10 purchases that dramatically improved my life transcript

If you're like me, and you find yourself just accumulating things because you think you need them, only to find out A, you didn't need them, or B, you don't actually really use them, which means you didn't need it. I might be able to help you out right now. Not with like a bunch of stuff, but with the gym stuff. These are the top 10 things worth your money, gym edition. This is my professional, expert, experienced, highly educated opinion.

But, if yours differs, that's fine. Starting off strong in what is obviously my natural habitat, the kitchen. Not because I'm a woman. No, but because I'm an expert chef, Chef Pat. A small blender. This is the small blender I have. It was a gift. Smeg brand. I've heard this is actually a really good brand. It has treated me well for the past couple of years. I can distinctly remember being a child, we had a blender. We would make different things, we would make milkshakes, we'd make smoothies.

I noticed that it was a huge pain in the ass because there's like five different parts, and in order to clean it, you got to take them all apart. It's big, it's bulky. Most the time, if you're making a smoothie, you don't really make more than one portion anyway, because you can't really save that. When my family was introduced to the small Ninja blender, it was honestly life-changing. If you're not a big smoothie person, it might be because you don't have a convenient blender.

Easy, breezy, beautiful smoothie. The second thing I would recommend to you as you improve your life, start your gym journey, so on and so forth, invest in some seasonings. This sounds silly. Wouldn't you just have it? You might, you might not. If you're used to eating out, you might not have any seasonings. You might not even know where to start with the seasonings. Salt, versatile. Pepper, also fairly versatile. Garlic powder, that's a good one.

Then you can start getting crazy. I've heard a lot of people mention the brand Kinder's, Kinders? They have a lot of good spice blends, which I believe because I really like their barbecue sauce. I'd also recommend starting to look into ones you might not think, but can really benefit when you're making like sweet recipes such as cinnamon, pumpkin spice mix, that's a bunch mixed together. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, that's basically your pumpkin spice, I'm pretty sure.

Maybe ginger. This will probably be the silliest, simplest suggestion, but investing in spices, things that are tailored to your palate because ideally you're going to be cooking at home more, which is good not only for your waistline most likely, but also for your wallet. So, that's awesome. This third thing that is worth your money, and I don't really see people mention this very much, Tupperware. Specifically, I like to use glassware.

If you're extremely accident-prone, perhaps not that. I don't know a bunch about these things, but in my mind Pyrex is it's pretty versatile. This is the size of glassware Pyrex that I personally like to get. It's big enough, at least for me, to pretty much contain whatever meal I'm going to be eating, and very multi-use. This can get a little bit pricey, but you can find this stuff at thrift stores, Goodwill, Salvation Army.

Those are the ones near me, but maybe you have other ones. Do not sleep on the glassware kitchen area. There's a lot of good stuff there. If you only have a couple of these, it's kind of better than having a bunch of them because if you have two, and then you misplace one, you're really going to be missing it. I like to just keep my numbers low and keep track of the ones I have so that I'm always washing them and keeps everything orderly.

If you're not quite ready for that level of commitment, you can reuse jars from other foods. This is a peanut butter jar that I repurposed to pickle onions in. The only thing with doing this is be careful putting really hot foods in there because I think the glass might explode. If you're somewhere in the middle, this is very useful. I like putting yogurt, overnight oats, things like that. These types of jars are also available at the dollar store.

They're usually a dollar or like a dollar 25. Okay, now getting to the slightly more gym related stuff. If you are lifting, I would recommend a flat soled shoe or a thin soled shoe, something with not a lot of cushion in it. If you're able to just lift without your shoes on, if you're in that kind of gym or in your home, whatever, you can lift with your socks. Some people don't want to do that. For some people, that's against the rules.

It can be dangerous. You can FREAKING SLAM YOUR TOE. Shoes can also be protective. These are the flat soled ones that I personally like. Here we have the Vans. Sturdy, flat sole. I personally like these because the toe box is slightly wider. Converse are also a super popular one amongst lifters and I think historically, like for a long time, people would be like, "Oh, Converse, Converse, Converse." I find that sometimes Converse are kind of constricting on my toes.

