If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — like hair spray or an electric toothbrush. We asked writer Rachel Khong, whose new book Real Americans is out now, about the citrus squeezer, stud finder, and lip-balm replacement she can’t live without.
This is my workhorse notebook. I write in it every day. Every morning, I do “morning pages,” so there’s one side of the notebook that I use for morning pages, and then I flip it over and use the other side for notes about whatever I’m writing, and then I meet in the middle. The journal pages will meet the writing notes, and then that’s when I start a new book. Each notebook lasts me maybe two to three months, because I’m just going through these really fast. I chose this one because it was the most workhorse-y. It looks like it’s a notebook from out of the past, which I love. I like the color of the paper. I like the color of the lines. I use a fountain pen on it, but it doesn’t bleed, and I do use both sides of the sheet. I label each notebook with the span of time that I used for that book. It’s nice to have a cheap notebook because then you don’t feel precious about writing.
I have so many inks. It’s so tempting to buy lots of inks because ink is fun. I like this brand, Noodler’s, because they give you a lot of ink and it’s really rich. There are other inks that I use for other purposes, but for the morning pages and for journaling, I always use this specific ink and specific color. It’s this very rich black, and it’s really satisfying when it comes out of a pen. I feel like it flows really well, and it makes me feel like my thoughts are flowing, too. I use the LAMY Safari with a medium nib. This was actually the first fountain pen I ever got, because I read or heard that Neil Gaiman liked them. It became my favorite pen for journaling.
I’ve been addicted to lip balm for a long time, but I didn’t want to keep using petroleum products. I happened across Egyptian Magic probably a few years ago now, and I switched over to it as a lip balm. It’s used for all these things. People use it for moisturizing, and I think I read that in movies, they’ll use it to make it look like people are sweaty. It’s olive-oil-based and has propolis in it. I think it has some other random antibacterial stuff. At first, it’s not as satisfying as lip balm because it slips away and is not as thick. But I persisted and I kept using that instead of lip balm. It was really hard to break the petroleum lip-balm habit, but I feel that I have broken it now. I get a big tub and then I transfer it to these little capsules to carry with me. I also use it on my elbows and on very dry spots, or sometimes on my face if I’m traveling and I don’t have anything else. You can also use it as a makeup remover if you don’t have that. I mentioned I like the old-timey look of the steno pad. I also really like it when there’s a really nuts label like with Dr. Bronner’s, when people are really trying to cram a lot onto a label. It’s how you know someone’s really passionate about this product. Egyptian Magic is kind of Dr. Bronner’s–esque. There’s a note from the founder and it claims that it was used by Cleopatra. It took a while to make the shift, but I really committed, and now I love it.
My friend Chanel Miller gave me this timer because I had been telling her about my wedge system. Every day in my steno pads, I draw a circle and then divide the circle into wedges. Each wedge represents half an hour of working: I’ll make four wedges if I want to do two hours of work, six wedges if I want to do three hours of work, eight if I want to do four. It’s not really the Pomodoro method because I don’t take breaks. I read somewhere that every time you take a break, it takes 23 minutes to get back into your headspace and regain your focus. I love the timer so much because it’s totally silent. And it’s a visual timer, so you can see how much time you have left or how much time you’ve done. I take my break at the end of the thing. I don’t count getting up to pee as a break. You have to pee, you have to drink water, maybe you have to stand up and stretch, but it’s checking your email or looking at the internet that takes longer to recover from. I won’t do that.
My friend Natalie told me about this recently. It’s basically a way of turning a smartphone into a semi-dumb phone. If you wanted to get writing done, maybe you would prevent your phone from accessing most of the apps except for whatever app you needed for writing. Or say you’re going on a hike. You could select that you want to keep AllTrails, Google Maps, and whatever apps that you need for your hike. Then you touch your phone to this magnetic square called the Brick, and it’ll block every other app on your phone. You can still get messages, you can still get phone calls, and you can still use whatever apps you’ve selected.
My phone is bricked right now for writing, but if I’m going out, I still don’t want to be distracted by things when I’m with my friends, so I’ll keep certain apps like Google Maps, Photos, but I don’t want to be looking at Instagram. I got it specifically because I had been a frequent user of airplane mode, but on tour especially, you need to use your phone to get around. I think traveling especially is when my phone habits slide because I need the phone to navigate. And so I thought, Oh, if I have this, then I can actually pick what apps that I want to be using while traveling too.
