Weird mistakes that you don't realize you're making around the house

Cleaning your dryer's filters after every load is a start, but if you aren’t cleaning out the vents, your dryer is working too hard and all that built-up lint could easily start a fire. This dryer vent cleaner kit makes the job easy. The long vacuum cleaner attachment reaches deep into your vents and sucks out all the trapped lint in seconds. The included brush cleans up the leftovers.

Some toilet stains will not come clean with ordinary cleaning methods. Many people give up and replace the toilet in that scenario. But the solution is so much easier. This pumice stone toilet bowl cleaner gently buffs away hard water stains and mineral deposits, returning your bowl to like-new spiffy clean with very little effort.

The trick to eliminating the fingerprints all over your stainless steel appliances is not to wipe those surfaces more diligently. It is to wipe them with this stainless steel cleaner kit that removes existing fingerprints and leaves a barrier on the surface to prevent more fingerprints from taking hold. “One application a couple of weeks ago and the marks and fingerprints vanished,” said one reviewer. “More impressive is that the fingerprints haven’t returned.”

When it comes to drains, prevention is the best medicine. If you allow a clog to happen, you will spend a fortune getting a plumber to repair it. Or you can drop this drain protector into the drain and let it catch all the hair before it causes a problem. If you clean the hair off occasionally, your drains will always run freely.

A splash of wine on the carpet, a pet accident, or an unexpectedly muddy pair of shoes can do fatal damage to the carpet if you don’t have the tools on hand to deal with that mishap when it happens. Keep this stain and odor eliminator on hand so you can spray that stain STAT. It will prevent staining and eliminate the smell of pet accidents. Nearly 81,000 people give it five stars.

All it takes is one power surge to fry your delicate electronics. So plug them into this surge protecting power strip. It won’t let that surge or interference harm your gear. The six plugs rotate, too, so you can access every plug even when plugging in big power bricks. “Such a great solution to handle a variety of plugs, with and without large blocks,” said one reviewer. “Was able to consolidate two older power strips into one.”

Cleaning the toilet is an odious chore. So make sure you have a tool that gets it right. This toilet bowl brush holder set is designed to reach into the hard-to-access places on your toilet so you get even the undersides clean. The stand hides the business end so you don’t have to look at it.

If your washing machine is dirty — and it will be if it has been washing your dirty clothes — how will it get your laundry clean? You have to wash the washer if you want the laundry to come out as clean as possible. Don’t groan. This isn’t a big chore. It’s easy to do with these washing machine cleaner tablets. Just toss one in and run a load.

Getting locked out of your own home is annoying. It can also be quite dangerous. Be sure that never happens to you by hiding a key where only you can find it. Stash a spare house or car key in this hide-a-key rock. Then hide the rock in your garden. When you lose your keys, at least you will be able to go home.

Once you look up and notice how dusty your ceiling fans are, you will wonder how to reach them and dust them without raining dust on your head. This washable ceiling fan cleaner is the answer. It slides over each blade, trapping the dust in the fluffy fine fibers of the dusting head. The handle extends to over 55 inches so you can reach those blades.

If you are pretending the holes in your screens aren’t there because you don’t want to spend the money to replace them, there is a better way. Those holes will allow all the pests into your safe space, where they will bite and annoy you. This screen repair kit will patch those holes effectively and blend into the screen. All you do is tape it over the holes.

Instead of throwing them away, turn your single-use plastic bags into a handy resource in your home by mounting this bag saver and dispenser to the wall or inside a cupboard. Add used plastic bags to the top opening and pull them out of the front slot when you need a bag. It’s handy, compact, and helps you reuse that plastic.

Discovering that all the fresh produce you purchased has gone bad before you found time to eat it is frustrating. If you add these freshness balls to your produce drawer, it won’t happen as quickly. Each of these two blue plastic apples contains a packet that absorbs the ethylene gas that causes produce to ripen and rot, slowing that process. The pack comes with eight packets to keep your produce fresh all year.

Failing to keep the batteries you need on hand when small appliances — especially that essential smoke alarm — run out of power leads to frustration and unscheduled trips to the store. Get your batteries organized into this tester and storage case so that won’t happen anymore. You can glance at your inventory and test batteries before you store or install them. It holds 93 batteries, mounts to the wall, fits into a drawer, and comes in five colors.

