The Resources Shelf
Subscriptions worth keeping.
The recurring tools we use weekly — and the rare ones we cancelled within a month. Honest notes from a small editorial team.
We try a lot of subscriptions so you don't have to. The list below is short on purpose — only the ones still paying for their monthly fee a year later. Affiliate links are marked with a small badge. The recommendation comes first; the affiliate is a side effect, never the reason.
Section 01
Study & productivity
Notion
Best for note-taking & planning
Where every essay outline, reading list, and class schedule lives. Free for students with an .edu email — the paid tier rarely pays for itself.
Free for studentsForest
Best for phone-free study blocks
A focus-timer app that grows a tiny tree while you don't touch your phone. Slightly silly, completely effective.
$3.99 one-timeGoodnotes 6
Best for iPad note-taking
For anyone who handwrites notes on an iPad. The handwriting search alone makes it worth it.
$9.99/yearSection 02
Lifestyle & small joys
Audible
Best for audiobooks on the go
Long commutes, hot girl walks, and the kitchen sink. We mostly listen to memoir and history — first month is free.
First month freeHeadspace
Best for starting a meditation habit
The meditation app that finally stuck. Their "Sleepcasts" are also unreasonably good background audio for reading.
Student pricing availableSpotify Premium (Student)
Best for study playlists
Half-price student plan that includes Hulu (US) and Showtime. Better study playlists, no ads, three months free trial.
Student planSection 03
If you want to start your own
A lot of readers ask what we use to run this site. The short answer is below. The long answer is on the blog — search for "behind the scenes" once we publish it.
Bluehost
Best for starting a blog
Where this site is hosted. Cheap, beginner-friendly, free domain in your first year — it's what we recommend to anyone starting a blog from scratch.
Affiliate · From $2.95/moCanva Pro
Best for Pinterest pin design
Used for every Pinterest pin you see on this site. Worth the upgrade once you start designing more than a few graphics a month.
Free tier · Pro $14.99/moConvertKit
Best for email newsletters
Our newsletter platform. Free up to 1,000 subscribers, with better deliverability than the free tier of Mailchimp.
Free under 1,000 subsSome of these are affiliate links. Read the full affiliate disclosure.