Dear Good Life readers,

One of my favorite end-of-year things to do is review Amazon purchases from the last 12 months. It's a good practice to make sure you've been spending responsibly – especially since two-day shipping isn't that great for the environment – and to identify areas in which you spent too much. For example, I got really into "The Great British Bake-Off" on Netflix and wasted a ton of money on specialty baking equipment that's already collecting dust. (Three pandoro molds? Seriously?)

There were some things I bought that were totally worthwhile, however. Here are my five favorite practical finds:

1. Zinus quick snap 18" platform bed frame, $94. This fall, I moved into an apartment with an odd corner nook that precisely fits a twin guest bed. The lack of closets in the apartment meant I couldn't just grab a pretty daybed, though: I needed a LOT of under-bed space for my stuff, or I'd have to use the nook for storage only. Unfortunately, most loft-style beds look juvenile, and risers seemed insufficient and rickety. After wasting hours pondering how I might "adulticize" Ikea's Kura bed for kids – I think we all know how that would have ended – I found this sturdy, squeak-free frame. The 17-inch clearance allows my tallest storage tubs to easily slide below, while the mattress sits at a normal height. Best of all, it assembles in about 10 seconds flat using only a provided rubber mallet.

2. Rotato Express electric peeler, $22.50. You just don't know joy until an electric peeler saves you and your siblings from hand-peeling 40 pounds of potatoes on a holiday morning (#bigfamilyproblems). Even my gadget-loving dad got into it, and we peeled potatoes in about a fifth of the usual time — with no blisters! This inexpensive machine (I paid $17.30 for the previous edition) didn't falter once, and comes with two replacement blades for when the cutting arm gets dull. Plus, "Rotato" is fun to say.

3. Now empty gel capsules, $6. Ever have a doctor prescribe a certain dosage of medication, then find out your insurance only covers that pill in a different number of milligrams? It happened to me this year, so I just nabbed a bag of these empty gelcaps and split my prescription capsules into the ideal amounts. It was easier than fighting my insurance company and cheaper than paying out of pocket, though of course you should probably only tinker with your pills after getting your doctor's blessing.

4. BS-Mall Makeup brushes, $7.99. One of my sisters flew home for Thanksgiving, so, naturally, the first thing I did was raid her makeup bag. When I borrowed her stubby, angled blush brush, it felt as if my cheekbones were being spooned by angels. Turns out it's actually a foundation brush, but who cares? It's great at applying color, and it comes in a whole pack of washable brushes that's less than $8. No more overpaying at Sephora!

5. Conair ultimate garment steamer, $46.26. This machine is definitely a luxury. It probably saves me more time than it does money, as I'm not exactly in the habit of getting things dry-cleaned just so someone else will get the wrinkles out. But it is far superior to my old handheld steamer, which took forever to use. If you've got space for it, know this baby works, and the pants clips are a game-changer.

Here's to more good finds in 2018!

Love,
Janie

Take back your life

Here's the thing about your awesome rewards credit card that gives you airline miles or cash back: It actually pretty much sucks. There are plenty of reasons not to rack up a little debt for rewards -- often it's just cheaper in the long run to buy a plane ticket outright, and cash back usually isn't cash -- but chief among them is that you spend far less per transaction when you use cash. Research shows people spend 12 to 18 percent more when they swipe a card. Consider how much you put on your cards over the course of the year (12 to 18 percent of that is a big number, right?) and let the savings take off.

Pro Tip

Yes, office popularity is just like high school. You aren't imagining it. But you can make it work for you: Figure out which of five categories you're in – average, accepted, neglected, rejected, or controversial – and what it means at the office. As adolescent psychology professor Mitch Prinstein notes, “No single employee can ascend the ranks of the corporate ladder without being attuned to popularity; no manager will maintain an engaged, cohesive team without understanding popularity dynamics; and every company’s success depends on its ability to fulfill our basic human instincts to feel liked, valued, and included."