In this season of gift shopping, I sometimes overlook the very basic, very useful things that just make life better. They aren’t the shiniest, nor the splurgiest—they’re just great. Here are four of them.
Round Ice Cube Tray with Lid
While it’s a bit of a pain to fill (tip: overfill) and remove these ice spheres (tip: let it sit on the countertop for 5 minutes beforehand), the little ice orbs these trays make bring me a silly amount of joy. The kit comes with a tub and a scoop, too.
Urnex Grindz
Did you know you should be cleaning your coffee grinder? Residual coffee oils can go rancid, imparting not-so-ideal flavors into your brew. These tablets clean your grinder for you and they couldn’t be easier to use: just add a capful to your grinder’s bean hopper, turn on the grinder, and let the tablets run through it.
Remi At-Home Custom Night Guard Kit
I grind my teeth at night and used to have a very expensive, dentist-made night guard until my dog chewed it (tears were shed). In lieu of spending hundreds and hundreds on another one, my dentist recommended a custom night guard kit. This one from Remi had high ratings, so I gave it a go.
You take your own impressions at home (a little uncomfortable and annoying, but fine), ship them off to Remi, and 2-3 weeks later get your guards back. I loved that you can choose whether you want a bottom and a top guard, two tops, or two bottoms (I find the bottom guards to be more comfortable and thus chose two of those). I’ve been using them for about 3 months now and find them to fit extremely well and to be thin, yet durable.
Shout Wipe & Go
These wipes remove stains better than any stain pen I’ve tried (and you can tackle bigger messes with them). They’re uber convenient to throw into your purse, keep at your desk, or stash in your car.