:11George Kamel?

  They would faint.

• 7:12Rachel Cruze?

  Zero fears about the phone. I would even call the back of like potato chip companies.

• 7:18Rachel Cruze?

  They would have a 1-800 number on the back of like food.

• 7:20George Kamel?

  You're just trolling?

• 7:21Rachel Cruze?

  We did, and we got free food. They sent us like free coupons in the mail.

• 7:25George Kamel?

  Wait, you just said, "Hey, we'd love some chips."

• 7:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but you'd talk to a 50-year-old operator, but you didn't care. Zero intimidation with adults on the phone. That was back in the day, George. That was in the 90s.

• 7:34George Kamel?

  I was prank calling. That was our thing.

• 7:36Rachel Cruze?

  Did you ever use Star 67 so like they couldn't?

• 7:39George Kamel?

  Yes, we did.

• 7:40Rachel Cruze?

  It would be like a private?

• 7:40George Kamel?

  So it's anonymous.

• 7:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Crazy.

• 7:42George Kamel?

  That was a life hack. I can't believe they built that in.

• 7:46Rachel Cruze?

  Here's another question, real quick. On your answering machine, did y'all do like a family answering machine at all?

• 7:51George Kamel?

  Oh, I think that was my dad. Like my dad, dad had the privilege of leaving, of doing the voicemail.

• 7:56Rachel Cruze?

  What did it say? Do you remember? Do you have like any memory of it?

• 7:58George Kamel?

  I think it was a very standard like, "Hello, you've reached the Camel family. We can't get to the phone. Leave a message and we'll get..." You know, very standard.

• 8:06Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, very simple.

• 8:06George Kamel?

  You had a crazy one?

• 8:07Rachel Cruze?

  Noel, uh...

• 8:08George Kamel?

  Who got to do it?

• 8:09Rachel Cruze?

  At Christmas, we would all sing.

• 8:12George Kamel?

  You have themed voicemails based on the season?

• 8:14Rachel Cruze?

  My family, yes. "We wish you a merry Christmas." "We wish you a merry Christmas." Could you imagine the Ramses singing? We did. We sang on it for Christmas seasons. And mom would gather us around the, y'all, the machine. Yes, it'd be like, "All right, we're recording." "One, two, three," and we all'd sing, "We wish you a merry Christmas."

• 8:32George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 8:33Rachel Cruze?

  We did. Anthony and I had a rap on ours, but I've already, I've already...

• 8:37George Kamel?

  We have a fa- yeah, that's a famous clip from this show.

• 8:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 8:40George Kamel?

  Can you use the beatboxing from it? Because that's my favorite part.

• 8:51George Kamel?

  Really good, really good stuff.

• 8:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 8:53George Kamel?

  Eminem been real quiet since you dropped that.

• 8:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's, uh, we were real good at the raps.

• 8:59George Kamel?

  That was simpler times.

• 9:01Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 9:01George Kamel?

  So today's price for the clear phone with the colored wiring, seventy-five to two-hundred forty bucks on eBay. Hope you have one laying around to make some serious money.

• 9:11Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, seriously, that's like, that's legit.

• 9:12George Kamel?

  That's crazy.

• 9:13Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next up is the lava lamp.

• 9:15George Kamel?

  Mmm.

• 9:16Rachel Cruze?

  Today's price, I'll just go and break it to you, twenty-five bucks.

• 9:19George Kamel?

  That's cheap.

• 9:19Rachel Cruze?

  My girls love a lava lamp.

• 9:21George Kamel?

  To this day.

• 9:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and then the other thing that Amelia has saved up for she bought was one of those things with fish in it, fake, fake, like jellyfish, that they have different lights and water and they

• 9:33Rachel Cruze?

  it's like a little container.

• 9:33George Kamel?

  Do they make that noise? It's like bubbling up to like move them?

• 9:37Rachel Cruze?

  It's bubbling up, yes, to move the jellyfish, the fake jellyfish. But my kids love lights and like things moving and tubes or something, I don't know.

• 9:45George Kamel?

  Okay, it's a very specific niche.

• 9:47Rachel Cruze?

  It's a very thing. Anyway, so lava lamps were very cool, and they're still cool. So that's what I'm saying, it's like, that's one that has not.

• 9:55George Kamel?

  I still don't understand how they work. It's still a little bit of magic to me.

• 9:58Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, that's a good point.

• 9:59George Kamel?

  We know it's not real lava.

• 10:01Rachel Cruze?

  That is true.

• 10:01George Kamel?

  So what's going on, what kind of sorcery is this?

• 10:03Rachel Cruze?

  What is it, what's going on?

• 10:04George Kamel?

  We don't know, but I do feel like my friends who had other nice things also had lava lamps.

• 10:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 10:10George Kamel?

  So it's sort of like wealth adjacent.

• 10:10Rachel Cruze?

  I never had one, did you have one?

• 10:12George Kamel?

  I don't think I was a lava lamp guy.

• 10:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 10:14George Kamel?

  And again, I don't know if I asked, like, was it too expensive? I don't know, was it a hundred dollars at the time?

• 10:18Rachel Cruze?

  Right, right, right, like, that's one that could have been, yeah, a lot. All right, next, two-story houses.

• 10:23George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 10:24Rachel Cruze?

  And here's a fun fact, today, two-story houses are actually cheaper to build than one-story homes because they have a smaller footprint.

• 10:32George Kamel?

  Oh, because you can build up.

• 10:33Rachel Cruze?

  You can build up, not out.

• 10:34George Kamel?

  You don't need a lot of like acreage.

• 10:35Rachel Cruze?

  Man, that's, yeah.

• 10:36George Kamel?

  Versus like a ranch-style home, it goes further back.

• 10:39Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, that's right.

• 10:40George Kamel?

  That's interesting.

• 10:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 10:42George Kamel?

  You know, our house was a, was a split, so it was like a...

• 10:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, we had a split level, my first one, yes.

• 10:48George Kamel?

  That's the house I grew up in, so it was technically two floors, but there was this middle floor.

• 10:51Rachel Cruze?

  You walk in on the middle floor.

• 10:53George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 10:53Rachel Cruze?

  And then you go up or down.

• 10:54George Kamel?

  It felt like a three-story, but it was a two.

• 10:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's right, it's so true. Yeah, our first one, you walk in, actually the kitchen was on that one. You walk down some steps to the living room. And the steps you would walk up was in the bedrooms. So it did feel, I mean, like honestly, it felt like a, third story.

