27 : 9 Things I’m Doing to Bring Back a 90’s-Inspired Summer

We are having a 90s summer over here and I am so excited about it. In this episode I'm sharing 9 specific things I’m doing. I'm also getting into why doing fun things with your kids will always feel like a lot of work, and why that can't be the reason we don't do them.

LINK TO HIGHLIGHTS KIDS SUBSCRIPTION IN SHOW NOTES 

LINK TO 1000 HOURS OUTSIDE PRINTABLE PAGES LANDING PAGE 

LINK TO POLAROID CAMERA 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I have seen a major trend lately where people are craving the 90s, myself included. I see moms of young kids talk more and more about what they call analog activities, which just means screen-free or hands-on activities. And I'm constantly seeing post after post of swipe carousels or Instagram reels with pictures and videos from something that resembles the 90s and how all of us miss what life felt like back then. And I'm going to share a direct quote to start off this episode. This is a post from someone on Instagram. Her name is Allie Boss. I don't personally follow her, but this came up as a suggested post because they know us, you know, the algorithms know us better than we know ourselves. And this hit home for me so hard. So I'm going to lead this episode with word for word what her swipe post said. And I know that it's going to resonate with you as well. This is what it says. Maybe the reason everyone's nostalgic is because something important was lost. We advanced in technology and regressed in humanity. We can reach anyone instantly, yet people have never felt more alone. We traded front porch sunsets for scrolling. The world became more connected online and more disconnected in real life. We upgraded our devices and downgraded our piece. Maybe people don't miss the decade. Maybe they miss how life felt like back then. Life used to happen around kitchen tables, not notifications. The faster the world moves, the more people crave slowing down. Maybe nostalgia is just the heart remembering what mattered. That's the end of her post. And that hit me so hard. So in today's episode, I'm focusing on nine things that we are doing this summer to bring the 90s back. I'm your host, Carly Kaikendal, and this is The Daily Penny, the podcast about building sickening consistency through everyday habits. Being occasionally great does not get you very far, but being consistently good is what moves the needle forward. Every time you follow through for a workout, a meal in motherhood, in your finances, in your business, or in your life, you're putting another penny in the jar of the person you want to become. One penny doesn't feel like much, but those daily deposits compound over time. This show is about fitness, nutrition, motherhood, money, business, and the systems that actually hold your life together in seasons when motivation is gone. Whether you're building habits, rebuilding confidence, or just simply trying not to quit, you're in the right place. Let's add another penny in the jar. Number one is magazine subscriptions. So does anyone listening remember Highlights Kids magazines? Because my mom subscribed us to those magazines when I was little and I loved getting them. And I think it's just so special when a kid can get excited and kind of anticipate a delivery that's just for them. Well, just in the past few weeks, I actually subscribed Rafe, my four-year-old, to get Highlights Kids magazines. It was $48 for a year subscription. And so now every month he will get a Highlights magazine and it's 48 pages. So within those pages, they have everything from coloring pages to stories to fun craft ideas that you can do at home. And I also saw on the website when it kind of gave you an inside look into the magazine, because obviously this thing has evolved since the 90s. I'm sure it's way better and includes a lot more now. But I saw where they also include simple recipes that you can try and include your kid in on. And Rafe loves books, he loves them so much. And so I know he will love this too. And the website said it takes four to six weeks for the first monthly magazine to arrive. So we haven't gotten one yet, but I'm so excited because I know that he's absolutely going to love it. And for myself, I used to be so obsessed with magazines. Like first, it was 17 magazine, which I know that every single millennial woman listening to this remembers 17 magazine. And then it went into Teen People magazine, and then I think there was a Teen Vogue and then Cosmo Girl magazine. And I couldn't remember this one, so I had to look it up. But there was also this magazine called YM, which I had no idea stood for young and modern. I loved that magazine too. Really anything to do with like fashion and celebrities, I was so into. And then later on in high school, it was more people magazine, cosmopolitan, glamour, Marie Claire, once again, things that have to do with fashion and celebrities. And I'm trying to remember if magazines were still relevant or if they were even a thing by the time I entered college. It's really hard for me to remember because I started college in 2010. And so Instagram, it wasn't really super popularized until about 2011, or at least it wasn't for me. Like that's the first year I joined Instagram was 2011. But I feel like after Instagram came onto the scene, we all just spent so much time on social media apps instead of sitting down and flipping through a magazine. Because at that point, you know, we had all come and gone through the MySpace phase, and then it was