- FYI - some of these will have my affiliate links - 🙏
- Monarch
- Had to switch from Mint at the beginning of 2024. Tried out several others like Empower (Personal Finance) and
- Balmuda Toaster
- This was on my radar for a long time and I was like “there’s no way a toaster oven could be worth $300!” - turns out, I was wrong. This is totally worth it. I tried it out at a hostel in Japan and was instantly sold.
- Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 Neuro Fuzzy Cooker
- During Covid, my parents needed a new rice cooker, so I gave them our previous Neuro Fuzzy and tried to get good at making rice in an Instant Pot so I could save appliance space. It was fine, but never got close to good.
- This rice cooker is amazing. It also has little handles on it. It doesn’t seem like that would matter, but it does.
- Takes a little while, but programmable and awesome.
- My only takeaway from cooking rice in the Instant Pot (it’s a great pressure cooker) - is that brown rice cooks MUCH faster, so that might be worth it if you don’t cook rice til last minute.
- Samsung Frame
- These only mount flush against the wall. So be sure you can properly mount low
- Get at least 55 inch. Probably 65 inch best
- Have had the 85 inch. It’s amazing.
- Frame pieces (or just go w/black) - It’s annoying to have to pay $200 for plastic frame around it, but the white angled bezel is definitely the best one. Trust me, I tried 4 of them… the other ones look dumb. You can also get a custom made one from Etsy w nice wood, but those usually block the motion sensor on the bottom right of the TV that lets it know when to sleep vs when someone is in the room.
- Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop
- Conductive and just works
- Never hard to scoop ice cream or get it out of the scooper
- Don’t put in dishwasher
- Blink Outdoor Wireless (4th Generation)
- 2 AA Batteries for 2+ years
- Handles Chicago weather
- I have 2nd Gen. 4th is better (tho pricier)
- Cramer Kik 2 Step Stool
- Basically the cool library stools you remember
- Slides and sturdy. Better than plastic versions in build & smoothness
- Cool colors to choose from make it more of a “piece”
- Sonos Beam
- White
- Not massive
- Sound is great
- Works even better w Small Sub
- 1 - Best Colors & Motion Sensing
- Warm to cool white
- Senses even if the overhead lights are on to give more light when needed
- 2 - Reliable & nice soft on/off
- Fade on and fade off is nice
- Always senses properly
- Only cool white though
- Hibiki Harmony (NAS)
- Costco has this, but your local store should as well. Starting to get a little pricey but sometimes goes on sale. Nice deal at $70
- Akashi White
- Fuji NAS
- Additional expressions starting to make their way to the states.
- Cool little Mt. Fuji at the bottom of the bottle
- Starling
- Super simple & works great
- This one
- Doesn’t get easily torn up by cats
- Place near spots they scratch
- Multiple colors based on room
- Is a little perch they can stand on too