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Sep 24, 2023

The 50 cheapest, most clever home improvement products on Amazon

These products will upgrade your home — and stay within your budget. Home

These products will upgrade your home — and stay within your budget.

Home improvement can be an expensive undertaking — at least if you watch those TV shows that do makeovers on people's homes. But in my opinion, those shows are totally unrealistic. Sure, I can walk through a house and say, "If we remove that wall, replace this rug, update the counters and cupboards, and pull out this aging shower stall, we can transform this place into a beautiful open layout." I can't actually do any of that, though, because it's all super expensive, and I don't want to live in a construction zone.

There are things I can do, of course. They just have to be smarter, easier, and able to stay within a realistic (i.e., small) budget. The kind of upgrades I’m currently willing to undertake start with an Amazon purchase and end with a high five and an adult beverage. There are plenty of these. In fact, these are the 50 cheapest, most clever home improvement products on Amazon.

Turn the awkward spaces in your closet into orderly cubbies with this freestanding divided organizer with six sections that are ideal for shoes, bags, hats, and other hard-to-store items. Instead of burying these things in bins where you forget you have them, put them in plain sight and within reach. It's easy to set up and fits on the floor or a shelf. Each cubby is big enough for a pair of shoes or a hat.

Line up all your gadgets, stand them on end, and charge them up at once in this affordable charging station that has six adjustable slots to hold your phones, tablets, power banks, or other electronics. It even comes with six tidy mini cords. It charges your gear quickly and the LED lights for each slot turn off when the gadget in that space is fully charged.

This over-the-door organizer will whip your chaotic shoe collection, pantry, cleaning supplies, or laundry room tools into tidy order in a few minutes. Just hang it over a door and put the shoes — or whatever needs organizing — into the roomy and breathable mesh pockets. You can see everything at once and, since it uses the back of a door, you don't have to give up much space.

Turn your body pillow into a decorative element in your made bed (right?) with this ultra-soft, microfiber body pillow cover that's made to fit it perfectly. It slips on like a standard pillowcase but covers that 54-inch long pillow completely. There's a satin trim at the opening end and you have a choice of eight colors so you can design the look you want.

Get that roll of paper towels off the countertop and onto this simple yet effective paper towel holder. Made of sturdy metal with a shiny chrome finish, it's designed to accommodate rolls of all sizes and look good doing it. Over 3,000 people rate it a perfect five stars and say it has a good weight to it and is an excellent value.

If you have accumulated an impressive water bottle collection, welcome to the club of people who have no idea how to store those in a kitchen that was designed for another era. This water bottle organizer is here to fix that. It allows you to store water bottles lying down to maximize your storage space. Each shelf holds about three bottles — and they’re adjustable to accommodate travel mugs and bottles of various sizes. The feet on the bottom are nonslip to ensure it stays in place.

Set your laptop on this laptop tray with built-in fans to keep it cool, and it just may last longer and run better. Heat is bad for a laptop's components, even when that heat is generated by the laptop's hard-working machinery. This laptop tray has five fans that get that heat away from your machine — and you. You can choose how many fans to run at any time. It also lets you tilt the laptop at a better angle so you can see the screen better and not hunch over.

Go ahead and set your drinks down on these eight silicone coasters without worrying about the furniture. It doesn't matter if the drink is hot or cold, these heat-resistant silicone coasters will protect your furniture from condensation, high temperatures, and splashes. And they are so affordable and easy to clean that you can litter them all over the house so there is always one within reach.

If you have a shower, and you have to step out of that shower onto the floor, you probably want to pick up this luxurious bath mat made with memory foam. It's strong, durable, and thick to treat your feet with cloudlike cushiness, while a nonslip backing keeps it safely in place. It comes in loads of size and color options to perfectly match your space.

Do you need more storage space? Or maybe what you need is for the things you want to store to take up less space? It's simple physics, and these four vacuum storage bags are how you alter how much space items take up. Put your off-season clothes, blankets, coats, and other bulky fabric items into these large bags. Then attach your vacuum cleaner or the included pump to the valve and remove the air. The same stuff now fits in less space — because the air is no longer bulking them up — and is easier to move around but you can still see what it is.

