Ever wonder what I use every day? My favorite products, apps, and services? Well here you go, and all in one place!
Disclaimer: The following links may contain affiliate links that allow me to receive a small percentage of sales if you decide to purchase an item. The proceeds from these links help to support this blog. Your support is greatly appreciated.

My Main Gadgets

• Apple iPhone 14 Pro (128GB Gold) – I’ve been an iPhone user since the iPhone 4. I can’t imagine having another phone and coming from the iPhone XS, the iPhone 14 is a huge upgrade. As beautiful as it is, you can always find it in a Spigen case. My go-to recommendation is always the Spigen Ultra Hybrid case. Unfortunately this time around however, they aren’t offering a Rose Gold case option so I went with a different model for now.
• Apple Watch Series 8 Starlight 41mm
• Apple AirPods Pro (Second Generation) – These teeny little headphones are nothing short of magical. I had been using my Gen 1 AirPods but they were starting to die. I was a little worried that these wouldn’t fit my ears since I’ve had problems with earbuds like these in past, but they’re even comfortable than my old Airpods. I purchased a silicone case from Elago so I could continue clipping them to my bag. I haven’t had an opportunity to test out the noise cancelling on a plane yet, but my usual headphones for traveling by plane, are my Beats Studio3 Wireless headphones.
• iPad Pro 10.5 with Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard – I had a hard time finding a use case for an iPad in my life up until receiving this one. Now it’s the first device I reach for in most cases.
• 14″ Macbook Pro– I recently upgraded to the 14″ Macbook Pro, and let me just say this computer is perfect. It has all the ports I could hope for and the battery last for an entire day. I also love that I can charge via MagSafe or USB-C which means I can still travel with my favorite USB-C charger that can charge all my devices whether I’m plugged in or needing to run on battery power.
• Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition – I’ve used a Kindle Paperwhite for almost 10 years now. I even found a way to add wireless charging to my first Kindle which is still alive and kicking, but it’s been retired as a backup device in favor of the new Signature Edition. The Signature Edition is truly everything I could ever want in a Kindle – waterproof, warm lighting that doesn’t hurt your eyes and even auto-adjusts, and finally wireless charging. I can carry a library in my pocket with me wherever I go, and trust me – my Kindle comes just about everywhere with me now.

Smart Home

• Amazon Echo – Let me just say I feel like a wizard with this in my house. Need to know when your favorite team’s playing? Need to add something to a shopping list? Need to set a timer while you’re hands are a mess? Or maybe you just want to be lazy and turn on some Wemo lights or hear some music. Just ask Alexa. Simple as that. I also have an Echo Dot in my bathroom so that I don’t need to scream to the kitchen.
• Meross Smart Plugs – I can’t get stress how useful these things are. I have my bedroom lamps connected to one that turns on and off automatically each weekday morning. My Christmas tree was connected to one and set to turn on at sunset each night. They’re also great for lamps that are awkward to turn on and off. They work with HomeKit and they’re inexpensive. I also have a Meross LED strip behind my TV as well as an outdoor plug on my patio.
• Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect – The Nest thermostat was one of the first smart home devices I purchased. Being able to control the temperature from wherever I’m at is cool enough, but admittedly one of my favorite features is the motion sensors on these. With the help of a now-defunct Mac app called Inversion, I get alerts whenever either one senses motion. The Nest Protect also has a handy Pathlight feature which serves as a convenient night light for anyone walking down the hallway late at night.
• 55″ Samsung Frame TV – I do watch TV, but, if I’m honest, I hate having one in my house. My compromise is the Samsung Frame TV which can turn into art while not in use.

Services

• Google Calendar – I can’t imagine where I’d be without Google Calendar. It’s one of the major parts of keeping my life organized.
• Gmail – All of my email accounts are through Gmail. It just works.
• Sanebox – After having Sanebox for a week, I couldn’t go back to life without it. Instead of getting distracted by advertisement emails throughout the day, I get 1 email at 4PM each day that I can skim quickly. It’s been well worth the price.
• Goodreads – I track everything I read at Goodreads. I’ve even set up shelves to know what is available to check out or what I’ve recommended at my local library e-Library site.
• Pocket – Pocket is part of my daily workflow at this point. Rather than having countless tabs open in my browser, if there’s something I want to read or watch, it gets saved to Pocket where it can stay until I’m ready for it.
• Feedly – I’m still a bit sad about the death of Google Reader, but thankfully Feedly was there to match nearly all its features. It’s the basis of my RSS workflow, and the #1 source of my news at this point.
• You Need a Budget (YNAB) – There’s no single service that has changed my life as much as YNAB. I feel fully in control of my finances thanks to YNAB. At this point, I can’t see living without it, and even better, I’m on track to be financially independent within the next 10 years.
• M1 Finance – As I continue on my financial journey, I’ve started using M1 Finance to handle my investing. They may it dead simple to follow JL Collins’ financial independence advice in his book The Simple Path to Wealth.
• Spotify – After trying Rhapsody and Rdio, I settled on Spotify as my streaming service of choice. I get all the music I want for $10 a month. If you’re a student you can get it for $4.99 plus Hulu. That’s hard to beat. I also love the curated playlists based on mood. You can follow me here.
• PetFlow – If you have pets, Petflow is life-changing. Gone are the weekly trips to the pet store. Instead, pet supplies just show up at my door automatically. It’s like Amazon’s Subscribe and Save for pet stuff. (I’m also happy to report that they’ve started a referral program, so if you decide to sign up using this link, it will get us both $10 off.)
• Amazon Prime – I don’t know what I’d honestly do without Amazon Prime. I mostly use it to have items shipped to me regularly through Subscribe and Save, but I also heavily utilize the free shipping on most orders. If you’re in an Amazon Now delivery area, which I am, you can even enjoy 1-2 hour deliveries for select items.
• Backblaze – Offsite backups are a must. Having the piece of mind to know Backblaze is always running in the background keeping my data safe in the event one of my other physical backups fails is well worth the $5/mo.

