Favorite Buys of 2024

Brown paper packages tied up with string… these are a few of my favorite things! Here’s what we loved most in 2024.

CLOTHES

Anthropologie barrel sweats | Something about these makes them a little more elevated than typical sweats. Slouchy but not sloppy, flattering back pockets. A great way to try the barrel trend without committing to jeans. Size down!

Free People Pippa jacket | I ordered this for my backpacking trip in Colorado last summer and I’m so glad I did. Loved it for hiking and love it now for every day! Lightweight but so warm, packs down into a zipper pouch, water resistant. Lots of dupes for this on Amazon but I’m forever a FP fan. Like most FP, this runs big; I sized down.

Calia Everyday Relaxed tee | This is a dry fit material but doesn’t really look like it – very soft but elevated, perfect to dress up with jeans. Looks long on the model but I sized down from my usual L to a S and prefer the slimmer/shorter fit. It’s a little bit boxy/boyfriend-ish but still has nice structure. Best plain tees I’ve found in a while!

Get Fluffed brow gel | The one new beauty product I bought in 2024 (still loving all things Merit). Gives volume without being cakey and holds brow hairs in place so well! A little goes a very long way. I love shade 1.0 (clear) for a no-makeup makeup look and shade 2.0 (light brown) for a bolder brow.

HOME

Red Land Cotton percale sheets | We decided to make the switch to 100% cotton sheets and wanted to invest in a set that will last a LONG time. After reading approximately 14 million reviews and researching sateen weave (what Boll and Branch uses) vs. percale weave (the clear winner for hot sleepers), I narrowed it down to two brands – we bought both and have been rotating. The Red Land Cotton set is American-made from start to finish and they feel… *old-fashioned* in the best way. Durable, thick and crisp but breathable. From night one, Andrew said these are the best sheets he’s ever slept on – to be honest, I did not love them at first. Percale cotton is just a very different feel than I was used to. But a lot of the reviews said to give them a few washes to really get broken in and now I understand the hype. Each time we put them on our bed is better than the last and I know they will last for a long, long time.

Pottery Barn organic percale cotton sheets | The other sheet set we bought (and my favorite of the two, if I had to pick!) – has that luxury hotel feel from the get-go. These wash so well and feel cool to the touch all night long. I just adore them.

Pillowflex inserts | I’d seen these recommended by several interior designers for that full, heavy, choppable look (always order inserts 2” bigger than your shams). They’ve lived up to the hype. USA-made too!

Coupe glasses | These are just fun. A very pretty addition to our little bar area with a heavy, quality feel.

Paint pens for walls + cabinets | These make it easy to do touch ups around the house + fill in holes, and the paint does not dry out. Comes with a syringe to fill them up.

Wine decanter | Just so pretty, and the sediment filter is nice.

Branch Basics | Finally hopped on this non-toxic all-purpose cleaner train and have been so pleased. The concentrate lasts forever (one bottle lasted us 11 months) and I love that there’s no scent.

Force of Nature | As much as I love Branch Basics for everyday cleaning, I still wanted to have a true disinfectant on hand. So glad I found this non-toxic option that’s as powerful as bleach. Between BB and FN, we got rid of all other cleaners under the sink. Use my referral link to get their best 40% off deal!

FITNESS

Calia Step Up shorts | These made me finally get rid of all my old Nike shorts. The only workout shorts I own now! If you have bigger thighs like me and hate shorts being tight on your legs, these are not at all. The thicker waistband is so flattering and comfy. I wear a Large in Nike shorts, did a Medium in these.

Avia sports bra | Again, one that replaced all the rest. And for a fraction of the price. So comfortable and supportive (no seams!) without being suffocating and made to last. Fits TTS.

Moves app | Can’t say enough great things about Moves. I started in March of last year and have been so happy to have found a weightlifting program I WANT to be consistent with. For me, the membership is absolutely worth the price for all the features within the app. I started with the 6-week core/pelvic floor rehab program, which was so helpful and eye-opening for me, postpartum. And since then I’ve been able to consistently lift weights 3 days a week because it takes all the guess work out of it for you. I’m in and out in 30 minutes and don’t need a ton of equipment (I love this dumbbell set and these bands). Hoping to reach the Million Pound club in 2025!