Give your room an artsy vibe while improving the overall comfort simply by laying down this Moroccan area rug that's woven from easy-to-clean, non-shedding fibers. It comes in three colors and eight sizes so you can choose the configuration that best fits your room. And the medium pile won't obstruct doors or make it hard to vacuum.

It is so simple to add safety lighting to your stairs, convenience lighting to cupboards and cabinets, and install a light in a dark closet with this three-pack of motion-triggered puck lights. They sense movement and turn on when you walk down ,the stairs or open a cupboard so they add lighting as you live in your house without any effort from you. They are battery operated so there is no need for wiring. And you can mount them simply by peeling off the backing and sticking them where you want them.

This cable management box is the simple, fast, and easy fix for the messy cables under your desk or TV — or anywhere in your house. Just drop that big power strip into this clean, white box, guide the cords through the slots in the back, and put the lid on. The mess is gone, replaced with a neat white box you can set a lamp or phone on.

Instead of digging through an untamed pile of socks and underwear every day hoping that you will encounter the pair you want — or even a pair that fits — take a few minutes to install this three-piece set of drawer storage cubes and organize that stuff so you can quickly locate the very item you want. There are two small bins for socks and underwear and a large one that's great for tanks or undershirts.

This durable doormat looks nice, and is built to withstand whatever weather happens on your porch. You can use it inside the door or outside. The rubber bottom keeps it from moving and the durable looped mesh of the top looks good and does a great job getting debris off of shoes. It's an ideal mat to put in the laundry room, entryway, porch, garage, or anywhere that people are likely to track in dirt.

Turn the clutter in your house — everything from figurines to rocks to plants — into wall art by mounting these interesting, geometric-shaped floating shelves to the wall and setting your stuff on the rustic wood base. They are easy to install because the mounting hardware is a visible part of the design. And they can make even personal care products in the bathroom or small kitchen tools look like art.

Skip the bulky furniture for standing a big TV and streamline your space by mounting that flat-screen to the wall. This totally affordable full-motion TV wall mount can help. Not only is it a sleek, minimalist, and space-saving solution, but it lets you view the TV from more places. Pull it away from the wall and angle it so you can watch from your desk or another place in the room or keep it tidy and flat against the wall.

When there are cables snaking away from your computer, lights, and entertainment center, the effort you put into the decor gets undermined by clutter. But it doesn't have to look like a mess. The artful use of this cord management system can hide all of that from view. There are several options for cinching cable bundles together and even more solutions for sticking individual wires or cable bundles to the underside or back of furniture where they will be invisible. There are also handy clips that let you keep wires you use frequently at hand.

Amp up your cleaning game with these biodegradable dishcloths that can be used for everything from cleaning your kitchen to washing windows. They feature a diamond pattern that makes them ultra-absorbent and capable of picking up dirt and crumbs and are made of a cellulose/cotton blend that can hold 20 times their weight in liquid.

This is the power strip you want for your work-from-home rig or massive entertainment system. There are 12 standard outlets and four USB plugs to power everything from your computer or TV to your phone. All the plugs are all protected against power surges to protect your gear. And the two outlets on the end have plenty of room around them to accommodate big power bricks.

This easy and effective magnetic screen door can revolutionize your doorways. It installs in minutes with (removable) adhesive strips and thumbtacks — which promise not to damage doorways or leave residue when you want to take it down. The middle seam is lined with powerful magnets so it effectively keeps bugs out while letting fresh air in.

If you share a bed with someone, you probably get up at different times. This dual alarm clock is a helpful addition to your morning routine. Set it for both of your wake-up times and create alarm equity. You can choose a volume for each alarm, and each sleeper can delay the inevitable for nine minutes by hitting the snooze button. There is a USB port for charging your phone, a battery backup in case there is a power outage, and the big display is dimmable.

Add some extra filtration to the air that comes into your home easily and cheaply with this filter fabric you cut to size and attach to your air vents. It comes with hook and loop tape that you also just cut to the size you need. You can attach it to the outside of your air vents or remove the vent and put the filter fabric on the inside. It helps keep out dander, smoke, and other potentially harmful airborne elements, which can help people indoors breathe easier.

