Here’s how we’re having the most 90s “señora summer” ever: and you can too

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Everyone’s talking about having a 90’s summer – meaning screen-free, and pure, analog and bare bones. It’s mostly moms wanting their kids to go outside more and watch less TV, but there are also ways for you to get your own 90’s summer – we call it the señora summer.

What is the 90’s señora summer? A señora summer is the art of letting the season be easy on purpose. It means getting your business handled in the cool of the morning so the afternoon can belong to a Netflix show, a cold glass of ice tea or iced yerba mate sweating on the table, and a phone call with no clear end. It’s papayas or steak and cheese for lunch because it’s too hot to cook, a beach trip on a random Tuesday after work because the weekend can wait, and a kitchen left a little undone overnight because it won’t haunt you.

@jaymendoza

Drinking water in the summertime meant finding the nearest water hose 😂😂 #backintheday #90s #summer

♬ original sound – Jay Mendoza

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  Having a señora summer will make you be more calm, happy, well, and relajada. Here is how you can have your own Señora summer:

1. Have all of the teas

Not the wellness kind in a tin with a quote on it. The hardscore señora teas: Boldo, Agua de Jamaica. The aguita your tía kept in the cupboard for whatever ailed you — manzanilla for a bad stomach, a tea for nerves, a tea for sleep, a tea she swore by for reasons no one ever questioned. The point isn’t the tea. It’s having a remedy on hand for everything and the quiet confidence that comes with it. If you have a cabinet full of hierbas you get extra points.

 

2. Stop hurrying 

Mornings were for getting things done before the heat made it pointless — the errands, the cooking, the one big task. Afternoons belonged to the novela and the long phone cord stretched down the hallway for a conversation with a comadre that had no clear beginning or end. The day had structure, but it never felt rushed. You are at the office working hard during the day, Now, you earned the slow part by handling business early. Log off and stop hurrying. Your life is gonna pass you by way too quickly if you do.

 

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3. A relajarce

If you work long hours, block off your mornings or your afternoons to do nothing on purpose — watch TV, bake a pie, sit. If you’re home with kids, build in small pockets where you get to think about nothing important. Just literally sit somewhere and take in  your surroundings. The señoras understood rest was normal, and they took it without guilt or explanation.

4. Eat for the summer

Feel like cheese and sardines for lunch? Do it, who cares. When it got too hot, señoras kept the midday meal simple and light — fruit, cheese, bread, a little salami, some jam, whatever didn’t require standing over a stove. Not every meal has to be a production. Some of the best ones are the ones you assembled in four minutes and ate standing at the counter. Girl dinner? Go for it.

5. Let the house go 

The dishes in the sink will not haunt you (unless they stink!). The kitchen you didn’t wipe down before bed will still be there in the morning, and you can get to it then. Let it go sometimes — a house that’s a little undone in July is the sign of a summer being lived, not neglected. You’ll get back on track. You always do.

6. Watch all of the 90’s movies 

Sometimes, you just have to sit down and watch Practical Magic, or Father of the Bride. Why? Because you want to set the 90’s vibe. Even better, put your kids on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Strawberry Shortcake. Your days will be much calmer.

7. Find a telenovela (or the equivalent)

I’ll sometimes pull up old Chilean telenovelas I loved in the ’90s on YouTube and let them run in the background like company. If you don’t have a show with that kind of hold on you, pick something with a lot of seasons and commit — Bridgerton, Mindhunter, whatever — and watch it like you’re the tía who’s home all summer with nowhere to be. The genre matters less than the surrender.

8. Go to the playa just because

Why wait for the weekend? Load up the kids, make some sandwiches, and get out of the city on a Tuesday. The fun doesn’t have to wait for Saturday to be allowed. Some of the best beach days are the ones nobody planned, on a day that wasn’t supposed to be special.

9. Start a new routine

Pick up something you’ve let slide. Want back on the yoga train? Fifteen minutes every morning is enough to count. Start walking around the block in the evening when it cools off. It doesn’t have to be ambitious — it just has to be a small thing that makes this particular summer feel like its own, distinct from all the others. I have started my herbalism courses again, and there is nothing more satisfying than learning something new.

10. Stop taking life so seriously

Things happen. Somewhere along the way we started treating every small thing like it had enormous stakes, investing in all of it, bracing for all of it. Let some of it go. A hundred years ago there were señoras just like you enjoying their summer, and a hundred years from now there will be señoras enjoying theirs, wondering what you did for fun. Give them something good to imagine. Relax more.

The 90’s señora summer isn’t really about the ’90s, and it isn’t about doing less for the sake of doing less. It’s about remembering that a summer doesn’t have to be optimized to be good . The señoras figured this out generations ago, without an app or a word for it. All you have to do is follow their lead and let the summer be easy.