Apps

• 1Password (iOS/Mac) – I can’t recommend this app enough. If there is ONE app I think everyone should have, it’s 1Password. It was the first app I ever bought with my own money, and I’ve continued to buy it not only for myself but for family and friends. The app keeps getting better and with security breaches being in the news every single week, you can’t not have a password manager. I’ve tried others, but this one is the best.
• Paprika (iOS/Mac) – I used to save all my recipes to Pinterest until I realized how many of those recipes were gone thanks to broken links. Paprika is the best recipe manager, and the browser extension to save recipes with 1 click is just fantastic. It’s also great for meal planning, generating grocery lists, and even timers.
• Fantastical (iOS/Mac) – Fantastical is one of the few apps that lives in my menu-bar. The natural language makes it easy to add a calendar event, and it’s a quick, compact way to see the date and check my calendar without having a calendar app open at all times.
• Deliveries (iOS/Mac) – This app has grown up since it’s days of the Dashboard widget. It now lives in the Notification Center, and with a few clicks, I can grab a tracking number from an email and be able to track it until whatever I’ve ordered gets to my door.
• ReadKit (Mac) – Readkit has changed the way I consume content because I now have 1 app that collects all the new content from RSS feeds and allows me to also view everything I’ve saved to Pocket. For more on how I use Readkit, I wrote a post on it.
• Spark (iOS/Mac) – Spark is my email client of choice. It took some time for me to wrap my head around its Smart Inbox, but it allows me triage my email effectively  as well as snoozing or sharing emails to both Things and Evernote.
• Things (iOS/Mac) – Where to begin with Things… coupled with Google Calendar, Things allows me to get through the day with a purpose. For more on how I use Things 3, read the numerous posts I’ve written.
• Tweetbot (iOS/Mac) – Tweetbot lives in the corner of my 27″ display. It’s my news feed for the day, but what keeps me coming back is its mute feature.
• CleanMyMac (Mac) – I’ve used numerous utilities over the years to keep my Mac running nicely, but none have been as comprehensive and nice looking as CleanMyMac 2. To date, I’ve cleaned over 200GB of junk off my Mac and when you have an SSD, every bit of space matters.
• Bartender (Mac) – Every app seems to want to live in my menubar these days. Thanks to Bartender, those apps no longer stretch across the top of my 27″ display. Instead, my menubar is kept to 1Password, Fantastical, Volume, and the time. Anything else lives hidden in Bartender until there’s something trying to grab my attention where it’ll pop into the menu bar for a set amount of time.
• Keyboard Maestro (Mac) – Technology is supposed to make your life easier, and Keyboard Maestro helps with that. When I get to work in the morning, Keyboard Maestro automatically opens the apps I need for the day, and before I leave, it shuts everything down. The possibilities are endless, and it one of the many apps that make everything I do each day possible without having an assistant.
• Alfred (Mac) – Alfred is another one of those apps that I install as soon as I get a computer. Command-Space is just ingrained in my muscle memory. When it’s not running on a computer I’m lost. I use it to search the web, open apps, do calculations, and do a myriad of other things.
• Unclutter (Mac) – Unclutter is a handy app that lets me jot down notes and access my clipboard history just by swiping down at the top of my screen.
• Hazel (Mac) – I refer to Hazel as my assistant. She quietly sits on my computer filing away all my papers and looking for any trivial tasks that can be done. One of these is my job’s weekly report. When Hazel sees the weekly report has been downloaded, it renames the file, runs a script to convert the file type, and opens the folder in Google Drive to upload it.
• Reeder (iOS) – I don’t use Reeder on my Mac anymore, but when it comes to RSS readers for iOS, I’ve not found one that’s more convenient than Reeder. A quick swipe to the right sends an article to Pocket which lets me quickly sort new feed items on the go.
• Waze (iOS) – This has been my favorite GPS app for as long as I’ve had my iPhone. It works. It’s cute. And it has every feature I could ever ask for.
• Streaks (iOS) – As much as I love to track everything, I’m pretty lazy about it. What’s nice about streaks is that it integrates with Apple Health Data so now I don’t even need to bother to track most of my habits.
• Castro (iOS) – When you listen to as many podcasts as I do, you need an app to help you stay on top of them. Castro’s inbox triaging, along with options to trim silence, allows me to do so with ease. I also appreciate that it shows how many episodes I have to listen to.
• AutoSleep (iOS) – The Apple Watch still doesn’t have native sleep tracking, so I solve this with AutoSleep. Just wear your watch to bed, and it does the rest.