If your heat and AC vents are in the wrong place, it can have a huge effect on how warm or cold your house feels. This two-pack of air deflectors for vents will send the air in the direction it will do the most good. If all your heat is up at the ceiling, direct it down into the room. Or if the cold is chilling your ankles and little else, send it up into the room. Just attach them magnetically. They adjust from 10 to 14 inches wide and require no tools to install.

If you have spots in your house where the internet signal is feeble, the solution is so easy. Just plug this Wi-Fi extender into a plug that's inside the signal but near your dead spot and it will grab the Wi-Fi and throw it another 1,200 feet so you can surf anywhere in the house — even the places that had a weak connection. It will look like you just got a whole new network to the devices connecting to it, and you can add up to 20 devices to that network.

If you’ve ever witnessed stray crumbs or an errant leaf of lettuce enter the crevice between the stove and countertop, you know what a pain it is to clean that up. Enter this clever stove gap cover, which prevents that kind of peskiness from happening. It's made of flexible silicone so it conforms to your surface, and is easy to cut to the sie you need.

Your trash can is a tempting home for some pretty gross bugs. To the insect underworld, your trash is their luxury meal. And once flies, roaches, and others move in there is little reason for them to leave, given that you are constantly resupplying. Stick this insect puck to the inside lid of that trash can, though, and you don't have to worry about any of this. It ends the bugs that are in there and stops new tenants from ever moving in with a slow-release vapor. It lasts up to four months.

Toss your mismatched collection of measuring tools and upgrade to this 12-piece set that's made of durable stainless steel and boasts engraved imperial and metric measurements for easy conversions. The set is dishwasher-safe for easy clean-up, and each of the six measuring spoons has an extra-long handle to easily scoop from narrow jars.

Mount this genius jar opener to the underside of a cabinet and you will be able to open whatever jar you have without asking anyone for help. Just push the lid into the triangular opener until it catches on the toothy jaws and turn. You can use both hands so there is no struggle, even with huge jars. "It just takes a quarter turn to loosen jar lids that used to take me several minutes of hot water and effort to open," said one reviewer. "I cannot thank the people at Grip Jar Opener enough for making this incredible change in my enjoyment of life and urge all with poor hand strength to get the Grip Jar Opener!"

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Keeping hair out of the drain is a sometimes icky, always necessary practice. Make the process simple by sticking this clever, hair-catching drain protector in there. It doesn't interfere with water flow, and its unique hair-catching section goes inside the drain so you don't have to look at clumps of wet hair as you wash. Over 83,000 people rated it a perfect five stars.

Chances are, most of us could use a bit more storage in the bathroom. This handy over-cabinet storage organizer is here to put a shelf where there was once empty space, and couldn't be simpler to install — just hang it on the inside or outside of your cabinet door. It provides generous storage for toiletry products or cleaning tools in the bathroom, though is just as handy in the kitchen or office.

No room for a nightstand? Peel and stick this clever bedside shelf next to your bed and keep everything you need right next to you. There are two cubbies that are sized perfectly for a phone, glasses, alarm clock, or remote control. It's easy to mount, is small, and is loved by reviewers who give it almost 6,000 five-star reviews.

Keep off-season clothes, extra linens, or guest towels neatly tucked out of sight in these handy underbed storage bags. They’re strong and compact, made of a lightweight material to treat your clothes and floors nicely. Reinforced handles ensure even stuffed bags are easy to maneuver and clear tops let you see what's inside at a glance.

Cookies and other baked goods will slide right off these silicone baking mats without having to use cooking sprays, butter, or oil. Made of premium silicone, these mats can withstand temps up to 480 degrees Fahrenheit and help distribute heat to ensure even baking. Plus, they’re dishwasher, freezer, and microwave-safe.

For an incredibly easy upgrade, swap out your old soap dispenser for this sleek stainless steel option. It's designed to resist leaks, rust, and fingerprint smudges, and you can choose from silver or matte black colors to match your decor. Best of all, one reviewer notes, "It looks more expensive than it was."

