Hi there, internet friend, and welcome back to the little corner of BuzzFeed where we share some of the most useful, interesting, and practical tips the lifestyle and trending news team has learned in the past month.
We're a group of about a dozen people living all over the US who spend our days scouring the internet for tips, trends, and viral stories about health and wellness, cooking and food, finances and parenting, and so much more.
February was a short month, but we still learned a whole heck of a lot, from important health public service announcements to an anxiety-reducing phone habit we can all learn from Gen Z. Here are 14 things we learned this month that we can actually use in our daily lives:
1. Just in time for Valentine's Day, Hannah Loewentheil brought us a sweet roundup of dishes begging to be made on a date night in. I hate washing dishes, but I love spinach and salmon, so this one-pan beauty created by Half-Baked Harvest basically jumped off the screen singing my name.
2. Our feet work hard for us, but we don't always give them the love they deserve in return (or at least I don't). Fabiana Buontempo talked to podiatrists to find out how we can all take better care of our tootsies, and I just want my toes to know that I'm sorry. I can change!
3. This month, the entire world was captivated by the incredible storytelling of one Reesa Teesa, a TikToker who narrated a 50-part story detailing the too-good-to-be-true highs and the-bar-is-in-hell lows of her marriage to someone she describes as "a pathological liar." Alexa Lisitza broke down the entire eight-hour saga, aptly titled, "Who TF Did I Marry?" And our colleague Brittany Wong over at HuffPost talked with therapists for their insights on how to sniff out a pathological liar before your story becomes the next social media sensation.
4. Jillian Wilson, our colleague at HuffPost, shared a really important health reminder that every woman needs to hear, and it's about your heart. When you think about the signs of a heart attack, you probably picture a middle-aged man grabbing his chest in pain. But heart attacks are also very common in women, yet they can present with different symptoms that you might not expect.
5. Raven Ishak often writes about mental health, and I loved this supportive idea she found on TikTok. Raven interviewed Becca Havian, who is getting her master’s in mental health counseling, about the "90-Day Dinner" tradition in her friend group. In a viral video, Becca explained, "Basically, what happens is if one of us is feeling in a funk, if something really shitty happened, if we find ourselves in a breakup or lost our job — or it doesn't even have to be that; it could be general anxiety or a feeling of stuckness — we can call a '90-Day Dinner.'" When this happens, Becca and her friends will schedule a dinner together 90 days out.
6. I'm always rounding up frugal tips and money-saving ideas, and I loved this person's method for understanding their grocery bill and finding places where they can cut back. They wrote, "Whenever I grocery shop, I ask for a receipt, and I evaluate the five highest-priced items. I ask myself whether it was necessary and worth it."
7. Speaking of the dreaded grocery bill, Claudia Santos interviewed Maria Spends — a 24-year-old who creates content about budgeting in New York City — about the tips, tricks, and sorcery she relies on to keep her monthly grocery budget at a mere $125. I'm pretty sure it costs like $40 just to go outside in NYC, so this is seriously impressive.
8. Whether you rent or own, taking care of your home can feel like a never-ending chore. This month, Ross Yoder interviewed a creator who makes it all look easy — Kyshawn, founder of Weekly Home Check. His viral 52-week plan for keeping your home in tip-top shape is so practical and helpful, and I've learned a ton from him already. Who knew you had to clean your dishwasher? I thought it cleaned itself, along with the dishes??
9. But homeowners, beware: Some things are really much better left to the pros. Dannica Ramirez rounded up some horror stories of DIY projects gone terribly wrong, and I learned a whole lot about what NOT to try at home.
10. Recently, a woman went mega-viral on TikTok (we're talking over 25 million views) for sharing that her doctor fiancé told her to get up and stretch every two hours when she's on a flight to reduce her risk of blood clots from birth control pills. So Alana Valko reached out to Dr. Nicole Calloway Rankins, an OB/GYN from Richmond, Virginia, and the creator and host of the All About Pregnancy & Birth podcast, to find out if this is really something people taking birth control should be concerned about.
11. My bed is my favorite place on this Earth, so of course, bed rotting speaks to me on a deep level. But allegedly, it's possible to get too much of a good thing. Thankfully, Alexa Lisitza spotted people online making "bed rotting agendas" to help. Alexa interviewed Raven McCoy, who shared her suggested schedule for getting up in the afternoon "if you've already rotted half the day away and you kind of regret it."
12. If you're a parent, you know that traveling with your kids can be kind of a challenge. Looking back, I don't know how my folks did it with me and my brothers! This month, Hannah Loewentheil rounded up some tried-and-true tips from parents for taking the little ones on a trip, and she found so many great ideas.
13. Recently, people online have been warning about the unfortunate dangers of eating leftover rice (aka fried rice syndrome). Welp, Krista Torres interviewed someone who experienced this firsthand, and she shared a truly harrowing story. Dr. Lauren DeDecker is a resident physician in internal medicine who got so ill from rice, she had to be transported to a hospital via helicopter (!!!), and now a new fear has been unlocked.
14. Last but not least, Dannica Ramirez dug into the reason many Gen Z'ers leave their phones on Do Not Disturb 24/7, and it's one habit I've since picked up from the youths. It all started with a viral tweet that read, "TIL that some Gen Z kids keep their cell phones on Do Not Disturb 24/7, so they never have to face the anxiety of answering the phone."
