So over the last couple years, my wife and I have collected a set of really nifty products that have just…well…made our life easier. I would even go a step further and say these products have transformed how we do things at home. Some of the products were gifts from different family and friends, while others were products we bought ourselves. If you don’t own them you should go to the store and buy them..wait a minute…that was kind of Jonesee-ish thing for me to say. First, make sure you have the cash, don’t buy it on credit cards (unless you are going to pay for it immediately) and don’t buy it because you want to be my friend. If you have fulfilled all these requirements..go for it..now here is the list:

Immersion Blender

To be honest, I have no idea where I heard about this product, but someone told me that we should own a hand-blender. The first time I saw this product, it reminded me of the handle of a lightsaber. However, over time this product has become a staple of our kitchen. I use it for porridge, smoothies, sauces, mixing, etc. I think my mother gave it to us as a housewarming gift. The key to the blender is all the extra gadgets that come with it, especially the chopper. We use this to cut up our veggies (garlic, onion, pepper, ginger, etc) for our meats. It will cut your food preparation time in half.

Space Bags

The first time I saw the infomercial for this product, I said “What a Scam”. Then we realized that we were running out of space in the closets and we were scrambling for space. I was like a junky (literally because I had so much junk in my apartment) looking for a “space” hit. Enter the Space Bag, and it completely changed our life. This thing really does work, and it’s cool seeing all your clothes, comforters, and children just shrink 20% of it’s normal size. Okay just kidding, our son Saud does not go in the bag and I wouldn’t advise using the space bag for this purpose. Now keep in mind that the infomercial really exaggerates (just like the picture) the space capability of the bags, but it’s pretty darn close. The key to the space bag is to not create more space so you can buy more junk. In conjunction with getting rid of stuff you don’t need and using the space bag, your spacial needs will increase exponentially.

Baby Bjorn: Active Carrier

We just recently bought this wonderful product and we replaced our old baby carrier by Mothercare. Before I get into how smart the product engineers are for Baby Bjorn lets first get into how the product engineers from Mothercare need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to product design. There are so many straps on this thing and in the most odd places that only a human octopus (if there was such a thing) would be able to put this thing on. Now lets go to baby carrier bliss, with the Baby Bjorn Active Carrier. Not only do we use this when we’re on the go, but we also use it to put Saud to sleep. I’ll just put him in the carrier and sway him, and nighty-night. Not to mention my wife uses it with Saud while she is doing things around the house. It’s the greatest thing since slice bread. Easy to put on and easy to take off. This is a one person job, you don’t need two people to do this. The straps are colored coded with snap-in safety locks so you know that everything is strapped in perfectly. This really changed our life, and with a child running around at 9 months, it’s even more of God send. Alhamdulilah.

Breville Juicer Elite

Okay there is one problem with me listing this product…uh I don’t own it now, but I will own it soon. The current juicer I have, the Jack Lalanne Power Juicer is good, but I know it’s on it’s way out. After using it roughly 2 times a week for a couple months, I can see it that it’s about to go. I’ve heard great things about the Breville juicer and if you are really into juicing, best to go with this model. BTW, I don’t work for Breville, I just think this juicer is great. I mean look at it…it just makes you want to not only juice your veggies and fruits, but probably juice your socks, books, batteries, etc. I mean look at that thing…it can probably juice steel.

Apple corer/slicer

This is one of those products that when you look at it, you just can’t believe that it actually does what it says. In it’s simplicity is where the genius is. This has come very handy for making my son’s food, as we make all his baby food from scratch. What is really nice about this product is it’s cheap, sturdy, and effective. With all the new product design science and ergonomics flowing into the kitchen gadgetry industry you can find a corer/slicers that have nice rubber plates with palm-friendly handles to make it real easy to put all your force on top of the apple to core and slice it in one clean swoop. You can also use it for picnics and gatherings because it allows you to core and slice a lot of apples or pears in a short amount of time.

