Transcription
If this isn't your first rodeo around here, if you've been here before, you will know that my word of the year is analog. After losing some faith in the system of New Year's resolutions, I did lean into this theme of the year rather than telling myself I should do things. And I just want to be honest at the end of the year. Did I learn lean into the word analog? Have I really made an effort to make that word part of my life?
And while lots of the analog trends I am quite suspicious of, I've made videos about that here on this channel before, link them below so you can watch them after. Um something that I saw as a trend uh was really interesting to me uh because I have been doing this my whole life, but I'm so glad that it's becoming more normal. And in fact, seeing it around made me think, "Can I do this more consciously? Like what am I doing by accident that I could be doing on purpose?" And the trend, my friends, is analog bags. Uh yes, it's this concept where you take a bag around with you and it has entertainment in it that isn't electrical.
Suffice to say it's taken me a long time to feel old on the internet, but I actually think that this might have pushed me over the edge. As a child, I have a lot of core memories sitting on the bus and bringing things with me to entertain myself while I was on the bus with my mom. As a teenager, I was constantly on that freaking bus like all the time. And in my 20s, I spent a ton of time on Greyhound buses and Megabuses and public buses and even the tube because when I lived in London when I lived in London, the tube didn't have Wi-Fi or signal. So the concept that you should bring stuff with you to do so you don't get bored and go out of your mind is not a new one to me, but I thought it'd be interesting today to show you what I take around with me pretty much constantly. And in my year of analog, how that is serving me.
So, first of all, the bag. Uh this has been my bag of choice for some time now. It is actually a bum bag or a fanny pack if you're in the US. But, if you know the true definition of fanny in the UK, you wouldn't call it a fanny pack. Uh this is my bum bag. I don't wear it on my bum. I sometimes do wear it around my waist like a '90s mom. I often wear it just around me slung like that. Or occasionally, I'll just wear it like a handbag. I am known to also just pop this in my rucksack. Instead of unpacking everything and being like, "Do I have all the essentials?" If I really need to bring a rucksack, I will pop this in my rucksack. It fits quite nicely inside of it. And then I'll put like my laptop or any other like bigger items that I need in there as well. So, this this is pretty much with me every day that I leave the house, which isn't every day. Some days, I'm a stereotypical work-from-homer and I don't leave the house. But, this is pretty much what's with me when I do.
I cannot recommend this bag enough. This is a Cotopaxi bag that I got off Vinted. Cotopaxi is a brand that makes really, really durable rucksacks. I got into them because my friend Ariel gave me one of her old rucksacks that she used to have. And I was like, "This is the most durable, practical rucksack I've ever had in my freaking life." So, now both me and Craig have matching ones and we love them. Not me reviewing this video and then checking Cotopaxi's rating on Good On You and realizing that it's not that good. As I said, buy second hand. Just buy it second hand. So, they are super durable, but this is their line where they use the offcuts of old rucksacks. So, while this one isn't unique, like I have seen some more of them on Vinted, they are very much limited edition in the combination of colors. And apart from the obvious attraction of the color combination, you can get this in black and normal colors as well. But, apart from the obvious attraction of how cool it looks, I just love how much freaking stuff you can get in this bum bag. This is it full, but not like at capacity. I could probably get more in it and you're about to find out how much stuff I have in this bum bag.
Um it goes without saying, but potentially um you don't know cuz this might be your first time here. I'm also um somebody who is trying to panic positively about the climate. That doesn't mean that I am perfect at it, but it does mean that a lot of the stuff in this bum bag is also stuff that I use with sustainability in mind and this might be a great moment to copy my homework and see some of the stuff that I keep in here because of that. Something I don't have is my bamboo fork. I do usually keep a bamboo fork in here, but I think it's in the wash.
Let's start with the main compartment because that is where a lot of my analog activities are. Now, the first thing that you'll see when you open my bag, would you be opening my bag if you were stealing from me? Maybe. Is this Catrice tin. Catrice is a sustainable jewelry brand that I love. They're one of the only ethical ones I can find and they send you jewelry in these really durable sealed tins that you can reuse and I have found many uses for that tins, uh but this is potentially one of my favorites. In here are two of my favorite analog activities, reading and craft. So, this is a tiny key ring version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which you will have seen me turn into a key ring very recently on one of my videos. I cannot stand the idea, physically or emotionally, of being without a book. So, this ensures that I always have a book to read wherever I go, whatever train delays I am whipped up in. And while I love knitting, it can take up a lot of room in your bag, so I don't always have a knitting project automatically with me, but I make sure I've got something to do with my hands by having this little weaving loom with me. It's so tiny. You can get them online. They're really cheap and I've been using this as a way to use up some of my small fragments of yarn that I have around that I don't know what to do with. What these are going to be used for, I'm not sure, but they could either turn into patches for me to fix my clothes with or tiny magic carpets. I don't know. Or I could sew a few together and make a bookmark. But that's like a recent discovery of mine that I freaking love and it's just so tiny and great to do when you're on the move and very, very simple. There's my needle and that just nestles back in there. So, that's the first thing.
