The Things That Work Manifesto

Some time ago, I was chatting with a good friend of mine online. Since both of us spend our weekdays marooned in jobs where we have few like-minded co-workers, we serve as one another’s co-workers and close friends, discussing the minutiae of our jobs and our private lives.

One day, my friend proposed an idea for a store that sells only “things that work,” meaning things she and I have personally tried and find effective—carefully curated miscellany, if you will. This idea captured my imagination, and several months later we had referred to our store many times, with specific ideas for what the store might sell.

Finally, I decided that, while I haven’t the ambition or capital to start up my own business, a blog is simple and free (and—I’ll admit it—pretty pointless). Therefore, everything you see on this blog is something I’ve personally tried and found effective, useful, or well-designed (or all three). I considered posting about things that don’t work as well, but I decided that I’ve come to praise products, not to bury them.

In some cases, you will actually be able to buy said merchandise from Amazon.com (or potentially other sites), putting mere pennies in my pocket, but you may rest assured that I will never post a single item that doesn’t work. That said, everyone has different ideas of what works and what doesn’t, so of course this will be subjective. Since I’m a new mom, many of the items will be baby-related. But since I’m also more than a mom, many of the items will not be baby-related.

I hope one day my friend will join me in adding merchandise to our virtual shelves. I also hope readers (should I eventually have some) will add their own opinions on what works and what doesn’t. Above all, I hope this blog will be a thing that works, albeit in some small way.