A Year-End Review of What Actually Worked
You're packing for ten days away. The whole year comes down to one question: what did you actually reach for?
A year-end review is a fast way to stop buying duplicates. This walks through how to sort what you own into keep, replace, and let go, and what to do differently next year.
The Short Answer
Do this once and it takes 15 minutes. Pull everything out and split it into three groups: used in the last two months, used once, and never opened. Keep the first group. The second group tells you something about how you shop. The third group is the one you should stop adding to. Most people find that two pieces carried the entire year, and that everything else was purchased for a version of themselves that didn't show up. Write down what those two have in common, and buy against that next year.
What Got Used and What Didn't
Be honest here. It's not a judgment.
The pattern is almost always the same. Two or three pieces account for 90 percent of the use. They're usually the ones that were quick to set up and easy to clean. Everything else lost a competition against convenience.
That's the actual finding. Not power. Not features. Convenience.
If you've ever wondered why a more expensive piece sits untouched while a simpler one gets used weekly, this is why. Setup time matters more than any specification. A toy that needs 10 minutes of preparation gets used monthly. One that needs 30 seconds gets used whenever you feel like it.
The Three Categories Worth Keeping
Sort what's left by what it does for you, not by what it is.
- The default. The one you grab without thinking. It's usually external, quick to clean, and charged before you need it. Keep it and consider a second one.
- The occasional one. Used monthly, maybe during a weekend when you had more time. Worth keeping if it does something the default can't.
- The travel piece. Small, quiet enough for a shared wall, and doesn't need its own bag. If you travel more than twice a year, this earns its spot.
Anything outside those three categories is a maybe. Maybes are what turn into drawer clutter by next December.
What to Leave at Home
Packing for the holidays is a good test of what you actually value.
Take one piece. Two if you're away more than a week. That's it. Anything more and you'll spend the trip deciding instead of relaxing.
Leave anything that needs a special charger at home. A lost cable turns a nice piece into dead weight for the whole trip. Same for anything that isn't quiet — you don't know who's in the next room, and 50 dB carries further through a hotel wall than you'd expect.
And bring water-based lubricant. It's the one thing that fixes more problems than any product swap.
How to Judge a Year Honestly
Don't count purchases. Count sessions.
A year with four purchases and 60 sessions beats a year with 12 purchases and 20 sessions. The second pattern means you were shopping rather than using, and that's worth noticing before January arrives with a new round of things to want.
One useful test: pick the single best session you had this year and work out what made it work. Time of day, how much time you had, what you used. Then set up that same condition more often. It's cheaper than any upgrade.
What the Pattern Means for Next Year
Once you have the numbers, three conclusions usually follow.
First, buy fewer things. If two pieces carried the year, a third of the same kind won't get used either. The drawer isn't short of options. It's short of ones you like.
Second, fix the setup before you shop. Before bed on a Sunday, most people already know which piece they'll reach for, and the reason is usually that it's charged and within arm's reach. Put the one you want to use more often where you'll see it. That costs nothing and beats a new purchase.
Third, keep the note. One year of this is useful. Two years tells you things no review will: which pieces you return to after a long break, which ones you replaced with something smaller, and how much of your spending actually got used.
Who Should Skip This Exercise
If you own one piece and you like it, skip the whole review. There's nothing to audit, and sorting a collection of one is just an excuse to browse.
The honest downside of doing this at all: it can turn into shopping research. If you notice yourself comparing new products while you're supposedly evaluating old ones, stop. The point is to buy less next year. And if a piece stopped working, don't analyse it — retire it and move on.
If the Review Says You Need One Thing
Most reviews end with the same conclusion: fewer pieces, better chosen.
- Couples Intimacy Bundle: three pieces in one box — KUBEE, CONDICE, and Velvet Touch Lubricant — for partners who'd rather make one decision than four, with a water-based lubricant included so the set works the day it arrives.
- Browse the Customer Favorites collection before you add anything new to next year's list.
- Related reading: a first-year review from someone starting out
- a two-toy starter pair that covers everything
- setting intentions for the new year
Sources
- American Psychological Association — published research on habit formation, including why convenience predicts repeat behaviour better than intention.
- Consumer Reports — general guidance on evaluating durable consumer goods by frequency of use rather than by features.
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission — guidance on the safe storage and retirement of rechargeable consumer devices.
This article is for general education and is not medical advice. Personal preferences vary, and no product recommendation suits every household.
