15 (More) Items I Bought & Would Buy 100 Times Again
A few years ago I wrote about 20 items I bought on Amazon and would buy 100 times again, providing you dudes and ladies with invaluable information on how to improve you own lives by purchasing a bunch of sh*t. And now, I'm back with more, baby! 15 more items I bought and would buy 100 times again. (They're all also available on Amazon, but my titles have a character limit so I had to leave that part out.)
Happy shopping, happy lifehacking, and happy not sending me angry emails if you decide something I bought and would buy 100 times again is a POS, or otherwise undeserving of your acquisition.
Note: All 15 items in my roundup are priced as they were at printing on July 20, 2023. Pricing, and availability, are subject to change.
Happycall Diamond Nonstick Frying Pan
For non-stick stovetop cooking, Happycall's Diamond Frying Pans might be the best thing that ever happened to me and my eggs. In fact, up, over-easy, scrambled, any way you take them, the term non-stick doesn't even come close to doing this cookware justice. When my 12" Happycall skillet sees a shell crack, I can almost hear it taunting, Just try to stick you stinking albumen!
The same goes for onions and mushrooms. Chicken and fish. Burgers and balls.
Happycall coats the inside of their Diamond pans with 5 layers of non-stick coating. Enough that you don't need to cook with fat or oil if you don't want to (but I pity the foo' who leaves out the duck fat) and more than enough to make cleanup a rinse and a paper towel away.
Embrava Water Bottle
I'll grant, whether you agree with me about Embrava making the best water bottle known to thirsty humans or not depends on what you're looking for in a water bottle. But if we have similar requirements for our pursuit of hydration, I feel confident you're gonna love using this ram-stamped vessel to take your gulps.
And I do mean gulps. Embrava Benefit the First: a fast-flow drinking valve. Not a dribbling nipple that squeals with air when you drink. Not a snap-on can-style lid that drips water down your chin. And definitely not the unchecked, wide-open fill mouth that screams, "Hope your shirt and pants are thirsty too!" Embrava's is a perfect hollow post that funnels water directly into your mouth however fast, or slow, you want to suck it.
Which leads me to Embrava Benefit the Second: When you are done engaging with the valve, an attached protective cap snaps over to shield it from dust, dropping, sneezes, and your own grimy fingers. A press of the release button flips it back open just as easily. You don't need 2 hands to pop, twist, or pull, and you don't need 2 hands so one can hang onto a loose cap while you drink.
Embrava Benefit the Third: This water bottle feels good to hold. It's not too fat, not too slippery, and, unlike a Kleen Kanteen I also have, doesn't give me the willies when I run my fingers along it. WTF is up with that Kleen Kanteen I do not know, but it feels like touching dried, chalky clay with dried, chalky hands. Nnnnnyyyuck!
Hip-Fin Hip Flexor Release Tool
My hips don't lie...they frickin' hurt. Tight, ropey, maybe not quite ready for Hip-Fin levels of pain to release them, but, hey. If it's agony for minutes and ecstasy for days thereafter, I'm dude enough to take it.
While the Hip-Fin is kind of expensive for a rocking hunk of plastic fixin' to do mean things to you, it does provide instant hip, back, and even knee relief if your IT band is pulling in that area. Also, the more you use it, the less using it hurts. Also, the more you use it, the more using it actually works. This isn't a one-and-done, or even once-a-week tool. Use it after every workout, or at least a few times a week to maintain results.
Oh, and be prepared to sustain some bruises and gnarly red marks.
Dr. Tung's Smart Floss Cardamom Dental Floss
Last year I did something I don't do very often, which is go to the dentist, and after bulldozing and bludgeoning my teeth and gums they gave me the obligatory "goodie bag" of a toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss, except this time the dental floss was Dr. Tung's cardamom-flavored dental floss, and it changed my dental flossing life.
