I decided to create a new series of blog posts, with the theme “Stuff I’ve Actually Bought“, because so many people ask for my recommendations for products, yet many of my recommendations here on my blog come from items I have tested for others, not items I personally own.
Having recently met some of my followers in person who told me “I buy everything you recommend” – I realized I wanted to work more on this category of items here on my blog, creating new posts and this new tag [“Stuff I’ve Actually Bought“] so my readers can easily distinguish between stuff I own and use in my home and stuff I test for others.
I don’t actually own that much stuff personally. We lost everything in a house-fire in 2002 and since then I have a new perspective for “stuff.” I try to only own things we need and actually use. If we have something in our home that we have not used in a year or longer I try to find a new home for it. To this end we have a “Free Table” on the curb by our house and I am always giving stuff away on sunny days (or online.)
I also realized that in sharing about the things I have bought personally I actually have stories about pretty much everything we own – stories that other people might find interesting because they usually relate to the special needs and disabilities of my children (or to my environmental activist perspective.)
Additionally I feel a lot more confident in recommending products that I use in my home and with my children. Because I am an environmentalist, because we’re broke, and because I want to make the best choices for my money (ideally things that will last a long time), the small amount of stuff I actually do buy is always very well-researched.
And this brings us to the topic at hand… Swim Goggles!
We work hard to keep our boys outside (and away from screen media) as much as possible. In the summer this means swim-team, and daily free-swim at the public pool that is four blocks from our house. My boys love swimming in the river too (which is also walking distance from our home.) We typically go swimming at least twice a day most days in the summer.
For my kids, especially (given they have some pretty extreme issues with Sensory Processing Disorder) it’s super important to have comfortable, high-quality swimwear that doesn’t distract from their racing. This year having crappy goggles most of the season was a real problem – and due to their poor quality and distractingly flaky fit/seal – cost A.J. [my 16 year old] many lost seconds in his races.
Towards the end of the summer I did a BUNCH of research into which goggles out there are regarded to be the best ones (and also what is used by Olympians!)…and got each of my boys these goggles (in three different colors). They love them and I am really happy with the purchase. I found them initially by searching for articles about the best brands of goggles used by (or recommended by) olympic swimmers. From one of the articles: “TYR Nest Pro is a pair of goggles that was specially designed for the 2008 Olympics”
And based on my experience with consumer goods testing so far, I also have absolutely no concerns for lead in a product like this.
Affiliate link for this product (the exact ones we bought): https://amzn.to/2COREHs
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for reading and for sharing my posts!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Affiliate link disclosure: If you purchase something after clicking on one of my affiliate links I may receive a small percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my advocacy work in this way!
I’m planning on buying some adult swim goggles that have an adjustable nose bridge (or are custom made according to my interpupillary distance, which is what they do at the optician’s when I order regular eyeglasses). If the lenses are prescription, then it matters how many millimeters they are apart from each other, because of how the lenses bend the light. If the lenses are too close to each other, then the image will be directed towards the parts of my iris or white closest to my nose! I visited the Amazon page for these goggles, but it appears that I can’t interchange the nose bridges. I have seen online that the brands Rec Specs and WileyX make swimming goggles with prescription lenses. I’m hoping to buy some prescription swim goggles soon, but I don’t want lead-containing ones. Hopefully there will be more swim goggles in your boxes that you have yet to open from your readers!
Any suggestions for safe swimwear/swim suits since so many clothing company’s produce clothes with tons of lead like shein?