Adulting – Page 5 – Relatable Roni

I don’t think I ever wanted many kitchen gadgets. I thought they might be a pain to clean or they’d take up too much space in our home. But slowly, we’ve accumulated what I think are the essentials for us. My husband loves his technology so he initiated all this I would say. My mom-in-law provided some of the items to us like the rice cooker and electric kettle so thank you to her for introducing these items into my life. Of course I knew they existed, but I didn’t believe I needed them. Now I need them.

Most of the links are for the actual models we own. They may not be the latest models but they’re what we have and we’re happy with them.

10. Juicer

So I was a juicing fiend in 2014 after I watched the documentary “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead.” I’m actually considering rewatching it as I type this. If you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend it. I wanted to juice to help me lose weight back then. I lost 10 lbs in about 2 months just by juicing once a day and eating healthy. I really got into a good momentum but then I broke my foot doing the running man at a bar (I then continued dancing the night away because I thought there was no way I just broke my foot wearing flats. I only rolled my foot but that was enough). Resting my foot, I slowly went back to my old eating habits.

But, the juicing made my skin look amazing, I was told. I couldn’t see it but people told me my skin was glowing. I would juice carrots, apples and spinach together. It’s really delicious. Try to keep the fruits to a minimum or you’re just going to end up making yourself a sugary drink. The main problem with juicing is the prep work with fruits & veggies and the cleaning of the machine and any splatter. But if you’re committed, you can do it. Also, juicing makes you go #2 more often.

9. Slow Cooker

I haven’t used our slow cooker much yet but I imagine I’ll be using it more once I start working (*crosses fingers* by the way, my older brother cracked a joke about me being unemployed the other day. He’s like “you’re unemployed when the unemployment rate is at the lowest it’s been in 17 years.” Thanks, bro, I love you too). I’ve always been hesitant to use a slow cooker because it’s on for hours while you’re (usually) not home. And after the Crock Pot This is Us episode, I’m even more hesitant. But hubs made some delicious jerk chicken in it the other day so I’m a fan.

8. Hand Blender Set

This is something every kitchen probably needs. I know my mom and MIL (mother-in-law) both have one and it seems pretty essential in Indian cooking where you cook tomatoes and onions and then you need to blend it. It’s better than throwing the mixture in a blender which leads to a larger cleanup process. This comes with a whisk attachment as well which is good for whisking egg whites into foam, among other things.

7. Dash Deluxe Egg Cooker

This is great for poached and boiled eggs. More on that here: Restaurant Quality Food Made Right At Home

6. Pizza Stone

If you like making pizza at home with a great crust, this is a must (ha, that rhymed!). More on that here: Restaurant Quality Food Made Right At Home

5. Spiralizer

I make zoodles (zucchini noodles) about every 2 weeks so this is a handy tool. This specific one is a slight pain to clean and takes up a lot room but I imagine it’s better than the handheld spiralizers which you have to twist and grind yourself. The handheld ones probably take longer to spiralize as well.

4. Toaster Oven

I don’t know why some people don’t own one. I feel a toaster is useless. You need a TOASTER OVEN. It’s perfect for all those naan pizzas. I absolutely hate using a huge oven for something I can cook just the same in a toaster oven. This is essentially a mini oven.

3. Electric Water Kettle

I’m a tea junkie so I use this on the daily. This is a lot faster than making tea on the stove. Stovetop tea is a 10 out of 10 in my books for taste. The kettle version is a 7/10 but it gets the job done.

2. Rice Cooker

I cannot for the life of me make a pot of rice on the stove. I always overcook it. I’d rather make farro than white rice on the stove. For white rice, I use my rice cooker although I’m sure it can cook other grains too. Before this rice cooker, I would buy microwavable rice – but I didn’t like to because I knew it contains tons of preservatives.

1. Vitamix

My husband purchased this for us and I didn’t understand the hype at all until I started using it. This is the number one item that has enabled me to eat healthier. I use it to make my smoothies and acai bowls. It can of course be expensive but the warranty on them is good. I also probably use it a ton to help justify the cost in my head.

What are your favorite kitchen “gadgets and gizmos?” Leave a comment below!

– Relatable Roni

This post does contain affiliate links. All opinions are honest & my own.

I originally forgot this point on my post about Building Better Money Habits but I thought I’d write a separate post on it to explain things in more detail. You probably won’t be ordering any of this online because you have to order in bulk and I don’t see many people doing that unless they’re wedding planning but this post does contain affiliate links and I may be compensated. BUT all opinions are my own. FYI, a nice option Dollar Tree does have so they don’t run out when you need a lot of one thing when you get there, is free pickup at your local store.

