Don’t worry, this is not another influencer gift guide riddled with Amazon affiliate links, nor is it a proclamation of “life hacks” (who started this?? Not everything is a hack!!). Instead, this is a meticulously curated, rigorously tested, hyper-random and highly passionate collection of recommendations for things with the potential to improve your life that I discovered mostly in the last year.
I’ve organized them into these categories:
- Products and stuff I like
- Cool apps and tech
- My favorite ways to save money
- Little life tricks
Let’s go change some lives.
Products and stuff I like
1) SimpleModern Voyager Signature tumbler. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, no one needs yet another stainless steel drinking device but all moms actually do need this magically spill-proof one.
2) OFFLINE By Aerie Cloud Fleece Baggy Joggers. The innovative pants behind my 15-second outfit system, and the last sweatpants you’ll ever own if you want to look like Adam Sandler. You’re welcome.
3) Columbia Omni-Heat Infinity anything. The only winter-wear I buy anymore. I have the full length one that looks like a sleeping bag and I wear it anytime the temperature is between 0 and 48 degrees and you can shut your mouth about it. Tiny gold dots on the inside of the apparel allegedly retains body heat by being thermal reflective. Sounds like pseudo-science, probably is, don’t care.
4) Goose-down duvet. It’s airy. It’s warm. It’s fluffy. It’s weighty. All at the same time. It’s how I know God hasn’t lost faith in us as a people yet.
5) This small but mighty electric kettle. I love acting like I’m the first one to discover things that society already broadly endorses, but this electric kettle has rekindled my love of tea and kitchen gadgets.
6) My lazy girl Kindle set up. Imagine me, with a steaming cup of tea made in less than 2 minutes using my electric kettle, under my duvet while wearing my Aerie sweatpants and my sleeping bag coat reading my book without the modern day hassle of holding things or turning pages. I just lie there like a mummy reading away in the afterlife.
7) Anything with retractable cords, like this power bank or these cables. If you’re someone who gets easily annoyed by all the cords in your way all the time, join me in slowly upgrading all my chargers (probably just in time for them to come up with some new type of USB port).
Cool apps and tech
8) The iPhone Reminders app. You don’t need a Skylight, you need well-curated Reminders widgets. And, in case you don’t know you can order your grocery list based on the order of how you shop, and add stuff through Siri to any list.
9) Skylight Digital Frame. Okay, YOU don’t need a Skylight, but you do need to gift one of the digital frames to your kids’ grandparents (aka your parents). Both the sending and receiving of photos is seamless and everyone loves it.
10) Marco Polo. The best app for moms to keep in touch with friends. Asynchronously communicate with loved ones by leaving them a video that they can respond to when they have a freaking minute.
11) Capital One shopping app. To be honest the user experience of this app needs some heavy work, but I’ve gotten more than $100 in cash back in just 4 months. It automatically finds coupons and compares prices, and does it all passively in the background. It gives you rewards back on certain purchases that stack with cash back from your regular credit card, and you don’t need a Capital One account.
12) Use your algorithm to your advantage. I do not have the time to research the perfect product or solution so I just say it out loud, think about it a few times, and type in a vague search into Instagram. Like clockwork, my feed becomes bloated with tons of options for that particular product. Like a personal shopper! I just feel like it’s the least the surveillance state can do for me, you know?
13) AI-generated personalized news summary. I know using AI as a search engine is very uncool and I promise you I’m not out hear asking it to create my grocery lists, but I have Claude give me a very tailored daily news summary based on what I need to know for work that day. It gives me information about need-to-know headlines in a set of tech topics that are relevant to my job, the industry I work in, and my company specifically, and I also ask it to throw in a fun fact and something happy.
My favorite ways to save money
14) Costco’s Shutterfly discounts. PSA for my fellow holiday card girlies: Costco members get 51% off Shutterfly purchases, plus free shipping on purchases of $30 or more.
15) Shop at LIDL. Significantly lower grocery bills? Freshly baked confections? An aisle full of random stuff? It’s amazing, and I still don’t know to pronounce it. If you use the app coupons you can often get another $10-$20 off.
16) Walmart kid clothes. I’m consistently getting $3 shirts and $4 pants. After 12 washes they disintegrate at human touch but boy clothes rarely last that long anyway so I think it’s a deal.
17) Home Depot kids day. Everyone knows it costs $80 to leave the house these days, so imagine a totally free outing, where my kid gets to use a hammer around dozens of other children. What could be better? My pro-tip as a frequent patron is to skip the paint (you can do this at home and prolong the fun without having to transport a mess). Also, if you’re in a rush you can get the kit to go.
18) Collect Easter egg fillers all year long. While admittedly this is the gateway to washing and reusing Zip-loc bags (no shade if you do that), this is my favorite way to avoid having to buy 80-piece bags of plastic crap each Easter. I wait patiently (3 seconds) for my kids to lose interest in the junk they get in goody bags, at the doctor’s office, or Chuck E. Cheese and save it in my ‘Easter egg bag” for when the time comes.
Little life tricks
19) The puzzle hack I hope I go viral for. If there’s one thing I love it’s a crisp new 1,000 piecer just waiting to be cracked opened, assembled over the course of 15 hours, and then immediately broken apart and put away forever. I really do love jigsaw puzzles but between the kids and the cats it’s untenable, until now. Work the puzzle on the table of your choice, and when it’s not in use cover it with a tablecloth. I will never again doubt my own genius.
20) Patron your library. Although best known for books, libraries have other things, too! Through my library you can subscribe to the New York Times, check out garden tools and board games, and rent a radon detector. Go see what magic waits at your local library.
21) Join a Buy Nothing group. If you’ve talked to me in the last 3 years you’ve heard me talk about Buy Nothing. Most of my kids toys enter and leave my house via Buy Nothing. You can also get a lot of other stuff for free, like gently used clothes or 10 frozen breakfast burritos your neighbor didn’t like.
22) Big-ass tote bag system. This is the only way we make it out of our house with everything we need. I have an XL L.L. Bean boat tote and I just throw everything in there: snacks, diapers, water bottles, things I have to return, books to take back to the library. It’s contained chaos, much like my brain. In the summer I keep all our pool stuff in there, and in the winter I keep all our hats and gloves in there. Get a big ass tote.
I realize these range from ‘legitimately useful’ to ‘weirdly specific to my life,’ but there you have it – my collection of life tips, tricks, and one revolutionary discovery about tablecloths. Not everything needs to be a hack, but these genuinely make my life easier, and we take the wins where we can get them.
Drop your best hack below!
So Sallie Says 
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