My Favorite Buys in 2022

I haven't done a Favorite buys post in ages.  Partly because there have been fewer purchases over the last year, or so I thought, but I find I've quite a few things I'd like to share with you all as really good purchases.  These are items I've used long enough now to really appreciate how well they work.   I always find it very helpful to know what someone else has found helpful or useful or might be a product I've looked at and wondered about but didn't know if it was worthwhile.

Here's my list of new purchases, and a couple of reviews of past purchases that I've shared before, but think is worth repeating because they are still high on my list of favorites.  I'm including images and links to the items.  Amazon items are all Associate Affiliate links.  None of the non-Amazon items are affiliate links.  

I was in the midst of two big projects last January.  One was to paint the master bathroom which I began in January.  Then I was determined to freshen the kitchen and I determined it would be the kitchen island, which really did need a coat of paint.  Alas, I had not realized how very wobbly it had gotten until I started to move it outdoors...at which point it fell into pieces.  I was all for putting it back together again, but John took one look at it and said 'Nope.  It's done."  He insisted we order a new island which we did.  I'd used and appreciated my old one though it wasn't the size that I'd wanted.  John insisted I get the size I wanted this time around.

Island 

When we put this together, we left the towel bars on the ends off.  I have never found them handy, and children always seemed to knock their heads on them.  No regrets over not putting them on.  I've been so very happy with this purchase.  So happy in fact, that we plan to order a second one and will place the two side by side on the wall where the freezers are at the moment.  Why?  Because it's cheaper than a huge cabinet base and countertop to go in the same place. As well I think if we decide to put shelves above it, we'll have more the look of the big hutch I wanted in that space. 

John asked if I had any other items I hadn't been happy with when we bought the island.  I thought of the heavy Cuisinart Waffle Iron that always overflowed or made terrible waffles.   Lana and several others highly recommended this Presto waffle iron.  I love it!  I've never had it overflow even once and it's not a back breaker when I have to pull it off the shelf to use it.

I transferred silverware to the kitchen island drawer and got it off my counter where it had been sitting in a jar for ages upon ages.  I had a traditional flatware tray and it fit.  Not well, but it worked.  Then someone shared this flatware tray on Instagram.

I was won over quickly by the slim lines.  I ordered one immediately and can tell you honestly it holds easily 8 place settings and then some.  Because it is slimmer, I am able to fit all my kitchen knives behind it in the same drawer, which mean I can keep them out of reach of little hands and helps to eliminate crowding in the other drawer where I keep kitchen utensils.

If your kitchen space is limited and your drawer space is cramped, this tray is well worth trying.  It really does save space!

I've had refillable k-cups in the past and liked them well enough, but when we decided this past autumn that coffee was one huge chunk of our food budget, I decided to go back to filling k-cups at home.  I ordered these and am very happy with them.  

Eventually we gave up filling k-cups because of the constant mess.  Then John suggested after we sailed through a box of pre-filled k-cups in less than 3 weeks that I could fill them and put them in our k-cup drawer.  Emptying and filling them myself might mean far fewer messes to clean up.  But I wanted to easily distinguish between decaf and regular coffee.  I thought I'd get a different color.

I ordered this set most recently.   They are quite a bit bigger and quite a snug fit in my Keurig, though the box assures me these fit the same machine.  For my money...Give me the first lot.  I'm going to go back and look again at what's available and see if I can find something more similar to the size of the first ones but in a different color so we can tell them apart.  In the meantime, we're prying these out of the machine.

 

I love using a spatula in my kitchen.  By spatula I mean what some people refer to as 'scrapers'.  When you see the picture, you'll know just what I mean.  I find them incredibly handy.  The link goes to the set I ordered but not the color I ordered.  The photo below is the color and not the set.

I'll quickly slide out of the kitchen and into the bedroom.  I wanted new pillows for my bed this autumn.  I don't buy throw pillows as a rule.  I buy pillow covers.  They are so much better priced, and I find that often enough I have a throw pillow the size I want on hand already anyway.

These velvet pillow covers came up in a search one day and I was smitten with the idea of velvet for autumn and winter.  They are very well made, sturdy (and currently overstuffed as I really needed a larger size).  I'm very happy with them just the same.  The zippers are holding up well even though I'm abusing them.  They are very well priced, coming in pairs.  The colors are rich and true.

I ordered the pumpkin orange ones to use on my dark teal spread for the cooler months.  In summer, I have coral but I'm seriously considering ordering pale pink for this summer...and I like these so much I'm thinking about making an order for two more sets for the living room.  

Our big purchase this year was a set of chairs for the living room from Ashley Furniture.

We have been so very pleased with them.  The seats are firm, but not hard.  The upholstery has held up really well.  It hasn't pilled or pulled.  The kids can't resist jumping on the furniture even though it's not allowed in any of our homes.  My concern was that the cushions would be quick to wear down, lose their height, etc., but they haven't at all.  They've held up really well.  The chairs came with a five-year guarantee of free replacement if we had any issue with the cushions.

When John's back was hurting him so, he was applying heat.  NOT the right thing to do for sciatica.  We both are aware now that ice is the best thing for it.  But at the time, he wanted two heating pads to go on two different places on his back.  I found this one and ordered two of them.  They are extra-long, a full 24 inches and so nice!  Nicest part of all is that now we have two, we can both have heat if we're hurting, lol.  Not for sciatica though.  We have ice packs for that.

John also bought this small TENS unit to use here at home.  He's a big proponent of using TENS and since the chiropractor he visits uses it as well, he's convinced it's the best thing ever.  I've tried it after pulling a muscle lifting the little one.  It is helpful.  

If you're not sure what a TENS unit is look it up online to get a fuller understanding, but basically it generates a small electrical charge that stimulates a muscle and helps to decrease tension.