Secondly, is my notepad. I have the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks. These are absolutely everywhere, but I love them because they make really high-quality blank page notebooks. I'm really like emotionally, physically, and politically against lines in notebooks. I hate it. I won't use them. Maybe dots, maybe graph paper, but ideally just blank. Like, I'm I'm I feel like I'm a grown-up. I can write in a straight line. And if I want to write in a curvy line or draw a diagram, I shall. It's also because I like to write sideways sometimes. So, that's why I really hate lines in notebooks because if you if you think about it, you open the book like this, you have as much space as you would do in a bigger notebook just in a smaller space. It's much less cramped on your hand. And the reason I carry this around is because I like to try and encourage myself to write things down or doodle or do something else when I am stuck on public transport or out somewhere rather than go on my phone. And the way I trick myself into always having my notepad with me is that this these notebooks have a little flat section at the end. And I'm not stupid enough to show you what's in here, but what is in here is what would be normally in my wallet. It's got my bank card, it's got my ID, all of that is in my notepad. So, basically this is my wallet and I have to take it everywhere. So, that's a fun little trick. And I also, despite the added weight, much prefer a hardback, so I've always got something good to lean on wherever I am, because God knows, in this realm of Britain, we're not always getting a table seat. Do you know what I mean?
Anyway, next, I you pretty much always have something from Salt New York in my bag. Salt New York is a company that makes completely refillable makeup that is I absolutely bloody adore and I've bought it with my own money over the years a lot. But, very recently and very kindly, they sent me some PR, which is so exciting cuz they just came out with these small little palettes where you can just bring one item around with you and this is from the wonderful Hannah Louise Poston's new collection, where she's made like greige desaturated shades of makeup, which I have always wanted. So, I'm so excited. But, this is a highlighter that I've been carrying around with me and bloody adoring and I think she's done an incredible job with it. So, if you have been losing faith that refillable makeup exists and is nice and good, highly recommend Salt New York. Shipping to the UK can be a little bit of a So, if you have somebody for who lives in the US or Canada who is occasionally visiting, do what I do and send it to their house and sneak it into their suitcase. The existence of Salt New York makes it so that every time a makeup brand in the UK goes, "Oh, that's not possible. We can't do that." I'm like, "But, Salt New York have done it and they're probably smaller than you and have less money and they've done it and they've done it well." Run over.
Anyway, what were we talking about? Analog. I don't always have a normal-size book in here, because sometimes I need the room for other stuff. But, if I do, I pick a small one. This is one I've just put in here, because I haven't started it yet, but it's called Swallowed by Meg Smitherman. There has been a romanticy bookshop opening up near me called The Spicy Librarian in the Midlands and it is absolutely confounding to me because every time I walk past, there is a huge queue to get in. It's an independent romanticy book shop and like cafe bar, and they only sell sexy books and a little bit of Jane Austen randomly. I'm not sure. Anyway, I picked this one out for myself cuz I wanted to support them. I'm laughing because this is going to be the most me smutty book description you will ever hear. Okay, here's the back. The planet has always called to Jill, but its secrets may consume her. Earth is broken beyond repair. The planet is our last hope. Humanity's first mission to the planet ended in tragedy, but botanist Jill Jones won't let that stop her from joining the second one. Perfect climate, perfect terrain, perfect flora and fauna, the planet has called Jill all her life. She knows with bone-deep clarity it's home, a new beginning for humanity. She just needs a chance to prove it. But Jill and her team survey the planet, a mysterious presence begin begins to infiltrate their thoughts. When her colleagues start to disappear, it's up to Jill to uncover the planet's secrets before they consume her, her friends, and the one man she would do anything to keep. Smutty climate fiction. It exists. Is it good? I don't know yet, but I'm willing to find out.