Hello again!

In adulthood, you realize you need a lot of shit. Shit costs money. Sometimes you don’t want to spend money, but you still need that shit. What do you do? You go to a dollar store!

It’s great for getting those minor things like gift packaging. Above, I have a picture of my “Will you be my bridesmaid” gifts. The items I used to make these that are from dollar stores are: the container, the letter stickers, and the decorative shred inside. I also bought little sachets that I filled with personalized M&M’s. If I went to Michael’s, I would’ve paid at least double for all of that.

The dollar store I frequent here in Vermont is Dollar Tree. It’s concept is that everything is $1 of course. I’m not keen on buying a lot of things there but some things that make sense buying are:

1. Hangers

A pack of 10 hangers on Amazon is $4. It’s $1 for 8 hangers at Dollar Tree. So to compare for you math whizzes out there, at Amazon you might get 80 hangers for $32 but at Dollar Tree you’d get 80 hangers for $10. I bought a ton of these yesterday so I can finally put away my laundry.

2. Spray Bottles

This spray bottle would be ideal for diluting bleach and using to clean. It would also be great for spritzing water in your dog’s face.

3. Plastic Bins for Organizing

I’ve been using these bins to organize our bathroom and kitchen. They’re really low quality but they get the job done. The smaller ones come in sets of 2-3 for $1.

4. Toilet Brushes

Nobody needs to brush their toilet and then keep it just chilling next to the toilet. I like to buy them from the dollar store and then toss them out after one use. Nastiness…If you’re going to get anything from the dollar store, just get this. I’m all for saving the earth and creating less garbage but I just can’t with this.

5. Greeting Cards

Most people don’t care about getting fancy cards. They just want the money inside. Just get a cheap card. Dollar Tree‘s cards are 50 cents to 1 dollar. Other stores often have cards that are 99 cents or up.

6. Gift Bags

I feel most stores completely overcharge for gift bags. The bags here are $1 and sometimes they come in sets of 2-5 bags for $1 if they’re smaller.

7. Decorative Shred and Tissue Paper

It’s shredded paper and tissue paper for goodness’ sake so it shouldn’t cost a lot and it’s going to end up in the recycling anyway. Michael’s charges $3.99/bag of shredded paper. I use paper confetti or tissue paper often when I’m putting together a gift bag. I mixed white and pink decorative shred in this picture for my “Mean Girls” themed bridesmaid’s gifts.

8. Vase Fillers

The glass gems and seashells are nice for filling vases. I think the seashells would be great if you were having a beach-themed wedding.These are half the price than what I see on other websites.

9. Foil Balloons

Balloon, Paper Shreds and Base all from Dollar Tree

I put this together for my husband’s 30th birthday. The balloon overall is sort of small but it lasted a veryyyyy long time. How do I know? Well, I like to see how long balloons take to die. It died after a month or so. This actually really pissed me off because I had bought other balloons from iParty as well for his 30th….

Above are the balloons I bought from iParty . And I attached them to our porch the night before my husband’s birthday since he was working overnight and would be back in the morning. Well…I woke up in the middle of the night and heard the whistling wind and realized putting out the balloons the night before may have been a bad idea. And FYI the big balloon cost me about $12 and the smaller ones at least $1 and iParty charges you extra if you want the balloons to last past the 12 hr mark which is, I think, absolutely ridiculous.

So when I got out of bed the next morning, I immediately checked on the balloons.

^^^^^^ This is what I saw. MANNNNN, WAS I PISSED! The giant balloon was GONEEEEE!!! Never have I ever been so disappointed in life. And I could only think about how the neighbors were like “No shit Sherlock, of course that’s going to happen.” I was especially concerned because my brain surgeon of a husband’s boss lives across the street. He must’ve thought my husband married a dumb girl. Obviously, I was also upset my husband wasn’t coming home after a 28-hour shift to a nice surprise while driving up.

Anyway, I tried undoing the strings that I so uselessly securely affixed to our porch, but they were there to stay so I had to cut them off.

So the lesson here is: USE THE DOLLAR STORE BALLOONS OUTSIDE AND THE EXPENSIVE BALLOONS INSIDE or just put them out later. By the way, about a week later is when that windstorm happened that knocked down tons of trees and power lines in the Northeast…so ya…

I’m clearly still upset about this balloon fiasco.

Do you shop at the dollar store? What do you buy? Leave a comment below!