10 Things I’m Loving Right Now

I recently discovered @things.i.bought.and.liked on Instagram, and it’s one of the best things to happen to my feed. If you love to share random ‘life-changing’ product recommendations with your girlfriends, this account will be right up your street; and her captions are *chef’s kiss* so good. About a giant tub of powdered peanut butter: “I have fallen in love with this jug of chocolate peanut butter powder. What can do you with it? What CAN’T you do with it? Sprinkle it in your bath water. Store a few grams in a small vile and sneak off to the bathroom to have some if you sense no one else wants to order dessert. Do the LeBron chalk toss in the yard with your kids. The possibilities are endless. When the rhinoceros testosterone creatine powder sized tub came I was concerned I would never get through it before it went bad in 15 years. Now I am wondering if I need it on subscribe and save.” Pure poetry, my friends.

Browsing through @things.i.bought.and.liked‘s finds reminded me of all the everyday products I currently use/love that don’t fall under the ‘style’ or ‘beauty’ categories I typically blog about, but are worth sharing. Like the fabric softener that makes our clothes smell like they went through laundry service at a fancy hotel; the grocery store iced coffee supplies I keep stockpiled in the fridge so I’m tolerable to be around in the morning; or the micro-fine, felt-tipped pens I found in a colorful pack of 10 that makes planning my day in my Filofax way more fun.

I went through my recent Amazon orders and did a mental rundown of my weekly routines to round up 10 awesomely random products I’m loving right now, and I present them to you here in no particular order.

(As always, a disclosure: this list contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase from my recommendations.)

• Ms. Meyers laundry detergent and fabric softener have been my go-to for years, but the ‘basil’ fragrance bumped lavender to second place and took the top spot as my new favorite. The crisp, clean scent reminds me of the beachside Ritz Carlton where we stayed for our honeymoon, and it makes me so happy to catch whiffs of it in our clothes and linens.

• I bought a pack of reusable Smart Sheep Wool Dryer Balls as an alternative to disposable dryer sheets, and they’re great! They remove static, reduce drying time, and soften fabrics as they tumble through the load. The company claims you can use them over a thousand times; ours still look brand new after almost a year of regular use.

• Did you know Amazon sells a 1/2-gallon bottle of Cholula hot sauce with a pump? This is perhaps my best Prime purchase of all time.

• In an effort to reduce excessive plastic in my beauty routine, I swapped bottled body washes for Rafa Natural coconut oil bar soap in the shower. I bought some natural fiber ‘Soap Sacks‘ for them, which are basically little washcloth pockets for bar soap that work up a lovely lather and gently exfoliate your skin. These come in a pack of 5, so you can toss ’em in the wash and always have a fresh one on-hand.

• The majority of our household cleaning products are mild/non-toxic, but one area I’m willing to douse in ALL the chemicals is the bathroom. Another IG favorite, @whatkindfinds, recently raved about the Clorox + Tilex Mold and Mildew Remover in her stories with the most satisfying demonstration of it annihilating mildew in her shower with zero scrubbing. I screenshot it and grabbed a bottle later that week, and it’s just as good as she claimed. But crack a window when you use this stuff and rinse it well after 5 minutes, or risk gassing yourself in your own bathroom. (At least you’ll come-to in a sparkling, mildew-free shower with an unscathed manicure.)

• I bought the Conair Extreme Steam Handheld Fabric Steamer for a photo shoot a few months ago, and it was $30 well spent; I use it several times a week to quickly remove wrinkles from my clothes, and find it’s more efficient than an iron on synthetic fabrics. (And I don’t have to worry about scorch marks.)

• I’m a caffeine lightweight — too much java makes me scatter-brained and jittery — but I need a little boost in the AM. Right now, my perfect combo is from the grocery store, and I have a dedicated shelf in the fridge for my daily fix: I pour unsweetened Starbucks Blonde Roast Iced Coffee over ice in a 24-oz. Corkcicle insulated tumbler, then add a splash of Chameleon Mocha Cold Brew (it’s too high-octane for me to drink on its own) with about a tablespoon of Coffee Mate Natural Bliss Honey Cream Coffee Creamer. Altogether, it’s less than 30 calories with just 3 grams of sugar, and it tastes like chocolate milk.

• Save the turtles and getchew some reusable stainless steel drinking straws! I use these for my aforementioned iced coffee every morning and they’re perfect for tumblers and large cups. I’m trying to get in the habit of politely declining straws in the drive-thru and keeping one or two of these in my car/bag instead. This set comes with a cleaning brush, and you can toss them in the dishwasher to sanitize.

• I kicked off the year with a goal to pack breakfast/lunch and healthy snacks for work, and found a freezable lunch bag that help keep food cold and fresh well into the afternoon. Just pop it in the freezer overnight, then pack it in the morning and you’re good to go. I like to pack all my food in these reusable glass containers with lids instead of baggies or disposable plastic.

• Attention fellow old millenials who spent the majority of your school days hand-writing notes to your friends with a beloved rainbow assortment of pens: #treatyoself to this 10-Piece LePen Drawing Pen Set, and I promise, every to-do list and daily diary entry will be so much more satisfying.