When you’ve settled into your home and taken care of the necessities of daily living, it’s time to take it to the next step. Your survival mode is over, and now you can concentrate on adjusting everything to make it more comfortable.
After you’ve been going through the ropes of your day-to-day routine, you know what works and what could use some tweaking. By bringing in some little tools here and there, life can be easier and more enjoyable.
It doesn’t mean you’re spoiled to have the finer things in your home. It means you know where to work smarter and not harder.
These five handy tools will make every room in your house a little bit homier, so you can relax and enjoy the fruits of your hard work!
1. Grocery Bag Dispenser
What do you do with all the plastic bags that pile up from your grocery trips?
You could recycle them at the store, or, if you’re like most people, you repurpose them into trash bags.
They come in handy in every room of the house. (And if you live in a state where you have to pay for the privilege of using them, you want them to be worth it!)
The problem is where to store them in the meantime. Effortlessly, solve that issue with a mounted grocery bag dispenser.
With this handy little tool, you can mount the storage container to your wall or hide it away inside your cabinet. Then, after every grocery trip, store your bags in the dispenser until you need one.
It reduces clutter, helps reduce waste in the environment, and is easy to use in one small gadget!
2. The Right Floor Cleaner
Cleaning the floors can be drudgery. It’s a chore that we don’t usually look forward to, especially when we don’t have efficient cleaning tools.
The right floor cleaner for your lifestyle and floor type can make all the difference. Lugging a bulky vacuum cleaner around the room is tiring. Swapping out tricky parts to get the attachment you need for the job can be a pain.
You don’t need expensive cleaners with hundreds of attachments you don’t know how to use. Instead, use one of these cleaners for your floor type:
Carpets have different thicknesses and material types. You need a vacuum that is lightweight but heavy-duty enough to dig into the fibers and pull out the dirt. The Shark Rocket by Shark fits the bill perfectly.
This eight-pound vacuum looks less than intimidating, but it’s easily convertible to fit any space. It’s easy to control, bagless and has different power options for carpet and hardwood floors.
Ready for the most accessible tool you’ve ever used to clean your tile, ceramic, or hardwood floor? Check out the Swiffer WetJet Starter Kit.
It’s an all-in-one system that acts like a mop but uses different cleaning heads to trap the grime on your floor. You insert the cleaner of your choice and then mop as usual.
The frame is lightweight, and the head swivels to pick up everything in its path. Afterward, you toss the mopping pad and replace it the next time you clean.
This tiny adjustment to your cleaning routine can make a huge difference in how you approach the chore.
3. A Plant for Every Room
The health benefits of indoor plants are incredible. They’re powerful mood boosters and air purifiers. They’re also therapeutic, giving you a peaceful task as you tend to them.
But some people still think it’s too much work to take care of greenery with a black thumb.
If you want to take advantage of the benefits of plants but don’t want a lot of work, look into these easy to care for indoor plants:
- Fig tree – Buy this tree already planted, and you barely have to lift a finger to tend to it. A fully grown plant averages around six to ten feet high, making a statement in any room.
- Bird of Paradise – As long as you place this flowering plant in an area where it gets plenty of sunlight, it will flourish. A little bit of occasional watering nets you the reward of seeing this beautiful tree in full bloom.
- Croton plant – If you’re looking for something small and colorful, but still easy to care for, this is the plant for you. They’re low maintenance, difficult to kill, and only about three feet tall.
If you’re interested in the health benefits of a plant in your home, try one at a time. Add “water plant” to your calendar once a week and let Siri or Alexa remind you when to tend to the plant if you’re worried about forgetting!
4. A Humidifier
Even with a plant, allergies still run rampant, particularly during certain seasons of the year.
If you suffer from dry skin or chapped lips, dryness of the nose, or other conditions, a humidifier could help make you more comfortable.
Humidifiers add natural moisture into the air, which then absorbs into your skin. They can increase the symptoms of respiratory problems, so check with your doctor before you use them if you have any chronic conditions.
5. Ergonomic Office Furniture
The past decade has brought extensive research to light about the effects of sitting at your desk for too long. With so many people using computers daily — health problems have skyrocketed.
Enter the new scene of ergonomic furniture. This is furniture that supports your spine’s natural curve and healthy muscle angling.
Manufacturers have outdone themselves trying to compete in this industry. That means now you can find ergonomic furnishings like:
- Office chairs
- Adjustable desks
- Keyboards for your preference
- Mice
- Monitor stands
If it involves using your spine, muscles, and joints, you’ll be extra comfortable with an ergonomically correct accessory.
Conclusion
Once you reach a point in your life where your everyday routine runs smoothly, you can move on to improving the style of comfort.
With these tools, your home will run more efficiently, adding time for relaxation into every day!
(Editor Note)
Aaron Hunt is the Property Manager of Prime Place UNL, a student apartment complex near UNL.