• 11:10George Kamel?

  Luxury. Stairs equals luxury.

• 11:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that house was my, um, OJ Simpson car chase and trial.

• 11:17George Kamel?

  Wait, what?

• 11:18Rachel Cruze?

  Nancy Kerrigan.

• 11:19George Kamel?

  What are you saying?

• 11:19Rachel Cruze?

  Situation. I was saying, that was the house I remember certain news stories in.

• 11:23George Kamel?

  Oh, I was like, what is the connection to OJ and the house you lived in? It just happened. Okay.

• 11:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, that was the house that I remember watching the OJ Simpson trial in. And Nancy Kerrigan, you remember Nancy Kerrigan? That was the, I remember watching that.

• 11:37George Kamel?

  What was her line? Was it, why me?

• 11:41George Kamel?

  She had a thing she got.

• 11:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, she did when she was crying, yes. Um, oh, man. Why, yeah, it may have been, why me? Yeah.

• 11:47George Kamel?

  I don't know why, that's my one memory of Nancy Kerrigan.

• 11:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, but her in that white leotard grabbing her knee, yes, anyways, I, yes.

• 11:55George Kamel?

  This won't shock anyone, but the median price today for a suburban home, $419,000, which has increased by more than $90,000 just since 2020, which is pretty wild. In 1980, $63,700.

• 12:08Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 12:09George Kamel?

  Simpler times.

• 12:11Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, wow, unbelievable. Uh, next is the waterbed mattress.

• 12:16George Kamel?

  Yes, did you know people with a waterbed?

• 12:18Rachel Cruze?

  My grandparents had a waterbed. They were the only ones I knew about one, though.

• 12:22George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 12:23Rachel Cruze?

  They were a little scary to me.

• 12:25George Kamel?

  They were a little unnerving when you got on one.

• 12:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I was like, I don't know if like, I feel like something's gonna happen. You know what scarred me?

• 12:31George Kamel?

  Did you fall off a waterbed?

• 12:32Rachel Cruze?

  What movie? Can you think of the movie with the waterbed?

• 12:35George Kamel?

  There's a movie with the waterbed?

• 12:36Rachel Cruze?

  Edward Scissorhands.

• 12:38George Kamel?

  There was a waterbed in that movie?

• 12:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and he poked him with his, with his scissors. Why my parents let me watch Edward Scissorhands as a young child? I don't know.

• 12:47George Kamel?

  Hold on, so no Rugrats, no Ferngully, Edward Scissorhands totally fine?

• 12:51Rachel Cruze?

  Hundred percent.

• 12:52George Kamel?

  God bless.

• 12:53Rachel Cruze?

  Unbelievable. But no, I don't, I didn't know a lot of waterbed people. Did you?

• 12:56George Kamel?

  Well, the people that had a waterbed, the kids got to like live in the basement and it had a pool table. They had the biggest DVD collection I'd ever seen in my life. And so to me, I was like, this all is part of it.

• 13:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's like part of the culture.

• 13:08George Kamel?

  Comes with the package of life.

• 13:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's fair. It's good.

• 13:11George Kamel?

  To this day, I only know one person that still has a waterbed.

• 13:13Rachel Cruze?

  But you know someone with a waterbed?

• 13:14George Kamel?

  You know him well. Director of, uh, production for the Ramsey Network, Chris Wright.

• 13:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that was, well.

• 13:20George Kamel?

  Famously, still has a waterbed and loves it. Yep.

• 13:24Rachel Cruze?

  Their primary bed is a waterbed.

• 13:26George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 13:26Rachel Cruze?

  Him and Dee Dee.

• 13:27George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 13:28Rachel Cruze?

  Waterbed.

• 13:30George Kamel?

  He's single-handedly keeping the waterbed industry alive.

• 13:33Rachel Cruze?

  I-

• 13:33George Kamel?

  I think you have to have it serviced. I think. It's like a pool. You gotta get like the water filtered out.

• 13:38Rachel Cruze?

  Is it for his like back or something?

• 13:40George Kamel?

  I think it just comes, like they just like it.

• 13:42Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it, stop it. Oh my-

• 13:45George Kamel?

  It's amazing. It's one of my favorite fun facts about Chris.

• 13:48Rachel Cruze?

  The guy that had to approve this show sleeps on a waterbed is what everyone needs to know.

• 13:52George Kamel?

  But I love that about him.

• 13:54Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, good for you, Chris.

• 13:55George Kamel?

  So here's the current cost of a waterbed. $250 on Amazon for a waterbed.

• 14:00Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, there you go.

• 14:01George Kamel?

  How do you ship a waterbed? That's physically, you have to fill it with water, I guess.

• 14:04Rachel Cruze?

  It is so true. Do you fill it after or before?

• 14:06George Kamel?

  But it needs like special chemicals in the water, I think. Cause one time he had to siphon it out and he called Poison Control.

• 14:12Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it.

• 14:13George Kamel?

  And he had to say, am I gonna die because I drank waterbed water?

• 14:16Rachel Cruze?

  But why did he drink it?

• 14:18George Kamel?

  He was trying to do something. It was a leak.

• 14:21Rachel Cruze?

  History to tell.

• 14:21George Kamel?

  He had a, yes. God, if he was here, he's gonna watch this and go, oh my gosh, that's hilarious. So here's the, the fun fact. Most mattress stores do not sell them anymore because they declined in popularity due to high maintenance leaks, the heavy weight, and they're difficult to transfer.

• 14:36Rachel Cruze?

  I believe it.

• 14:37George Kamel?

  Makes sense.

• 14:37Rachel Cruze?

  A hundred percent. Oh my gosh, God bless. Alright, next is a computer room. So computer prices have dropped nearly 50% between 2006 and 2007 after the iPhone 1 came out.

• 14:50George Kamel?

  So people went, I have a computer in my phone.

• 14:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you basically had a computer on your phone.

• 14:53George Kamel?

  So they had to cut their prices down. That's interesting. Did you have a computer room?

• 14:56Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, no, ours was in our playroom.

• 14:58George Kamel?

  Okay, it was all in one?

• 14:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so like our playroom and that. Yeah, did y'all?

• 15:02George Kamel?

  We didn't start out with one, but then we eventually converted like a little tiny, I mean, you, you barely could fit three people in there.

• 15:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, just a little closet, yes.

• 15:09George Kamel?

  It was a little nook.

• 15:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 15:11George Kamel?

  And that's where the computer room was. My parents eventually renovated it into a bathroom once computer rooms were extinct.

