7 Life-Changing Things To Try In March

Because we tried them for you in February!

Zoë Burnett / Via BuzzFeed

The BuzzFeed staff is always trying new products, apps, hacks, and DIY projects, and we decided it was time to start sharing the best of them with you. Each month, we post our recommendations for what’s actually worth it. This post features a mix of items that we purchased with our own money and those that were provided to us at no cost for the sake of review. (But! We’re under no obligation to write a review of those things, let alone a positive review.)

Let us know in the comments what sorts of things you’d like us to review next month!

1. Marimo moss balls, the living greenery that even semi-professional plant slayers won't be able to kill.

Mallory McInnis / Via BuzzFeed

I killed a lot of plants in 2017. You know what? That sounds too active, as though I sat there intentionally burning them or blasting them with jets of frigid cold water until they perished. Let's edit my statement to: "A lot of plants died on my watch in 2017." Many of them were the sort of plants you find on lists of houseplants that are hard to kill. What can I say, I love a challenge! It's a sad, sad state of botanical affairs, but there is light at the end of the (plant carcass-filled) tunnel: moss balls.

In November, I bought a set of (live!) moss balls from Amazon. I had seen them in a post by a coworker and hadn't been able to get them out of my mind. It seemed like my brain had morphed from a gelatinous blob o' pink goo into furry green blob o' nonvascular plant matter — I had to have them!

The balls arrived in a plastic container filled with water. While the listing promised six balls, I was thrilled to find that the seller had enclosed eight. I followed the instructions (detailed on a little business card) and gave 'em a bath in cold water and then transferred them into their luxurious estate (aka a terrarium I purchased from West Elm). They're still there and they are doing *great*. Do I have to feed them? No. Do I have to make sure I keep them in a certain type of light? Nah. All I do is - once a month or so - bring them over to the sink, empty out the water in their container, gently squeeze them while running them under cold water from the faucet (basically a spa treatment, moss-ball-style), then transfer them back into the terrarium (now cleaned and filled with fresh water).

Do they give off the same ~vibe~ as a more traditional type of houseplant? No. No, they do not. But they're cute as heck and have a charming, roly-poly vibe of their own! So if you've come to the conclusion that it would be better for the plants of the world for you not to try your hand at caring for another specimen you picked up at your nearest greenhouse...try moss balls! Unless your thumb is so black it's basically emanating the plant version of "avada kedavra," they'll probably survive. —Mallory McInnis

Get a set of six from Amazon for $12.95.

2. Drinking Buddies glass markers, a six-pack of beefcakes (with six-packs) that’ll help you remember whose drink is whose.

Elizabeth Lilly / Via BuzzFeed

If you’re at my place, you’re likely drinking vodka sodas out of juice glasses or pinot grigio out of Dollar Tree jack-o’-lantern party cups. Why? Because I dig a theme and unlike the lyrics of a Ben Folds song, I’m unafraid of people discovering my redneck past (and present?). But there are benefits aplenty to being an adult and owning drink markers so you know which glass of a too-boozy concoction is not your pal’s who just got over a cold.

My friend Katie frequents my apartment and has definitely drunk out of the wrong glass before — which is probably why she bought me these li'l drink markers for my birthday last July. (Also because she knows I love some kitschy kitchen shit.) These objectified helpers are quite beefy, easy to wash, have super-short names like Chad and Brad, and even bounce when they hit the floor. So really, they’re ideal for using with your sloppy friends and their weird drink combos that’d make your taste buds recoil.

Their terrified grips fit on the edges of all sorts of drinks, including, but not limited to: Old Fashioned glasses, wineglasses, and pint glasses. Just maybe don’t look straight into these dudes' tiny eyes, because they’ll see into your soul and you’ll never be the same. —Elizabeth Lilly

Get them from Amazon or Target for $8.49.

3. You Are a Badass, a hilarious, real-talk self-help book that might actually motivate you to make serious changes in your life.

Taylor Fuller / Via BuzzFeed

I am not a self-help-book kind of girl; I just don’t buy into the cheesy inspirational advice most tomes of the genre expound. But after approximately 15 people told me to read You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero, I caved. And I am so glad I did, because I am obsessed with this book. In fact, I’ve already read it twice, and I fully intend on listening to the audiobook. With quotes like “If you want to live a life you’ve never lived, you have to do things you’ve never done" scattered among its pages, it’s hard not to give this book’s philosophies a try — and easy to start doing things like recite daily affirmations, or act as if you’ve already got the job/relationship/money you want in your life.

Sincero’s writing is hilarious, sarcastic, and real, which is why it resonated with me so strongly. She doesn’t just lay out a list of things to do to make changes in your life; she gives insight as to why you are the way you are, how to change the things you deem negative, and how to use the universe, or “The Force,” as she calls it, to make massive life changes that will stick. After finishing the book for the first time a little over a month ago, I have actually already started feeling a hell of a lot more positive about my life and career choices. For example, in my line of work (travel blogging/Instagram) comparing yourself to others is so easy to do. Instead, now I focus solely on what I’m doing and how it makes me feel — which has done a lot for my mental health. —Taylor Fuller

Get it from Amazon for $9.60+, Barnes & Noble for $9.99+, or a local bookseller through IndieBound here.

4. Purifyou reusable mesh bags, a green alternative to those maddening plastic produce bags.

Jessie Gaynor / Via BuzzFeed

Lately I've been trying to be more conscious of the amount of trash, especially plastic trash, that I produce. I now bring my own coffee to work in a YETI (highly recommend) to save both cups and dollas, I've started using these great stainless steel straws instead of the environmentally disastrous plastic kind, and — most recently — I've ditched plastic produce bags in favor of these Purifyou reusable mesh bags.