If a floss could ever be described as delightful, Dr. Tung's Smart Floss is absolutely delightful. Unlike the intense shots of mint and cinnamon big-brand flosses poke into your gums, the warm-spice cardamom flavor of Dr. Tung's is noticeable but subtle. Possibly because it's also all-natural. It leaves my mouth feeling fresh, clean, and even a little exotic.
And Dr. Tung's has never ever, not once, not to this point, broken while I'm using it, thus requiring me to use a new piece of floss to floss an old piece of floss out of my teeth.
SNACKLINS Low-Calorie Vegan Pork Rinds
Airy, crunchy, salty, and I can eat the whole bag in under 100 calories. SNACKLINS attacklinned my mouth a couple months ago, and I surrendered with joy.
SNACKLINS are vegan (plant-based), gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, soy-free, and certified Kosher, so I have no idea how they can taste like anything at all, much less anything delicious, but they do. My favorite, by a long shot, is the brand's Chesapeake Bay flavor. Oh, that savory seasoning, combined with the pork-rind-esque texture and crunch of the SNACKLIN crisps, it's like a shrimp boil with fireworks in my piehole!
Polywood Adirondack Chairs
My mama bought me a pair of Polywood Adirondack Chairs for my balcony a couple summers ago, and when Polywood says these things are unaffected and undisturbed by any type of weather Mother Nature's got to throw at them, they are not kidding. I myself have tested out rain, hail, snow, and direct UV light, but I understand saltwater and salty air are no match for these chairs' recycled trash construction either. They might have an issue with hurricanes and tornadoes, but, hey, no piece of outdoor furniture is perfect.
When I say Polywood makes their Adirondack Chairs - and all other furniture - out of "recycled trash," I am speaking specifically of recycled HDPE, or high-density polyethylene. It's the type of plastic commonly used to make milk jugs, laundry detergent containers, and bottle caps. And now, the most durable patio / front porch / condo balcony chair you'll ever own.
And, no, sitting on a Polywood Adirondack Chair doesn't feel like sitting on a pile of Tide bottles. They're pretty comfy, actually, and have these wide, flat armrests you can set glasses, your phone, and other small items on to minimize the amount of movement you must do to drink, snack, and scroll while relaxing.
DMoose Cable Organizing Box
The DMoose Cable Organizing Box can't help those of you determined to cut the cord, but if your goal is to cut the clutter, it's a storage solution that will get you on your way in a minutes.
The Cable Organizing Box sequesters all of your snaking cords and cables, adapters, power strips, and surge protectors in one tidy place. Tidy and inconspicuous, as DMoose makes boxes in 4 different neutral, room-blending colors. And inconspicuous and kid- / pet-friendly, as the containers all have covers to protect electrical components from curious fingers and teeth.
Motion Activated Keyhole Light
As someone who has poked, rooted, fumbled, and F-bombed around the front door many a night, having this motion activated keyhole light has brought me a surprising, yet I think also appropriate, amount of joy.
The light operates wirelessly on a single AA battery. It either tapes or screws onto your door, and requires some effort to remove, so it won't fall off when bumped, or go without a fight if the kids try to steal it.
Reversible Flour Sack Kitchen Towels
Not that I'm a Level 10 expert on kitchen towels and dish towels and the like, but these Reversible Flour Sack Kitchen Towels are hands down the best kitchen towels and dish towels and the like that I've ever used. And I do use them often, drying dishes at my mama's house in return for her using the dishes to cook me delicious food.
You'd think all kitchen towels would be good at drying things, since that's basically their entire purpose, but many of them are prime candidates for the "You had one job!" meme. These Reversible Flour Sack Kitchen Towels, though, they are 5-star all the way. Generous 27" x 28" size. Nice thickness. Highly absorbent. One terry cloth side for drying, the other woven side for buffing away smudges without leaving little lint particulates behind.