If a water heater or broken pipe unleashes a torrent of water in a hidden area — or when you aren’t home to deal with it — it can cause enormous damage before you even know what’s happening. This water sensor alerts you when there is water where it shouldn’t be. It sends alerts to your phone so you don’t have to be home to hear an alarm. And it tells you where the problem is so you can prevent the damage.

When you are doing home repairs, precision is important. If you guess at a shape or cut a piece of flooring wrong, you will have to look at that for years. This contour shape tool will help you get those difficult measurements correct. Press it into the shape you need and it takes its measure perfectly, allowing you to transfer that to the piece of wood or flooring you plan to cut.

A random assortment of mixing bowls might seem adequate, but have you calculated how much storage space they are eating up? This set of nesting mixing bowls fits into the space of one bowl. Yet it is five bowls, in five sizes, that will take you through any recipe, serve salad, store leftovers, and look good doing it. They are lightweight stainless steel and come in six colors.

That simple act of letting bacon grease pour, hot, down the drain as you clean the pan is causing enormous problems that will eventually require an expensive plumber. That grease turns solid when it cools. Make sure it cools in this bacon grease container, not in your pipes. It has a screen to remove bacon bits and a lid to keep the bacon clean. Use that captured grease to fry eggs, pop popcorn, or get creative. That stuff, when used right, is delicious.

When you put seed out for the birds, the squirrels will steal most of it. Unless you thwart them by putting that seed in this little squirrel-proof bird feeder. Now you can watch birds gather to enjoy a meal instead of getting angry at those rodent marauders. “Entertaining to see the squirrels try their best to get to the seeds the first few days before they gave up,” said one reviewer. “Birds are inhaling the seeds now.”

Pulling knotted and tangled sheets out of the dryer with not-dry items tied up inside of them is annoying. It’s also hard on your sheets. Fortunately, this is all easy to prevent. Attach these wad-free sheet detanglers to the sheets before you run the dryer and your sheets will be ready to fold or deploy when the load is dry. “My sheets came out fluffy and not completely twisted and mangled like normal,” said one reviewer.

Get your sharp knives out of the drawers without giving up counter space by mounting this stainless steel magnet knife holder to the wall. It turns your knives into kitchen-appropriate wall art while putting them within easy reach. You can even wash a knife and stick it right to the holder to dry, which saves time and effort.

Are you sticking a not-that-clean toothbrush into your mouth at the beginning and end of every day? Add this toothbrush sanitizer to your routine so that’s not so. Just put the toothbrush head into the rechargeable case and let the UC-C light kill all the germs. It’s compact enough to take traveling.

Spraying baking pans stops food from sticking but it also requires significant cleanup. These silicone baking mats are much easier. Drop one onto a pan, put your food on top of the mat, and bake. The food won’t stick and the pan will be so clean you can put it away when it cools. The baking mats drop right into the dishwasher and clean up easily.

When you have houseplants, you will have soil gnats. But these indoor fly traps will quickly put an end to that. Stick them into your plants. (Or, if fruit flies are the pest of the day, hang them near the fruit bowl.) They look like cute decorations and grab all those flying bugs and hold them tight on that sticky surface. Replace the traps when they get full and those bugs will stop harassing you.

Why are you always so tempted to rest a drink dangerously on your couch cushions? Because the couch doesn’t come with a cup holder. Fortunately, that’s easy to remedy. Set this pillow on the sofa and use its three stable cup holders to hold everything from your coffee mug to your cocktail glass to the remote.

Putting away clean laundry is annoying enough without clothes slipping off the hangers onto the floor when you turn your back. Enter these velvet hangers. The velvet offers a slightly grippy surface and a notch holds onto thin straps so clothes you put on them stay hung. They are also slender so they don’t take up as much room as thick plastic hangers. This is a box of 50. They come in eight colors.

A couch that sags isn’t comfortable. And every time you sit in it, you will feel the pressure to replace it, starting a financial worry spiral that’s the opposite of relaxation. This couch cushion support will stop the sagging, make your couch more comfortable, and postpone that couch replacement for another year. Pull the cushions off. Install it. Relax.

