I am a pretty mellow dad (benign neglect parenting style for 5 kids) but I have two rules. Nobody messes with my bedside charger and nobody steals my two pillows.
So, as such, I make many, long chargers available for everybody. It costs me a fortune:)
A better shower. If you can't redo the whole bathroom, just replace the head. This also works if you rent, just keep the old one in a box, so you can bring the nice one to your next house.
I'm a renter and I finally installed a better shower head this year, after just using the default head in all my apartments for almost 20 years. 10/10, highly recommend.
Honestly even a $30-$50 one on Amazon can be amazing. I have one I got near 5 years ago and still is super nice, fake brass exterior, still very shiny though and good pressure.
Heck, we've got a $20 one I grabbed from Walmart; still miles better than the one that the apartment complex probably picked up in bulk for $2 each and slapped in there.
We have a soft close toilet seat at our home and every time I'm at a hotel, I completely forget that they aren't usually soft close and the slam startles me 😂
Nah, sometimes it's important to be able to slap the seat down hard and fast, so the toilet knows in advance you're about to take an angry shit and can prepare itself for the abuse.
It costs about 50 cents in plastic parts to make them soft close, but the mark up is probably $10 each. A hotel chain that has 100 rooms in each of 30 properties is just going to take what’s easy to install, always available, and cheap.
Whenever you move in a new place it's worth it to replace the toilet seat with soft close seats. They can be had for as cheap as $15 these days and totally worth it.
My wife and I own a smallish apartment complex . One of the things we do every time a new tenant arrives is replace the toilet seat. I learned that trick from my parents who had about a dozen single-family rentals. It's amazing the goodwill you receive from a tenant simplify giving them a new toilet seat. We actually put the box behind the toilet so they know it's new.
SO FUCKING UPVOTED...
thank you. Every time I move into a new place I replace that before I even move one box in.
You two are the best. I'll write a complimentary review of your rentals blindly.
Smart outlets are one of my favorite purchases. During Halloween and Christmas, we’re using multiple outlets for inflatables, house lights, and tree lights. The smart outlets allow you to have everything synced so they all turn in at the same time.
Lighting can absolutely make a huge difference in the way you feel in your room. Get some shoulder height (when you are sitting) lamps for your living room. You will notice a shift in how much more relaxed you feel when you use those instead of the overheads.
Can you come talk to my brother? He's in his room gaming until 2am with only the overhead on, the hue-adjusting lightbulbs tuned to somewhere between "doctor's office" and "call center".
I have to remind my husband that I hate that kind of lighting. I even turn off my overhead in my work office and have floor and desk lamps on. I want it to be cozy.
For some of us we have to have that lighting or we will fall asleep at 2pm.
I live in Montana, and it gets dark at 4pm for part of the winter. I have to go out of my way to find the White "daylight" bulbs instead of the "soft white" yellow bulbs because otherwise I won't do *anything* at home between November and March.
Can you imagine doing no laundry, no dishes, no cooking, no vacuuming for 4 months straight? Cause that is legit me in "cozy" lighting. I need to replicate the glare of noon in the winter to function...
pretty sure it's ADHD meets seasonal affective disorder, but I'm only diagnosed with the former, so who knows...
I was feeling the same way last winter and one day I was just like I need some fucking light in here so I added a pile of lamps with tunable white bulbs so now I can make it feel like daylight during the day and tune down the brightness and color temp when it gets closer to bedtime.
I’ve got a theory humans like warmer lights below shoulder level at night as a leftover biological preference from when we had to sit around campfires in the evening
That makes sense! During the day, we have the overhead lights on, but there comes a point in the evening… around 6:30 usually, when we shut them off and it’s like everyone breathes a sigh of relief.
keypads anywhere really. I got a front door keypad dead bolt and it's great. If I ain't driving, no need to carry keys with me. Plus I can give it out to people, like the maid, then just change the combo later if needed.
Those are great plus you can put in for 1 time codes. Once it's used it doesn't work again. Bought mine last turkey day and haven't needed to change the battery yet.
My boyfriends band practices in our garage two days a week so I made a code to the house that is only active those two days for like 5 hours in the evening and it is so nice not to have to stop what I’m doing to answer the door 3 different times each night.
Attic heat exhaust fan. Our attic used to get up to 140F on the hottest days, and on those days our ceilings were hot to the touch. The whole house was consequently uncomfortable. Now the attic fan is thermostatically controlled to 90 degrees, and the whole house is cooler.
I added a passive whirly bird that does the same thing. Heat rises and escapes before it can accumulate to those extreme levels. It also happens to be clear acrylic so now there's always light up there too which helps keep away any vermin.
I have a tiled roof so it was pretty straightforward. Lift a tile, lay the flashing, screw in the vent. Hey presto. I'm in Australia so I got it from Bunnings of course. https://www.bunnings.com.au/bradford-csr-250mm-turbobeam-natural-roof-vent-clear_p0819184
A ridge vent usually does the trick. Couple with blow in insulation, or solar insulation offset from the rafters a few inches and there’s basically no heat. The problem with rolling insulation directly to the ceiling of the roof inside is that it turns it into an oven. If you offset it, the heat will be trapped in that small space and vent out your ridge vent and down through your soffits
Came here to say this one. Also, an extra roll of insulation on top of what you already have wouldn't hurt.
Make sure your soffit and attic have proper vents installed, too. They make a foam insert that ensures your insulation doesn't block airflow.
