Small changes that make a big difference

July 15, 2024 4:27 AM

What small changes/hacks/upgrades have made the biggest difference in your home?

Example: I just spent $14 on that felt stuff which goes under carpets to stop them slipping. I’m surprised at how much nicer my home feels now that I can go about my day without constantly adjusting stupid little rugs. It made so much more impact than I thought it would. So, what else can I tweak?

posted by ficbot to Grab Bag (40 answers total)

My apartment has no air conditioning or crossdraft potential, and the building is not well insulated, so all that nice cool air that's available after sunset stays outside while my apartment heats up.

However, I just bought a lightweight but high-powered exhaust fan for 100 euros. I can set it in the frame of the living room terrace door, turn it on, and pull cool air in through the bedroom door to the terrace. (And when I'm not using the fan, I can take it out of the door frame without ado.)

I tried it out for the first time last night and it worked a treat. In fact, I'd rather have this than air conditioning any day of the week.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 4:40 AM on July 15

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posted by HearHere at 4:49 AM on July 15

Glad Press'n Seal plastic wrap works much better than any other kind of wrap I've ever used. It actually sticks to the container or the food item, unlike regular Saran wrap.
posted by alex1965 at 4:53 AM on July 15

Cleaning frequently. Once a week even if you don't think it needs it. It needs it. The whole process goes so much faster than if you wait. Dust. Vacuum. Even clean the fridge. Life is so much better than when I used to wait longer.
posted by jtexman1 at 5:02 AM on July 15

Hooks. Put hooks in places where you can hang things. Entries, closets, kitchens, bathrooms. Behind your bedroom door. Hats, coats, robes, towels, shopping bags, brooms, kitchen tools.

Little shelves for pictures and tchotkes.

Floor lamps and table lamps. Stop using direct overhead lighting except for tasks that need a lot of light.

Green, growing things. Do you have any spider plants? Get some. Mature spider plants require almost no care except watering once a week, don't need much light, and add a frisson of nature to your lived space that is surprisingly pleasant for how small they are.

Seconding cleaning weekly. Toilets, shower stalls, sinks, mirrors, door jambs, fridge, counters, cabinet doors and handles, microwave, vacuum/sweep, damp mop, and look forward to another week of "it may not be tidy, at least it's not dirty."
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:14 AM on July 15

Smart plugs for my lights so I can turn them off/on at my leisure or set them on timers. Working from home too late? You can't, the light shuts off on you! Go to bed and forget to turn out living room light? Fix it from your phone! You're out of the house and it starts to storm or you're unexpectedly out after dark? Turn the lights on for your dogs!
posted by phunniemee at 5:29 AM on July 15

Bidet attachment for your toilet/bidet toilet seat. Pair with a tiny hamper and a bin of cheap washcloths and toilet in luxury every day.
posted by phunniemee at 5:31 AM on July 15

Wireless keyboard with trackpad + HDMI cable so you can hook your computer up to any TV and enjoy effortless browsing from your couch.
posted by phunniemee at 5:32 AM on July 15

Two kitchen things:

1.   A magnetic knife rack. So much better than having the sharp knives loose in a drawer.
2.   Over-cupboard-door storage for flat things (baking trays, spatter guards, chopping boards etc.). This sort of thing.

Little motion-sensitive lights all over the place, so that I never have to find my way in the dark, even when a bulb has failed. I bought about a dozen Auraglow Wireless PIR Motion Sensor Table Lamps (other brands are also available, and look suspiciously identical, in the usual way of these things) and some small floating shelves to put them on.

And I bought an absurd number of black gel ink pens, black and red Sharpies, pairs of scissors, tape measures, and pads of Post-its, which I've scattered liberally around the house so that I never have to go looking for one again.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 5:47 AM on July 15

Agree pens and post it notes scattered in various rooms. Small spray bottle filled with diluted Clorox solution. Spray to wipe down countertops. A small hand vac in a convenient location. Plastic paint buckets from Lowes or Home Depot. They are also smaller in size, like 1/2 gallon and have a handle. I use them for every from cleaning solution to storing various items that used to be in a junk door. I've used a fresh one to mix cookie or pie dough. Scotch tape and nice little notepads...Placemats under the cats food and water. Various batteries stored together.
posted by Czjewel at 6:31 AM on July 15

Put things where you need to use them, even if it means owning duplicates!