So, they're like, "Pew." And my toes just want to be free to expand, touch the floor. But, if I'm not actually touching the floor, something with a wider toe box is my preference. Of course, I could not forget to mention 1 Hun. 1 Hun is a lifting specific shoe brand. This happens to be my collab shoe. So, it's cow print. If you're looking at this, you're like, "Oh my god, freak you. I hate cows and I hate you." That's also totally fine.

They have other designs, a ton of other designs, or you can go with something like this. This shoe was actually a hand-me-down from my friend and I am not ashamed to say I think probably a lot of people will, maybe not a lot, at least a few, maybe a lot though, will be disgusted in me to hear that I also get shoes from the thrift store. No shame in it. Don't neglect looking at that area. Sometimes it's basically brand new shoes or brand new shoes.

If stores have an influx of products and they're not wanting to keep it on their shelves, they'll just donate stuff to the thrift store is what I found. Now, if you're doing cardio, walking, running, a running shoe, a good running shoe. This is the one that I really like. It's called Rad. I really like these ones. I also find that they don't compress my foot very much, so they don't constrict my toe box area. I think it can be very tempting for people, especially the young'uns, to think they don't need actual walking running shoes and they can just walk in their Converse or walk in their Vans.

You might be able to get away with that for a certain amount of time or if you're really lucky, you'll never feel the consequences, but I personally know people who have fricked up their knees, had to get surgeries, had to go to PT because they injured their knees or their hips so badly from walking long distances in bad shoes. Please do not think it won't happen to you. It might. So, I would recommend just investing in a comfortable walking shoe or running shoe.

This next one, I would recommend it. I don't think I could recommend it to everybody because some people do have an issue with these or could develop an issue with these, but super helpful. Food scale, if you're going to be tracking specifically and if you don't track, ignore this, but this is like a whole other topic of conversation. I've gone through the ringer of having a bad relationship with food, but tracking my food was actually the only thing that saved my relationship with food, which sounds almost ironic, but if anyone cares, I could go into the details about that.

I never tracked my food before getting professional help and having a professional show me that it's okay to track and then eventually, you know, that led into intuitive eating and now I track again just because it helps me reach my goals. Some people might say you need, you know, invest in a good one like a $50 one. That's crazy. Good for them. I've only gotten the like 15, 20, maybe 25 dollar max ones from Amazon or I think once I got one from Walmart.

I mostly only use grams, but this one you can do, I don't even think you see that. You can do kilograms, pounds and ounces, fluid ounces. I will actually sometimes use that one if I remember that I have it and I'm measuring a liquid for whatever reason. Milliliters and grams. Again, I don't track super strictly, so it works for me, but the food scale is very useful. Gym clothes are worth the money. You do not have to get the trendiest outfit.

You do not have to get what I'm wearing, what your neighbor's wearing, what your grandma's wearing, what your favorite fitness influencer's wearing, but just whatever is going to make you feel comfortable and confident in your workout. Feeling those two things can absolutely transform your workout experience. Now, of course, I personally wear Gymshark. If you would like some Gymshark stuff, code beef gets you a discount on all Gymshark stuff, but just because that's what I like to wear doesn't mean you have to wear that.

Again, mentioning the thrift store. Okay, way back when I first started working out, I would get clothes from the thrift store. Clothes, it might be a little bit different because sometimes stink can really get in the clothes. So, for gym wear specifically, if you're able to find something that's like a little on the newer side, I would probably recommend that. Or, there's other places to find more affordable gym wear.

There's also always a debate of Oh my gosh, people should be or shouldn't be dressing like this in the gym. Blah, blah, blah. Personally, I think anybody should be able to wear really whatever they want to wear as long as it's not As long as you're not like actually naked because that's illegal. But, I've never seen anyone actually naked at the gym, and I've seen people through the years wearing a range of different apparel.

For example, I have seen men wearing tight leggings. I have seen men wearing the same shorts that I wear. I actually think it's really cool that they're wearing that, and they seem really confident and comfortable, and I just like to see that. Now, am I staring at them? No. Am I staring at anybody in the gym because what they're wearing? No, I really don't care. If someone's wearing a cool outfit, I might look for a couple seconds longer and just be like, "Dang, you look cool." You know?

