This Christmas, Get Rigged Out with Bargain Gadgets for a Healthier Life

During the pandemic I started dancing in the kitchen while listening to music on the radio. I was cooking a lot and between prepping things and washing dishes I would step out into a lighter frame of mind for a few minutes at a time to enjoy my dancing—and discover so many of the ways my body can move. I still do that this year, three-plus years later.

Then this fall I got back into an old habit of dancing and doing calisthenics while watching TV.

All this leads me to the topic of this article. We buy many Christmas gifts for the humor or for the comfort they bring (Christmas sweaters and fleece slippers, anyone?), but if you have overlooked exercise, now may be time to reconsider it, since you set aside a budget for Christmas gifts anyway.

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I’m assuming most people have a foam yoga mat by now, but in case you don’t, you can get one from Amazon Basics. I don’t do much yoga and I don’t even do Pilates these days but there are plenty of other calisthenics exercises one can do even with a herniated back like mine.

I plan to spend the holidays not only celebrating but also getting back into another healthy habit, that of doing my calisthenics workout on a yoga mat.

I wanted to show a foam yoga mat here but you all know what it looks like.

My next item is a completely waterproof Bluetooth speaker with a metal carabiner (clip hook). You can take it with you when you hike. You can use it to listen to music in a rental place at the beach or some cabin in the wilderness while you cook to bridge the gap between too much noise in the city and too much deafening silence on your vacation. Some people want as much of that silence as possible, and focus, almost as in a meditation, on birdsong and sounds of various animals, the wind, and rustling leaves, but other people, and many kids, feel the need for more audio excitement.

And if you want your coffee the same as you have it at home, you may want to buy a single-serve coffee machine, such as this Keurig K-Mini K-Cup pod coffee maker. If you’re not particular about having it red, note that the green one is actually much cheaper.

If you already have this mini coffee machine from Keurig or a more expensive espresso maker, you may consider buying this for someone else as a Christmas gift.

While we’re on the topic of morning and daily drinks, I found this amazing speed-boil electric kettle from Peach Street. It’s made of borosilicate glass and has an automatic shut-off feature when the water starts to boil. And the water is heated up very rapidly, so you don’t have to wait, bleary-eyed, in the morning for your coffee (in case you don’t have a coffee maker) or tea when you’re traveling someplace and are already tired from the changes (much as those changes bring you a good reset in terms of your energy).

For many people, myself included, part of a happy life is travel. I haven’t traveled much recently, but I plan to change that next year. This Coolife 3-piece luggage set has very good reviews on Amazon, so if you’re looking for something both hard-shell and lightweight, this looks like a great option. The zippers are durable and the grip handles are reinforced. It has four multidirectional spinner wheels. It also has built-in TSA locks. Note that you can store the pieces inside each other to save space.

Before I set out to travel more next year, I’ll be buying myself a small, cheap Crock-Pot. I keep reading about it and maybe if I get it I’ll finally make more stews again. This one holds only 20 oz, so it won’t take up much space in your kitchen. Another great bargain Christmas gift for a frugal individual or couple looking to eat healthier. Also very useful for multi-day hikes.

They say in the product description that 20 oz is perfect for individual portions, but if you’re eating smaller meals and split them between a stew and something else, this Crock-Pot actually makes enough for two people.

There are a few other items I could add here, but I’ll end with just one: a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2021), with 32 GB of storage, compared to the 8 GB or 16 GB on Kindle Paperwhite (2021). I have an earlier version of the Kindle Paperwhite myself.

Among other things, the latest, 11th generation Kindle Paperwhite offers a larger, 6.8-inch display (compared to the 6-inch one of previous Kindles in this series), is waterproof for an hour in several feet of freshwater, and has adjustable warm light, which I’m all for these days—well, on the phone at least, since here on the computer my graphic design would suffer if I switch to warm light (although I really should when I’m not designing!).

Then what is the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2021)? It’s a Premium edition of the 2021 Paperwhite, with 32 GB of storage, auto-adjusting light (to match lighting conditions), and wireless Qi charging (Qi wireless charger sold separately). And you get no lock-screen ads. I’d say these are amazing pluses for the $50 price difference.

Here it is.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post. As always, pins and shares are much appreciated!

To a happier, healthier life,

Happy Holiday Season,

🙂 Mira