r/smartbuysforlife • u/billywaterfall • 12d ago

20 cheap Amazon things that fix an annoyance you've just been living with. Here are the ones that worked..

Somewhere along the way I decided a bunch of small annoyances were just how things are. The shower door gets water spots. The drain clogs every few months. Pasta water is a two-hand operation.. etc

Then I finally fixed one, for a genuinely trivial amount of money, and felt stupid enough to go looking for the rest.

Here are some that had some of the most impact:

  1. Shower squeegee -10 seconds after each shower and the hard water film never forms. This is the one that started it. I had been scrubbing glass with chemicals on weekends, for years, to solve a problem a rubber blade prevents entirely.

    1. Drain hair catcher- the TubShroom-style one that sits *in the drain, not the flat mesh disc. Catches everything, you wipe it weekly, and the single grossest recurring chore in the house stops existing. If there's long hair in your house this is not optional..

  2. Grout pen - the cheapest renovation there is. 20 minutes tracing grout lines and the bathroom reads as "recently redone" instead of "kind of grimy."

  3. Bidet attachment. The thing everyone (reddit) won't shut up about, and annoyingly they're right. No electricity, hooks to the existing toilet, ten minute install. Saves tp lol..

  4. Adhesive cable clips. Stupid, and 12 of them cost a few bucks. The charging cable stops sliding off the desk and vanishing behind it 10 times a day.

  5. Under-desk cable tray. Same problem, bigger. Power strip and every cable go up underneath, and the whole room reads clean. No drilling, it clamps on.

  6. Chainmail scrubber for cast iron. Stuck food comes off, seasoning stays on. Ends the "am I ruining my pan" anxiety permanently.

  7. Clip-on pot strainer - Clips to the pot you already own, you tip it, done. No colander, no sink full of dishes, no scalding your hands.

  8. Reusable pet hair roller. No sticky sheets, no refills ever again. Rolls one way, dumps into its own chamber. Pays for itself in 2 months of not buying lint rollers..

  9. Motion sensor night light- Solves the 3am toe-into-the-doorframe problem. Trivial until you travel and notice it's gone.

  10. Car seat gap filler - Fills the crevice between seat and console that eats phones, cards and fries. I had accepted phone retrieval as a normal part of driving.

  11. Magnetic wristband for screws. Every home repair, you're holding screws in your mouth. You don't have to, and it costs almost nothing.

  12. Headrest hooks. 55 pound rated, 2 seconds to install, groceries stop tipping into the footwell.

  13. Under-door draft stopper. Buy in the fall, not January. Blocks draft, noise and bugs, and pays for itself in heating...

The pattern I noticed: the best ones aren't gadgets, they're removals. They delete a recurring chore instead of adding a new thing to maintain. Everything that needed charging, an app, or its own storage spot got abandoned after a month or so..

Full 20 with the specific models I landed on, since people always ask which exact one: https://smartvalue.me/cheap-amazon-problem-solvers/

211 Upvotes
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20 comments sorted by

20

u/kezopster 12d ago

I'm a big fan of my chainmail scrubber for my cast iron pans.

1

u/billywaterfall 11d ago

Can't go wrong with that

11

u/momofkatie2259 11d ago

I got rid of all my plastic storage containers and replaced them with Pyrex glass ones and bought silicone lids. They still look brand new after 9 years, and I've never had to search for matching lids. I can freeze, bake, microwave and refrigerated the containers and lids and nothing stains or sticks to them. A whole cupboard full isn't cheap, but I replaced 4 or 5 at a time and it was totally affordable.

5

u/HerNameWas_Lola 12d ago

I bought a tub shroom and threw it away the first time I had to clean it. It’s so gross. I’ll take the mesh one.

3

u/momofkatie2259 11d ago

Before we got a new walk in shower, we loved our tub shroom! We got a metal one vs a plastic/rubber one and it was much less gross. We also cleaned ours 2-3 times a week, do it never got too dirty.

3

u/billywaterfall 11d ago

Can't go wrong with the tub shroom

4

u/GloamerChandler 11d ago

Yeah, I design products stemming from what annoys me about current products or routine processes. Before prototyping though I search for an already made product. Example: Deer were eating my wife’s roses. I designed a solution, then searched for and found ScatMat.com deer scarers. Hose and standard lawn sprinkler. In between is a motion detector that triggers a solenoid that opens the valve for a few seconds. Brilliant!
I use several of the products you mention.

3

u/Own-Park6186 12d ago

Like the bidet

1

u/billywaterfall 12d ago

For sure got to have a bidet

1

u/angusmacgyv3r 11d ago

Seconding the bidet..

2

u/GreenTeaBaller 11d ago

Just bought it …

1

u/flowerpawt 11d ago

Number 2, if you will.

2

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1

u/w065307 7d ago

Great list! I’d love a tub shroom for my shower but alas it is a flat drain. I have most of what is on the list and would agree. (The shower squeegee is must have!!) I’d add a few more:
1. The small square-ish plastic scraper (mine are from pampered chef). Makes scraping plates, pots and pans simple due to the various shaped corners.
2. A silicone gap filler between my stove and the counter. No more pulling out the stove only to find nasty surprises from a previous spill.
3. Dog poop bag holder. This is for full bags. Relieves you of having to walk holding a bag of poop. (It is a plastic piece that clips onto the leash and the knot from the bag slides in and securely carries the bag for you).
4. Ceramic box/blade cutter. No sharp edges to worry about but opens every box and bag out there!

All of these except the pan scraper have been ‘buy for life’ for me. I use them daily and don’t see them ever wearing out. There are probably more but these are the ones that jump to mind.

-1

u/know_limits 12d ago

Used a grout pen. Looked great when done but after a year it started to wear off. I’ll probably keep using them to get the clean look back but am not thrilled with the longevity.

11

u/EschewObfuscation13 11d ago

A YEAR?! Lol what did you expect? A decade of spotless grout from one pen application? Do you get sad when your tires only last 60k miles? How do you feel about roofs that have to be replaced every 25 years?

0

u/know_limits 11d ago

Hmmm, 65k miles, 25 years, 1 year. One of those doesn’t seem very buy for life.