All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

If you follow Mashable Shopping's coverage, you know that we live to bring you the best product recommendations we can find based on countless hours of online research. But, what about the stuff that we buy for ourselves? The stuff that made it into our shopping carts? Well, we're here to tell you about those things, and we'll be back every month to do so again.

Here's what the staff bought in October 2020.

A loud Bluetooth speaker

"I've been using a shitty little off-brand Bluetooth speaker and it was not cutting it. The audio was barely louder than if I were playing straight from my phone's speakers. I shopped around for a Bluetooth speaker that would be loud enough but not wildly expensive, and landed on the JBL Flip 4. So far I'm loving it." —Miller Kern, Shopping Reporter

The Alexa microwave

"I moved this month and my new apartment didn't have a microwave and I wanted one that I could actually program and didn't just automatically cook for two minutes when I hit the "2" button. The most affordable one I could find was the AmazonBasics one, so now I unnecessarily have Alexa built into my microwave." —Miller Kern, Shopping Reporter

A pretty new plant

"I usually buy my plants locally or from plant-specific websites, but Amazon had some nice deals on plants for Prime Day and I couldn't resist. I've been wanting a peace lily for a while, so I bought this medium-sized one that came in a decorative plastic pot. It looks great in the jungle that is my apartment." —Miller Kern, Shopping Reporter

The hottest gaming console

"I was busy enough during the early days of the pandemic — working, binge-watching, running up and down the stairs to stay healthy. So I missed the Animal Crossing boom. But it's been seven months now, and my political doomscrolling habit has gotten really bad. So I finally bought a Nintendo Switch — the Animal Crossing special edition — with the soothing, peaceful game that every millennial was playing six months ago. Now I fish in the evenings rather than following polling numbers. I don't care if it isn't the game of the moment any more — it's the game of my moment, and the escape I need." —Sascha Segan, Lead Analyst, Mobile for PCMag

A DIY gel nail kit

"I used to love the creativity and artistry that goes into painting nails, but didn't have the time to focus on doing my own after college. Now that we're months into quarantine, I miss the normalcy of getting dressed up and actually putting effort into my appearance beyond just brushing my hair for meetings. I got back into painting my nails a few weeks ago, and love how quickly they dry with this cute little UV lamp. It took some getting used to, but I got the hang of it after watching a few YouTube tutorials! Now I can live out my Instagram baddie dreams while I spend yet another Saturday night watching DCOMs on my couch." —Morgan Sung, Culture Reporter

A super comfy bra

"In fifth grade, my mom tossed a silver sports bra over the dressing room door at Target and said, 'here, you need one of these.' I wore that bra for two years. My relationship with undergarments has been stressed and complicated ever since.

Fast-forward 25 years to month seven of the pandemic and I’m in head-to-toe comfy cotton but the underwire of my latest garbage bra is stabbing my ribs. Why be comfortable everywhere except your boobs? Thank the bra spirits, I discovered True and Co. True Body Lift Scoop Neck Bra and WOW it’s like finding extremely flattering sweatpants for your chest." —Annie Colbert, Executive Editor

A fancy personal blender

"I've been trying to get into a healthier lifestyle and smoothies make it super easy to get a bunch of fruits and veggies all in one go. While I love the smoothie place around the corner, I can't keep dropping money there, so I did a bunch of blender research and landed on this guy. It had the best reviews online and from friends so I'm VERY excited to start my smoothie journey!" —Lily Kartiganer, Assistant Growth Editor

Another personal blender!

"The MUJI Juicer Mixer name is a bit misleading because it's essentially a bullet blender, but it also offers a small extra attachment so you can also use it like a basic food processor!" —Elvie Mae Parian, Associate Animator

An electric skillet for hot pot meals

"I bought this three-in-one hot pot/skillet meant for like huge groups of people but all for myself, me, one person. A fun way to treat myself with huuuge hot meals while still being cautious since I am unable to go to hot pot restaurants with my friends." —Elvie Mae Parian, Associate Animator

A good new read

"I pre-ordered a Kindle book written by someone in one of my online community groups. As a way to support the author, I purchased the online book ahead of schedule, plus it was also discounted down to $5.95 for early orders. The book doesn’t come out until the end of November and this was my first time doing the Amazon/Kindle pre-order flow. It says once it’s available it’ll automatically show up on my Kindle device, so we’ll see!" —Sasha Lekach, Transportation Reporter

A solid pair of wired headphones

"I was tired of charging my headphones (will always be bitter about the disappearance of the headphone jack) and bought these." —Chandra Steele, Senior Features Writer at PCMag

A cute container for a cozy meal

“Soup Mug has been a great fix for all the times I had a lot of soup but not enough mug. I have achieved Transcendence. It’s pretty tight.” —Vicky Leta, Illustrator

A fun way to show off a record collection

“I’m collecting more and more records and am thrilled I can show them off like a Cool Girl. The transparent frame lets the records shine without bulky shelving and while they have holes to screw in the wall, these were put up easily with command strips. Now, even Pierogi [the cat] can judge me on my music choices!” —Vicky Leta, Illustrator

Pierogi judging Vicky's music choices. Image: vicky leta / mashable

Explore related content:

Source: Mashable

Powered by NewsAPI.org