RTIC tumbler | Two words: ceramic. interior. Your drink won’t taste metallic like it does in a stainless steel cup and the best part – this cup does not leak. Not even through the straw. Magic.

KIDS

Toddler boys boots | Quite possibly my best Walmart find ever. I’ve already bought these in the next sizes up because they are so good and so affordable!

Turkish towels | Thin and space-saving but warm and absorbent, HUGE, and beautiful colors. These were such a hit last summer!

Are My Kids on Track | Incredibly insightful book for Christian parents who want to raise emotionally intelligent children in this increasingly crazy world we live in. One I’ll re-read often as our kids grow.

Ezy Roller seated scooters | A BIG hit for Christmas 2024 and worth adding more things to the garage. The kids are obsessed with these! So fun and easy for them to ride and they’re extendable to grow with them for years and years.

ANDREW’S FAVORITES

Magnetic portable flood light | Not sure if I’ve ever seen Andrew so excited about a gadget. This is pretty cool though – it mounts to his truck with the magnet, runs on battery power and is super bright! Useful for camping, hunting, home projects, and more.

Wine vacuum | Removes oxygen from opened wine bottles and keeps them fresh for up to ten days. We use this all the time!

Peter Millar golf polos | It was time to clean out and upgrade his golf polo collection and we’ve both been impressed with the material, craftsmanship, and overall quality of this brand. If I’m picking out a polo for him to wear, it’s always one of these.

True Classic tees 6-pack | Again, time for an upgrade for his basic tees. The six pack is a great deal and these shirts really are so flattering – much more so than a typical undershirt – and so soft.

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Hope some of these recommendations are helpful! Thanks for reading and visiting the blog. Ten years later this is still a fun creative outlet for me and every time you shop via a link I share, I’m so grateful!

Keepsake Organization Part III: DIY Family Memory Boxes

Last on my list for organization projects to kick off 2024 (along with family yearbooks and file boxes for each child) was finding a good storage place for some of our most special family keepsakes. Our wedding memorabilia, mementos from our dating and newlywed years, and our family’s small keepsakes and loose photos all needed a home, and this set of archival storage boxes is perfect!

I got this idea from listening to Nancy Ray’s Work and Play podcast. She’s a former wedding photographer and a huge advocate for treating your family’s photos (professional photos, camera photos and iPhone photos alike) as what they truly are – your family’s legacy. Her approach inspired my giant personal photo overhaul, changing the way I approach, manage and store our family’s digital photos, but she also encourages safekeeping of printed photos and tangible memories. Her Legacy Photo System involves five boxes, but that was a little much for our family’s needs. Two is perfect for us now, and we can always get more if we need to.

These acid-free archival boxes with metal-reinforced sides prevent photos and papers from damage and from yellowing over time and while they’re obviously not fireproof or waterproof, they’re lightweight and an easy-to-access place to store things for generations.

As I was gathering photos from various places to put in these boxes, I realized that most of them have the file name and/or year they were printed in fine print on the back; however, that info isn’t really helpful if it doesn’t match up with when the photo was actually taken.

So I took a sharpie and wrote helpful information on the back of each one – date taken, ages, event if applicable. It made this project take a lot longer, but I know I’ll be glad I have those notes in many years when my memory gets fuzzy. You think you’ll remember, but I could barely remember things about photos that were taken 5 or 10 years ago, so I know it’ll only get harder!

In our wedding box, I put our save the date, stationery from our wedding, letters we wrote to each other, mementos from the day we got engaged, a handmade banner my then-7-year-old cousin sewed for us, the USB with our wedding photos, and all of our loose printed photos from our wedding. Essentially, anything pre-children goes in this box.

Our family box will house all of our printed family photos that aren’t in our yearbooks or in frames, along with any other small mementos from trips or events that we want to hang onto over the years.

The cut sides on these boxes are on purpose, in case you want to slide out something on the bottom out from the side instead of having to pick everything up. Shop these exact archival boxes HERE or via the widget below – I did the 2-pack, size 11”x15”x3”, which will hold years and years’ worth of photos for us, even 11x14 prints.

This was one more of those projects that allowed me to breathe a deep sigh of relief once I finished. The peace of mind from having these precious keepsakes organized, easy to access and in a safe place – it’s priceless!

