Every era has its household hallmarks, and the 80s were certainly no different. Long before smartphones and streaming took over, daily life had its own set of rules that families considered essential – many of which have since faded into nostalgia.
Today, we’re taking a look at 7 household habits from the era that practically no one does anymore, from the rituals that defined home life to the little customs that make the decade so unmistakably 80s.
© Getty ImagesAnswering machines screened your calls for you
Letting answering machines handle your calls
Before the age of voicemail, answering machines did all the heavy lifting. If the phone rang while you were deep in an episode of Cheers, you could let the machine handle it and decide later whether it was worth picking up. Though we definitely don’t miss swapping out those cassettes every time they filled up…
© Getty ImagesThere was no catch-up TV if you missed an episode...
Watching TV on the network’s schedule
Prime time was serious – if you missed an episode of Dallas, there was no bingeing it in your free time on catch-up TV. Being at the mercy of the network had kids up and awake on Saturday morning, ready to watch cartoons – and bonus points for the towering stack of TV guides on the table, which were somehow less annoying than juggling a dozen streaming subscriptions today…
© Getty ImagesPicking up the phone was always a gamble
Answering the phone without caller ID
Was it a friend? Telemarketer? A wrong number? You had no idea until you picked up the phone, making every call a heart-palpitating gamble. Though no matter who it ended up being, you didn’t have an ounce of privacy unless you stretched the phone cord to its limits (and probably knocked the base off the kitchen counter in the process).
© Getty ImagesIt was normal for kids to be out the whole day
Kids roaming all day with no tracking
No hourly check-ins over text or social media, just a promise that you’d be home at a certain time (probably when hunger struck). Kids were trusted to be street smart, often disappearing on a Sunday to a friend’s house or local park and not reappearing until sunset. Hearing nothing all day wasn’t a cause for panic, it was just the norm.
© Getty ImagesBefore the notes app, everything was jotted down by hand
Handwriting everything
From letters and notes to grocery lists and random reminders, handwriting was how you recorded just about anything. Unless you owned a typewriter – or, if you were really lucky, a computer – everything was written by hand, and there was certainly no notes app to jot down a quick phone number or reminder to pick up milk.
© Getty ImagesClean coils were essential to fridges and freezers running properly
Vacuuming appliance coils
Crawling behind your fridge or freezer armed with a vacuum to clean out dust and pet hair from its coils used to be an essential task (that no one would ever volunteer for). Clean coils meant your devices kept humming along happily – thankfully nowadays, it takes more than a bit of dust to send a fridge into meltdown.
© Getty ImagesRewinding VHS tapes was considered good practice
Rewinding VHS tapes
Though you may be longing for bed after staying up late to watch a VHS of Flashdance before it went back to Blockbuster, rewinding your tape before returning was imperative or you’d be chancing a nasty fine. As we all used to say – be kind, rewind!
