6 Purchases That Have Improved My Life

6 Purchases That Have Improved My Life

In this article, I want to share with you some things that I have purchased that have improved my life. So these are things that have had a really high return on investment. They've saved me time, gotten rid of some kind of stress. They've made my life easier, or they've helped me to create more memorable moments.

Keep in mind that none of these purchases are actually essential. I don't want to put pressure on you to buy any of these things. I just like sharing things that I'm like. I really love these things and it's really made me happy or improved my life in one way or another.

Alarm Clock

The first item that has improved my life is an alarm clock that sits outside of my phone. So I have tried a bunch of things as my alarm clock. I've had my iPad, I have had my iPhone. What I like about this in comparison is that firstly, it actually shows the time. I don't think we have a clock anywhere else in our house, except for this one.

There's actually a very clear stop alarm button to click. I never have to worry about having this charged. It's always sitting in the same spot in my household versus my phone that would sometimes move around, or I'd forget to put it somewhere, and it doesn't leave me towards any social media apps. This has been a really good purchase to help me to get my routine set.

Chore Chart

The next item that has been improving my life is a chore chart. I am wildly privileged to have a cleaning service where someone will come to my home once every two weeks, and they'll do a lot of the essential stuff. But if you've ever had a cleaning service, particularly if it’s every two weeks like there's still stuff that needs to be done on a daily basis on a weekly basis that doesn't get covered. So I popped up this chart.

I actually bought a big whiteboard from Officeworks. Thinking back it probably would have been better to buy a corkboard but here we are. I made these charts just in the camper. Once you're done with one of the pages in the chore chart, you can just tear it off because it's all held together by glue which I dodge up in my office. I like having a chore chart because it makes chores around the house really visible.

Back Pod

The next purchase is the Back Pod. So I am at the computer all day. And often when you're on the computer, you're like hunched over. It's really bad for your back and for me it's been noticeably bad for my back. So I bought this little machine called the Back Pod. During my breaks, I can just rest on this thing for five minutes and it relieves my back. Also, it makes sure that my back muscles are all stretched out.

The Back Pod was created by a physiotherapist specifically for this purpose to make sure that you don't get a hunched over back, that you're stretching your back muscles. But a lot of people have offered up the alternative of getting a literal tennis ball covering it in something soft. And it does almost the same thing. 

Time Timer

The next item that improved my life is the time timer. This is a timer that is often used for children in the classroom. It's a very clear and visual way to represent time passing. You can get things done in Pomodoros. There are so many Pomodoro tools out there. Don't get me wrong, you can get Pomodoro tools on your phone. You can get them on your computer.

The reason that I wanted a time timer is that if I have a Pomodoro on my computer often it gets minimized and I forget about it in the background. There's no visual telling me that time is passing. If I have a Pomodoro on my phone, it means my phone is close by. I don't like working with my phone close by. It's just a distraction-free tool that I can have sitting next to my computer at all times. When I put it on it's highly visible. The time is passing, and it keeps me productive and doing Pomodoro's throughout my day.

Focusmate

The next item in its less than item and more subscription is Focusmate. So Focusmate is an accountability app that is online. You can pick a time slot, you can book yourself in. Open it up at that time and you connect with someone else who's working on something of their own. So you might be working on a particular project, or just doing your day-to-day work. You might even be doing like cleaning of your room doesn't really matter what you are doing.

All you're really doing is just booking in with another person who also has a task on their mind and you do that together. Your camera is always on. Usually, your mic is muted. It's only $5 USD per month, which I think is quite cheap for a subscription. And if you have trouble focusing, you want more accountability, I would highly recommend it. 

Missive

The next item once again is a subscription, and it is Missive. This is probably most appropriate for people that are business owners. The missive is a platform that enables you to have a whole bunch of emails that you can check in one spot. And also, you can add your team so that they can be in charge of certain inboxes. You can have email templates. You can add your email signatures.

It doesn't sound revolutionary, but I have at least three, possibly four email accounts that need to be checked semi-regularly. And when I was doing previously was signing into those email accounts individually and often have to enter a password for each account. Sometimes I'd have to do a text verification just to get into these accounts. And it was generally frustrating. You can have everything in one place through Missive and it makes life so easy.

These are usually just little purchases that have made a difference in my life that I recommend to other people while also acknowledging that they're not necessary to be happy in any way, shape, or form.