• 15:17Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's right.

• 15:18George Kamel?

  So we had a second bathroom.

• 15:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 15:19George Kamel?

  After I'd moved out, they decided, let's finally put a second bathroom in here. Must be nice.

• 15:25Rachel Cruze?

  Must be nice.

• 15:25George Kamel?

  But yeah, the computer room, that was special. Like, if you were in the computer room, you were there, you were planted. We were about to play some Wheel of Fortune on a compact disc.

• 15:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, 100%.

• 15:35George Kamel?

  You ever have the, the old school, like, uh, before CD-ROM was invented? They had the floppy disk.

• 15:40Rachel Cruze?

  The floppy disk, oh yes, my Oregon Trail was on the floppy disk.

• 15:43George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 15:43Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so today's price for a basic Dell desktop computer, $750. More expensive than I would have thought, I'm gonna be honest.

• 15:51George Kamel?

  Also, weird question, are people still buying desktop computers? Is that a thing? Call me ignorant, but I feel like laptops, or do you just get laptops?

• 15:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't know.

• 15:59George Kamel?

  I guess if you're a gamer, a lot of gaming people get the old school, they gotta get the full-on tower. And musicians as well, you need the power, you need the computing power to handle it.

• 16:08Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay.

• 16:09George Kamel?

  Or not just browsing the web.

• 16:10Rachel Cruze?

  Just not looking on Instagram, scrolling through.

• 16:13George Kamel?

  But $750 is expensive, in 1995, a Gateway Solo 2000 would have cost around $6,300 in today's cash.

• 16:21Rachel Cruze?

  That's insane, I mean, for real, that's crazy. I remember, and I was in the sixth grade, because we had, we moved to middle school, and that, all the teachers got new computers, and they were the Apple computers, because it used to be on Dell. But they were the colored ones.

• 16:35George Kamel?

  That were kinda clear, you could see through them?

• 16:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and we thought, like, we've made it, like, this is, like, this is the big leap.

• 16:40George Kamel?

  That's true, my friend who had the Macintosh, that's another sign of wealth, bonus.

• 16:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, because we all had Dells.

• 16:45George Kamel?

  If you had a Mac, I was like, oh wow.

• 16:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, with the Apple, yes.

• 16:48George Kamel?

  They had some money.

• 16:48Rachel Cruze?

  I know, with the Apple, listen to me, I'm going back to my.

• 16:51George Kamel?

  With the Apple. We had, like, remember the Compaq?

• 16:54Rachel Cruze?

  It was a big deal.

• 16:54George Kamel?

  We had the Compaq, C-O-M-P-A-Q, I think.

• 16:57Rachel Cruze?

  You know what, yes, totally, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 16:59George Kamel?

  That's what we could afford.

• 16:59Rachel Cruze?

  I get, no, I think that was us, I put viruses on ours, a lot, I know.

• 17:05George Kamel?

  Did you ever have the one where you clicked it and it would open your CD-ROM? It would eject, it would, like, basically hit the eject button?

• 17:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and a tray comes out.

• 17:11George Kamel?

  With like smiley faces all over your screen?

• 17:13Rachel Cruze?

  Oh no.

• 17:13George Kamel?

  That one scared me, I still, I've dreamed about that one.

• 17:16Rachel Cruze?

  That's terrible.

• 17:17George Kamel?

  Viruses were a real threat back then.

• 17:19Rachel Cruze?

  It was bad, yes, gosh, simpler times, George.

• 17:22George Kamel?

  But you know what, you know how I avoid viruses these days? Avoid the spam and scam, that's the modern-day version.

• 17:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I'd love to know.

• 17:28George Kamel?

  Delete me.

• 17:29Rachel Cruze?

  It's so great. Well done.

• 17:30George Kamel?

  If I had Delete Me back then, who knows what I could have avoided?

• 17:33Rachel Cruze?

  I could have been on Kazaa all day, downloading illegal songs, and no viruses would have come.

• 17:38George Kamel?

  God bless.

• 17:38Rachel Cruze?

  If we had Delete Me.

• 17:39George Kamel?

  Simpler times.

• 17:40Rachel Cruze?

  No, but Delete Me is an incredible service because unlike us not being on the internet a ton in the 90s, today, we're on it all day, every day, right? I mean, like, you are on it constantly. Your information is out there, you're filling out forms, you're doing stuff, and so because of that, people will get your information and sell it and make money off of your information. It's terrible. And then you get scams and spams and all of it. So Delete Me goes in and removes all of your information from these data broker websites, and they're phenomenal, you guys. They have saved me over 60 hours now. I got my report.

• 18:12George Kamel?

  Wow. Your time is worth that.

• 18:14Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 18:15George Kamel?

  You don't need to be on there filling out forms, trying to get your info removed from these weird bobo sites?

• 18:19Rachel Cruze?

  No, because their annual plan that's 20% off for listeners of Smart Money Happy Hour, it comes out to like, less than like, $10 a month, is what it ends up being. So it is worth all day. Oh, gosh.

• 18:28George Kamel?

  Go get the deal, guys. Join DeleteMe.com/smartmoney, or click the link in the description below. Worth it. Worth every penny to sleep better at night and take control of your privacy online.

• 18:38Rachel Cruze?

  100%.

• 18:39George Kamel?

  All right, next up.

• 18:40Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, this was me.

• 18:41George Kamel?

  Bedroom door beads.

• 18:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 18:43George Kamel?

  And bonus, a doorbell attached to the little door frame, if you were really fancy.

• 18:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and I got mine from Limited 2, and it was...

• 18:50George Kamel?

  Makes sense, that's what they sold?

• 18:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, was, yeah, and I had two rows, and I put them... It was very difficult, because if you shut your door, because they were on the outside of my door, but when you shut your door, they would, yeah, they would come in, so you had to like,

• 19:04Rachel Cruze?

  move them and then shut your door.

• 19:06George Kamel?

  Oh, that's right.

• 19:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's very difficult.

• 19:08George Kamel?

  What a hard life.

• 19:09Rachel Cruze?

  Dude, I made it very hard on myself.

• 19:11George Kamel?

  What was the point of the beads? Was it like, for semi-privacy?

• 19:13Rachel Cruze?

  I just know Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, like, their first albums had like, beads. It was just like a, it was a thing. And then I moved them from my doorway to behind my bed, on my wall.

• 19:24George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 19:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I had them then as wall art.

• 19:26George Kamel?

  To sign maturity and growth.

• 19:28Rachel Cruze?