But, most people don't care what you're wearing. I think it's very much an online microcosm [clears throat] of Ah, people care. Ah, people are looking at me. Most of the time that's not the case. In my experience, that's not the case. People don't really care. I'm sweating. You can probably see it. You can probably see it in my bangs sticking to my face right now, but I'm sweating. Anyway, it is worth the investment to get some clothes, shoes that you are comfortable in, and that could be, you know, anything.

Lifting straps are actually worth the money. This is one I'm sure not everyone will agree with me on that they might be like, "Jessica, work on your grip strength." I know that my legs right now, and probably forever in the future, are going to be much stronger than my grip strength. Even if I worked on my grip strength a lot, it would take a lot longer for my grip strength to catch up to my leg strength. So, it's mostly on leg days where I like to use lifting straps, but you can also use it for other things like back workouts specifically where you don't want your grip strength to limit you.

Also very helpful. >> [music] >> I think this tends to be the more affordable option and the older style option. This is how you assemble. This is the bar. You wrap this under and around the bar. And then you hold it like this. And now you're locked in. I personally really like Versa Gripps, so this is a little bit different. I find it just easier to use and they tend to also last longer. Bar under boom, like that. So, the reason why I like these more is because it doesn't take as long to set up.

Especially if you're doing something like a deadlift or something where you might be bracing at the top. The amount of time it takes to set up can really be the difference between you getting the lift and you passing out because you were holding your breath for the brace. A big water bottle is worth the investment. A big refillable water bottle. The bigger the better. Now, what I used to do was buy a big water bottle like a gallon or just whatever biggest size they had and drink the gallon during the day and then refill that plastic gallon for the next few days.

I did that once with this one particular bottle for so long, probably a shameful amount of time. Probably when I say this number, someone's going to BE LIKE, "YOU'RE DISGUSTING!" I THINK I REFILLED that bottle for like two or three months. And the bottle was being refilled and used and sitting in my car in the hot sun. and I do firmly believe that I gave myself BPA poisoning. I can't prove that, and most plastic water bottles say that they're BPA-free, plastic poisoned, so I would recommend you get a non-plastic one.

The giant water bottle that I currently have is not a gallon. I wish it was, but it's pretty close. I think Igloo makes a gallon size. Those can be pretty expensive, but as long as you're using it, it's worth it. A pair of Bluetooth headphones that you really like is worth the investment. My first ones were Beats that I got off eBay. I used those up until they could no longer be used. And for the last couple years, I've had Skullcandy Crusher Evos.

I've tried the Apple over-the-ear headphones. I don't like those, personally. They fall off my head when I'm working out. They will not stay on. So, I cannot recommend the Apple ones, but I do like the Beats and the Skullcandy ones. There's also a bunch of other different kinds that I've not tried. And the last thing worth the money in the gym, I don't know. What do you think? Going to be just the worst person ever and be like, "You tell me." Obviously, a gym membership, if you aren't working out at home.

Personally, I think the gym membership is worth the money, but I don't think the super expensive gyms are worth the money for me, personally. I did do a gym review video talking about ranking different gyms in my area, most of which were just commercial. EOS, really good one. I personally really like Crunch. Planet Fitness, depending on the franchise you're going to, can be literally like the best gym ever. I don't I don't know if I have anything else worth it right now.

I am also not a big forcing you to get stuff person. It's like if you want to get these things, awesome. Like if you want to get the things that I like to use, that I use, and you also want to get a discount for them, I have a discount code for a lot of things that I personally use, but there's never any pressure to get those things. None of these things that I listed are things you absolutely cannot live without, but I think that they're worth it for me personally and for many others that I have observed and spoken to.

So, I hope that you enjoyed. If you agree or disagree with any of these things, please let me know. And if there's something else that you think is just absolutely worth it, the gym or for wellness or for lifestyle, whatever, please let me know in the comments. I would like to know. And that's all. Please take care of yourself and adios.