TheraGun Muscle Massager
The TheraGun muscle massager is the non-human massager to end all massagers. In fact, I'd bet a crisp Abe Lincoln it could give most human professionals a run for their money too. Tension and pain relief, increased blood flow, relaxation...well. Maybe relaxation isn't at the top of the list of benefits you'll receive during TheraGun use. In fact, sometimes when I'm using it on my thighs, the intense vibration makes me feel like I'm peeing my pants. To the point that, almost every time, I have to turn it off and make sure I haven't peed my pants.
But other than that, this high-speed, high-powered muscle puncher is a godsend post-hiking, after an intense leg day, and on mornings my back will hardly let me get out of bed because I made the stupid mistake of rolling over during the night.
Mechanical Mouse Jiggler (So They Think You're Working)
This mechanical mouse jiggler is recommended by 5/5 slackers, underpaid employees, people out of PTO who need some TO, and dudes and ladies with a weird compulsion never to let their computers log off or go to sleep.
A base made to hold most standard-size mice, the mechanical mouse jiggler ensures your mouse stays active on your desktop or laptop even if you are not. According to maker Vaydeer, the sneaky gadget is undetectable by IT departments, so if your company is dictatorial about keeping tabs on its workers' working / non-working habits, your efforts to deceive them won't be discovered. At least not due to workstation cursor silence. However, when you show up at the next meeting with zero work to show for your 8 hours of login time, take it from me, the mechanical mouse jiggler will be no help at all.
LED Wireless Motion Sensor Lights
I stuck some LED Wireless Motion Sensor Lights in two of my black-as-a-hole closets, and the first time I opened the doors afterwards, and the strips' motion sensors triggered their illumination, I heard the Aaaahhh! chord of the angel choir singing above. No joke, these 3-mode, rechargeable lights are some of the simplest and handiest househacks you can buy for all the dark corners of your abode.
The Sensor Lights bring either additional lighting, or accent lighting, to dark or uninspired spaces all over your house. In addition to inside closets, think under the kitchen cabinets, in stairwells, alongside or under beds, in attics, basements, or garages...pretty much anywhere you have a flat surface receptive to the LED lights' adhesive strip.
Kind Laundry Detergent Sheets
My wife buys Kind Laundry Detergent Sheets on Subscribe & Save, and while I was skeptical of their solidity and lack of chemical-blue color like my tried-and-true vats of tide, I must say, I'm a Kind convert. No measuring required, no gloopy, half-dissolved pods left in the washer, and my clothes still appear to emerge from the washer clean.
Kind Detergent Sheets are also way more compact and lightweight than liquid laundry detergent and pods, making them easier to store, and way easier to travel with if you're the kind of cat who can't go anywhere without your trusty laundry detergent.
Cliq Bottle-Sized Camping Chair
The size of a water bottle, 5 seconds to set up, 300-pound weight capacity - sometimes with a camping chair, everything just Cliqs.
Out of the box, the Cliq Camping Chair is a 3.5-pound nylon and aircraft-grade aluminum tube, compacted and secured into a piece of outdoor seating roughly the size of a 1L water bottle. Its ease of carry is matched only by its ease of setup, a process that, the company says, should take you no more than 5 seconds, despite the Cliq's starting size.
Ooni Koda 60-Second Gas-Powered Pizza Oven
Chant it with me: Ooni Koda, mozzarella, 60 seconds, pizzapizza! The Ooni Koda gas-powered pizza oven hopes to prove itself a feat of crust-crisping, cheese-gooing engineering for all the homemade pizza enthusiasts out there, plus all the friends who like to hit up homemade pizza enthusiasts for sausage and pepperoni spoils.
Ooni Koda's first accomplishment is its compact size. Easily portable and requiring no assembly, the oven is pure plug 'n' play right out of the box. In this case, the "plug" goes into a gas supply, the power source for the pizza oven's next accomplishment, its speedy preheat and cook time. Fire up the Ooni Koda and wait just 15 minutes for it to reach temperatures of up to 932 degrees F, hot enough to cook a Neapolitan-style pizza in the promised 60 seconds.