Every generation has fads and items that almost all households had at some point. Some were gadgets, some household appliances, and some specific brands or designs that everyone would recognise. We’re taking a look back at some of the things that many households had in them when we grew up – how many of these do you remember?
13. Carriage Clocks
These were handy as you could glance to the nearest shelf and see the time, and they certainly had a style to them.
Back in the 80s, surely no home was complete without a carriage clock on the front room shelf!
12. Brass Ornaments
They could come in any size and shape and be based on whatever you particularly liked, but brass ornaments were everywhere in the 80s.
They looked like gold but were significantly cheaper, and meant everyone could make their home somewhere Del Boy would be proud of!
11. Animal Ornaments
While they’re still widely available nowadays, back in the 80s it seemed you couldn’t visit anyone’s house without seeing a few shelves full of animal ornaments.
Whether they were cats, birds, horse, jungle animals or whatever, just about everyone had a few of these quaint porcelain figurines.
10. Filofax
Every home had one of these to be extra organised. They stored names, addresses and phone numbers. They could even have stored e-mail addresses if people had actually had one!
Back when we were kids, we obviously had no idea what filofaxes were actually for, but it was always fun to grab one and pretend to be an important businessperson.
9. Generic Kettles
These days kettles come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours and even glass ones are becoming very popular.
Back in the day, they were all very angular and looked similar, and more often than not had some kind of beige theme going on!
8. Electric Carving Knife
These are one of those items that everyone had in their home when they were growing up, yet we almost never see them these days.
Back in the 80s electric carving knives seemed so powerful, but by today’s standards most of them look like they wouldn’t cut through a banana!
7. Microwave Ovens
Nowadays, we only refer to them as microwaves (or ‘meecro-wah-vays’ if you’re Nigella Lawson), but back when they were a new thing we would give them the fully-fledged title of microwave ovens.
These have become so commonplace that we take them for granted today, but it’s hard to convey how revolutionary and futuristic they once seemed!
6. Eternal Beau
One of the most popular designs at the time, some older people still have a cupboard full of these sets that only come out on special occasions.
Matching cup and saucer sets seemed so important back in the old days; does anyone bother with them anymore?
5. Upright Bagged Hoovers
So many different vacuum cleaners are on the market now, it used to be that people referred to any vacuum as a “Hoover” regardless of the brand, but that’s barely the case anymore.
And who remembers having to empty the bags and replace them, then inevitably getting thick, grey dust all over the place?
4. VHS Cassettes
In these days of online streaming TV, with literally thousands of movies and shows at our fingertips, it’s hard to convey how important videotapes were back in the old days.
Everyone had a stack of these somewhere – some pre-recorded, some blank ones that you could record your own programmes on and keep until your big brother “accidentally” recorded over them!
3. Record And Cassette Sound Systems
Again, in the days of streaming music services, it’s easy to forget how important our old music systems used to be. The best old-school hi-fis enabled us to play both vinyl and music cassettes, along with a radio tuner to boot.
They were huge, but looked great in any living room! The wealthier would even have one with a CD Player in!
2. Radio Alarm Clocks
Every home had one of these, they are one of those items that just look instantly like they belong in the 1980s! Handy as an alarm clock, and let you wake up to your favourite radio station.
Again, now that everyone has an alarm clock on their phones, these classic radio clocks seem to have fallen out of favour.
1. Selection of Board Games
Board games haven’t exactly gone away, but they don’t seem quite so prominent these days as they were back in the 80s.
This is largely because, back in the 80s, it was mostly just the kids who were into computer and video games, not the parents as well!