Just 9 Things You'll Want To Try In May

Because we tried 'em for you in April!

1. A three-tier shoe rack so you can stack your many (many, many) pairs of sneakers, boots, and flats into a tower of organization — rather than scattered all over your floor.

BuzzFeed / Yi Yang

Shoe storage is always an issue when you live in a tiny apartment. Ideally, I'd like my shoes to be hidden away in a walk-in wardrobe, but sadly, that is unrealistic. With my closets already jam-packed, I needed a neat way to store my footwear in the entryway. Enter the Seville Classics 3-tier shoe rack. I bought these because they had over six thousand reviews (!!!) on Amazon and a 4.7 rating — and I'm not disappointed. First of all, it's a heavy-duty shoe rack with a good weight, not flimsy or wobbly in any way. There's a matte finish so it doesn't look cheap either. Secondly, it's customizable. I have removed one of the slats so my boots fit on the bottom.

Thirdly, it's stackable. Originally, I had one of these, but as my shoe collection expanded, I needed a second one. I was able to stack one on top of the other (it's designed to do so), and it looks very neat. You could also join them horizontally, but unfortunately, I don't have enough space to test that theory out. I have pretty large shoes, and I'm able to fit three pairs (plus one single shoe, lol) on each level, and it's deep enough that my shoes don't jut out weirdly. Overall, it's a wonderful choice for the price, and I'll continue to use it until I can afford my walk-in wardrobe. —Yi Yang

Get it from Amazon for $29.99.

2. Driftaway Coffee — a convenient service that mails you delicious coffee from all over the world for way less than the cost of a plane ticket.

BuzzFeed / Bek O'Connell

You know what I hear a lot? People who want to make more coffee at home to save money, but don't because they keep forgetting to buy more coffee beans when they run out. This is honestly a super silly problem to have, because it's the future and we now have coffee subscriptions that take care of the shopping for us. One such subscription service is Driftaway Coffee, a wonderful company that sends you coffee from all over the world. I recently tried them out and was definitely impressed. I received the tasting kit, which had four four-ounce bags from places like Colombia, Uganda, and Kenya. Each bag came with an airport code (cute) and info about the coffee right on the bag. Each sampling came with a matching postcard with info on the roaster, trivia, and the coffee's flavor profile.

My favorite was probably the Colombian batch, which had hints of mango, chocolate, and toffee. If you subscribe through their website, you can rate the kit on their app and get new coffees better tailored to your taste. You can even keep track of which coffee you've tried and get a better sense of what you like in a cup of joe. This service is pretty much a dream come true for coffee nerds who love to map and record all their coffee drinking experiences. —Bek O'Connell

Get it from Driftaway Coffee for $13.71+/shipment.

3. And an OXO single serve pour-over coffee dripper to help you stop making too much coffee in the morning.

BuzzFeed / Bek O'Connell

How many times has this happened to you: You make a big pot of coffee and then realize you're the only one drinking it. You end up drinking the whole thing and get so wired you consider just sprinting to work on foot. Well, dear reader: I suggest you just make a single cup of coffee with a simple pour over coffee maker. This inexpensive one from OXO is a great place to start, thanks to its price point and easy-to-use design. Simply line with a coffee filter, add your grounds, and pour in the hot water. The water tank has markings so you know exactly how much water you're adding. The lid retains heats while brewing and the hole patterns ensure that you get an even and quality brew every single time. It usually takes about five minutes to get a full cup of coffee. I prefer this bad boy over a French press simply because it's way easier to clean and works just a smidge faster (every second is crucial when you're waiting on caffeine). —Bek O'Connell

Get it from Amazon for $15.99.

4. The Wet Brush, a game-changing detangler that may LOOK like a regular hairbrush but is, in fact, a cool hairbrush, with super soft and flexible bristles that work great whether your hair is wet or dry.

BuzzFeed / Katy Herman, instagram.com

Let me tell you a story that will prove that not all heroes wear capes — some have bristles. I spent this past weekend and the beginning of this week glued to my couch with an awful cold. I did shower a couple times, but brushing my hair? Why would I do such a thing? Nope, the second I got out of the shower my hair went back into the same messy bun it had been in for days on end. I had nothing to prove, no one to impress!!!! But then, of course, my hair was a complete tangled mess by the time I did need to look like a human who cares about her appearance. Actually, not only did I need to look like I cared, I DID care, because my first day out of the house was BuzzFeed's annual holiday party. This was no messy bun occasion — I actually had to look cute.