Logitech Illuminated keyboard

One thing you notice when you have a new baby in the house is you have to be extremely quiet. Every single thing wakes the baby up. A creak of the wood you step on can wake them up. A thought of worrying about waking them up, can wake them up. Now that my wife and I have self-trained ourselves under the school of house robbery and ninja techniques, we can probably walk through a lion’s den drenched in lambs blood and go unnoticed. The Logitech Illuminated keyboard was the answer. Being the techno-addict that I am, I’m always on the computer. Sometimes my wife would be feeding Saud in the next room and my relentless typing would wake the baby up. At the same time we’d have to keep the room darker than darth vadar’s helmet so Saud would remain sleeping, once it was time to put him in his crib. With the Logitech’s laptop-silent keys and keyboard light show I was in techno paradise. Even if you don’t have a child, get this keyboard.

Titan Peeler

This is the second infomercial product that made the list, and once again, I had my doubts. First off, this peeler is insane. Titan is really an understatement. You can peel in any direction. This thing can probably peel rust off of metal and keep on peeling. It’s quick, sharp, and easy to clean. It comes with two peelers, small and large. And when they show them peeling Pineapples, it’s not a joke. You can really do that with the Titan peeler. Great addition to our arsenal of kitchen utensils and gadgetry.

Libman Tornado Mop

It took some time to find this mop, but this is my second Libman Tornado Mop (got rid of the first one because the mop head got really dirty but didn’t realize I could of just bought the mop head replacement and not the whole mop). However, what is really nice about this mop is it has 3 green scrub bands sown right into the mop head to prevent tangling and it really uproots that dirt that just doesn’t want to budge. If that wasn’t enough it has this ratchet design lock that allows you to twist and hold the mop head in a squeeze position to squeeze out the water without touching the mop head. I mean…who wants to get all down and dirty old-school style while breaking your back and hands squeezing putrid water from a mop? They really took all the hard work out of mopping and engineered it into a mop with ease.

ACME Bags™ Workhorse

In our quest to “get green” my wife and I started searching for the ultimate reusable shopping bag. I saw the insulated ones at Whole Wallet..oh I mean Whole Foods, but I didn’t want to be a walking advertisement for Whole Foods. It’s enough that they take all my dollars. I don’t need to give them free advertising. So we were looking for a nice reusable bag that was strong and durable while keeping an eye on costs. After looking at Baggu and ACME, we decided on ACME. As you can see in the picture this ingenious little bag folds into a tiny bag smaller than the size of deck of cards which is stitched into the inside of the bag. If your going to look for “go green” products I would suggest going to reusablebags.com. Although the Workhorse edition of the ACME Bag is great, you will probably need a couple ACME Bags™ EarthTote bags to round out the all the reusable bags you’ll need for grocery shopping. The workhouse edition can be easily dropped in a pocket or handbag. It’s actually one of things that I carry with me when I leave the house. So when I do the three pocket check (now the 4 pocket check), it’s house keys, wallet, cellphone, and acme bag. It’s kind of cool just rolling up to the register with my little pouch and then…BAM! it’s bag. You should see the stares. Sometimes I wonder if people think I’m unfolding a mask to rob the joint. However, it’s a great bag and very durable.

Da Innanet’ (the Internet)

Although the the internet is not necessarily a product, it’s more of a service that you have access to (home, workplace, public, etc). I have the internet as my 10th product because without it I wouldn’t be able to find all these great products. I only knew they were great products after scouring the net for reviews from various sources. Not to mention finding great books that can give you insightful information on just about anything you want to know. The internet is your friend. Use it wisely.