Facebook, and now it's then it was Facebook and Instagram. So we just had so many apps pulling in our attention, and I just feel like no one started looking at magazines anymore after that time. But I'm trying to remember like, were we even still looking at magazines when I was in college? I don't remember, but I feel like early on into college, I was personally still into magazines, even if they were fading out. So growing up, I was really, really into fashion. I actually don't even have this in my episode notes, but something just came to mind. So I won best dressed for a senior superlative in high school. And if you like now looking back on photos of me in high school, I'm like, how in the world did I win best dressed? But maybe we were all looking whack like I was back then, and I just was a you semi-unique kind of whack. I don't know. But I won senior superlative of best dressed, and I still remember this is how into creating outfits I was. I had a log of what I wore to school every day, and I did that to make sure that I was like recreating my outfits in a different way, and I wasn't like repeating the same things over and over. And it's hilarious because now I will literally wear the exact same thing every single day. But back then it was like a sin for me to repeat the outfit in the exact same way. So I would like accessorize differently or like add a belt or something to make the outfit different. But I specifically remember writing down head to toe what I wore to school on this notebook, and I would just make sure, okay, like when's the last time I repeated this outfit? If it was in the past two months, absolutely not, it will not get repeated again, which is so funny to me now. So I was very into fashion growing up, and in the two most popular magazines that I remember, more into, I want to say like it was high school. I don't know if I was mature enough for these kind of magazines in high school, but I do remember them in college, and obviously that's Vogue and then Harper's Bazaar. Those are the two most popular fashion magazines that I remember. And then I also remember, I feel like I was flipping through L magazine a lot as well, but I could sit and flip those magazines forever and never get sick of them. And so I have subscribed myself to a magazine again. I subscribe to Harper's Bizarre magazine, and I'm laughing at this because I literally wear an oversized t-shirt and biker shorts and chunky sneakers almost seven days a week at this point. However, I am, you know, this is a 90s summer. We're taking ourselves back, and maybe it will inspire me because I'm just envisioning myself. Once again, this is best case scenario, right? I'm envisioning myself sitting on our back patio and flipping through this magazine while my boys play outside, or maybe on a day when my husband is able to come to the pool with us and I can possibly clock out for a few minutes and kind of just let him fight for his life with the kids like I do when I take the boys to the pool during the week by myself. But I'm just excited to potentially flip through a magazine more this summer. And like I said, specifically fashion. Like I know I mentioned that growing up I was really into fashion and then also in college and early adulthood, and I still love getting dressed up for church or for date night, but I also feel like in motherhood, I've gone through seasons of my default setting kind of being like a frumpy house troll, if I'm being totally honest. And I don't want that to be my default setting. So, but don't expect much from me. Like, don't hold me to this, okay? I'm just thinking out loud and just know that I ordered myself a magazine. And the thing is, is that like the predictable parts of my weekdays are my workout, going on an outdoor walk with the kids and our dog, going to the playground and now going to the pool. And as much as I would love to be the mom who looks like on point with like an athleisurely cute outfit or just like looking put together all the time, I'm lately I'm just kind of in a frumpy mom look with my oversized tee and my biker shorts, and that's where I'm at right now. So my hopes are that flipping through this fashion magazine like Harper's Bazaar will maybe kind of reignite that desire for fashion again, or at least it will be something obviously like analog to keep me off my phone and help me decompress. And like I said, I'm not telling you to expect anything different from me, but don't you dare hold me to that. But I am saying that I'm just excited to dive into fashion again, even if it's just consuming it through the magazine that I'm now subscribed to. And my first first monthly subscription hasn't arrived yet. And just like Rafe's Highlights magazine subscription, it said that it's gonna take four to six weeks for the first monthly delivery, which I don't understand why. But anyway, I'm looking forward to that so much. So that was number one is magazine subscriptions. Number two is our default setting being outside, and I'm talking eating breakfast outside some days, going outside immediately after breakfast, which we already do, eating lunch outside sometimes, playing outside after the boys' nap each day. And I mentioned this on another podcast episode, but we are doing the 1,000 hours outside challenge, and this is what has already pushed me to having outside be our default setting. And prior to the challenge, I really didn't realize how much time we were spending inside. Like it just didn't occur to me like, wow, why are we not outside today? It's absolutely beautiful. And