  It's wall art. Yes.

• 19:30George Kamel?

  That's nice. Were you a posters on the wall kinda person?

• 19:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Oh, my gosh.

• 19:34George Kamel?

  Of what?

• 19:35Rachel Cruze?

  I never did it on the ceiling, though.

• 19:37George Kamel?

  That's a weird one.

• 19:38Rachel Cruze?

  Jonathan Taylor Thomas. He was my first one.

• 19:41George Kamel?

  Like a Tiger Beat? Like, where'd you get these from? Do you go to like?

• 19:44Rachel Cruze?

  Where were these from? They were, no, because they were rolled up.

• 19:47George Kamel?

  They have like music stores that have posters for sale?

• 19:49Rachel Cruze?

  I think so, yeah.

• 19:50George Kamel?

  I remember flipping through the posters. Remember that?

• 19:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 19:52George Kamel?

  Like Walmart had them, like the big poster sections.

• 19:55Rachel Cruze?

  A hundred percent. Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We had all, we had all the posters. Mine, I was not covered, though. I did have a bulletin board that I would tack on my CD, when I would buy a CD and you would take the cover out.

• 20:07George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 20:08Rachel Cruze?

  Open those up and like make a collage.

• 20:09George Kamel?

  That's fun.

• 20:10Rachel Cruze?

  That was super cool.

• 20:11George Kamel?

  I was cutting up skateboard magazines, like the best photo, and I'd tape them with just Scotch tape to the walls, all over.

• 20:17Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's cool, too.

• 20:18George Kamel?

  Inspiration.

• 20:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Just really embody who you want to be.

• 20:22George Kamel?

  Pretty rock and roll.

• 20:23Rachel Cruze?

  All the way around.

• 20:23George Kamel?

  That's a good one, so.

• 20:24Rachel Cruze?

  They don't do that anymore, right? Kids don't tape up, I mean, they don't like cut magazines. I mean, no, no.

• 20:29George Kamel?

  What are they doing to their walls? It's like an insane asylum in there?

• 20:33Rachel Cruze?

  My girls do hang stuff on, but that's like art that they make and stuff, but they'll tape stuff to their walls.

• 20:37George Kamel?

  I prefer JTT. No offense to their art, but.

• 20:42Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Home Improvement. He was so cute.

• 20:46George Kamel?

  Still has a crush on him. He's a grown man. He has a family, I think.

• 20:49Rachel Cruze?

  He had his little hair that did this, you know?

• 20:52George Kamel?

  That's what you have now.

• 20:53Rachel Cruze?

  He was so good.

• 20:53George Kamel?

  It's the JTT cut. He famously made the.

• 20:58Rachel Cruze?

  He did. He made the middle part real good.

• 21:00George Kamel?

  And then Jennifer Aniston after that, but.

• 21:02Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man.

• 21:04George Kamel?

  That's a good one. So today's cost for bedroom door beads, in case you want to go and jump on there, 15 bucks on Amazon.

• 21:10Rachel Cruze?

  There you go. All right, next up is the pool table.

• 21:14George Kamel?

  Gosh.

• 21:16Rachel Cruze?

  If you had a pool table, a foosball table, air hockey, I mean, if you had a table.

• 21:21George Kamel?

  Even like a game room.

• 21:23Rachel Cruze?

  Well, that's like a, yeah, that's another level.

• 21:25George Kamel?

  Did you ever have a pool table?

• 21:27Rachel Cruze?

  No, we did not have a pool table.

• 21:28George Kamel?

  We got one later in life.

• 21:30Rachel Cruze?

  You did?

• 21:30George Kamel?

  It wasn't like a nice one, if I'm gonna be honest.

• 21:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 21:32George Kamel?

  Like, my friends had one. It had like leather corners. You know what I mean?

• 21:35Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 21:37George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 21:38Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 21:38George Kamel?

  We had like the budget friendly one. It's still fun. We had it in a sun, eventually we built a sunroom.

• 21:43Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, good for you.

• 21:43George Kamel?

  Off the house.

• 21:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 21:44George Kamel?

  We put a pool table in there.

• 21:45Rachel Cruze?

  In there. So fun.

• 21:46George Kamel?

  And I had a good time with my friends in there, you know?

• 21:48Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I miss the game room. It's great.

• 21:50George Kamel?

  So, that's, do people still buy pool tables? Is it a lost art?

• 21:55Rachel Cruze?

  I think it kinda is.

• 21:57George Kamel?

  They're still expensive to me.

• 21:58Rachel Cruze?

  It's like they're like a basement thing.

• 22:00George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 22:01Rachel Cruze?

  If you have a basement.

• 22:01George Kamel?

  Not a lot of basements anymore.

• 22:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 22:04George Kamel?

  It's like houses.

• 22:04Rachel Cruze?

  Especially not in Nashville. I feel like Nashville's on a basement community. I feel like you go to like Minneapolis, basements.

• 22:10George Kamel?

  Interesting. Everyone knows Minneapolis is known for their basements.

• 22:16Rachel Cruze?

  Those are our best friends from there. They always talked about, oh, Nashville, like Tyler knows, Nashville like never has basements. And they were like, this is so weird. Every home has a basement there, is what they would say.

• 22:24George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 22:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't know.

• 22:26George Kamel?

  That's a good one. Well, here's the current price for a pool table, $670 at Dick's Sporting Goods.

• 22:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow.

• 22:32George Kamel?

  That feels expensive still.

• 22:33Rachel Cruze?

  That is a lot. I'm gonna, that and, and the, and the computer. Still high for me.

• 22:37George Kamel?

  Shocking.

• 22:38Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, next, uh, this is how, what we felt like was real wealth, George. A 64-pack of Crayola crayons with the sharpener built into the box.

• 22:47George Kamel?

  Are you kidding me? The name brand Crayola with the sharpener?

• 22:50Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, oh, man.

• 22:52George Kamel?

  Opulence.

• 22:53Rachel Cruze?

  When you had like turquoise as a color in your crayon.

• 22:56George Kamel?

  You probably could afford a Tudor at that point, too. You know what I mean? I was that kinda kid.

• 22:59Rachel Cruze?

  Just so crazy. So crazy.

• 23:01George Kamel?

  Today's price, $3.99 at Target.

• 23:04Rachel Cruze?

  There you go.

• 23:05George Kamel?

  I don't know that I ever had it.

• 23:06Rachel Cruze?

  Kids don't appreciate crayons like we, we had.

• 23:09George Kamel?

