There are some things that you buy, certain that they’re going to be wonderful and life-changing…and then never use.
My SodaStream, for example, continues to be a thing that I love…but not actually something I use all that often, because the bottles that you make the soda in are not machine-washable. And because it is very important to me to immediately throw away all instruction manuals without even opening them (because I like to live on the edge like that), I realized this only after machine-washing one and discovering an actual melted pile of plastic where the bottle used to be. And I really enjoy drinking water directly out of bottles for whatever reason and have bottle-washing PTSD from the thousands of bottles I had to hand-wash for our son when we lived in an apartment without a dishwasher…and so I don’t use it. (Note: I have since repurchased the plastic bottles and rediscovered the obsession; it’s a roller-coaster over here, what can I say?)
And then there are also things that you aren’t quite sure whether you should buy or not, but then you do, and hey-o: there they are, getting used by you every single day.
Presenting: some of my personal favorite Random Excellent Investments.
I was absolutely positive that this Conair steamer was going to go onto a shelf in my laundry room and never see the light of day, because I hate ironing and honestly couldn’t care less whether my shirts are wrinkly. As it turns out, though, this steamer is so easy to use (it heats up in seconds and gets creases out almost immediately) that I now wear unwrinkled clothing on a semi-regular basis. Which is nice.
Buy one. You will love it.
When I picked up these Cole Haan pumps at a Fashion Week event, I loved them…but wasn’t sure how much I’d wear them, because a) whoa high, and b) teal. But! Cole Haan pumps are made using Nike Air technology that makes them incredibly, weirdly wearable – and I swear, these are the shoes I always, always reach for when I know I’m spending a day running around to meetings in the city.
I have run in these shoes. Relatively far.
Oh yes, and as it turns out: teal goes with lots more than you’d think. Everything, kind of. (You can see outfits including these pumps here, here, here and here).
This particular pair is sold out, but they’re still available in pale purple…and you can see Cole Haan’s current stock here; I’ve been blown away by how comfortable and worth the price they are, and I think you will be, too.
I don’t want to tell you how long I’ve owned this Tarte eyeshadow palette, because I think it’s approximately 3-5 times the recommended length of time to own any single piece of makeup…but it doesn’t matter: I’m not getting rid of it, so that’s that. It has every single color I could ever possibly want to wear (you can see I use some more than others, obviously), and in the layers below the shadows are about a thousand lip glosses and blushes.
And the whole thing was about $45. Amazingly good investment.
This particular collection is no longer available, but all of Tarte’s palettes are affordable and gorgeous.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about small space storage solutions and talked about utilizing every available space in your home (like the backs of closet doors) for storage.
I also talked about investing in storage bags, and how it’s worth the expense to replace them once they’re worn out, and here’s evidence: the shoe storage bag that was previously hanging on my closet door was a few years old, and my shoes were constantly falling out of the pockets onto the floor: both annoying and messy. I picked up two of these 24-pocket mesh shoe storage bags from the Container Store (one for each door), and presto: insta-clean closet.
One more random excellent investment: any piece of artwork that you fall in love with at a flea market; there’s nothing like owning art that comes with its own history. We bought this Alice print for $20 at a street fair last summer, and it continues to be one of my favorite things in our home.
