The Best Purchases I Made In 2018

I always love sharing my favorites of 2018 (still working on that post because STILL TIME…especially for my reading life!) but I wanted to share my best purchases in 2018. You know, those things I’m just so glad I bought and thought THAT WAS A GREAT PURCHASE.

This year we were VERY thrifty because I stopped working midway through the year to stay home with Riley so 1) I was VERY picky about what I purchased this year and 2) I pissed and moaned about most money I had to spend this year so for me to still feel on cloud 9 about these purchases…you know it was a great purchase!

The other thing I notice is that mostly everything I bought was for Riley and not myself…..better luck next year for me maybe???

[Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links which means that if you click on a link and purchase something I’ve talked about or recommended, I’ll receive a very small percentage of the sale. Please see my disclosure policy for more info.

 

1. This utility cart I used for Riley’s stuff and then turned a book cart this Fall:

OH MAN, if you haven’t read how this cart has absolutely changed my bookish life, you need to! It’s been a GAME-CHANGER and I don’t say that lightly. I had purchased it when we were still in our one bedroom apartment (related: how to live with a baby in a one-bedroom apartment) to put some of Riley’s stuff because it could be kept rolled into a closet we had and pulled out when I needed it. But then I figured out how I could use it and I ended up just dumping all her stuff in bins after we moved into our house and used it for me.

 

2.  These sweater knit joggers from Old Navy

I have gotten so many people to purchase these and they are all YOU ARE RIGHT. I have embraced the momleisure look lately (this coming from a girl who didn’t own sweatpants a while ago) and these joggers are the most comfy pair I own plus I got them on sale so EVEN BETTER. I would have so paid full price for them. I got them in grey and put the black ones on my Christmas list SOOOO Santa better deliver.

 

3. The Summer Infant 3D Lite Convenience Stroller

 

Listen! I thought we didn’t need an umbrella stroller. We had this one from our infant travel stystem and this (amazing) jogger (as I’m writing this it’s currently on sale!) and I’m like WHO NEEDS 3 STROLLERS?? Especially because we were pretty minimalist when it came to baby gear. And then we got invited by my stepdad to go to Disney this year and we needed a lighter stroller (and I refused to rent one of those when I could buy one for the same price it would be altogether).

I did extensive research to get what I wanted with the features I wanted for a decent price because WHO NEEDS 3 STROLLERS??? I was kind of pissed off I was buying it but I found one that had good reviews, reclined pretty far back for those Disney naps that were going to have to happen and one that wasn’t super expensive to make me feel less bad about getting yet another stroller. I AM A CONVERT. I don’t know why we didn’t get one of these suckers sooner. It’s so light and easy to use and MY CHILD, who is not a stroller napper, slept for 1.5 hours one of the days at Disney in this thing and I even had to wake her. We’ve used it so much already since we’ve been back. It’s so much more convenient in a lot of scenarios where I don’t need the power of the jogger

 

4. Little Partners Learning Tower

Full disclosure, I totally got this learning tower off Facebook Marketplace for seriously half the price but this thing has already been worth every penny. Riley loves to be INVOLVED. Riley also gets into trouble when I’m trying to do things in the kitchen. She also wants to do things herself.

The learning tower has solved a lot of these problems. She helps me cook and do things in the kitchen like fill up Finn’s water dish. I fill up the sink while I’m cooking and let her “wash” dishes and pour water. She also gets up there and washes her hands when we need to wash them. She helps me wipe the counters. Sometimes we move it when Will is home (this one is pretty sturdy, I’m sure there are more portable ones) into the laundry room when laundry is going all day and she gets so excited to help me.

I don’t have any pictures of her on it (just video because she’s very entertaining) but we use it daily!!

I’m so excited for how much use this will get the older she is. I see so many fun times in the kitchen with her using this. It does take up a bit of room but we have this random shaped kitchen that probably is where an eat-in set should go but we just store her stool there.

Sometimes I get things and I’m like “whew SO glad I didn’t pay full price, it totally wasn’t worth it.” This is not one of those times. It would have been a big purchase but it would have been worth it. BUT I’m never going to be mad getting a big steal on a practically brand new item like this. SO CHECK MARKETPLACE.

 

5.  My Tailwind subscription

If you read my blogging essentials post you know how much I love Tailwind. It’s been a game-changer for me. My Pinterest for my blog is on auto-pilot now and it saves so much time. It’s been about a year since I used it (I had the free trial first) and I can honestly say, even though it was an investment, it was THE BEST investment I’ve made with my blog. I will 1000% be renewing in January (which is when my free trial ended and I purchased it).

6. My new blog theme

I had not updated the theme of the blog in years and what was under the hood running this blog was really outdated. So I spruced up the blog in the beginning of the year, and while I still haven’t had time to work on my design, I’m really happy with how it functions and all the options I have. 2019 is the year I’m finally going to utilize more of the awesome features it offers!

7. My Day Designer

I don’t know WHAT I would have done without my planner this year. My planner and I were always tight before but this year my planner became my right hand man. I would have never survived the year without it. The Day Designer is what I’ve used for the past couple years but this year it was the real MVP.

 

8. This water table for Riley

I kept trying to get one off Facebook Marketplace because I’m always so hesitant to spend lots of money because sometimes Riley doesn’t get into things the way I hope or the novelty wears off real quick. All the ones I found kept getting scooped up and I finally just bought it on Amazon. I cannot tell you how much use we got out of this all summer but also in the Fall because it stayed ridiculously hot. But even when it was cold she would play with that thing with no water in it. She loved putting the balls down the ramp and we would leaves in it. I’ve even seen people put dried beans and rice and stuff in them to use indoors during the winter. I’m hoping she’ll love it again this summer (I have high hopes because Brody is exactly a year older and he was into it when he came over).

 

So, those are my best purchases I made all year. It really was an interesting year — I didn’t buy much extra stuff (god so many of my purchases were boring when I looked through my Amazon especially) but the stuff I did buy was worth it. We bought a lot of random stuff because we moved into the house from the apartment.

It’s also interesting that I barely bought anything for myself. I feel like before I had a kid I spent so much money on myself and now I’m like EHHH I guess I need a pair of comfy pants and some new underwear.

 

P.S. Check out what we found to be the  best products for 6-12 months for Riley! Or maybe you need the newborn survival guide??