20 Affordable Items That Make Home Life 10 Times Easier

9. Bowl and Colander Combo

Colanders can be a headache. They take up extra space in the kitchen cabinets that are often too full of other dishes and gadgets. They take up additional room in a dishwasher, if you can even wash them in there (via Delish). Many people prefer to skip the colander altogether and use a large spoon or a plate to strain their pasta or rice. However, either all of the water doesn’t drain out, or some food ends up in the sink. Check out the Bowl and Colander Combo (via Amazon).

This affordable product may not revolutionize your kitchen but will help you dispense with the colander drama. After your food is finished cooking, you can pour it directly into this bowl and drain the water using the colander screen. You can even use this bowl to rinse chopped-up vegetables – throw the veggies in, add the rinse water, and then let it drain out through the colander screen.

8. The Shower Shroom

Odds are, you have a hair catcher in your shower drain. Nevertheless, in all likelihood, you still experience the occasional hair clog. Most hair catchers only get a few hairs here and there. Luckily, the Shower Shroom is guaranteed to catch every single hair (via Amazon). Even animal hairs are no match for the Shower Shroom. You can bathe your four-legged friend in the tub (via Women’s Alphabet).

Not only that, but rest assured your pooch’s shedding habit won’t lead to a visit from the plumber. Every week or so, you can pull the Shower Shroom out. Empty all of the hair that it has collected. Do you struggle with hair clogs in other drains besides just the shower? You can also try the Tub Shroom and the Sink Shroom. And if the standard two-inch Shower Shroom won’t fit your shower’s drain, there is a similar one that will fit most drains.

7. The Massage Cane

Hand-held massagers are great. However, unless you have a partner to help you get the hard-to-reach places in the middle of your back, you may not be able to get much more than your neck and shoulders. Enter the massage cane (via Amazon). This affordable item has an extended neck so that you can reach wherever you want to along your back, even if you’re flying solo.

The ergonomic design is formatted to easily help you remove the aches and pains that may plague your back. This product is perfect for people stuck behind a desk all day and who have stiff backs (via Spine Health). It’s excellent for athletes who have sore muscles after a hard day of training too. This massager does not use batteries or an electrical charge to create vibrations but instead relies on the pressure created by the balls at the tip. You will get comfortable relief from your aches and pains without having to be overwhelmed by overbearing vibrations.

6. The Smart Funnel

That last little bit of body wash, shampoo, dish soap, or even ketchup can often be very stubborn. You may be tempted to think that it is lost and might as well go into the trash. Order the Smart Funnel (via Amazon). This affordable kitchen product has secure latches to fasten the old bottle’s lids and a new bottle in place. The remaining product from the old bottle can slowly drip down into the new bottle without you having to spend an hour or more of your time trying to keep them in place.

The Smart Funnel can hold the two bottles together for hours, even overnight while you sleep. Afterward, you can rinse the Smart Funnel out and put it in the dishwasher to use again. You can reduce waste by using the last bit of ketchup, and the old bottles will be easier to clean so that they can be recycled (via Conserve Energy Future).

5. Hand-Held Groove and Gap Cleaning Tools

Do you have a sliding glass door? The excellent view and light provided by these doors are countered by the need to keep the track clean so the door will slide easily. This hand-held groove and gap cleaning tool will help you easily get the grit and grime out (via Amazon). Plus, it will help you clean out other tight spaces, such as air conditioners and window tracks.

This handy tool is also great for cleaning the track on a shower door and could even get into those hard-to-reach places inside your car. The curved design will give you a good grip while getting the job done and make getting into those tight places easier. The affordable cleaning product comes with a brush and a dustpan to help eliminate the grit that you get out. Follow up with a thin coat of olive oil or isopropyl alcohol to help keep the track sliding easily (via Bob Vila).

4. Garden Gloves With Claws

Gardeners, rejoice. If you enjoy nothing more than digging into the earth but want to save your fingernails, this product may just be what you’ve been waiting for your whole life. Sure, you may generally wear garden gloves. However, juggling garden tools may be a chore. That goes double if your garden is big and you regularly leave tools on the opposite side from where you are.

These gloves have claws on the fingertips so that you can dig with your hands (via Amazon). You don’t have to worry about ruining your fingernails with bugs (via Family Handyman). No more of trying to keep up with your garden tools. Sometimes, everyone needs to dig in the dirt with their hands, and who wouldn’t love having the claw-like fingertips to play with? These gloves would make a perfect gift for the garden-lover in your life – they are the next best thing after knee pads for use in the garden.

3. Hands-Free Air Conditioner

With summers getting hotter, people are finding that they need extra help to stay comfortable. Some turn to portable fans that spritz water for a great cooling effect, but the result is that they end up getting wet. If you prefer to stay dry and need some relief from hot weather, try this portable neck fan that functions as a personal air conditioner (via Amazon).

You can wear this affordable fan around your neck whenever you head outside in the hot weather. The cooling feature helps your neck and head stay nice and cool. If you enjoy serious workouts inside a gym, you may run into the “heat wall” of when your body begins to feel hot despite the gym’s air conditioning (via Johns Hopkins Medicine). This neck fan will help you stay cool no matter how many calories you burn if that’s you. You will be able to keep getting outside and enjoying the sunshine no matter how hot the weather gets.

2. Rechargable Flexible Wand Lighter

Lighters can be both temperamental and dangerous. Who has ever had the experience of getting a lighter to light the candles on a child’s birthday cake? Then you find that the lighter is out of fluid. Or, you consider that a lighter is a huge fire hazard, especially with kids around (via Mass.gov). This handy device solves both problems (via Amazon).

Instead of running on lighter fluid, this wand lighter is rechargeable using a USB cord so that you don’t have to worry about it running out of fluid. Just make sure there is a decent-enough charge whenever you need to use it. Also, this affordable Amazon product uses an electrical pulse to shoot out a plasma arc to whatever needs to be lighted instead of creating a flame. The end result is much safer and much more reliable. No more worrying about accidentally setting the birthday cake on fire; this wand lighter has you covered.

1. Spoon Rest With Lid Holder

Cooking can be messy. That goes double when you have spoons stirring a rich, tomato-based dish and a lid covered in tomato sauce. It often ends up all over the stove. Besides, with the burners turned on, that delicious sauce turns into a burned-on mess. It can be almost impossible to get up (via The Spruce). This handy kitchen item has your traditional spoon rest – a must-have for anyone who uses the stove (via Amazon).

Along with it comes a holder for the lid of the pot. The sauce (or whatever else is stuck on your spoon or pot lid) will drip down onto the stainless-steel surface for easy clean-up because of the design. You can keep the mess contained to this little 3x4x1-inch area. Plus, when you are done cooking, rinse it off and put this affordable kitchen product in the dishwasher. You won’t have to worry about trying to get burned-on food off the stove.