I’ve been seeing a lot of YouTube videos this month where YouTubers have been sharing their favorite finds/purchases for 2023. I love that idea for a post but, Wow—this has been the most difficult post to write! I’ve been working on it off and on for a couple of weeks and it’s been torture. Ha! It’s so hard to narrow down all the wonderful discoveries and upgrades I’ve made over the past year to a reasonable number to share in a “Best Of 2023” list. So though I know this list is incomplete, here are just a few of my favorites from the year 2023.
Pretty much anything involving the basement renovation could fall in a Best of 2023 compilation. The drywall was installed in January, followed by painting, which was soon followed by flooring and all-new lighting. It’s impossible to choose one thing from that list so we’ll just say the basement storage room reno as a whole is a favorite for 2023.
I love the soft vibe of the stairway lights that I had added down the side of the basement stairs so much, I purchased another whole set of the exact same lighting just in case a light ever stopped working in the future. So far, they are working great so I don’t expect any issues, but they are so affordable, it was an easy purchase to make for that peace of mind. I very rarely ever turn on the overhead recessed lights, just enjoy the ambiance of the stairway lighting so much! (Stairway lights are available here: Stairway Lights.)
Adding a freezer to the basement was also a big highlight for 2023. Never realized how much I would use it, but I have so enjoyed the convenience it offers. You can read all about the freezer I chose and its awesome basket system that makes it so easy to organize in this previous post: Buying My First Freezer, Crazy About This Rail-Basket Organizing System.
Of course, any “Best of 2023” list would have to include the Speed Queen TR7 washer I chose when my 43+ year-old washer finally croaked. My Speed Queen has lived up to its long-standing reputation so far—love the full control it gives me over how I wash my clothes. You can read more about it in this previous post: How Do I Like My Speed Queen Washer And Would I Recommend It?
2023 saw me become a bit of a Yeti fanatic. I purchased a couple of their coolers and a ton of their tumblers in various colors. If I were to create a “Most Used” list for 2023, they would probably be in the number one slot for most used. I fill them up many, many times throughout the day and love how they keep drinks nice and cold. When they came out with Power Pink, I couldn’t resist adding a few to my growing collection. I’m kind of regretting not getting one of their smaller soft coolers in Power Pink. You can still find a lot of their items in this super popular Power Pink color here: Yeti Power Pink.
2023 is the year I first tried and fell in love with Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet perfume. I loved it so much, I went through more than 1/2 the bottle over the space of around 6 months. It’s so pretty and feminine! When my son asked what I wanted for Christmas, I asked for another bottle since I knew I would need one before too much longer. If you like Flower Bomb (as I do!) I think you’ll also love Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet. You’ll find it available in several sizes here: Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet.
Not a purchase in 2023, but very much a favorite this past year is my puzzle board. It’s the only way I will work a puzzle now. It spoils you quickly and is such a back saver! If you love doing puzzles or know someone who does, you’ll find this puzzle board available here: Puzzle Board. It appears they’ve come out with one now that rotates for doing vertical puzzles. It’s available here: Rotating Puzzle Board.
I rarely mention this, but one of my favorite all-time purchases is this heated bird bath that I purchased many years ago. It doesn’t really heat the water, just keeps it warm enough that it doesn’t freeze.
The birds love it and know that they can count on finding an unfrozen water source on my deck during the winter months.
I unplug it once the temps start staying above freezing, and it’s a big hit during the hot summer months, too. (Heated Bird Bath is available here: Heated Bird Bath.)
Love the new Air Fryer that I purchased toward the end of 2023! I love the extra large drawers and have really enjoyed cooking in it. I’ve used the built-in thermometer to cook steaks a couple of times and it cooked them to perfection, just as I had programmed. Definitely recommend it! You’ll find it available here: Ninja Air Fryer.
Love, love, love this towel warmer I purchased at the start of 2023. I don’t normally enjoy showers but this towel warmer has almost changed my mind on those. I never forget to turn it on about 10 minutes before I hop in the shower because it makes taking a shower so much more enjoyable. When I’m done showering, I love cracking the shower door open just enough to reach out and lift the lid for a toasty warm towel. Heaven! It will easily hold two gigantic towels and I always end up using both because it feels so delicious to wrap yourself in a gigantic warm towel! If it stopped working tomorrow, I would be online in a heartbeat ordering another one. You’ll find the one I have available here: Towel Warmer.
