This may as well also read as a ‘Tiktok made me buy it list’ but anyway, here are some slightly snowflakey things I’ve bought over the last couple years and how they have actually helped me.

*I’m too tired writing this to not use swear words, so go away if you’re under 18*

1. Weighted blanket

This is without doubt THE BEST thing I have bought, like, ever. I’m a slight insomniac, I don’t sleep well and the difference a weighted blanket made cannot be shouted about enough. Also, because my back is a little fucked up, this stops me pretzeling around into the weird tangled positions I used to sleep in.

2. Body Pillow

No, not one of those creepy half a man pillows, its basically just a long as fuck big pillow. Again, as a pretzel sleeper, this helps so much.

P.S. my father did name the pillow Bob, which has unfortunately stuck- I cannot promise you will not get taken he piss out of if you buy the items off this list!

3. Sunrise Clock

Look, maybe a lot of these items revolve around sleep but when I tell you that averaging between 6-7 hours of sleep has been the biggest struggle of my adult life, you’ll understand why. I used to set 20 alarms in the morning and I would still be late, since having this clock I am down to 3.

I bought a very cheap one from Amazon but it still does the trick, plus it has a range of different alarm sounds like, rivers sounds, bird sounds, or, there is a straight up- terrifying white noise sound that really gets me out fo bed fast. Might sound extreme but now the last hour of my sleep isn’t interrupted by 20 alarms, nor is the rest of the house having to listen to that fun soundscape.

4. Humidifier/ oil diffuser

Look, just because I originally bought this for my plants, didn’t mean it hasn’t also helped the larger, more complicated plant in my room that is me. I can’t really explain how but it helps, especially in the really dry air you get in U.K homes during the winter (no AC, no thermostat, we use radiators).

As a bonus, if you get one that you can put aromatherapy oils in, your room smells nice and you can pretend you’ve fixed all your problems with them- lavender cures stress, right?

5. Standing desk

I will preface this point by saying that being able to afford a decent standing desk is a privilege because they are not cheap, so if this is outside your price range, look into the on-desk raisers you can get instead.

Now I’ve covered that, let me tell you that this has been worth every fucking penny whilst working from home. The difference it has made to my working day? Incredible. Want to fidget? Want to pace? Want to dance? Have a bad back that doesn’t enjoy long periods of sitting? The desk is the answer. I have very strong feelings towards my desk.

6. Blue light glasses

You know what? I don’t care if they’re a lie and it’s just a clear lens. It helps. Actually, the pair that make the biggest difference are the yellow tinted blue light ones. I work in marketing so I’m either staring at design software, word documents, scheduling stuff or websites. The blue light tints you can do from your computer are helpful but these glasses really help when my eyes are tired.

7. Clear boxes for food storage

Again, there is an inherent privilege of having the time and/ or space to do this but I have wasted a lot less food since I started transferring food from the containers they come in from the shops into clear Tupperware, especially fruit. Also, anything that I can pre-prep (i.e carrots which I chop up so they are ready to eat) turns them into a grabable snack item/ ingredient.

It’s high effort when you bring the shopping home but having visible food so you can see what’s there, what’s going off and what is running low, at a glance is sooo nice. Plus, it removes steps that if you have an executive functioning issues might prevent you from cooking and/ or eating.

There you go, that’s the list. I could also do a special shoutout to the memory foam foot rest for my desk or the coffee machine that has an automated timer on it so I can wake up to fresh coffee but those things aren’t so much millennial b.s. as just good sense.