Keepsake Organization Part II: DIY Kids' File Boxes

Along with getting caught up on family yearbooks and photo boxes, one of my organization projects for the beginning of 2024 included getting a system in place for our kids’ papers. They’re still just in a Mother’s Day Out preschool program right now, so it’s mostly handprint crafts and coloring pages in our house. After they get their spotlight on the fridge, I don’t just want to toss them, but also don’t want them to pile up. I want to keep them in order and from getting damaged.

Enter: these DIY kids file boxes. They’re the perfect solution for keeping school papers worthy of saving, along with other paper things like birthday cards, letters, photos and more, organized and contained all in one place. When they leave the nest some day, they’ll have this to take with them and everything will be so easy to access and revisit.

I have to give credit for this idea to Francie Outlaw and her Filing System for Childhood Memories – I followed her steps pretty closely, just tweaking and adding a few things along the way.

These DIY kids memory boxes are really pretty simple. A clear file box for each child, one colored hanging folder per year (we color code pretty much everything in this house), with 2 manila folders in each. Starting with Pregnancy/Before You Were Born, First Year, 1 Year, 2 Years, 3 Years, 4 Years, 5 Years, and then Kindergarten all the way through 12th Grade – even a College folder if you want to include that.

The first manila folder for each year holds documents – things like report cards, certificates, notes from teachers, class photos, birthday cards and letters. The second manila folder holds classwork and artwork. For the pregnancy and first year sections, I put things like ultrasound photos, baby shower cards, birthday cards, and their baby book in those folders.

What I Used to Make Our Kids’ File Boxes

For each box you’ll need: one legal/letter file box, 21 colored hanging folders, 42 manila folders, 42 labels, and a name decal.

You can shop everything I used to make these boxes on Amazon HERE or using the widget below. The only thing I purchased elsewhere were the name decals from Etsy. She has tons of font and color options. I ordered the 2.5” size for the front of each box.

The file boxes sell out occasionally, but you can just search for stackable letter/legal file boxes on Amazon or at an office store. Each box took me about an hour to put together, mostly because I used my label maker instead of the file label stickers (we don’t have a printer – if you do, this will go much quicker!). Little bit of a tedious project on the front end, but this will set us up for ease and success going forward.

Tips for Storing Kids’ School Papers and Memories

WHAT TO KEEP: Paring down these kinds of things is harder for me than paring down my own keepsakes. There’s a painted handprint for every holiday, things they colored, precious papers with their name in giant, carefully drawn letters. To each their own, but during these MDO/preschool years, I’m trying to keep 3-4 handprint things, 3-4 things they wrote/colored, and 3-4 other crafts per year.

For crafts when they’re small, I like to hang onto things that are actually their handiwork – not things you can tell the teacher mostly did for them. For cards and letters, I try to only hang onto ones that have more than just a name signed – any with sweet notes they’ll really love to go back and read later on! The goal is to keep the folders from being stuffed to the brim, so I’ll put things in there I think I might want to keep, and if/as they get full, I can go through and pare things down even more. We’ll see how things change as they get older and are bringing home different things, but this is working for us right now.

DATE. EVERYTHING: You think you’ll remember when something’s from, but it’s tough! As I started going through our kids’ storage bins and moving all the papers into these file boxes (they each also have a big bin where I put other keepsakes like clothes, memorabilia and bulkier things), I was finding so many cards, papers and pieces of artwork with zero way to know when they were from. I’ve made it a habit now to jot down the month/year/their age on the back of things as they come into our home and I know I’ll want to keep them.

If you’d rather not go the DIY route and would prefer to have one of these ready made for you, The Short Years company does just that! Their folders also come with an About Me template similar to the one above to fill out each year and attach a photo from their first day of school (I made my own and added a few more blanks). However, The Short Years boxes only come with one folder per year and only go from Preschool through 12th, so you won’t have the before you were born/first year/toddler section. They only release a set number of boxes every so often and they sell out quickly, so be sure to sign up for their email list.

Personally, I enjoyed putting the boxes together myself and being able to choose the colors of the folders, customize the name decals, and add the extra folders where it made sense. Again, HERE is the shoppable post with all of my supplies. And if you’d like to print my yearly About Me template, right click below to download.

If you’re overwhelmed by the influx of school papers and not sure what to do with it all, this is a great starting point. Happy filing!