My favorite shoes/boots for winter have been these Ugg boots that I purchased in early 2023. They are waterproof and completely impervious to cold–it simply can not get through! They have incredible arch support which is always a must-have feature for me. I took this impromptu photo recently for my daughter-in-law, Nancy, when she was looking for comfortable winter shoes. She now has them in both the Black and Chestnut brown color and loves them! She says she gets so many compliments on them each time she wears them. They have become her favorite shoes for everyday wear this winter. They are so incredibly comfortable! Unfortunately, they are very hard to find now, but I was able to find them here: UGG Lakesider Boot. I was very impressed with how quickly they arrived and would order shoes from that company again. Note: UGG has come out with a newer version of this boot for winter and it’s available here: UGG Lakesider Boot.
I’m sure I’ve left so many things off this list, just impossible to include a full year’s worth of favorites in a single post. To see all my favorites from the past several years, check out this page where I have linked all of my Monthly Favorites posts from the past: Monthly Favorites. You’ll also find many of my favorites linked in my Storefront here: All My Favorites.
Does Yeti do monograming or are those just stickers you had made and put on your Yeti?
Well, it’s very inconsistent how they manage it. At times during the year, they do offer monogramming at the Yeti website on certain items, then at other times, they do not. Sometimes the monogramming is free, other times they charge for it. So it changes all throughout the year which I find really annoying. I wish they would offer it all year around and make it free all year around.
Also, there are times when they offer monogramming AND a chance to put an image on the other side, so you can sometimes get both on a single piece. Then, at other times, they only allow you to add a monogram and no image on the other side. Again, they are very inconsistent and you never know what they will offer at any given time.
I’ve been looking at those puzzle boards ever since you first mentioned them, but there are usually two of us working on the puzzle. How would that work??? Would we have to alternate?
Thank you!
Barb, how do you guys do that now? Do you each focus on one section of the puzzle? The board will lay completely flat, that’s how I start as I dump the edge pieces onto the board and turn them all over correctly, then I tilt it to start working on it. So it will lay flat, but working on it that way would defeat the purpose of how it saves the back from having to lean over it while working. If you each take an object in the puzzle to put together which is sorta how I do a puzzle now, that could work. I guess it just depends on how you both work on it now.
We usually put the puzzle on our coffee table or our kitchen island, both of which are quite large, and several people can work on it simultaneously, but the light isn’t good in either place and having the puzzle at an angle would help tremendously. I guess the only way is to try it and see….
If you do it on your kitchen island and have some help, you may not have the back pain that I used to get before using a puzzle board. My back really hurts if I don’t use the puzzle board since I’m doing it alone, and I enjoy it so much, I never want to stop–so end up working on them for hours at a time. Maybe you could try it and if it doesn’t work, just return it. That may be the only way to know for sure.
My favorite was your basement. I have basement envy. So- Susan- how much peppermint ice cream did you store in the new freezer ? Can you freeze eggnog ?
Ha! A lot! 🙂 I haven’t tried freezing eggnog but the icecream did great!
Yes, that peppermint ice cream got my attention too!
Great list for 2023.
Susan, thank you for making yet another list. I have always enjoyed reading your monthly list and have purchased many things at your recommendation and they have never disappointed. I purchased the birdbath back in 2016 and it has done a fine job, loved by both birds and squirrels. I will buy the same one again, my original is looking pretty worn. The towel warmer has my interest. Does it plug into a wall outlet?
It does. I purchased a heated toilet seat a few years back and absolutely love it. It also has to be plugged in, so I used an extension cord for it since my only outlet was in the vanity area—several feet away. Unfortunately, my bathroom is divided into two sections, so the only outlet was in the other part of the bathroom. I knew that I would eventually renovate my bathroom so the extension cord was fine temporarily. After I purchased the towel warmer, so now I had two things that needed power/electricity, so I decided to go ahead and have an outlet added. It wasn’t very expensive to have done and it was great getting rid of the extension cord. When I do eventually renovate that bathroom, I will for sure keep both of those—the heated seat and the towel warmer. The heated seat is even more important than the towel warmer. lol Can’t do without it!