I was already in the habit of bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, but it bothered me that I still had to use single-use bags to contain my apples and kale. These drawstring bags cut the plastic out of grocery shopping entirely (except containers and shrink-wrap, but, you know...baby steps). Also, you never have to go through the embarrassing exercise of trying and failing to open one side of those produce bags, then trying and failing to open the other, then laughing to yourself like, "Classic me! What a goof!" in case anyone's watching. Just me? Okay!

They're lightweight and (relatively) see-through, so they don't add weight to your produce or give the clerks at the store any extra headache. They're also machine-washable, and they come with a lifetime warranty, which is pretty impressive for little mesh bags. I got a set of nine mixed-size bags, which seems like a lot until you realize (/Amazon tells you) that you can use them as lunch bags, or to protect delicates in the washing machine, or to tote pens or makeup around. Part trash reducer, part organizational tool, all upside. —Jessie Gaynor

Get them from Amazon for $8.97+ (available in five size combinations).

5. A Tibetan singing bowl, which will relax and center you with its myriad meditative sounds.

Mark Peters / Via BuzzFeed

For Christmas this year, a friend gifted me an unlikely source of relaxation: a Tibetan singing bowl. Listening to the many tones of the bowl — which comes with its own little stand and whacking stick — is a meditative method for shutting up the voices in your head, on the internet, and throughout the cosmos. A moment of zen, as it were.

A couple years ago, I started taking mindfulness meditation classes, where I learned about sound meditation, in which you get your John Cage on, simply listening to every sound, big and small, beautiful and ugly, for a set period of time. If other thoughts pop in — which they will — you don’t beat yourself up about them. You just notice them, observe them, and get back to listening. If sound meditation is my favorite type of meditation, I guess you could say the bowls are my favorite song. (You can read more about the history of the singing bowl, sometimes called a standing bell, here, as a starting point.) I learned that the way of the bowl isn’t just about listening, but healing. For more relaxation, you can put the vibrating bowl on various parts of your body. It’s *literally* good vibrations.

Also, the bowl is fun. You can make a quiet boonngg or loud BOOOOOONNNNGGGGG or a REALLY loud BOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG. If you ever wanted to get so centered and meditative that you wake all the neighbors, this is your path to obnoxious enlightenment. And even if you only get three seconds of peace and clarity at a time, that’s more peace and clarity than you have now, right? Right. —Mark Peters

Get it from Amazon for $44.40, or a similar version from Amazon for $22.88.

6. An AmazonBasics travel umbrella with wind vents, an affordable umbrella that will stand up to the elements and stand down in your bag.

Jessie Gaynor / Via BuzzFeed

Hot travel tip: If you want to go to Paris on the cheap, definitely go in January! Turns out, most people don't want to stroll along the Seine during the winter damp, so ticket prices are super reasonable. And Paris is just as lovely in the rain — provided you have the right umbrella. So after my boyfriend and I booked our tickets, I bought two of these AmazonBasics travel umbrellas with wind vents. I'm sort of an umbrella truther (like, how much do they really do? Unclear. Don't @ me), so I didn't want to spend a ton of money. On the other hand, the forecast called for rain every day of our trip, and skeptical as I was, I knew that buying a good umbrella the smart thing to do.

And WOW. First of all, to all the umbrellas out there without wind vents, can I just say: I'm not mad; I'm disappointed. It's 2018 — robot dogs are opening doors and Rihanna created a red lipstick that looks good on everyone. Put some damn wind vents in those umbrellas! No matter how squally the weather, our trusty umbrellas never even threatened to turn inside out. These things were worlds better than every umbrella I've ever used (a list that includes both shitty drugstore and fancy-ish department store varieties). They're also super compact (11 inches) and lightweight (under a pound). They actually made me an umbrella believer.

The only downside to these is that they seem to come and go from Amazon without warning, like manic pixie dream girls who'll teach you to love (umbrellas) and then disappear to Coachella or something. This is the first time they've been in stock since December. So if you're looking to upgrade your sad, ventless umbrella, don't sleep on these! —Jessie Gaynor

Get it from Amazon for $13.28.

7. Finishing Touch Lumina Lighted Hair Remover, a brilliant little gadget that will remove your lil' stash with absolutely no pain.

Kelly Green / Via BuzzFeed

Let me tell you about the products I have used to remove/hide my lady mustache: 1) Bleach. I mean, it works in the sense that it does what it’s claiming to do — but guess what? At the end of the process, you still have a mustache. Just a bright blonde one.

2) Cream hair remover. Totally works. But if you leave it on for too short of a time, you will wipe it all off, only to reveal that no hair was removed. If you leave it on for too long, you will burn the shit out of your face.

3) TWEEZERS. I think we all know how that one goes. It’s like a live horror show that you are both directing and starring in.

But lucky for us all, there is a number 4. The game-changer: the Finishing Touch lighted hair remover. It’s roughly the size of a thick pencil and costs less than $10. It can’t cut you because there is no blade, and it can’t burn you because there are no chemicals. Somehow, magically, it completely removes hair PAINLESSLY. And my hair has not once grown back thicker or coarser! In fact, it grows back in so gently that I will be applying bright lipstick in excellent lighting one day, and scream suddenly, as I will just at that moment notice the full mustache balancing itself upon my upper lip. But never fear — roughly 10 seconds with this baby and I’m golden again. —Kelly Green

Get it from Amazon for $7.99.

Looking for the perfect gift for any occasion? Check out all of BuzzFeed’s gift guides here!

Allison Krausman / Via BuzzFeed