A plunger *in* every bathroom. Never again scuttle down the stairs, while holding your pants halfway up.

Paper towels and vinegar+water cleaning spray in bathroom, kitchen, etc.

A little covered trash can in each room.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:41 AM on July 15

More laundry hampers! Everywhere you find laundry on the floor, put a hamper! Bathroom? Yes. Living room? Yes. Kitchen, for rags? Yes, a small plastic basket! Put a hamper there, something cute and covered that matches your decor. The clothes in these random hampers may stay there a bit longer, so be sure to get a hamper that has airflow.

And adults need more than one hamper:
- One for dark / rough clothes like jeans and socks, things that have zippers or that zippers won't damage.
- One for light colours, like T-shirts, so your pale fabrics don't get dingy from being washed with jeans.
- One for silky / delicate clothes, like blouses, if you wear 'em (and put a mesh bag in this one for bras if applicable)
- One for towels and sheets.

4 Ikea Skubb hampers is ideal. Label them on both sides with a sharpie (mine are called Darks, Lights, Silky, and Linens). Each of these hampers is just the right size to hold one load of laundry, they're light for dragging downstairs to the machines, and 4 of them fit perfectly across the bottom of an Ikea Pax wardrobe, without a centimetre of wasted space.

Now you can sort laundry as it comes off your body, and just wash one hamper at a time when it gets full. On the way downstairs with each hamper, take a peek at the other house hampers to see if anything from that category is waiting to be washed.

This system keeps your house way tidier - no more random socks downstairs as they now have a Living Room Hamper to be tossed into. It saves SO MUCH TIME AND STRESS on laundry day! You'll never be overwhelmed sorting a pile again! And you'll never be digging through a huge pile to find the one thing you need, as each hamper is already categorized and holds a manageable amount of stuff. Laundry magic!!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:44 AM on July 15

Keypad locks for all doors! I absolutely LOVE never worrying about where my house keys are. For myself I have the same code for all doors. We use a different code for each family member, and one for the house cleaner (so if there's ever a security breach we can just re-set one person's code without inconveniencing everyone else), and for guests I make a custom code just for them, and delete it after they leave.
(Note, do not use a birth year as your code, too easy for random people to guess - they can estimate your decade of birth from seeing you at a distance which gives them 196x or whatever, and then it's only 10 tries before they get in!)
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:52 AM on July 15

A u-shaped air conditioner - sleeping in a quiet room in the summer is a huge relief compared to the loud groan of a standard AC. For cooling in other seasons, Vornado air circulators have been very satisfying - smaller and better than fans.

Every month or so I order a few lbs of coffee from a local roaster; it gets delivered via USPS the next day. I never have to worry about running out of coffee or putting it on my shopping list (or gambling on grocery store options).

An electric kettle. Just smooths out the morning coffee-making a tiny bit.

An impact driver. You know when a drill doesn't quite do the job? Impact driver. Impact drive!!!
posted by entropone at 7:00 AM on July 15

- If you do any gardening, a bucket tool organizer.
- microwave cover
- Universal knife block
- Power strips with flat plugs and usb ports.
- Remote control caddy screwed into side table

But the number one thing has been this headboard caddy. Remote, kindle, glasses, books, paper, chapstick, beanie, all right where I want them.

Oh wait. The REAL number one thing has been a "dimmer switch on a wire". Plug it in, plug your lamp into it, and then it has a wire that you can run to your headboard or recliner to easily turn on/off the light without twisting around and fumbling for the lamp. I got mine at Ikea but this looks about the same. Seriously life changing.
posted by bluesky78987 at 7:32 AM on July 15

I switched from tall kitchen trash bags which took way too long to fill up to small compostable waste basket size bags that I can take out more often before garbage starts to smell. It sits counter high, on top of the tall kitchen one which eventually gets filled with non-recyclable paper and plastic stuff.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:41 AM on July 15