The Brick is a physical thing. You touch it to lock and unlock your phone. It gives it that extra hurdle. You could put it somewhere where it’s hard to get to. Mine is pretty accessible, but I think that added layer helps you to stop and think, Oh, do I actually want to do that? Do I actually want to look at my phone right now? The Brick gives you a barrier. I think it’s pretty ingenious.
Line-a-day diaries have become popular. But I think Tamara, who is my friend, invented it. I think everyone else copied her. You write a few sentences about each day. It’s a diary that spans the whole year. Each page has five blank spaces for the day, and you fill in what year it is. The idea is that when you have a full notebook, you can flip to any day and see five entries spread out over five years.
I started doing this nine years ago. Now I’m on my second five-year diary. Aside from morning pages, which I started a few years ago, it’s the only journaling practice I do. This is the way that I really document my own life instead of just ideas. And it really doesn’t require a lot. I just do it right before bed and I do a few sentences. I’d be so sad if I lost it because it contains so many memories and facts about my life, sometimes little jokes, sometimes things that I ate.
It’s a document of my life. It’s really fascinating to see the change between the years or what a big difference a year makes, honestly. I can read these old entries of when I was so deep in the work of writing this book and I really didn’t know where it was going. The diary entries reflect that despair. Then I also have the day when I sold the book, and I have the days now when I’m about to promote it. It’s just a really beautiful way to mark time. I think I have less of an impulse than I used to to capture everything. I don’t really feel like I need to document everything, but it’s just nice to have these gestures toward past selves. It’s definitely not for everyone. And you will find out very quickly if it’s for you or not.
I really love a very specific made-in-the-USA invention. StudPoP was made by this handyman who is also a drummer. I moved to Los Angeles in July and put up a lot of bookshelves, which required finding a lot of studs. I think most stud finders are pretty bad. They’re just kind of divining rods. But I found this thing, and it’s basically a round little plastic thing that you run across your walls. And then when it finds a nail — it’s basically a magnet — the center of it pops up. It’s almost like a little board-game piece. It’s really charming, but it pops into attention. That was how I found all my studs to put up my bookshelves in my office, which there are many. I found the StudPoP through some intense Googling. I do really love weird inventions the inventor is very, very passionate about. It doesn’t require batteries, and it works through really thick walls, too. I think this is the best stud finder.
I juice a lot of citrus. I drink lemon water every morning. Now I have a lemon tree too, which is all the more reason to use a citrus juicer. I like these more than other kinds of citrus extractors. Hinged juicers are really effective and can really squeeze a lot out. Most handheld citrus juicers like this are made of aluminum and maybe coated in enamel or something, and they always kind of erode. The painted stuff starts flaking off, and then you’re exposing your citrus to aluminum, which isn’t great because that’s reactive and it can turn bitter, and also isn’t good for you. I’ve gone through two or three of those kinds because I’m a very aggressive citrus squeezer. I was looking around for a stainless-steel juicer specifically, and they’re kind of hard to find. It’s definitely an investment, as it costs more than your average coated aluminum juicer, but it’s really sturdy and hasn’t peeled because it’s stainless steel. And the rubbery handle sheaths are grippy and nice to hold. It just feels like this very solid thing that I will never have to replace, which is what I was looking for.
I love labeling. It’s so satisfying. I label all my spices. Now that I live closer to my mom, she gives me all these foods portioned out of her larger stashes, so I’ll get shiitake mushrooms from her or various other dried vegetables and things. I have to label them in order to know what they are. Yesterday, I accidentally dropped a bottle of oyster sauce from a high shelf and it broke at the bottom. I transferred the sauce into a different container and then I labeled it “oyster sauce.” You always think that you’re going to remember what something is, but as an adult, it’s impossible. I don’t even remember what happened yesterday. I also often store things in shoeboxes, and so I’ll put a label on the side of the shoebox. I’m looking at a label right now that says “sewing supplies.” This label maker has lots of different fonts. When I was labeling the spices, I adjusted the font to suit the spice. Some spices are serif and others are sans serif. When I think of cinnamon, I think maybe that’s a cursive kind of spice.
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