13 Things I Bought for Less Than $50 After Moving Halfway Across the Country

Last June, I packed lots of boxes and drove for two days with my partner from sunny California to even sunnier Texas. Now, after a year of slowly outfitting my new home, I’m here to wax poetic about the pieces that made me feel settled—and they’re all less than $50!

Given the chance, I will always choose a bowl instead of a plate—but with this, I really don’t have to. Full disclosure: I started my collection while still living in Berkeley, and am thankful that they arrived in one piece after mailing them. Durability!

Moving away from my family was very hard for me; I highly recommend absorbing cookbooks to get through tough times. I spent several weeks poring over all these incredible recipes, which you don’t need to be vegan to enjoy.

This sweet little vase is a classic for a reason.

Some may say I have "too many" candles—as if that’s a thing. Please do yourself a favor and purchase a candle from Boy Smells; I've tried several scents and they’re all incredible. (I also finally bought a candle wick trimmer. Life changed.)

Did you think I was joking about this candle thing? If fresh paint smells have you down, consider these candles from Yield—they last a loooong time, and once they become a sputtering puddle of wax and wick, the container is easy to clean and keep as a very cool drinking glass.

Who would I be without mentioning these famous-on-TikTok crates? I have about six to store everything from cat toys to jewelry to sunscreen.

Now, I haven’t bought these yet, but they’re on my wishlist! We had these at Dwell’s coworking space in San Francisco and they were quite sleek. Huge fan of everything Yamazaki.

Changing your hand towels frequently is a great way to stave off getting sick (I’m very prone to catching colds all year long). We stocked up on these incredibly soft hand towels in the Ocean colorway.

I brought a lot of unframed artwork with me. I like these frames from Frametory because they’re fairly inexpensive and come in a variety of sizes.

She is beauty, she is grace. This knife puts all my other cutlery to shame.

My house is basket central. They’re such a good way to store clutter, and these from the Container Store fit perfectly in my Kallax shelf from Ikea.

Definitely recommend. RIP to my Roku.

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