like, yeah, we would get outside at some point during the day, but it was never for a long period of time. And it was never like, like I said, a default setting. It was kind of just like, oh, we need should probably get outside and get some sunlight on our face. But now it's kind of crazy to me how much time we spend outside. And I have no doubt we will hit the 1000 hours before this year is up. And I know that like we're already five months into this year, I get it. But if you're interested in doing this challenge with your kids, they have free printouts on 1000hoursoutside.com. And I will link to that website in the show notes in case you want to check it out. And they have like all these different patterns, but then they also have just like the original tracker, which are just these little bitty tiny squares. So even though we're five months into the year, if you just wanted to start tracking your hours outside, you could just download that original tracker that's easy to kind of calculate what your hours are at versus it being this very intricate um design. So that was number two, which is outside being our default setting. Number three is disposable cameras slash Polaroid cameras. First off, the original thing that I wrote down for number three was just a disposable camera. But do y'all want to know how much those things cost these days? I was shook to my core. Like I had to ask AI because I went to buy a bulk pack of disposable cameras on Amazon and I said, um, excuse me, what what in the world? So here's the AI recap of what I asked it. It said disposable cameras in the 1990s typically cost around three to five dollars each, whereas in 2026, they average $15 to $25 each for one disposable camera. So when you factor in the cost of then developing the film, the overall experience has surged in price from about $10 total in the 90s to around $30 to $40 today. Can y'all believe that? So, needless to say, I expanded this idea to include a Polaroid camera and specifically a kids-friendly Polaroid camera. I remember a while back, my friend Carly Douglas, which I know many of you follow her on social media, she posted on her stories that she got her son a little Polaroid camera and that he adds the pictures that he took he takes to his own little album. And I just thought that was so sweet. And so I've been meaning to get Rafe one since I saw her post about that. And I figured our 90s inspired summer is the perfect time to take action on that. So the camera that I ordered, it was only $38 on Amazon, and it comes with the instant film. It comes with a few rolls of that. And then to restock on that film, it's super cheap too. And I know Rafe, I haven't told him that he's getting it yet. It gets here tomorrow, and I know that he's gonna have so much fun with this, and I can't wait to see the things that he takes pictures of. I think it's gonna be so funny just to see where his interest falls. And so that's number three, which is a Polaroid camera. Number four is just going on more walks, and we already do this six to seven days a week, but I want to do it even more. I thought about like a way that we could add a walk in is just doing a quick maybe 15-minute walk as a family after dinner, some nights during the week, or maybe on the weekends, and where we just do like a quick loop around our street and then the street that runs parallel to ours. And on this walk, Rafe can walk beside us versus being in the stroller. So that can be something special for just him to do with mom and dad. And then Vance just stays in the stroller. Otherwise, if we let Vance walk, the 15-minute walk would take at least an hour and we would end up holding him. And I just don't prefer to do that. So number four is to go on even more walks than we already do. So once again, kind of falling into that, just being outdoors in that category as well. Number five is library cards, and this is actually something that we've had for two years since we moved to the city that we live in now. So, this the area that we live in, it's a walkable community, and we have sidewalks from our street all the way to the library, and we were really good about going there with Rafe the first summer that we lived here, and I was pregnant with Vance that summer. But then also last summer, I got into the Actar series. A-C-O-T-A-R. I feel like such a loser saying it that way, but that's what everyone calls it. But it's the A Court Thorns and Roses series, which this is not in my episode notes either, but I have totally fallen off on that series. I got so bored with it. I think I got to book number five and I got like 30% of the way through. And I just asked myself, I'm like, why am I still reading this? I'm not even into this anymore. And so I just don't care about it. I stopped reading it. I that is not like me. I can't stand stopping a book or a series before finishing it. I just could not, I'm so over it. I just could not finish it. So I stopped. Anyway, those books were newer, and so the library didn't have them. And so I just kind of started buying things on Amazon. And so, because of that, because those books are so long and there were quite a few in the series so far, I just stopped going to the library because I was just buying those books, and that took up all of my reading last year, really. And then about two weeks before Eric and I left for our KaBo trip, I ordered a bunch of books on uh Amazon to read while we were gone, and I spent $80 and I will never read those books again. And it didn't even occur to me, like, hey, you