Honorable mentions

Northface Women’s Arctic Parka

Let’s get right to it. My wife hates the cold and since she’s been in NY, she has been shivering every since. We bought different jackets, but nothing worked. So this past December, Sarah (my wife) bought the Northface Arctic Parka. You want to know how warm this thing is? Well my wife doesn’t even know whether it’s cold or not outside anymore..Yeah that’s how warm it is. You want to know how warm it is? When people stand next to my wife and she is wearing the parka, people next to her get warm. (like those outside restaurant lamps). You want to know how warm it is? The sun goes to Northface for warming tips and techniques. There must be little nanomites creating mini campfires in the lining of the jacket to keep my wife so warm. She loves her parka.

Beaba: Baby Cook 4 in 1 Food Prep & Blender

As you can see I have quite a few baby related products on this list. Before I bring this post to an end, I have to mention this genius of a product. This cute little blender allows you to create baby food from scratch. Whether you are using meat, veggies, fruits, whatever, this blender can do it. As a matter of fact the recipe book that we bought with the blender are meals that you can probably make for yourself, and not just your baby. It will cut down on the cooking time and you know where the food is coming from because you made it yourself. With all the preservatives and chemicals in a lot of food (including baby food), we figured this was our best option. We buy organic veggies/fruits/halal meat and make the baby food with this machine. It’s bit on the pricey side, but worth every penny.

One thing that is really fascinating about juicing is the beautiful array of colors that come out of the juicer. It’s almost like having access to your own personal “vegetable rainbow” right inside of your house. No rain required for this rainbow. Since our trip to the New York Botanical Gardens, my wife and I are really getting back in the swing of things in regards to our health . I’m not exactly sure if somehow we were subliminally hit with some under the subconscious brain-wave signal by the NYBG, in a “Manchurian Candidate” type of way, but we have just been nuts for getting our diet and body correct. I mean, really correct.

We just signed up for a new gym membership at Planet Fitness (Sorry Bally’s but we are cancelling our membership). This past weekend we watched Food, Inc, which is probably the most compelling documentary on understanding the politics and business of food production I have ever seen. I would suggest everyone watch this film. Okay so what does this have to do with having purple on the brain? We just started juicing again and yesterday we had a tomato, apple and beet drink. Keep in mind that I really hate beets, but in juice form with apples, I love it. One thing I noticed is the rich beet purple that seems to overtake most drinks regardless of other vegetables or fruits that are added. Hence I had purple on the brain. Not to mention there have been studies through biochemical evidence that uridine monophosphate (UMP) found in beets, apparently increases brain synapse activity. Right now we have the JackLaLanne Power Juicer, but there is a bit of pulp and it is a bit damp. I’m not sure how much this thing is going to hold up because the beets really put stress on the blade and motor. I have my eyes on the Breville Juice Fountain Elite Juicer 800JEXL. Inshallah I’lll get that next year. It’s the Bentley of juicers. More extraction and less pulp, not to mention dry pulp.

Our new juicing regiment comes with a diet full of fruits and vegetables. Not like we weren’t doing this before but we are really getting serious about this. So here is our short “healthy thinking” to-do list:

1. Juice at least two times a day
2. Exercise daily for about 30 minutes to an hour (minimum)
3. Have fruits and vegetable with every meal
4. Sweets and fried foods are on the weekends. (and maybe sneak one treat during the week)
5. Keep our mind and thoughts clean. Be careful of what type of information we take in, especially information that falls into the category of tel-LIE-vision, or HIS-story. All information is not created equal nor is the content trivial or innocent.

• Farm Forward
  Farm Forward implements innovative strategies to promote conscientious food choices, reduce farm animal suffering, and advance sustainable agriculture.
  http://www.farmforward.com
• Save a Cow, Eat a Vegetarian? Let’s All Agree: Factory Farming is the Real Evil, Not Vegans
  http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/cow-factory-farming-evil.html
• Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL
  http://www.brevilleusa.com/juicing/die-cast-juice-fountain-elite.html
• The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies: 365 Natural Blends for Health and Vitality Every Day
  http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Juices-Smoothies/dp/184483266X/ref=pd_sim_b_6