When the label of your garment says to air dry clothes on a flat surface, that’s the best thing for the garment. But it can mean that your home is taken over by draped clothing. This laundry drying rack lets you dry your delicates while still allowing you access to the dining table. It hangs from a shower rod — or somewhere similar — and holds four items on mesh surfaces, allowing airflow. Then it folds up small for storage.

The best way to keep your home clean is not to spend more time cleaning up after people but to prevent the messes in the first place. Set this dirt trapper door mat at the entryway so that the dirt on people’s shoes won’t make it into your living spaces. It protects your floors from dripping paws, boots, and other wet visitors, too. It comes in 10 sizes and five colors.

If you can’t walk across a room carrying a beverage without leaving a trail of spillage behind you, add this drink carrier to your tool set and fill those drinks to the brim. Whatever beverage you set on it will not spill a drop. You have physics to thank for this magic that works flawlessly every time.

Before you shuck an oyster or attempt a dangerous cutting project with a sharp knife or tool, pull on these cut-resistant work gloves so you don’t end up in the emergency room. They are comfortable to wear and allow you plenty of manual dexterity but they will stop a sharp blade before it removes your flesh.

If you or someone in your home tends to stand in front of the fridge with the door open hoping for inspiration, install this door alarm. It will beep after one minute to remind you to shut the door. And if you wander off and forget to close that door, it will scream loudly so you have to come back and close it. It comes in three colors. “Everyone in the house is getting retrained to not stand there with the door open too long,” said one reviewer.

If people have no option but to set hot or condensation-covered beverages on your fine wood furniture, that’s what they will do. So set this set of simple and elegant silicone coasters in an obvious place. The slender silicone will insulate your furniture from the heat of a hot coffee and create a barrier between the wet glass and your delicate surfaces.

Even when electronics are turned off, many of them continue to draw power. The only way to stop this vampire power drain is to unplug the device or turn off the power strip. This smart power strip makes it so easy to do this that you won’t have to think about it. Connect it to your phone or smart home to automate turning off the power to the three standard outlets in it. The two USB ports will always have power so you can charge your phone.

If wrinkled sheets are the look you are going for in the bedroom, you might think you have no choice but to get out the ironing board and iron. But these microfiber bed sheets won’t wrinkle. Take them out of the dryer, put them on the bed, and leave that wrinkled look behind. Also? They are deliciously soft, affordable, come in 44 colors, and get nearly 230,000 five-star reviews.

If your knives are rattling around in the drawer, they are getting dull and damaged before you even use them. Those sharp blades also pose a significant danger to your digits when you reach into that drawer looking for something else. Put your knives into this bamboo knife block. It sits in a drawer, protects the blades, and holds 16 knives.

Your wooden cutting boards need a little TLC to live a long and beautiful life. Without the occasional drink of this mineral oil, they will fade, crack, and — eventually — split. Pour a little of it on them and rub it in, though, and they will look beautiful and last for years. “Used [it] on my cutting boards and an antique rolling pin,” reported one reviewer. “Wow, did the wood love this oil! Everything looks so nice! Rolling pin has a new life!”

How often do you reach for a cookie or chips and discover your snack has gone stale since you opened the bag? This bag sealer makes it easy to reseal everything from snack packages to cereal bags in a couple of seconds. Press the open bag between the sealer iron and it will return the package to just-like-factory sealed. It comes in six colors.

If your bathroom is small and you want to keep it from getting cluttered, you have to be clever about storage. This wall-mounted towel rack is a smart way to store your towels without eating up cabinet space. It holds six rolled-up towels where they are easy to find and their beauty becomes part of the decor. It can hold wine bottles in the kitchen, too.

Keeping track of the lids to all your travel mugs and thermal tumblers is an annoying modern problem. This lid organizer solves it. When you wash a lid, drop it onto the vertical spike so it can dry. That way, when you are looking for that lid, it is easy to find amid all the lids that are arranged in a tidy stack. “It is so nice to have all your lids in one place!!” said one reviewer. “Love it!!”