have a library card, go to the library, because it just hasn't been in the forefront of my mind. And so now obviously there are new books that will come out that I will want to read, and like it'll be 100% worth it for me to buy those books. But for an entire year, when we first got our library cards, I didn't buy a single book. And I found some really great reads at our library, even though they are older books. And I just remember growing up and my mom took us to the library all the time. And then I would go to the library at school as well. And you know how like a certain smell can take you back to a certain point in time? Like as soon as you smell that, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm transported back in time. Well, the library does that for me. And so, like, as soon as I step foot in a library, I feel like I'm in the 90s again. I swear. And it just also feels like just wholesome to me, like I'm supporting my community, even though like I don't even pay to go to the library. I guess my taxpayer dollars pay for it. But it's just a way to, you know, feel like a little bit more involved in our community. So that was number five, which is library cards. Number six is sprinklers and popsicles in the backyard. And this one is pretty simple. And you might even be thinking, okay, like I already do that in 2026. So how is this flashing us back to the 90s? But this is how I envisioned it, okay? So I'm outside with my kids, I'm playing with them some, obviously, but I also want to, you know, maybe read a book or flip through my magazine that's gonna be coming coming in the mail. And then Rafe will have his little Polaroid camera, and Vance's gonna be running through the sprinklers. Now I get it, like this is so picturesque, and is it going to actually play out this way? Who knows? But I just have this vision in my mind, and then you know, me getting the kids popsicles and us sitting at their little picnic table in the backyard and not a smartphone in sight. Like that is what takes me back to the 90s. And obviously, there will be times where I'm gonna be out there and I'm gonna be using my phone some. I'm not trying to sound holier than thou. Like I never use my phone around my kids because that's not me. I do use it around my kids. But what I am saying is that there will be 100% intentionality around me trying to create that exact scenario that I just played out for you. And also I already take Sunday and Thursday, like Thursday morning through Friday morning off of all social media apps. So I really do see that as a common theme on those days. And I can't wait. So that was number six. Number seven is picnics. And when I say picnic, I personally don't envision like a blanket in the grass in a park and bringing lunch in a wicker basket. Like that is that's not what I'm meaning when I say picnic. And maybe that's a reality for you, but with the ages of my kids, that sounds miserable. Like I'm just being honest, that sounds miserable. Like I need a fence and I need room for them to roam without me having to chase them everywhere. So when I say picnic, my version is really, I just mean like more meals outside in our backyard on their little picnic table. And when I think about the 90s, I can take myself back to this right now. So I'm just envisioning myself. I'm in Ranburn, Alabama, at my mama and papa's house. If y'all know what a mama and papa is, y'all, you did not have the childhood that I had. Mama and papa, their house was where I grew up. Okay. So we would spend the whole day swimming at their pool, and then we would go outside. We would sit under their big shade tree with all my aunts and uncles who lived in town and all my cousins, and we're just sitting there eating watermelon together. And I can put myself there right now. Like that is a core memory for me. And my mom is the youngest of eight kids, and all of them had multiple kids, and so I just have a million cousins. And so all of my summers from the time I was born until I was nine years old, we moved to Georgia when I was nine, but all of my summers until nine years old were that exact scenario. I would swim with my cousins, and then we would eat something under the shade tree at mama and pawpa's house. So number seven was picnics, but really it's kind of just like eating some more meals outside. Number eight is going to the creek. Now, this is another flashback to Rainburn, Alabama, and something I did with my cousins. So, once again, mama and pawpaw, they owned a ton of land. I have no idea how many acres they lived on, but on their land was this big creek that me and my cousins would all go swimming in. And it was a decent walk from their house. But my pawpaw, he would take us down there whenever we wanted to go. And now where Eric and I live, we have the Cahaba River that runs through our town, and there's parts of it that are really slow moving and they're shallow, like you would envision a little creek. And so I also mentioned to you already that like we live in a walkable community. So this is another thing that we can get to, and it's not even not even a quarter mile from our front door down to where like this entrance to the creek is. And I absolutely love where we live. I just want to put an insert there. We made such a good decision moving to this town. And when it comes to the creek, so Eric was really good about taking Rafe down there to kind of wade through the water and play in the creek a few times last summer. And now that's something that I want us to do with both kids. Vance was just too