  I'm trying to think if I had the 64-pack of Crayola, like eventually if I worked my way up.

• 23:14Rachel Cruze?

  I, I don't remember. I remember gel pens being a deal.

• 23:18George Kamel?

  Did you leave that in your desk at school?

• 23:20Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I'm saying, is I think at school and stuff.

• 23:22George Kamel?

  I'd be scared of theft.

• 23:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we had gel pens that you would wrap a scrunchie around to keep them together.

• 23:28George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 23:28Rachel Cruze?

  Gel pens were.

• 23:30George Kamel?

  That was, those were premium. And the scented markers.

• 23:34Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, those were cool, too.

• 23:35George Kamel?

  You ever get into those?

• 23:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, those were cool. Just sniffing markers.

• 23:38George Kamel?

  That was the Tide Pod of our day. We didn't vape. We had scented markers.

• 23:43Rachel Cruze?

  Who knows what happened to us? That's why we are what we are today. Because of the scented markers.

• 23:47George Kamel?

  It is wild that parents were like, this is probably fine.

• 23:50Rachel Cruze?

  This is fine, just...

• 23:52George Kamel?

  I'm sure it's all natural and not just chemicals that are huffing.

• 23:55Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next up is the North Face jackets. Oh, this was like high school for me.

• 24:01George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 24:01Rachel Cruze?

  The fleece North Face jacket.

• 24:03George Kamel?

  And if you had the Uggs to go with it, and you were at a Panera on a Friday night, are you kidding me?

• 24:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's so true.

• 24:11George Kamel?

  You got the U-Pick 2 at a Panera?

• 24:12Rachel Cruze?

  That was my senior year. That was the pinnacle of senior year, was that.

• 24:17George Kamel?

  Those girls never talked to me. I'll say this.

• 24:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, George.

• 24:19George Kamel?

  I'm not sure I ever, no girl was interested in me that owned a North Face.

• 24:22Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, really?

• 24:23George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 24:24Rachel Cruze?

  Because y'all actually needed one in Boston. We didn't really need them in Nashville.

• 24:26George Kamel?

  No, we actually had real winters. So you guys wore them just as a flex?

• 24:30Rachel Cruze?

  I guess so.

• 24:31George Kamel?

  I mean, it gets cold here.

• 24:32Rachel Cruze?

  They would get gross, too, because you'd throw them in the back of your car and like... Yeah, they weren't flattering either. They're very bulky. I don't know.

• 24:40George Kamel?

  But that's come back. North Face has stuck around, much like Ugg.

• 24:43Rachel Cruze?

  The fleece jackets come back?

• 24:45George Kamel?

  Well, just the North Face brand in general has stayed strong over the years.

• 24:48Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, it has stayed strong, yeah. Now Patagonia in college, that was the fancy, fancy people.

• 24:54George Kamel?

  You matured into Patagonia over time.

• 24:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, 100%.

• 24:57George Kamel?

  Wow, so today's price for a North Face jacket, 180 bucks?

• 25:00Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, I...

• 25:01George Kamel?

  That's pricey.

• 25:03Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, this one is so true. Lunchables.

• 25:06George Kamel?

  Chef's kiss.

• 25:07Rachel Cruze?

  If you had a Lunchable, god...

• 25:10George Kamel?

  People gathered around to watch you assemble that pizza.

• 25:13Rachel Cruze?

  The pizza was the... Yes, because you could get the ham and cheese cracker one. If you had the pizza and you took that sauce out of the plastic thing and dribbled your cheese on top... I mean, it was, people watched it happen.

• 25:26George Kamel?

  You might as well have had some Tchaikovsky or Bach playing in the background while I assembled that thing.

• 25:31Rachel Cruze?

  So true. With some caviar on the side. That's how it felt. I mean, it was...

• 25:36George Kamel?

  And it tasted like nothing. It was like negative amounts of flavor.

• 25:40Rachel Cruze?

  See, but I thought they were so good.

• 25:41George Kamel?

  They were.

• 25:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 25:43George Kamel?

  But why? I think the pepperoni was carrying it.

• 25:47George Kamel?

  Like the sauce was like meh.

• 25:48Rachel Cruze?

  But parents would never buy it.

• 25:49George Kamel?

  The weird like cold cracker thing that it was on, meh.

• 25:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's true. I know, I know.

• 25:54George Kamel?

  But we loved it.

• 25:55Rachel Cruze?

  So fancy. Uh, well, today's price for a Lunchables, a dollar seventy-seven.

• 26:00George Kamel?

  I don't know, would you give your kids a Lunchable today? I think my wife is too crunchy, like based on the ingredients, like.

• 26:07Rachel Cruze?

  You know what we have, though, and we use it in the summer a lot? I don't pack them for like their everyday lunches, but in the summer, Uncrustables.

• 26:14George Kamel?

  Oh, that's like a real treat.

• 26:15Rachel Cruze?

  I will do that. Yeah, I'll throw Uncrustables in for like snacks and stuff.

• 26:19George Kamel?

  Did you ever get packed a lunch where you were like, oh, we're doing well? You know, if there was a certain snack, like for me, it was.

• 26:25Rachel Cruze?

  That's a good question.

• 26:25George Kamel?

  If there was Cape Cod chips, like a little baby bag and a, and gushers, I was like, Dunkaroos? Are you kidding me?

• 26:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh, yes, yes.

• 26:33George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 26:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it was all the individual snacks, because mom never bought individual snacks, because I think they were too expensive. You just get the big thing and you pour it in the baggies.

• 26:40George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 26:41Rachel Cruze?

  So I always had the baggie. I never had like the individual wrapped thing.

• 26:45George Kamel?

  Well, I brought a lot of Arabic food to school, because that was my mom's cooking.

• 26:48Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 26:49George Kamel?

  So nobody was like excited to see what I had, because it was like little kebabs, looked like tiny turd logs and, you know. Hummus wasn't cool back then.

• 26:58Rachel Cruze?

  Hummus was like.

• 27:00George Kamel?

  So no one was like.

• 27:01Rachel Cruze?

  She was so ahead of her time, Ms. Campbell.

• 27:02George Kamel?

  She really was.

• 27:03Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, seriously, people flocking out of Mediterranean food.

• 27:05George Kamel?

  And to be fair, nowadays, a kid would be so excited to have some good food at lunch.

• 27:10Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, that's what they want now. It's crazy. Uh, okay, next is the Juicy Couture tracksuit.

• 27:18George Kamel?