Books

• The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod – Let me just say this book changed how I look at life. If you’re feeling like you’re stuck in a rut, read this.
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen – No shocker here. If you’re looking to get things done, this will help give you a system.
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo – If you can look past her quirky thoughts about thanking your socks at the end of each day, this book is incredibly helpful to really think about what creates joy and value in your life.
• You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham – As mentioned above in the Services section, I budget using You Need a Budget, and this is the book that corresponds with the methodology behind the service. It changed the way I think about money.
• The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins – Now that I’m debt-free I’ve started really considering financial independence and long term investing. This book sets the gold standard for a simple yet effective long-term investment strategy.
• Atomic Habits by James Clear – This has been one of the best books I’ve ever read, and has really taught me the power of making small, yet incremental changes consistently in my life.

Podcasts

• Cortex – If there was every one person’s mind I wanted to pick apart more than anyone else’s in the world (not in a creepy way), it’d be CGPGrey. The intentionality he lives by is incredible, and the relationship he has with Myke is great.
• Back to Work – Merlin and Dan are just incredible in this podcast. Don’t let the title fool you – it’s really not about work these days. Just two good friends talking about whatever strikes their fancy – Apple news, decluttering, comics, anxiety, and managing to survive without losing your mind in the world of today.
• Reconcilable Differences – I’ve really come to appreciate the conversations between John Siracusa and Merlin Mann. Topic wise, I’d compare this with Back to Work – meaning they cover everything and anything, but their banter back and forth is what makes the show.

Other Products

• Real Techniques Make Up Brushes – High-quality brushes without the high price.
• The Wet Brush – I have incredibly long hair and without this brush, I’d never be able to get a brush through it.
• Conair Infiniti Pro Hair Dryer – After taking a terrible chance on a NuMe dryer, I opted for this Conair Dryer. At less than 20% of the price of the NuMe, this dryer blows the NuMe away.
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat – My nails NEVER dried until I found this. I’d get my nails done at a salon only to have them still wet or tacky days later. Seche Vite is a super affordable, and it lets me do my nails in 10 minutes and move onto something else without worrying about smearing them for days.
• Miracle Skin Transformer Treat & Conceal – Best concealer I’ve ever tried, hands down.
• Dagne Dover Bags – Where do I even start with these bags?! I have both the Legend Tote and Midi Tote. Both have a place for everything. The Legend is my work bag and fits my laptop, tablet, phone, ID cards, keys, pens, wallet, water bottle, and room to spare, and still manages to not look like I’m carrying a suitcase. I’ve had it for several years and it still looks great. The Midi for days when I need a larger purse than just my wristlet. My only complaint is that I don’t have one every single color.
• Contigo AUTOSEAL West Loop Stainless Steel Travel Mug – I threw out all of my coffee mugs and replaced them with these. They don’t leak, and my coffee stays warm for hours. I do recommend getting the cleaning brushes from Contigo though because the lids can get funky if not cleaned properly.
• Hidrate Spark STEEL Water Bottle – I’m terrible at making sure I drink enough water. I’ve tried just about everything to stay hydrated and this bottle is the only thing I stick with. For starters it’s a smart bottle. The app adjusts my daily goal based on my activity as well as the weather. All I have to do is drink from the bottle and it tracks it in the app automatically. The app also integrates with Apple Health so I can use Waterminder for the times I’m drinking something else. The battery is rechargeable so no fiddling with replacing batteries anymore. Third, it’s insulated which is a must for me. I love that I can put ice in it in the morning and wake up the next morning with ice still. Oh and the fact that you can actually put ice or something other than water in it is huge.
• Kenu AirFrame Phone Mount (Wireless/Not Wireless) – When I’m in my car, my phone lives in a Kenu AirFrame mount. It’s one of the few mounts I’ve found that securely holds my phone and fits pretty much every car vent. I used the original non-wireless model for years, but now that my phone supports wireless charging I use the one with Qi-charging so that I don’t have to worry about plugging in my phone in the car. You can’t go wrong with either. My fiancé still uses the non-wireless model, and if I’m honest I do slightly miss just how small it is compared to the wireless one.

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