I have a zigzag audiobook voucher in here in case I meet anyone who wants to listen to my audiobook. I have one of those. Zigzag are my favorite alternative to Audible, and they're independent and they're not evil. They have started making these gift vouchers for their books, and mine is one of them. So, you can literally go into a book shop and buy an audiobook copy of my book as a gift for somebody. How cute is that? But I just have one in my one of them anyway, in case I want to radicalize somebody on the spot, I guess, into half-assing their life. Some plasters. There's nothing to see here. I just hate any kind of discomfort, especially on my feet, as you know from my decorating video. I hate discomfort in all forms. I have uh a single sachet of peanut butter because I'm trying to not just give in when there's no food around and snack on something that isn't vegan. So, uh whenever I've gone to hotels, I've taken to robbing a few of these that are sometimes in the section for breakfast. And then I like put them in my bag and then if I'm really hungry and I'm out and I'm desperate, I can just eat one of these peanut butter sachets in a peanut butter finger style from Joey from Friends. So, that's something that I have now told the internet, I guess.
For the lovingly pedantic among you, I am about to probably veer into territory that's not technically analog, but these are just honestly some of the things that are also in my bag and they are things that ultimately keep me off my phone. I think there is a beautiful Venn diagram overlap between analog things and anti-scroll things. And most of my bag is in this middle section, but there are a couple of things that are just in the anti-scroll section. Okay? Okay.
Oh, this is the coolest analog thing in my whole bag, actually. So, it's a big claim, but I'm willing to follow it up. Some very old headphones and Da da da da! Potentially Craig's greatest gift to me. It is a second-hand iPod that he bought off Vinted. He has ripped all of my CDs that I own and put them on the iPod so that I don't have to run down my phone. I don't have to pick up my phone and get distracted by my phone if I just want to listen to music and nothing else. I adore it. It was very thoughtful of him. He does it as well. He's made a video on his channel about how he uses it and why. But it's really genuinely kept me off my phone. And devastatingly, I have to say the music does sound better when you rip it from a CD rather than streaming it. I'm going to show you some radical candor here and show you what I was last listening to. No regrets. They don't work. And in incredibly satisfying news, these Catrice pouches that I got these earrings in fits the iPod perfectly. Oh my god. So satisfying.
I've got my favorite phone wire. Oh, you don't have a favorite phone wire? Why not? This is my favorite phone wire. It's a person but all the arms and legs are all the different connectors that you need for all your different devices. What the hell? And it came with a sticker pack so you could pick what face it had. This is also really eco. I It's called is a brand called Zoopa and I'll link them below. The whole thing is made out of recycled plastic and I believe that they have done loads of other sustainability things to this to make it a really sustainable wire. But mainly, it's just nice to have a friend with you, isn't it?
Speaking of sustainable technology solutions, I have this Gobi power bank. They're a brand based in Brighton and basically what they do is they get old bike batteries that are otherwise completely unrecyclable and they recycle them into power banks for your phone. And then they melt loads of other kinds of otherwise unrecyclable plastic into pretty patterns and they sell them as unique bits of art. Like nobody else owns this one. This is the only one. Again, not spon. I've just bought it and I love it and it lasts really well. It's quite heavy but apart from that, I have no qualms with it. Then I've just got a plug, some SPF, a rolled up tote bag with a hair band wrapped around it in case I want to buy something but I don't want to use a plastic bag. It is the hill I will die on to say that those like plastic collapsible bags that they sell you that pack up into a small little pack are a con because you can literally just roll up any tote bag and make it that size and put it in your bag. Plus, I have no use for hair bands anymore so this is what I do with them. And finally for the main pocket, I have got a little packet of MyOat. This is marketed as a instant oat milk formula. So, I used to buy these to take them on holiday with me because people don't put oat milk in the hotel rooms, and that's like frankly offensive. Or like when I'm staying at somebody else's house and they don't have oat milk, you can just put this into a glass of water and mix it up and it becomes oat milk. However, I've started carrying around with me every freaking day because I realized you can also just squirt this into coffee or tea, and it just instantly makes your coffee or tea have milk in it, even though it's like it's just a concentrated liquid oat milk, which means that every time they try and overcharge you for oat milk, like 50p, you can just order it black and put the oat milk in yourself. Now, that my friends is sticking it to the man. And none of these brands I'm sponsored by, by the way, and I've bought them all myself apart from the Salt New York compact, which they have sent me, but I have bought a lot of their stuff in the past. I'm just a fan. I'm just a fan of people trying to solve the problems that keep me up at night.