Turn your tub into a sweet escape with this bath pillow that cushions your head, neck, and shoulders for ultimate comfort. The soft, padded pillow stays put with the help of six suction cups on the back and is made of a breathable quilted material that dries quickly after use.

If your broom closet or garage feels a little chaotic, this mop and broom holder is an easy way to get more organized. It has five nonslip, easy-release slots for your cleaning tools, plus five hooks for hanging smaller items — it’ll hold up to 38 pounds total. Plus, everything you need for installation is included.

These refrigerator organizer bins will put an end to that frustrating search for the right condiment or beverage by bringing order to the internal chaos of the fridge. Put all the juice boxes one bin. Line up your massive jelly collection in another. When you want a sandwich or a soda, grab the right bin and choose your flavor. There are eight bins in two sizes.

This high-pressure rainfall shower head is backed by more than 8,000 five-star reviews, and it's so easy to install, too. The sleek chrome finish gives your shower an upscale look, and if you have hard water, the nozzles are designed to resist clogging and a hard water filter is included. "Love the pressure on this thing," wrote one reviewer.

If your kitchen cabinets are disorganized, this pot and pan holder makes it easier to find cookware when you need it. There are 10 adjustable slots to store pans, lids, and plates, and you can use it as one expandable holder or two separate racks. Made of heavy-duty, rustproof iron with nonslip feet, the rack is also designed to stay put.

Reduce clean-up after grilling or frying with this splatter guard that conveniently sits on top of your frying pan to stop up to 99% of grease splatters. The stainless steel mesh guard is 13 inches in diameter to accommodate most pans, plus it's dishwasher safe and can also be used as a strainer or cooling rack.

This BPA-free tub mat is textured to prevent you from slipping in the shower but is still soft enough to keep your feet comfortable while bathing. This mat is also easier to keep clean than most; it features hundreds of draining holes to keep water flowing underneath it to prevent griminess. And if it does get grimy, you can toss this mat in the washing machine without issue.

Upgrade the switches in your home with this genius smart switch. This easy-to-install upgrade will allow you to turn electronics on remotely using the accompanying app, which you can also use to set timers and schedules. When you are home, this switch is compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa for hands-free voice control.

Perfect for storing your favorite teas, juices, and cocktails, this large, 68-ounce glass pitcher is made of thick and durable glass, boasts a stylish square design, and features an airtight twist-and-lock lid. It's both lead and BPA-free, has an ergonomic handle, and is dishwasher-safe for easy cleaning.

Make a big batch of spherical ice with these two round ice cube trays that make this task super simple and easy. Just fill the lower tray, put the upper tray on top, and push it down till water shoots out of the spouts so you know your trays are full. Then stack them in the freezer. The trays are flexible so it's easy to get the cubes out and they make a total of 66 round ice pieces that really slap at parties.

Instead of keeping unsightly packages of toilet paper open in your bathroom, hide your rolls in this minimalist toilet paper organizer. The easy-to-clean plastic container with a lid can hold up to three rolls at a time, making extra rolls easy to access without being out in the open. It's a simple yet stylish solution with over 7,000 five-star reviews on Amazon.

Quickly and easily remove fur from your furniture, carpets, bedding, and more with this pet hair remover tool that one fan writes "is truly like magic." Simply roll the non-sticky roller over the surface you’d like to clean, and it will pick up and trap fur in a chamber that can be easily dumped into the trash when finished.

Keep your brooms, mops, and other cleaning tools organized with the help of this wall-mounted broom holder. It has five spring-loaded clamps to hold tools with long handles, as well as six hooks for smaller objects like dustpans and gloves. Plus, it comes with all of the screws and anchors needed for a secure installation.

Available in every hue from navy to trendy lavender, these blackout curtains are great for bedrooms, living rooms, or any other space where you may want total darkness for some sleep or movie night. In addition to blocking out unwanted light, these curtains also provide much-needed insulation for your windows.

For an easy way to upgrade your outdoor walkway, add these solar pathway lights. They install quickly in the ground, charge in the sun, and turn on automatically after dark. They’re also weather-resistant, so you can leave them out year-round, and each order includes 10 lights.

This article was originally published on June 18, 2022