tiny last summer for that to even make sense for me to do with him. But I also want to just insert this here. No matter what you do with your kids, it's gonna be work. It's going to feel inconvenient. It's always going to feel like that when they are little like this. But you know what? Like our parents and grandparents probably felt the same way when we were growing up. Yet we all have so many core memories with them from our childhood where they would take us and do things like that. I mean, I remember my pawpaw, he would literally by himself, by the way, he would take, there was like over 10 of us grandkids that he would take there by himself down to the creek for us to swim, and he would do it like it was nothing. And he was old. And here I am getting overwhelmed with my two kids. Like, I just don't want to be like that. So there will always be meltdowns. There will always be times where you say, was this even worth it? There will be times where you say, okay, we tried. It was a colossal failure. Well, we're gonna try again another day. But just don't let it keep you inside. Don't let it keep you from doing fun things and taking the inconvenient route because it will always feel inconvenient. But so what? Like when I look back on being in the thick, the thick of parenting, it will be moments like this where we made memories for them, and that's what they're gonna think about when they look back, you know. So this summer I'm going to embrace the inconvenience. I'm already doing that with I'm about to transition you into number nine. I'm already embracing the inconvenience this week specifically. And one of those ways is going to include taking my kids to the creek this summer. So, number nine, the way that I'm embracing inconvenience the most recently is with a community pool membership. So I feel like I've been talking about the pool a lot lately. So maybe you've caught on to that like in my stories. But we have a city pool and you can buy a membership to it if you live like within the city limits. And this is our first summer getting the membership, but it's our third summer living here. And I'm kicking myself for not doing this the two summers prior because Wraith is an absolute heaven at the pool. And I mean heaven. He he cannot control his excitement to the point where I have to tell him, I'm like, hey, buddy, um, you're you're screaming right now. Like I know you're excited, but you're screaming at the top of your lungs, and I mean he's just so excited. And at the time of me recording this episode right now, we have gone four days in a row. And honestly, we will probably make it six days in a row if the weather can hold up this weekend. And going to the pool in general, it just absolutely reminds me of the 90s because once again, here I am talking about them a third time. My mama and papa, they had a pool um in their yard when we were growing up. And so every summer was spent there with my cousins. We would go to the pool every day. That's just what we did. And I hope that when my kids get older, they have those same memories. It's just such an easy way to just get their energy out, and it buys me a big block of entertainment that is not within the four walls of our house or even in our backyard, you know? But I will admit, it is tough trying to manage both of my kids around water by myself because like Rafe can't be trusted to swim on his own yet. And right now, Vance hates a life vest, he hates a puddle jumper, he hates a little float that he sits in, he hates it all. So I'm holding him the entire time he's in the water, or I'm chasing him around when he's outside of the water. It's just a ton of work. But here I am taking them four days in a row because it's still worth it to me. I'm forcing it right now for Vance. Rafe loves it, but I'm forcing Vance to become a pool kid because I just know, or at least I'm hoping, that it will get easier with time. And so I just imagine my boys growing up in this community and us just spending so much time at the pool. Like, there's already two people that I've ran into at the pool in the past four days that I just know through other ways I've met them outside, um, just in different things around the area. And one of them is an older mom. Like she has some grown kids, and then her youngest are like later on into high school. And she said, You're gonna absolutely love living here because I raised my kids at this pool. She said, I promise this pool is gonna be your saving grace in the summer. And like I said, we've only been home one week since the pool has been opened and we've gone four days. So I already believe that, and I'm honestly really excited about it. So, to recap all nine things we are doing this summer for our 90s inspired summer are number one magazine subscriptions, two, having outside be our default setting, three, a polary camera for rave, four more walks, five library cards, six sprinklers and popsicles in the backyard, seven picnics, eight going to the creek, and nine going to the community pool. That's all for today. Feel free to hijack my list of ideas and message me on Instagram if you have some good ideas of your own that you've thought about. And I feel like we are all living the same lives in some way or another. Like even if you don't have little kids like I do, I still see the trend towards just missing the 90s everywhere that I look. So if you love this episode, consider sharing this link with a friend or leaving a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next time, keep adding another penny in the jar.