I got out of the shower and my hair still had a big ol' knot in the back. I went at it with the Wet Brush. Do you remember when you were a little kid and your mom would try to brush your hair and you would just shriek because it hurt and it sucks to have your scalp pulled in different directions? Well, I barely do, because I've been using the Wet Brush for years and haven't had pain while brushing my hair since. That includes the process of detangling my hair on this particular occasion. It was by no means easy, and did take a while, but it did not hurt a BIT. And after a blow dry with a round brush, and a final sweep through with the Wet Brush once dry, I actually had a good hair day, if I do say so myself. Miracles happen.

TL;DR, my mom and I have both been using Wet Brushes for years, we have tons of colors and patterns and even travel sizes. They work smoothly, painlessly, and perfectly wet or dry, and I never plan on buying another kind of basic hair brush ever again. —Katy Herman

Get it from Amazon for $7.42+ (available in 14 colors).

5. Olly Restful Sleep gummies, which are formulated with melatonin and l-theanine, lemon balm, and chamomile to help you naturally drift off and support your sleep cycle. And hello, nighttime snack!

BuzzFeed / Maitland Quitmeyer

I love sleeping, but sadly am not really That Great when it comes to falling asleep. A combination of night owl tendencies, anxious thoughts, and suddenly feeling so! productive! at 11:30 p.m. means I often just can't shut down my brain. So several years after taking a higher dose of melatonin a few times in college and having some fun and INTENSELY VIVID NIGHTMARES, I recently tried these Olly Restful Sleep gummies instead. The lower dose of melatonin and the other ingredients have definitely help me get drowsy faster. I just enjoy one before brushing my teeth, etc. — the serving size is two gummies, but I find that one does the trick just fine. The flavor is slightly medicinal, but in a good way? And the gummy texture is reminiscent of a perfect Welch's Fruit Snack, not like some some of those chalky gummy vitamins. Blech.

Idk if it's a placebo effect that helps my running-running-running brain relax or if the combo of ingredients truly helps, but either way, these work for me. And I'm not the only one who thinks so — over 1,000 Amazon customers have left positive reviews, too! And although I can sometimes just go to sleep after eating one of these and washing up, I also use my Kindle Paperwhite (although I have the the previous, non-waterproof generation) before bed every night, which helps too! After reading for a while, I turn down the brightness to a low level just *slightly* dimmer than I'd want — after a page or two, my brain goes "Nope!" and shuts off to sleep. AND it helps me not even start thinking the anxious or negative thoughts that *usually* keep me up at night.

P.S. A few Amazon reviewers mention their gummies melted in shipment, so if you're experiencing hot weather right now, you can stock up on them IRL at a local store. —Maitland Quitmeyer

Get a jar of 50 gummies from Amazon for $13.99 (also available in larger quantities).

6. A set of Primary Goods bedding in crisp and breathable percale cotton simply *everyone* in the family will want to snuggle into.

BuzzFeed / Mal Mower

I've had my Primary bedding for two months now and I can't imagine sleeping on anything else. These are soft, cozy, and breathable. They also fit my top-sheet-averse personality so well I'm pretty sure they made these with me in mind.

For years I've wanted to avoid using top sheets because I hate how often they bunch up in the night and how much longer it takes to make my bed with one on (I have enough patience in the morning to spend exactly 30 seconds making my bed. That's it.). Primary bedding took bad attitudes like mine and created a solution, by designing a top sheet that snaps to the duvet. My spouse sleeps hot, and we needed a top sheet to protect our duvet from his dreaded night sweats, but I sleep wildly, and the sheet would end up bunched at the bottom of the bed at night from my tossing and turning — defeating the usefulness of the sheet altogether. With Primary's design, our sheets don't end up in knots and our duvet stays perfectly clean.

I'm consistently impressed with how much softer the sheets get wash after wash. They’re so soft, in fact, that not only do we have a harder time getting out of bed in the mornings, but our hairless cats have basically forgotten what the rest of the apartment looks like. They spend all of their time in this bed. All of it. If you don’t want to take it from me, take it from Chuck and Blair, this set is the best bedding you could ever invest in. —Mal Mower

Get a complete percale bedding set from Primary Goods for $149+ (originally $269+; available in sizes full–California king and nine colors). It's also available in linen!

7. A Rubbermaid lunch-packing system with everything you need to make bringing your food to work or school easier than ever — we're talking room for a sandwich, sides, snacks, *and* a snap-on ice pack.

BuzzFeed / Yi Yang, Amazon

In an effort to spend less money on food, I bought some new lunch containers to encourage myself to pack meals instead of buying them. After perusing through many popular options on Amazon, I picked the Rubbermaid LunchBlox because 1) everything snaps together for easy organization and 2) it comes with a freezer pack that also snaps onto the containers. What a genius idea! It keeps my sandwich and perishable snacks (like fruit and veggies) cold and fresh on the commute to work, and I don't even have to put it in the communal fridge — I just keep it on my desk, and my food is ready to eat whenever I want. I've also used it for picnics and trips to the beach when I didn't want to carry a whole cooler. I opted for the sandwich kit, but there's also an entree kit that'll fit more food as well as a salad kit. I also bought the Rubbermaid insulated lunch bag, and it fits TWO sets of these sandwich containers perfectly (or you could fit one kit plus an apple, a yogurt, a bag of chips, etc.). It makes me feel so organized and just like a really good adult. Highly recommend these, especially if you don't have a fridge in your workspace! —Yi Yang

Get the set from Amazon for $6.60 (available in three colors, plus other configurations, including entrée and salad configurations..

