I’ve tested and vetted great stuff, so you don’t have to! Whether you’re treating yourself or someone else, these items just work. I often get frustrated because folks get paid to make recommendations for things they don’t or haven’t used, and that bothers me. I’ve tried everything on this list.
Clicking these links and purchasing something helps support this labor of love. Proceeds go towards future experiments and mistake-making, so you can learn from my foibles. Any links where you click and buy something here provide financial support (Drew dollars) D🤑
- Vivo Barefoot Boots- Barefoot shoes let your toes spread out like they are meant to. They also have a zero-drop heel, allowing your Achilles tendon to stretch naturally instead of staying compressed all day. I’ve been wearing barefoot shoes for 7+ years and they literally changed my shoe size after developing the muscles in my feet. Have had these boots for 2 years. They definitely aren’t as free form as barefoot shoes but are the best boot version I’ve seen. 🥾
- Pilot G2 Pens– the best pen. It has a thick handle, but not too thick, writes in 0.7mm, (you can get them in other widths but 0.7 is my jam) lasts a while, and writes well. This is my daily driver of pens. 🖊
- Leuchtturm1917 Notebook- all lefties understand the pain in the ass of smeared paper and hand smudging. These notebooks absorb ink well and solve that problem. Multiple friends have bought these for me, they are neat gifts. I combine it with these pen loops, they stick well to notebooks so I always have a pen and never rummage around for one. 📔
- Epsom Salt- I try to take an Epsom salt bath daily to get plenty of magnesium, help my body recover, and just zone out and relax. Make sure to get it via recurring delivery to save some coin. I found these cheaper online than in-store, and they ship them to me for free each month. 🧂
- Crazy Party Shorts- My favorite pair of shorts, from a brand called Royal And Awesome. This particular pair has a psychedelic paisley pattern. They are comfy and get plenty of comments. Over the first year of my newsletter, more people clicked this link than anything else I shared, a big surprise for me. 🩳
- Amla– This is a supplement I take to help prevent diabetes, without gnarly side effects of pharmaceuticals. Amla is a fancy way of saying Indian Gooseberry. Video link
- Neck Nest- This is a neck pillow to promote proper sleeping posture from Dr. Peter Martone. The price is high because the pillow comes with a 30-day sleep course, so you’re paying for both. 🍇
- Best Foot Massager- keeping a golf ball with you is one of the best ways to massage your feet after a long day. It’s smaller than a lacrosse or tennis ball, allowing for more precision and taking up less space in a travel bag. Also, you determine how hard or soft you want the massage to be. In college, I used one for a while and at first, my roommate found it silly. Then he tried it, and got. a few for himself! ⛳️🏌️
- Mushroom Coffee- Huh? Mushrooms in coffee, that’s right. This prevents the jitters of a regular cup of coffee, and four sigmatic uses fruiting bodies in all of their blends. Some other brands don’t, which can dilute them and give you less of the goodness that you need. 🍄
- Yoloha Yoga Mat- the grandaddy of yoga mats. The cork has antimicrobial properties, doesn’t slip when you’re sweating like a pig, and the mat is good and thick for those poses where you’re down on one knee. Other mats used to give me hella knee pain because they weren’t thick enough but this one does the trick. It is on the high end for sure but I think it’s worth it. I’ve had mine for years and it still works like a champ. A friend of mine sleeps on his every night! 🧘♂️
- Super toothbrush- I had yellow teeth for many years thanks to mouth breathing. A particularly skilled dental hygienist recommended a high-powered toothbrush and I haven’t looked back since. Beforehand I had a battery-powered brush that wasn’t as powerful. My Sonicare has an automatic 2 minute time so you don’t have to guess how long to brush. It also titrates up for your first few sessions so you can get acclimated to the power– this thing is not a toy. If you want to save some coin and get one with a partner, you can share a single unit and swap out the brush heads, or don’t share if you’re into that. 🦷
- Callus Remover 1 and 2. The first is for fine-tuning and comes with 10 replacement pads so it’ll last quite a while. The second is more coarse so stick to it only if you’re been driving the Flintstone mobile extra lately. Both of these are large like you’d find in a salon. Once I swallowed my pride and purchased this “beauty” equipment, I didn’t regret it and my feet have been in love. 🦶
- Crocs LiteRide– I thought crocs were in the heinous and fugly category for years. But, at some point my sandals were shot, I had 2 different DSW gift cards and was determined to get some shoes that were breathable and could get wet. They didn’t have any decent sandals I liked, so I decided to go for these crocs and fell in love. They’re comfy, slip on and off super quick, and the style has grown on me. The LiteRide style is more palatable than the standard crocs. Beware- this model was anywhere from $30-100+ last I checked, depending on color so shop wisely! 🐊
- Huggies Natural Care Sensitive Baby Wipes– Sometimes we don’t know what we are missing until we experience it. An ex introduced me to these as a way to clean up post-coitus. Instant no brainer. They have been my go-to ever since. I once scored 624 of these for 12 bucks, which should last you plenty of lovemaking. 🍆
- Amy’s Organic Refried Beans– if you’re vegan or practicing any slow-carb eating you’re likely going to be a bean eater. Amy’s are my go-to, though they do have some vegetable oils for you purists. 🥫
- Oura ring- this is the best commercially available sleep tracker on the market. In the old days, I wore a Zeo headband until I was getting better sleep than 99% of the user base, but Zeo went out of business. I also hate wearing watches and bracelets. Oura is a small ring and is incredibly accurate. 😴
Gear NOT To Buy
I do my best to vet things before purchasing and recommend you do the same. For me, this often looks like reading reviews and getting recommendations from trusted friends. With that said, sometimes things don’t pan out as I hope. I once had an internship and part of the job involved writing fake online product reviews, which has made me skeptical ever since. If I can save you a single headache from avoiding a mistake purchase as I’ve made, it’s a win all around. Below is a list of gear I don’t recommend. Stuff you’d imagine I’d be into, and I did too, that just didn’t pan out.
- Superhuman– Superhuman’s killer feature is that it trains you to use keyboard shortcuts so you can blow through your inbox more quickly. Unfortunately, it had no shortcuts on mobile and I found the mobile experience lacking. They also default to sending popup notifications, which I found annoying. Anyone into productivity knows that you want to minimize, rather than maximize the number of interruptions in your workflow. Additionally, I regularly got the beachball of death on my Mac when opening the app. The solution I went with– back to Gmail, learn the shortcuts, use a single inbox instead of the default 3. 💌
- Erthe grounding strap– I really wanted these to work. They take any pair of shoes and turn them into grounding shoes. I’m bullish on grounding as my newsletter subscribers are well aware, but these didn’t cut it. First, they didn’t fit my shoes properly and I tried a number of brands. Second, after putting them on a pair of barefoot shoes, they completely wore out after one 5-mile run. Lastly, the packaging was confusing with poor instructions and for my first strap, I broke the adhesive– it’s one of those remove-the-sticker-to-get-to-another-sticker-to-stick-the-thing-to-something-else designs and wasn’t labeled well nor easy to remove. The solution I went with- still trying to get barefoot as much as I can, and troubleshooting other options. 👟
- Raum earthing shoes– Again, I really wanted these to work. The price is $155 so they aren’t cheap. They work by using a piece of metal in the sole and their only model is a slipper. Unfortunately my foot didn’t seem to be connecting with the grounding part– there was a gap between my foot and the grounding widget, and the shoes weren’t comfortable for me. Caveat- their customer service was awesome with my return, and these shoes may fit other feet better– my right foot is way flatter than left and this can make shoe shopping difficult. 🥿