Now, we're on to the front pouch. What have we got in here? We've got a glasses wiper, obviously. If you wear glasses as well, you know the struggle. I've got a measuring tape in here, which occasionally does come in useful. You'd be surprised. A, not like that. Stop it. But like I know my measurements for around my bust. So, say if I'm in a charity shop or something, I can just whack this out and measure a top or a dress to see if it will fit me rather than having to try it on. And also, sometimes you just want to know the size of things, you know? You just around and you want to know the size of something. So, I have no regrets. I've got a Lush perfume in cardamom coffee, which I bought from Vinted. And there are a lot of perfumes on Vinted. I'm just saying, the second-hand perfume market is thriving. Get on it. I've got some of Craig's medication in a tiny little tin because I refuse to watch him have a bad day because of accidental dairy consumption or otherwise, And he is a grown-up, he generally remembers it, but it's it's nice to have a backup, isn't it? I've got a hair tie, because who knows, my hair might grow in a couple of hours, and I might have to tie it back. I don't know what else is in there. There is no sustainable solution at the moment to headache tablets. Sometimes you just got to have them with you. This one is empty, and they are only recyclable at certain points. But there is a shop that I walked past the other day that does do it. So I'm keeping it in there until I walk past that shop. Ooh, and this is probably the last another wiper, why not? Just in case. Very worried about smudge glasses. A carabiner, ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. Don't know why that's there. Forever ready for a search and rescue situation.
And this is probably my last analog item that qualifies in my bag. I recently got this tiny little watch. Look at it. Bask in its glory. Lena, whose wrist is that small? I hear you ask. Well, it's not for your wrist. Oh my god. Now, I don't wear this constantly because I find it uncomfortable for what to wear for hours at a time, and also you can't like wash your hands with it or put sunscreen on with it. But I keep it in here because if I'm wandering around and like say I am trying to get somewhere on time, or switching trains and needing to check the time all the time, this stops me from getting my phone out to check the time and then seeing all my notifications and then being like, I'll go on Instagram. Maybe I'll do this." If I just want to know the time, it can just be there, and one activity doesn't turn into 10 new digital online activities, if you get what I mean. I hate things around my wrists. This has been a really great solution, and surprise, surprise, I got it off Vinted for a fiver. So that's a joy. I think I might also start using it. You know when you have to be somewhere, but you want to be present with somebody, and you want to make sure that you don't miss your train or whatever, but you also don't want to be constantly checking your phone while you're listening to somebody. I could just put this on the table while I'm out somewhere with somebody and then I can be checking the time without looking like I'm just checking my phone and I'm bored of what they're saying. You know what I mean? Don't know why I'm trying to sell the concept of watches to you. Now, you probably think that you're the old person and I need to get a grip.
But anyway, the last two things, this is one of my favorite ways to wear red lipstick. It is a pencil. I made a whole video about how lipstick is really unsustainable, but for some reason this brand, who are inherently not that sustainable and don't care that much about the planet, make this one item that is super sustainable. So, this is the one that I tested in the video and it is a as you can see a lot smaller than it was when it was in there, but I freaking love it and it's in the color case study. And then finally, friends who will know me cuz I'm very evangelical about this, my favorite hand sanitizer. I hate hand sanitizer. It gets all gloopy and sticky to your hands and then like you put hand sanitizer on your hands because you want to wash your hands and cleanse them, but then as soon as I put hand sanitizer on, I want to wash my hands again because I'm like now I feel not dirty, but I do feel gloopy and I hate it. This is the only hand sanitizer that doesn't do that to my hands. It smells incredible. You can also use it to spray down a public toilet seat if that is something that you feel in the moment moved to do. And most importantly, you can pop the lid off it and then pull this out and it's refillable. And I have like sachets of them that I refill it with. Isn't that absolutely bloody amazing? It's quite a bougie price to buy one. I think it was like £6, but then now I'm buying the refills and I'm buying them in bulk. I've worked out it probably costs about £2.60 to fill this up. So, for me, the day-to-day experience of the joy of using hand sanitizer that doesn't stress me out is worth every freaking penny.
Anyway, that is everything that was in my analog and vaguely sustainable everyday bag. I actually can't believe how much stuff I've got in this bag. That is actually, on reflection, quite an alarming amount of stuff to have got in one bag of that size. But yeah, thank you so much for watching. Hopefully, through this video, you either got introduced to a cool small independent brand that is sustainable that you might want to check out, or leave the links to everything I talked about before, or you might be just inspired to carry more stuff around with you that will keep you off of your phone. And I think the misconception is you have to bring this massive bag with you to do it, and I don't believe that's true. My bag is tiny. It's just like the size of my head. My head's kind of big, to be fair. Many friends and enemies would agree. Thank you so much for watching this video. If you're not subscribed yet, as so many of you seems aren't, make sure you are so you see the next video. And thank you so much to the Gumption Club who tip me for these videos so that they can keep happening. That's really nice. And in exchange, I give them a podcast. We have a Discord channel. We have a book club going on. It's all happening. So, check check that out if that is something that you're interested in. And until next time, which will be exactly the same time every week on a Monday, Frogs Nog out.