My husband put motion-activated LED light strips inside our pantry closet. It is really remarkable how much friction it has removed from my life to be able to easily see the contents and never have to worry about a light switch.
posted by juliapangolin at 7:53 AM on July 15

another vote for motion-activated light strips, this time in the kitchen itself. i put two under the kitchen cupboards so they light up the countertops when you're there chopping or doing whatever. i can see! also great at night too when you need a drink or to feed the cats or whatever and don't want to turn the big overhead lights on.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:09 AM on July 15

Fancier people would probably never have this issue in the first place, but I have area rugs in the living room and bedrooms and was always too cheap to buy rug pads--until I had to replace the living room one and decided to spring for the pad. I am astounded at the difference. So cushy and luxurious! You can kneel on it in comfort! Some day I will do the other rooms too.

I also just replaced my roaring old window a/c with one of the U-shaped ones and it's SO much quieter.
posted by HotToddy at 8:25 AM on July 15

Under-cupboard light strips above the kitchen counter. It just feels like a huge improvement in my eyesight. (Basically the same answer I gave to a similar question back in 2022.)
posted by snarfois at 8:28 AM on July 15

If you cook even a moderate amount, I love having lots of spares of: cutting boards (I have 5), paring knives (5), tablespoon sets (2), measuring cup sets (2), bag clips (one set from Ikea has plenty for me). Basically look out for any time you think "oh but I'd have to wash an X first because they're all dirty" or "oh but if I do that I'll be out of X"--if X is dishwasher-safe and small enough that storage isn't an issue, think about getting more.
posted by rivenwanderer at 9:16 AM on July 15

bag clips

You can get a 100 pack of springy clothes pins for less than 5 bucks and you'll never need to think about bag clips again. Also useful for: holding paperwork together, keeping charger cords out of the way, even hanging up clothes. I have clothespins all over the house. Endlessly useful.
posted by phunniemee at 9:26 AM on July 15

If you hang your toilet brush on a nail behind the toilet, you'll never have to clean a disgusting toilet brush holder.

Shout Color Catcher Sheets really work to keep your colors from bleeding onto each other. I once accidentally washed a white towel with dark red pants. The color catcher sheet turned red, and the towel stayed white.

And if you do have a dye bleeding accident, Rit color remover really works too.
posted by FencingGal at 9:38 AM on July 15

This may be too niche but a lot of times I use my laptop on a TV tray table. The basic kind is 19” wide and mine had a raised lip which was annoying. I found one on Amazon that was 28” wide, big enough to also hold a notebook/mousepad/drawing tablet, in a nice, solid dark wood.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:45 AM on July 15

I suspect it may not annoy others, but there are an awful lot of cables in my life. By that I mean all the many charger cables, extension cords, excess slack in lamp cords, and let's not even talk about Christmas or Halloween decorations (when in storage). I use these two relatively inexpensive products available off Amazon: Cable Wraps and Zip ties. Note that the hook & eye cable wraps can be overlapped if necessary to reach around a large bundle of wires, but it's usually easier to use zip ties in that case. FWIW. YMMV.
posted by forthright at 9:53 AM on July 15

I agree about hooks and hanging things. Huge benefits for me -- there are more places to put things, and things are off the floor, with the floor easier to clean.

Have the best thing for the task at hand, including prospective or potential tasks, where you need it.

Closed storage is a big thing for me in a dusty apartment with predictable plaster fails. Strategies for eliminating or reducing visual noise (which is not necessarily clutter) are beneficial. For example, my closet is a passage to the bathroom. It's less visually noisy for me and for guests to have sofa pillow covers over the closet rods to lend a cohesive plain look and protect from dust.
posted by jgirl at 9:58 AM on July 15

+1 for the under cabinet light strips

Those 3M Command Broom grippers (or similar) to keep the brooms and mops from falling over in the closet

Replaced the round door knobs with the lever versions on the doors to the garage, basement etc. Anywhere I tended to be carrying something. It makes opening the door with both hands full so much easier.
posted by SegFaultCoreDump at 10:05 AM on July 15

Since it has come up, I think the superior bag closing device is not the bag clip (especially not those weird Ikea ones), nor the clothes pin (too bulky, adds height), but the humble binder clip. Keep a bunch of them handy in the kitchen.
posted by ssg at 10:43 AM on July 15

Speaking of IKEA, this small, shallow plastic cart VESKEN was quite the perfect thing for our laundry / pantry closet. It's so shallow it doesn't seem to take up much room, but it turned a pile of loose whatever into a a much tidier setup.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:08 AM on July 15

WiFi thermostat.