8. A couple of velvet scrunchies topped with bows for adorably effortless hairstyles that'll keep your locks out of your face and help you head out the door when you're already running late.

BuzzFeed / Sarah Han

To all the scrunchies I've loved before — ok, there haven't been that many...but these Free People knotted velvet bow scrunchies ARE THE ONES FOR ME! My true loves! I saw a different version of these in a post about cheap things that'll make you look fancy by my dear friend Emma who wants me to spend all of my money, but after some snooping around, I stumbled upon these velvet bows that made my heart soar for these main reasons:

1. I love velvet.

2. I love bows! On everything!

3. I like having my hair up and out of my face, especially at work, because it makes me look less of a frazzled mess! (I'm trying to tame it, ok. It's a process.)

4. As much as I love Invisibobbles (which I reviewed at #6), scrunchies are much cuter while also not subjecting my hair to unsightly dents or snags!

PLUS, after watching To All The Boys I've Loved Before for the third time (MY HEART, IT MELTS!), I was inspired to dress up last minute as Lara Jean (in her dope first day of school outfit) for Halloween and the scrunchies were very similar to what she wore, so everything aligned. :D —Sarah Han

Get them from Free People for $8 each — or get three for $12 (available in 15 colors).

9. A Helix Sunset mattress with a breathable, temperature regulating cover and a supportive-yet-soft top so you feel like you're sleeping on a cloud each and every night of your life.

Sarah Han / BuzzFeed

After 2.5 years of sleeping on the tough mattress I had inherited from a previous tenant, I decided that *cue Ali Wong voice* I had suffered enough and that my Wayfair mattress topper (which was also a little too warm to sleep on, but not terrible overall) just wasn't cutting it anymore, and that I needed better sleep — ok, I also don't have a great nor consistent sleep schedule, but a hard mattress sure doesn't help! I'd heard of Casper (Duh, who hasn't?), but I also knew there are a lot of online mattress companies in the game now, so I did some research and settled on Helix — and soon after, their Sunset Mattress. And oh boy, leaving my bed has become infinitely harder (this coming from an already very sloth-like, bed-loving, and oversleeping person).

First off, I need all the help I can get when I'm shopping — especially for something so important and that I'm gonna use every. single. day. So I really like the quiz they have you take to figure out your sleep preferences (i.e. if you're a side sleeper, which I am) so they can match you to one of their mattresses. I knew I wanted a soft mattress, but when I got my mattress, I was surprised that it was still plenty supportive!! (See the gif? That's me pressing pretty hard into the mattress.) There are two types of foam layers to create different densities and pressure relief, so it's just the right balance for me and I wake up without an ounce of back or side pain, while still feeling like I'm cuddled by a giant marshmallow. And! I'm not hot! No more waking up in the middle of night and feeling my back stick to the bed. All Helix mattresses are designed with two layers to increase airflow, and they even offer an Ultra-Cool Cover if you're a super hot sleeper — I personally have a super cool and crisp Brooklinen mattress cover (and sheets!) that keeps me at a comfortable temperature.

I've had my Sunset Mattress for about 2.5 months now and I can safely feel more rested when I wake up! I also feel like I fall asleep faster, which is important because there is NOTHING I hate more than lying in bed unable to fall asleep. My boyfriend would agree — he knocks out immediately every time. His mattress definitely leaves something to be desired and it's also much more springy, so I feel like Helix has upped my standards for the better. Also, I toss and turn sometimes while I sleep, so I was afraid he'd be able to feel my movements, and vice versa, but nope — we don't feel a thing. Basically the mattress conforms to and supports you exactly where you are. I'm just in love with it, and wish I had switched mattresses sooner. It's an investment for your well-being, tbh. Wow, saying that makes me feel incrementally more like a Real Adult. —Sarah Han

Get the Sunset Mattress from Helix Sleep for $525+ (available in sizes Twin to CA King).

Brb, going to test out my own mattress with a little nap.

Columbia Pictures

Looking for more great Amazon finds? Check out some of our favorite cheap things to buy on Amazon, some of the weirdest things on Amazon you might actually want, or read through all the rest of our incredible Amazon product recommendations.

Shopping for something specific? Check out BuzzFeed Reviews to find the best things for every budget!

BuzzFeed