The Buy Once Directory
The list I wish existed before I bought everything twice
Okay so, last week, I couldn’t sleep (shocking, I know), and somehow by 3 AM Saturday, I'd saved 10 different “buy it for life” lists. My notes app looked like a dissertation. 47 browser tabs open. Third coffee. Adding “leather work gloves - 1987” to my research like this was normal behavior.
And I thought, this is divine intervention. Or sleep deprivation. Either way, I NEED to combine all this research for us.
So I built it. The Buy Once Directory. The one you can reference when you don’t want to do 47 hours of research yourself.
Dinner Outside - Even if it's just moving Tuesday's frozen lasagna to the porch. Even if you're eating cereal. Food tastes better with a breeze.
Murray's Pre-Made Cheese Boards - I am now fully outsourcing the cheese boards. Murray’s has these new premade boards that make it too easy.
The Overlooked
The best summer nights happen with a $12 set of dominoes and those canvas chairs.
Get the ones with the wooden arms from the hardware store. Set them up anywhere. Add dominoes.
That's it. That's the whole secret.
The Good Stuff
Coffee, memories, and chocolate chip cookies.
Wall Sconces: Because every room feels more finished with lighting that doesn’t just live on the ceiling.
Linen Photo Albums: These make you print photos, and suddenly your coffee table tells stories instead of collecting dust.
Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies: Not from scratch. The break-apart kind. But on a real baking sheet, slightly underdone, with flaky salt.
Mini Glass Syrup Pitchers: Fill with vanilla syrup. Suddenly, your morning coffee is a café. Also works for maple syrup if you're a functional adult who eats breakfast.
Keep Reading For The Buy Once Directory: A lifetime of my 3 AM research, hours of comment section spirals, and too many late nights trying to figure out what’s actually worth buying. Condensed into one living, constantly updated list.
Inside:
The complete Buy Once Directory with 40+ items
Where to actually buy everything
Monthly updates when I find something worthy
Access to the shared live Substack we're building together
The restaurant supply shortcuts that will save you hundreds
Which brands have lifetime warranties that they actually honor
The first 25 who click get in. After that, the trial closes.