with thanks and apologies to The Strategist

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Alt text: A photo of Emily obviously cut and pasted onto someone else’s suited shoulders, with a background of black-and-white illustrations of items, like mopeds, Wellington boots, torches and AirBuds. Strong “graphic design is my passion” vibes.

If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what famous people add to their carts. Unfortunately, none of them are returning our calls. Instead, we asked writer and general enthusiast Emily Benita — whose bank statement for the last quarter would probably be more accurate to print — about the bits and pieces she’s convinced herself that she needs in her abode and about her person.

Karst Stone Paper Notebook

From £21

These are incredible. They’re made from from calcium carbonate recycled from construction and mining waste. I pasted that from the website, I don’t know it off by heart. The texture is soft and matte, they’re totally coffee-spill proof. I often find myself just stroking the pages. Speaking of pages, they can be blank, lined, dotted, or squared. I go for lined because there’s something really comforting about the look of my writing being even, though the content can be, well, patchy. I ended up going all Anna Wulf and buying another one because it was all getting a bit too blurred just having one for both work and morning pages. Well, morning page. I can’t be doing three sides of A4 in the morning, Julia Cameron. Sorry, Julia Cameron. Thanks, Julia Cameron.

Norfolk Natural Living Garment Refresher

From £12

In a bid to bat away my vivid climate crisis anxieties, I’m buying everything that I possibly can secondhand and doing laundry a bit less, on a cold wash. So, I guess this counts as something no one else around me can live without.

The Ordinary 1% Retinol in Squalane

From £7.90

Simply cannot go an evening without lathering my face and neck with this, whispering, “smooth as a dolphin, fresh as a peach,” The Craft-style. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pro-ageing - getting old is a privilege - but I want to look like I’ve actually rested for part of my life.

Fischersund Scented Candle

From £too much, don’t even look

These might have been discontinued and for good reason. Their scents are far too intriguing, daydream-inducing. I haven’t been able to actually light mine. The wick is this stubby bit of wood, buried in this immensely valuable wax, that I tried to burn off but the melted wax just covers the wick again and we’re back to square one. This is in my possession because I got a gift voucher for this incredible lifestyle shop as a leaving present from a job. What is it about buying ridiculous things when you can’t afford anything anyway? Compounding the unreachability. Is that a word? I also like tea lights.

Birkenstock Black All-Leather Arizona Sandals

From £160

Sorry, vegans. I wear these exclusively for a quarter of the year, half if I brace myself for the transitional seasons. My dad wore them with socks for most of my childhood. I only do that inside, instead of slippers, which I’m told is very German, and I’m sure they - the shoes, yes, they - appreciate the nod to their heritage. My feet have always been disgusting. Flat, wide, pigeon-toed, prone to blisters. Somehow they’re kept in check when I wear these, despite being open to the elements. I always forget to put SPF on the tops of my feet so I get these thick stripes of tan that take forever to fade. But it means that I’ve been outside. I can look down and see a record. It’s hard to recall the summer this year. I was unemployed for most of it, my husband was away. My memory is of staying in the house, doing minor tasks, trying not to spend money, putting everything on credit when I did have to spend money, making excuses, getting job rejections, wanting to plant myself in the ground for a better chance of growing, trying to hold onto the truth that I was doing everything I could and anything else that wasn’t that was worthwhile but still feeling like I had nothing to show for it, each grain of sand in the hourglass finding its way into my tear duct and not getting out. I don’t remember walking in the sun.

Vaseline

From £2.45

You can put this just about anywhere.