  That's a lot. That's a lot for me. This is Victoria's Secret? Is that their thing, the Juicy Couture brand?

• 27:22Rachel Cruze?

  Nope, George.

• 27:23George Kamel?

  Oh. What was the one that said juicy on the back? That was at Victoria's, right?

• 27:27Rachel Cruze?

  No, no, Ju-, uh, Victoria was pink. Okay, so I never had the Victoria's Secret pink line.

• 27:33George Kamel?

  That's the one, pink, okay.

• 27:34Rachel Cruze?

  But I did have a Juicy Couture outfit. I did. Mine was purple and Denise's was pink. We got it for Christmas one year. I'll never forget it.

• 27:43George Kamel?

  There's gotta be a photo out there, a few in Denise and the matching.

• 27:46Rachel Cruze?

  Because the zipper was even a J. On the jacket, I remember that.

• 27:49George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 27:50Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 27:50George Kamel?

  Are they still around? Are they still doing it?

• 27:52Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know.

• 27:53George Kamel?

  That was though, like even to this day, that feels if someone was wearing that, like they must have money. They don't have taste, but they got money.

• 27:58Rachel Cruze?

  They got money. Well, it's funny because the Amy Poehler on Mean Girls, the mom.

• 28:03George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 28:04Rachel Cruze?

  I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom. She had a Juicy Couture like pink suit. So like, that's what I think of. That's like the pinnacle of like, oh yeah, the Juicy Couture.

• 28:11George Kamel?

  Here's today's price on that, 220 bucks.

• 28:13Rachel Cruze?

  No!

• 28:15George Kamel?

  Yep. I won't be buying you that. Don't even think about it.

• 28:21Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 28:23George Kamel?

  What is the more on trend version of Juicy Couture now that you would actually buy?

• 28:27Rachel Cruze?

  That is actually quality and beautiful. Anything from Cozy Earth.

• 28:30George Kamel?

  Now we're talking.

• 28:31Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I would do.

• 28:32George Kamel?

  That's class.

• 28:33Rachel Cruze?

  Give me some joggers and like a nice like hoodie that maybe same color. I'd go monochromatic, not mad at the monochromatic juicy like thing that they're doing there. But give me like a gray, gray all day. And from Cozy Earth. Because like the Cozy Earth stuff, the quality is amazing and it's comfortable. Like it's actually like silky wonderful, wonderful material. The bamboo stuff for like sheets.

• 28:57George Kamel?

  Oh my goodness.

• 28:57Rachel Cruze?

  And pajamas. It's like you're just swimming through life.

• 29:00George Kamel?

  And even for the guys, great stuff.

• 29:02Rachel Cruze?

  Just feels so good.

• 29:03George Kamel?

  Like Winston loves the hoodies there and he-

• 29:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, he got the hoodies and he got the socks.

• 29:06George Kamel?

  I need to see Winston in a full monochrome.

• 29:08Rachel Cruze?

  One says Earth, the socks.

• 29:10George Kamel?

  That's what I'm getting Winston for Christmas. I'm gonna get him a Cozy Earth jumpsuit. Basically, you know, the hoodie with the matching sweats.

• 29:16Rachel Cruze?

  He genuinely would say, "Thank you. Thank you for this" because he loves Cozy Earth.

• 29:19George Kamel?

  That's what a true friend does.

• 29:21Rachel Cruze?

  It is amazing. Cozy Earth is, it's incredible, you guys. So make sure to check out their products.

• 29:24George Kamel?

  Yeah, they're giving our listeners up to 40% off with the promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout or go to cozylearth.com/smartmoney and check it out. Good stuff.

• 29:34Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next up, George, is the new backpack every school year. And if you had an LL Bean or a JanSport.

• 29:41George Kamel?

  Oh, man.

• 29:42Rachel Cruze?

  You were, you were something.

• 29:43George Kamel?

  You know what I had?

• 29:44Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 29:45George Kamel?

  Eastpack. Couldn't even afford the JanSport. Go to Walmart, get me an East- it was just like JanSport, but like Timu version.

• 29:53Rachel Cruze?

  The Timu version.

• 29:55George Kamel?

  Yeah, LL Bean was like, you were pretty like mainstream, fancy. JanSport, you were a little bit edgy.

• 30:00Rachel Cruze?

  We were a JanSport.

• 30:01George Kamel?

  A little edgier with the JanSport.

• 30:03Rachel Cruze?

  You know what else came into a trend, which is so funny? I forgot about it, but-

• 30:08Rachel Cruze?

  I'm trying to think what grade I was in. I may have been like high school, y'all. We're the side messenger bags.

• 30:14George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 30:15Rachel Cruze?

  We had like these messenger bags, y'all, and that was our backpack.

• 30:18George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 30:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I don't know why we thought they were so cool, but that was the season. I remember that.

• 30:24George Kamel?

  That was the vibe.

• 30:25Rachel Cruze?

  That was the vibe.

• 30:26George Kamel?

  My brother had an LL Bean with his initials on it, but that took him all through high school. Like, it wasn't a you get a new bag every year.

• 30:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yeah.

• 30:32George Kamel?

  That's straight privilege right there.

• 30:34Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 30:34George Kamel?

  But today, today's world, nylon LL Bean bag, forty to sixty bucks.

• 30:38Rachel Cruze?

  There you go. You know, oh, you know the other fancy one? It may be LL. It was the multiple layered one. Do you remember these? It was like, um, they would be like pink or orange, but they were like really long. Cause there would be like four compartments that went out and they were backpacks.

• 30:57George Kamel?

  I think I got minor scoliosis from the bag, though.

• 31:00Rachel Cruze?

  I believe it.

• 31:00George Kamel?

  That was diagnosed. Like, that was, it was heavy. You had all the textbooks in there?

• 31:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 31:04George Kamel?

  We should not have been carrying that.

• 31:05Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-mm. All right, last but not least, George, custom ringtones. Do you remember those? Instead of the

• 31:12George Kamel?

  How can you not? I just remember thinking like, you want to pay a dollar for a ringtone? That's luxury.

• 31:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I did it. Did you?

• 31:21George Kamel?

  Maybe once.

• 31:22Rachel Cruze?

  Uh-huh.

• 31:23George Kamel?

  But I don't know, like, the ringtone is really more for you.

• 31:25Rachel Cruze?

  I'm trying to think, but it's so true. Yeah. What was your first cell phone?

• 31:29George Kamel?

  I had the, uh, this, it was known as the smallest cell phone of all time. And I loved it. It was a little flip phone and it was literally like a two by two square.

