Today I bring you three inexpensive items that I use all the time and genuinely feel are fantastic, in order of discovery.
I started using ear plugs regularly in 2017, when I started riding motorcycles. Hearing protection is non-negotiable on two (motorized) wheels, and I never rode without it. This is fairly obvious, but the usefulness of ear plugs in other parts of life is perhaps less obvious. I stopped riding a couple of years ago, but still use them.
The main use case for me these days is sleep. With earplugs in, the zoo can make some noise and I won’t care, and my wife can stay awake in bed and watch/listen to something without headphones, as well as issue minor commands to said zoo (who may choose to ignore them, which is a problem out of scope). My sleep is deeper and more consistent, which is great.
Even if you don’t need them at home, they’re great for travel. Not all hotels are in quiet neighborhoods, nor are all hotel guests quiet. And even if the noises aren’t loud, sometimes they’re just different enough from the norm to be distracting. Or maybe your roommate snores. So many possibilities!
And there’s always the odd intentional exposure to loud noises that can be avoided—going to concerts or motorsport events and using power tools come to mind.
My favorite are Hearos Ultimate Softness, which I can tolerate for hours and hours on end, and they can be found on Amazon, for example.
This is a protip from my wife, and it has increased shower enjoyment by an order of magnitude.
Over the years I’ve tried a few different brushes to effectively wash the upper middle of my back, and nothing really felt particularly great, even though cleanliness was achieved. Then I tried one of these, and now I look forward to showering even more than I already did.
Not only does my upper back get nicely scrubbed, but my whole body gets a little exfoliation regularly. It feels fantastic, 10/10 would recommend. This is the item that inspired this list.
I’m reasonably sure we use this Earth Therapeutics one. Whichever you go with, just make sure you get a long towel and not a little wash cloth, for that good back scrubbing action.
I’ve never been one to carry a water bottle, but on my desk I usually have an insulated one, and at the gym it’s been hard to beat a Nalgene. The 32 oz wide mouth variant is a staple, and effectively indestructible. It has only one issue: that wide mouth is guaranteed to be a shower if I try drinking from it.
This has never been an issue at the gym, mind you. In there I’m already pretty gross from sweat, dust, dog hairs, and whatever else, so getting a bit of water on my shirt is hardly noticeable. But it’s made it unappealing just about anywhere else, which is a shame.
A few months ago I wanted to use it for some hydration mix and thought to see if they maybe have a more usable cap, but I didn’t like any of Nalgene’s additional offerings. I didn’t want a straw or anything fancy, just a smaller opening.
Somehow I stumbled upon humangear capCAP+, which looked really promising, and it’s now permanently on my (beloved orange) Nalgene. It’s nicely made, easy to use, and is just fantastic.
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