All the ways I’ve been ‘influenced’ lately….

I’d love to tell you that I’m completely immune to being influenced by social media but apparently that’s absolutely not the case. 😂

I think being off work for a while probably hasn’t helped either because I’ve definitely had more time for scrolling lately and social media is very good at making you think you need things you’d never normally even consider buying.

Somehow my algorithms have decided that I need a sparkling house, glowing skin, organised kitchen cupboards and a utility room full of gadgets and, if I’m honest, I’ve definitely been persuaded by more than a few things lately. The funny thing is that almost none of them work quite as magically as the videos make out but, despite that, I don’t actually regret most of the things I’ve bought because quite a few of them have still ended up being genuinely useful.

The steam cleaner

Social media had me fully convinced that a steam cleaner could clean absolutely anything within seconds. Dirty grout would magically turn bright white again, oven grease would melt away instantly and years of dirt would disappear with one satisfying wipe while somebody dramatically peeled grime away in a before-and-after video.

So obviously, I bought the exact one that kept popping up in all of my social media feeds and I was convinced it was going to change my whole cleaning routine. 

And guess what? It was absolute rubbish. 😅 It definitely cleaned things a bit but not in the dramatic “one swipe and twenty years of grime disappears” kind of way the videos showed. I genuinely started wondering whether everyone online was secretly cleaning dirt that had been specially prepared for social media.

It did work though but we had to keep topping up the water and waiting for it to heat up again and it just felt like it needed a bit more power to really clean like we’d seen online.

Because we’d just moved house and had lots of cleaning jobs to tackle, we ended up buying a Kärcher steam cleaner from Facebook Marketplace to see whether a more powerful one would work better and, to be fair, it really did make a difference. It’s genuinely useful for cleaning awkward corners, freshening things up and tackling jobs that are annoying with normal cleaning products, although I will say that even the better one still doesn’t create the magical transformations social media promises. I’m now convinced there’s either editing involved or someone standing nearby with a cloth doing half the work. 😂

I’ve used it loads though so I’m happy with my second purchase!

Collagen

If social media is to be believed lately, collagen can apparently solve almost every problem known to mankind. Every second video seems to involve somebody stirring collagen powder into a coffee while talking about glowing skin, stronger nails, healthier hair and suddenly feeling twenty years younger.

Normally I’d have ignored it because I’m naturally suspicious of anything being pushed that hard online but then my doctor actually mentioned collagen to me and suggested it might help me, which was enough to persuade me to give it a go.

I went with Ancient and Brave as they were the company I was seeing the most in my feeds but at the moment, a month in, the biggest benefit that I’m seeing is the morning routine I feel like it’s given me.

It’s best taken in a hot drink so every morning, I make myself a drink and go and sit in our living room and just relax for the 15 minutes or so that it takes me to drink it. 

I watch the birds come to our little Bird Cafe and just relax on my own before the house gets busy and daily life starts. 

I’m not far enough into the collagen journey to see any real benefits but I will say that adding a scoop of something healthy-looking into my morning drink does make me feel like I’ve got my life together far more than I actually have. 😂

The Shark handheld vacuum

This one I genuinely do love although, once again, social media slightly oversold the power of it.

You know those videos where somebody vacuums an entire staircase, half a car and what looks like several kilograms of sand with one tiny handheld vacuum? Well that was what I was hoping for when I bought my little Shark.

That hasn’t quite been my experience but for quick clean-ups, it’s brilliant and it’s become one of those things that we use far more than I expected we would.

Our living room rug is chocolate brown which means every tiny crumb, bit of fluff and random speck immediately shows up and I cannot face dragging the big hoover out every five minutes. So now the little Shark handheld vacuum lives in the utility room ready to grab whenever needed and it’s honestly one of the most useful impulse buys I’ve made in ages, even if it doesn’t quite have the industrial-strength suction power TikTok promised me. 😁

Taco stands

I was also influenced into buying taco stands after seeing endless videos of beautifully folded wraps and tacos all lined up neatly looking very organised and aesthetically pleasing.

My plan was actually to use them for homemade flatbreads because I make them all the time and thought they’d somehow make our lunches look much more impressive. The only slight issue is that apparently I make giant flatbreads because I haven’t yet managed to make one small enough to actually fit in the taco stands. 😅 At the moment they’re mostly living in the cupboard waiting patiently for either smaller flatbreads or the day I suddenly become the kind of person who casually hosts taco nights.

Organised snack containers

Another social media-inspired purchase was a set of those little snack containers people use to pack aesthetically pleasing lunches filled with neatly organised fruit, nuts, cheese cubes and carefully prepared snacks.

In my head, I was absolutely going to become one of those people who lovingly prepared organised snack boxes for my partner to take to work every day. In reality, he usually grabs some fruit, a packet of crisps and whatever meal we’ve packed and heads out the door. 😂

The containers are actually quite handy, to be fair, but definitely not being used in the wholesome Pinterest-worthy way I imagined when I bought them.

Maybe I’m more influenceable than I thought

I used to think I was fairly sensible when it came to social media trends but apparently all it takes is a satisfying cleaning video or somebody speaking confidently into a camera and suddenly I’m online convincing myself that I absolutely need whatever they’re selling.

To be fair though, even when things don’t work quite as dramatically as they do online, some of them still end up being genuinely useful in real life. Although I do think social media owes me at least one magical steam cleaner demonstration that actually works exactly the way it does in the videos. 😂

I’d love you to follow me on Twitter and it would be amazing to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram. If you’re interested, you can find out more about me here and while I’ve got your attention, if you’re wondering why some of my posts lately are a little bit less frugal then have a read of this post. 😉

Do your future self a favour – Pin this post for later.