• 31:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 31:40George Kamel?

  That was my first, I think it was, it was like a Pantec, maybe, was the brand? Something like that. How about, how about you? I may have had the Nokia brick at one point with the snake on it.

• 31:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I had Nokia, yeah, I had that one. And then I went to a flip phone with an antenna. That was so cool.

• 31:54George Kamel?

  Wow. Did you ever, did you have the first iPhone?

• 31:57Rachel Cruze?

  No, I had a BlackBerry.

• 32:01George Kamel?

  Yikes. I wouldn't tell that to anyone.

• 32:04Rachel Cruze?

  I had a BlackBerry. That's when I was in college. I had the Razr when Winston and I got engaged. I remember, I had the Razr phone. And then my next one after that was a BlackBerry Touch. Not like this, I didn't have the old school BlackBerry, but mine was the touchscreen one. It was trying to compete with the iPhone.

• 32:22George Kamel?

  How'd that work out?

• 32:23Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, not great, because then I moved to a Droid after that.

• 32:25George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 32:26Rachel Cruze?

  And then I went to an iPhone. I know. You know what? I didn't leave and cleave because Dave hated Apple products and I just stayed with that opinion.

• 32:34George Kamel?

  Like, he still kinda does.

• 32:35Rachel Cruze?

  Till I, yeah, and I stayed with that opinion till I was like 24. And I was like, why don't I just get an iPhone like everyone else? But I had the BlackBerry Touch. And it, I thought it was so cool.

• 32:46George Kamel?

  That's a good one.

• 32:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 32:47George Kamel?

  I had the first iPhone. I remember sitting in freshman year of college, zooming into a website on my phone and I was like, where in the future?

• 32:54Rachel Cruze?

  Using the touch, oh.

• 32:54George Kamel?

  This is crazy.

• 32:56Rachel Cruze?

  Crazy.

• 32:56George Kamel?

  On 3G? Took about seven minutes to load the page.

• 32:59Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 32:59George Kamel?

  It was worth it when I got there.

• 33:01Rachel Cruze?

  It was amazing.

• 33:02George Kamel?

  Here's the fun fact, you can still purchase ringtones through iTunes.

• 33:05Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 33:05George Kamel?

  For a dollar. Don't know who's buying it. I love it though. I would make custom ones in GarageBand and then I would export them and upload them to my phone. So I was doing it for free.

• 33:15Rachel Cruze?

  Good night, Mr. Technology.

• 33:16George Kamel?

  You're welcome.

• 33:16Rachel Cruze?

  That's amazing. Okay, so some takeaways, George. So listen, I think the appearance of what we think in the moment is cool and awesome. Like, it fades. Like, trends come and go. And don't ever like set your identity or your happiness or joy like on that thing. To think like, I will be accomplished if I have that juicy tracksuit, right? Or like whatever the thing is.

• 33:40George Kamel?

  Definitely that one.

• 33:40Rachel Cruze?

  Because the trends, they just change constantly. And I do feel like there's still that comparison trap that there was now then, but it's harder now. Because I do think you see way more content and images and all of that today than you did then. And I do think it's an uphill battle. It's tough.

• 33:55George Kamel?

  There was less access to debt. It was less normalized back then. And nowadays, it might look like someone has this amazing life and they're just in crippling debt up to their eyeballs.

• 34:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, it's more normalized. That's right.

• 34:06George Kamel?

  And so you gotta go like, even if you are envious, just know like you don't see the full picture all the time. So don't always be like, well, if I just had that. We don't know what they're going through. Maybe they've done really well and they paid cash for that pool. Or maybe they took out a HELOC against their home and they're stressed out every day. We don't know.

• 34:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, totally. And I would also say that we were able to practice delayed gratification more then because you did not have. Amazon, or like you could just ship something to your house that day. Right? You had to like go to the store and get what you wanted. And what they had is all of the options. You didn't have all the options in the world. So there's something there that like going back to that mindset is wise. I think there's a wiser.

• 34:44George Kamel?

  Well, there's almost like a simplicity minimalism to that. I'm just like, we have access to everything all of the time. No matter what we want, we can get it on the internet in two days.

• 34:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 34:52George Kamel?

  I think it was kind of better back then. Where you didn't know all the options. You didn't have all the access.

• 34:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, just a couple of things that you can get and that's it.

• 34:59George Kamel?

  I guess we're the old people in the room now.

• 35:00Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. I know. My girls said something the other day. Some kind of drink with like little beads in it or something. And they were like.

• 35:09George Kamel?

  Boba?

• 35:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that was it. Actually, I think it was here. They were talking about it and I didn't know what it was. Had never heard of it.

• 35:17George Kamel?

  Yeah, the little tapioca pearls in there.

• 35:19Rachel Cruze?

  Don't know what that means.

• 35:20George Kamel?

  You can also do like little mango jellies.

• 35:22Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know what you're talking about. What are you buying at the store?

• 35:25George Kamel?

  Can, but usually, uh, there's like boba tea places. You know what I mean? Like they have their own store for boba tea.

• 35:32Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, is this like the same trend? What's the trend? Aciballs?

• 35:36George Kamel?

  Acai bowls?

• 35:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 35:39George Kamel?

  I guess. I don't know.

• 35:40Rachel Cruze?

  So stupid.

• 35:40George Kamel?

  I don't think it's as much of a trend. It's just made it stateside more.

• 35:44Rachel Cruze?

  Everyone's into it though. And it's all of a sudden, you're healthy if, you know, it's like this whole thing. And I'm like, what is going on?

• 35:50George Kamel?

  Yeah, Nashville's just getting on the boba tea grind, but they're big in other places. On the boba tea grind.

• 35:55Rachel Cruze?

  Boba tea grind.

• 35:57George Kamel?

  Yeah, I added grind for fun.

• 35:59Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 35:59George Kamel?

  Yeah. Yeah, so it's perfectly sealed and you take a big giant straw and you punch it through.

• 36:04Rachel Cruze?

  And what's in the balls?

• 36:07George Kamel?

  Uh, either tapioca or like a jelly. Which is like a rice, essentially. It's like a chewy, just like a chewy rice ball almost. Or you can do jelly if you're not into that.

• 36:19Rachel Cruze?

  And you stir it together?

• 36:21George Kamel?

  Kind of. You just sort of, as you drink it, they pop through the straw. It's a really wide straw. So it just adds like some texture to your drink essentially. It's like eating candy while getting a sweet drink. Think about it that way.

