Best Stuff of 2024: What You Cared About This Year

As we wrap up 2024, we’re taking a moment to reflect on an incredible year of sharing the Good Stuff with all of you. From answering your burning questions about safe, non-toxic living to spotlighting the products we love (and the ones we don’t), we feel so lucky to have spent another year immersed in the nitty gritty of how to balance healthier, cleaner living with retaining one’s sanity! In this post, we’re sharing some highlights of this year, from the products you most loved to the questions you most asked. Thank you for being part of this amazing community.

What You Loved on Instagram

Our 5 most popular social media posts in 2024 were on the following topics:

1. The healthiest stuff I found in Costco. 
2. What helps calm my anxiety about all the toxins in our lives.
3.  Why some chemical sunscreens are actually okay. 
4. 11 Trader Joe’s items my kids like better than the “real” ones. 
5. The deal with baby laundry detergents.  

What You Bought on Amazon

Here are the five items you guys bought most from our approved-on-Amazon list in 2024:

1. This hair dryer, which you all agree is a great “budget” pick that’s as good as the Dyson AirWrap.
2. (I have and love!)This HEPA-filtered robot vac and mop, which I use every weekend to clean the entire house. 
3. This sunscreen, which is the least concerning clear, chemical-based sunscreen we’ve found. 
4. These cutting boards, which are a great toxin-free, affordable option.
5. This bug spray, which is way less toxic than DEET, and as effective for ticks. 

Our Most-Read Guides

In 2024, our 5 most popular guides were: 

1. Best Disposable Diapers Guide
2. Heavy Metals in Chocolate: How to Eat Safely
3. Safe Sunscreen Guide
4. Best Non-Toxic Cutting Boards
5. Non-Toxic Cookware Guide

Your Most Burning Questions

Here are 5 questions we answered this year that best represent the topics you seemed to care about most in 2024.  (More Q&A can be found here.)

1. Is the benefit of coffee 100% proven or are there significant downsides to it too? I’ve debated whether I should start drinking clean coffee for some of the purported health benefits, but is it like alcohol in the sense that you shouldn’t start drinking just to receive the potential benefits of it? It’s not like alcohol at all in the sense that there seems to be literally zero health benefit to drinking (boo!). Coffee is absolutely good for you, and if you’re drinking toxin-free coffee, there don’t seem to be any downsides, other than possibly disrupted sleep. Both tea and coffee are superfoods with a ton of well-documented health benefits, but of course they can both be sources of toxin exposure. We have written about the safest coffee and tea. 
2. Is Invisalign safe? Sigh. I wore one 20 hours a day for two years and still wear it at night. The good news is that I’ve looked at the studies to see how much these retainers actually leach. And of all the brands tested, Invisalign leaches a variety of compounds–like benzene–the least. The better news is that nothing at all leached from Invisalign without ethanol exposure (so remove the liner before drinking wine!). There are limitations to this study—it’s definitely possible that more leaches out with the abrasions that come with actual use–but Invisalign seems to be the safest brand. 
3. Is newer nonstick cookware actually safe? I mean brands like Caraway, the Always Pan, etc. that are so heavily advertised. The new nonstick technology is a huge improvement over the old stuff (PFAS, AKA “forever chemicals”). Some purists will tell you to cook on only stainless steel or cast iron, and we do plenty of that in my home (brands I like can be found in this guide). But I also really love the cookware I have from Our Place and Caraway. Both of these brands have disclosed the independent testing that reveals that their pots and pans don’t contain heavy metals or PFAS. 
4. Which of the protein powders you reviewed did you like the taste of best? I usually just do the unflavored version from any brand, which means they taste more or less the same. I don’t really like the taste of stevia or monk fruit, so if I want a flavored protein I go for one with coconut sugar – my top pick is Puori vanilla, on which the code GIMMETHEGOODSTUFF will get you 20% off.
5. You recently mentioned taking a specific probiotic for anxiety. Can you say more about that? Yes! When Dr. Hopkins provide all his research for our Probiotics Shopping Guide, he included studies on specific strains for specific conditions. My main health issue is anxiety, so I went looking for probiotic blends with lactobacillus gasseri (study) and bifidobacterium lactis (study). Four Good Stuff brands with both of these: Cymbiotika, Innovix, Best Nest, Seed. 

Best Stuff I Got All Year

1. I’ve been sprinkling this superfood mushroom cacao powder on my ice creams and adding to my smoothies. (I get the stevia-free version). 
2. I got a bigger pill box now that I’ve become a total supplement bro. 
3. These eye patches are the only ones that I’ve found to really work.  
4. Dry Farm’s clean wines have been doing it for me this year, but I suppose I say that every year. 
5. This eco-friendly cleaning products brand changed its ingredients and now it’s Good Stuff. I use the all-purpose cleaner several times a day. 
6. Crunchi’s Tinted SPF in this is hands down the best I have tried.
7. A red light therapy mask has had the side benefit of finally getting me meditating! 
8. This new design from Klean Kanteen has resulted in my drinking so much more water. 
9. Pact’s organic waffle set is my go-to travel and lounge-around outfit. 
10. This denture-bath (sexy!) has made cleaning my retainer easier (and I get the accompanying cleaning tablets). 

Our Marketplace’s 2024 Best Sellers

Clean Caffeine

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Tandi’s Naturals Concentrated Laundry Soap

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Mast Organic Chocolate Bars

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Olea True- Premium High Phenolic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

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Jack N’ Jill Natural Calendula Toothpaste

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Gimme Clean Water – Under Counter Water Filter System with PFAS/PFOA (Forever Chemicals) Filter

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Christina Maser Aromatherapy Handmade Soaps

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Sonett Natural Dishwashing Liquid – Calendula, Single

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Carina Organics Daily Natural Moisturizing Shampoo – Unscented

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Here’s to another year of cleaner, greener, saner living! 💛 

Maia, Founder & CEO