You don't need all the extra bells and whistles, and you may not even use the setback features to save energy (although that's a good thing). But being able to change the house temperature and control the circulation fan from bed? That's worth it.

I like the Ecobee models, the Lite unit is $149 and you can install it yourself.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:25 PM on July 15

A "parcel management station", with waste/recycling bins, a box cutter, and whatever you use to pack things up into parcels if that's something you do. All incoming parcels go to this station for opening, and the packing materials never get any further into the house.

This may be blindingly obvious to everyone else, but if you have multiple doors to your house then you don't have to keep all the shoes in the One True Shoe Storage by the main door. Find somewhere to put some crocs on a mud proof surface next to whatever door you only use to go in the garden/put out the bins/etc.
posted by quacks like a duck at 12:53 PM on July 15

This was an expensive upgrade, but I just got a cordless vacuum after consulting with people here, who advised me that it would change my life. It really is great, makes vacuuming my wood floors so much less unpleasant, and now my floors are cleaner, and while housecleaning is really not my strong suit, there is something about well kept floors that is nicer than I might have thought.
posted by swheatie at 12:54 PM on July 15

I thought of another one. Sprinkler controller that has an app for your phone. A little more expensive, but if you live in LA you can get one free. :)
posted by bluesky78987 at 4:16 PM on July 15

I swapped the toilet brush & holder for a Clorox Toilet Wand (and disposable refills). My BFF told me about it when I was grousing about how much I dreaded cleaning the bathroom.

If, by any chance, you are short and have trouble trying to balance on the tub's edge to remove the shower curtain and liner, I strongly recommend double-sided shower-curtain hooks. They kind of look like question marks with a double-side bottom portion. I'm short, and trying to get the shower curtain off to wash it meant that I used to have to remove the liner too, even if it was fairly new. With this style, you can remove one, or the other, or both, as you see fit.

If you don't LOVE your shower head, replace it. My apartment complex came through on election day 2016 and replaced all the shower heads with wimpy ones that made the already miserable days post-election even more miserable. I bought a powerful shower head and at least my mornings were better. Right now, I'm looking at getting a shower head/wand to make it easier to clean the tub/shower, so I don't have recommendations. But a powerful shower can vastly improve the day.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 6:19 PM on July 15

Oh! 6 foot long phone chargers. All over! Living room, desk, bedroom, kitchen, car, purse, and a spare to grab for trips.
You can even get them in nice colours now so nobody will "accidentally" steal them!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:41 PM on July 15

Very specific, but I have an exterior door that didn’t stay in the open position. Two small neodymium magnets later (handle + wall), it does. Very useful for ventilation, while unloading a car, etc.
posted by breakfast burrito at 1:27 AM on July 16

Unless you have a problem with it aesthetically, a magnetic whiteboard and/or magnetic calendar on the refrigerator can be useful
posted by TimHare at 8:33 PM on July 16

We put a vertical organizer -- think of a flat board with many pairs of upright pegs, in between which you might put plates or files or other thin things -- in the kitchen. It's next to an outlet and it's over a drawer, so anyone in the family can grab a charger out of the drawer, plug in their device, and charge it up. The vertical pegs means that several phones and tablets can be charging at once.

This cuts down on leaving the house with an empty battery, it simplifies life because you always know where the charger is, and it encourages people to leave their phone downstairs at bedtime.
posted by wenestvedt at 2:49 PM on July 17

You can get power strips with USB charge ports now. And wall outlets.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:53 AM on July 18

as a short person who is only comfortable using the first shelf of my upper kitchen cabinets, i greatly increased pantry space with a one-foot-wide bookshelf on one side of the fridge and magnetic shelves attached to the other side.

i put the microwave on a couple of old wooden speaker stands and now i have usable counter space below it.

i got a big flat jewelry display tray to put on my bedside table and now i can't knock things off it anymore, and it's protectively soft if i put my phone face-down on it.
posted by Clowder of bats at 12:04 PM on August 7