• 36:32Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so it's not hea- is it healthy for you or no?

• 36:35George Kamel?

  No, I don't think anyone would consider it a health drink.

• 36:37Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 36:38George Kamel?

  There's healthier versions depending on what tea you get, how sweet. I'm not claiming to be a boba expert. Don't come at me in the comments, but.

• 36:46Rachel Cruze?

  Anyways, it's these tr- I don't know. I can't keep up with it.

• 36:49George Kamel?

  You can't.

• 36:49Rachel Cruze?

  Never heard of it.

• 36:50George Kamel?

  No one expects you to.

• 36:51Rachel Cruze?

  Never heard of it.

• 36:52George Kamel?

  No one thought Rachel would know about boba.

• 36:54Rachel Cruze?

  A kid had a Squishmello pillow.

• 36:56George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 36:57Rachel Cruze?

  When we were traveling last week, my girls were like, oh, my gosh, that's a boba pillow.

• 37:03George Kamel?

  Oh, like the actual.

• 37:05Rachel Cruze?

  I guess so. The Squishmello was the boba. It's very confusing.

• 37:09George Kamel?

  God bless the children.

• 37:11Rachel Cruze?

  That and all the initials. If we could just go back to TTYL and LOL, I would be good.

• 37:16George Kamel?

  I don't think boba's an initial. I think that's just a word.

• 37:19Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I'm just saying, go back to, I don't know, not a lot of options in life. There's just too much going on.

• 37:25George Kamel?

  I agree. Keep your simple life. It's better that way.

• 37:29Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. All right, before we spill the T L guilty as charged, what are we sipping on?

• 37:34George Kamel?

  We are sipping on a coconut mojito mocktail. It's got light canned coconut milk, some lime, ginger beer, sparkling water, and mint leaves. Comes out to $2.34.

• 37:45Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 37:45George Kamel?

  What's my rating on this? I'm gonna go with a six out of 10.

• 37:50Rachel Cruze?

  I'll go an eight out of 10.

• 37:51George Kamel?

  It kind of just tastes like a ginger ale at some point.

• 37:54Rachel Cruze?

  You gotta get the salt and then drink it, because it's like.

• 37:57George Kamel?

  That adds a little zing.

• 37:58Rachel Cruze?

  It's so good.

• 37:59George Kamel?

  All right, wait. Check out the recipe.

• 38:01Rachel Cruze?

  Eating my salt.

• 38:02George Kamel?

  Instead of boba, make the kids a little coconut mojito mocktail. They'll feel really fancy this weekend. Rachel will not be making one. The girls are into boba.

• 38:12Rachel Cruze?

  I need to re-watch this episode and just like, that's what I look like drinking a margarita at a restaurant?

• 38:19George Kamel?

  Yeah, I'm not doing it. The people deserve better than watching me lick this glass like a maniac.

• 38:23Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a question every week, and if we're guilty, we take a sip.

• 38:31George Kamel?

  Here we go. Rachel, are you guilty of buying anything on this list as an adult because it makes you feel fancy?

• 38:38Rachel Cruze?

  Ooh.

• 38:39George Kamel?

  What have I actually purchased from this list?

• 38:42Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, the lava lamp for the kids. I did, I did get those, cuz I did, that was like a, I never had one as a kid.

• 38:48George Kamel?

  Did they know about it? How did they know about it?

• 38:50Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. It's like, um, they've seen it and they asked for it. So I was like, I will get y'all a lava lamp. I think they got it for Christmas one year.

• 38:56George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 38:57Rachel Cruze?

  Um, I will say a new pack of crayons. This is all for the kids. Or new markers.

• 39:02George Kamel?

  Heroic mom.

• 39:03Rachel Cruze?

  New art supplies. New art supplies. It does kind of give you like this like warm feeling inside.

• 39:09George Kamel?

  Yes, and they're doing something very creative and active.

• 39:12Rachel Cruze?

  And you're like, oh my gosh, and new coloring books, like that kind of thing just makes me like.

• 39:16George Kamel?

  Something analog and creative feels like that we're hearkening back.

• 39:19Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, here is one that I will do for my own self, is a drink fridge.

• 39:24George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 39:25Rachel Cruze?

  And can I tell you, when you open up a fridge and there's just drinks in there, it makes me feel safe. The guy feel very like.

• 39:33George Kamel?

  You felt in danger before.

• 39:35Rachel Cruze?

  I feel safe when you open it and it's poppies and like Capri Suns for the kids. Sorry, don't get mad at me. Um, like all this stuff and you're just like, like different IPA beers even, you know what I mean? It's just like, like it's a colorful.

• 39:46George Kamel?

  Whatever the kids want.

• 39:48Rachel Cruze?

  And it just feel, it, so no, but it just, it just feels good.

• 39:53George Kamel?

  Especially if it's organized?

• 39:55Rachel Cruze?

  It's how I feel about snacks too. Like when you see like options of individual snacks, it's cuz I have a child. I didn't, we didn't have all this. But it makes me just feel good, like it does, like it gives me something.

• 40:05George Kamel?

  But then Sharon Ramsey comes over and she says, Rachel, why are you giving the kids this Capri Sun?

• 40:10Rachel Cruze?

  Rachel, Rachel.

• 40:11George Kamel?

  Eat some gluten free snacks.

• 40:12Rachel Cruze?

  I'll take you to Costco, Rachel. I'll take you shop. I'm like, it's okay. I don't need a personal shopper for my food mom. She wants to teach me salmon recipes. She thinks I'm like making Lunchables for my kids every day, you know?

• 40:23George Kamel?

  Are we far from it?

• 40:24Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 40:25George Kamel?

  The one, yeah, the one I'm guilty of, we got an out, like a garage freezer. And I truly am like, we're doing pretty well. It was like 150 bucks. It was a very cheap, deep freezer. But the fact that we have extra freezer space, because growing up, our fridge was constantly so packed that it was like Jenga. I was scared to touch it. Because if I pulled one thing out, party was over.

• 40:44Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 40:45George Kamel?

  So now having the outdoor freezer, I can breathe.

• 40:47Rachel Cruze?

  Just so good.

• 40:48George Kamel?

  Can store all my frozen gluten-free pizzas in there.

• 40:50Rachel Cruze?

  I love it. So good, George. Love it. Well, if you guys liked this episode, then you will love our episode on, "Do you have it harder than our parents?" Talking about the 80s. We're going back another decade for that episode, so make sure to check it out. And subscribe to the channel, so you guys don't miss an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.