Tell Me You’re in Your 40’s…

My favourite Breton striped top - cate st hill.jpeg

6 minute read

There’s a list of things that most women over the age of 40 either have or deeply covet. Some are practical, some are fads and if your home ever appeared on Through The Keyhole they would all give you away as a middle-aged woman. Here are ten things I have and want that show the world I’m in my 40s!

Weighted blankets

I haven’t bought one yet, but I think about weighted blankets almost every day. I’ve read about them, watched videos featuring them and if I’m honest I’ve probably done more research on them than on my family’s health insurance renewal. I’m convinced that if I buy one both my back pain and the anxious racing thoughts that keep me up at night will disappear. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a blanket and the fear of being disappointed is probably why I haven’t bought one yet.

Organisational containers

Like everyone else in the country I watched the Home Edit on Netflix 116 months ago at the start of the first lockdown and became fixated with having plastic turntables in all my presses. My local home shop had already sold out when I went to investigate and so I had to buy mine online. The result was one turntable so small that it would only hold tiny bottles of hot sauce (so I went and bought more bottles of hot sauce) and can holders for what transpired to be US sized cans. I feel like my fridge is now a reflection of the inside of my brain, precariously balanced thoughts spinning on a device not big enough to contain them. As soon as we’re allowed, I’ll be heading to that organisational mecca in Dundrum to rectify the situation.

A stash of greeting cards

I have a basket in the stationery press that has an assortment of greeting cards. Should anyone in my house feel the need to send a note to say happy birthday, happy anniversary, good luck, well done or congratulations I have the very thing for them. My mother had a similar stash and mine gives me great comfort. I’m about six months shy of steaming unfranked stamps envelopes for future use. Also yes, I have a stationary press.

An IKEA tape measure

You will of course be familiar with the paper tape measures that you peel off the hook to carry around IKEA with you while you shop, but did you know that if you’re a woman over the age of 40 it has been deemed mandatory to carry a couple around in every purse and handbag you own for measuring emergencies. It is my firm belief that I became a proper adult the day I had a permanent storage place for my spider head (official name) screwdriver and tape measure, but I became a truly useful adult the day I stocked every single pocket in the house with neatly folded IKEA tape measures.

Everything by Helen James in Dunnes

Is there a woman living in Ireland over the age of 40 who hasn’t bought almost everything, and coveted the rest, from the Considered by Helen James collection in Dunnes Stores? I have a console table, candles, tea towels, an apron, cushions and well, it’s safe to say I have a lot. With shopping seriously restricted I use my weekly trip to the supermarket to peruse Helen’s merchandise with the same dedication I used to devote to an afternoon in the Brown Thomas beauty hall. I catch the eye of my contemporaries lovingly sniffing a rhubarb candle, give a little nod to the mum ignoring her children in the trolley as she lets her fingers gently trail over the waffle dishcloths and smile knowingly at the woman gazing mournfully at a mustard-coloured sink tidy, buy it, sweetie, you deserve it.

35 stripey tops

In the saved items on almost every shopping app I have is at least six striped tops. Boat neck, long sleeve, three-quarter sleeve, crew neck, jersey, cotton and one particularly fetching sweatshirt. I, like all my friends, and almost every woman over 35, already own enough stripey tops to keep me going until the shops open again in 2026. But here we are with more in my basket, an old reliable in a world gone completely bonkers.

Indoor and outdoor slippers

I have had lengthy WhatsApp conversations about Instagram slippers. You’ll be aware of the brands that follow you around the internet, whispering removable sole to you until you relent and buy some. I now own slippers and outdoor slippers that are kept by the door in case I need to, you know, nip outside a little but not enough to warrant shoes. I’m quite worried that after this last year my feet are now just slipper-shaped and I’ll have to hold them like a taco in order to wedge them into real shoes.

Ingredients for a variety of cocktails

Is there anything that makes you feel more like a grown-up than having a properly stocked drinks cabinet? I remember being fascinated by my parent’s ability to rustle up any obscure drink that a guest might request from a press that I thought, like the wardrobe to Narnia, might actually just have direct access to an O’Briens. I have the regulars - vodka, gin (a variety), three kinds of rum, two types of tequila but I also have Cointreau, coffee liqueur, Baileys, kirsch, framboise and bitters. What even are bitters?

Good wine

Being mature enough to keep a couple of bottles of good wine or champagne in the house must be a true marker of being in your 40s. Up until 39 years and 364 days, I’m pretty sure I would have drunk everything that came into my possession with impunity. But now I place wine orders, have regular bottles for normal drinking and a small collection of nicer bottles for big occasions or, as they’re known these days, Fridays - when you get the fancy takeaway as a reward for not crying that week.

Sage/oils/crystals/pilates or yoga subscription

These all should come under the general title of coping mechanisms. I have signed up for a fitness app which I hate but moving my body does help. Friends have got big into moon rituals, people I know are wafting sage all over the house, while others are charging crystals. Fitness, stretching, wellbeing and removing bad energy are all on the permanent ‘to buy’ list for stressed out, tired over-40s and why not? We need to keep going somehow or another, and burning some oils while in downward dog on the living room carpet might just be the answer, until someone invents the worlds most magical weighted blanket.