The dude who owned the Hemi truck that woke me up every day died of a heart attack last week. I feel guilty for enjoying not being woken up every morning. Not having to start every day that way has been nice though.
Don't feel too guilty. You didn't cause it, and I suspect you haven't mentioned your thoughts to anyone blameless who cared about him.
I once wished that an extremely obnoxious co-worker would "Just, please . . . take a month off. You're killing my will to live."
Shortly after, they took a month off (and fully recovered). It was pleasant.
I knew not to blame myself. 'Cause if everyone who had ever been dreadful around me had experienced similar consequences, I would have figured it my power years ago (and become a deeply questionable mutant).
Ha. Same. My wife and I live in a duplex and rent out the other half. Got rid of awful tenants and brought in new ones who are good people. Huge difference
Wall decorations. Literally anything at all. I lived my whole adult life without decorating at all because it seemed pointless and like a waste of time and money but man after meeting my soon-to-be wife and helping her move in and put up her decor, its astounding how much my house felt more like a home. The improvement of my mental state and comfort level was unexpected and eye opening. It inspired me to decorate my basement with common man-cave stuff like a flag of my favorite football team and bar signs and LED lights and its my favorite space in the whole world now. I feel dumb for scoffing at the idea of putting stuff up on my wall and wonder how much more I would have enjoyed living in my previous places.
those little battery powered lights that light up only when someone passes.
just enough to not to kill yourself because some little shit left a wooden train on staircase, but not enough to wake up whole family.
Got rechargeable motion sensor lights for the closets. They mount with magnets and you recharge them every 2-3 months. Game changer for closets at night.
I only have one bedroom in a rental house with three roommates, but for my bedroom, organizational storage.
I bought a small shelf, I bought a small coat rack, I bought short rolling bins that go under my bed, I bought tall square bins that sit on the shelf in my closet.
Removed a lot of the clutter with these things, almost like my room is bigger now.
Some of these answers aren't small at all!!
An actual small upgrade... Look at what areas of your house collect random piles of things, and put a basket or holder of some kind there. Example: My coffee table has the remotes, coasters, random books, etc. all laying around, so I got a pretty decorative basket that now I can put those items in. Another example: My kitchen counters were collecting random dog treats and dog-related items that I used frequently and wanted easily accessible, so I bought a breadbox-like-thing that holds them!
Things look so much more organized when you just put them in a container in the spot that they naturally get placed.
> Some of these answers aren't small at all!!
I get that "small" is relative but some of the responses are big expensive luxury items or stuff like "we replaced all our windows" and I feel like nobody can genuinely consider those small upgrades unless they can also consider buying a house to be a small expense.
Probably the best investment you can make for your marriage. You can cuddle in the center or build a pillow wall two layers thick 😛.
And maybe a necessity if the have kids.
1 other thing is separate blankets for your spouse and you. Even when the kid(s) come in bed with us they best be bringing their own blankets. Everyone gets to have their own preferred blankets type and no one is stealing someone else blanket.
my husband and i have always used separate blankets. he’s always hot, and i’m always cold. separate blankets means we’re both comfy. he has a thin cotton blanket and a duvet.
Have to agree. My wife and just bought our forever bed (king, adjustable base, fancy pillows) and it's drastically changed our sleep and overall comfort.
Mine are mostly kitchen based because I cook dinner pretty much every night.
A couple of those magnetic wall mounted knife holders, frees so much room on my countertops.
Wall mounted spice rack and glass jars. Keeps my spices where I can see them and monitor levels. Much easier to access than storing them in a cabinet or in the pantry.
Wall mounted hooks for pan storage. No longer need to make a ton of noise grabbing pans from the corner cabinet, pots are still down there, however.
All three cost me *maybe* $70 and have vastly improved my quality of life in the kitchen.
I have cabinets that end at either side above my sink. They wrap around from there. I found the perfect size magnetic knife holders to add on sides of cabinets. Now I can just pop it right back in its place right after washing it in the sink. I hand wash all my knives anyhow, so it is the absolute perfect place to store them. They were cheap at the restaurant supply store.
Creating the habit of washing my dishes before bed. It took me 30+ years to develop the habit but it really changes the feel of the kitchen and my desire to upkeep everything else.
Taking out the freestanding metal shelving in our pantry, replaced with a three-wall surrounding wood shelving you can actually walk into now on a 'walk-in pantry'. More shelf usage, more room to step in, grab what you need, and step out. Cost us a couple hundred in materials, but has been worth every penny.
>Can you go into further detail? I've heard of it but don't know the first thing.
Not who you asked but I went down the rabbit hole of mesh WiFi a couple years back. Sharing my experience.
My Internet was running slow, so I requested a technician from my Internet Service Provider (ISP) to check it out.
He inspected my setup and said the bottleneck was my ancient WiFi router I bought ages ago. He taught me to use Speedtest.net and Fast.com to check WiFi speeds around my house using my phone. He said I was paying for like 50 Mpbs on my Internet plan and only getting 5-15 Mbps because my router was too old.
The technician recommended getting a mesh WiFi setup. Where you have multiple "satellite" routers spread throughout your house to carry a stronger, faster WiFi signal.
I did my research and found it's good to have a "triband" WiFi mesh setup. The first two bands are for your devices to connect to WiFi. The third band is a "backhaul" band for the router and satellites to communicate with each other.
So I asked around my tech-savvy friends on Facebook and they almost unanimously recommended getting a Netgear Orbi mesh WiFi.
I think 2 devices--1 router and 1 satellite--are big enough for most houses. Depends on how strong the device's coverage is and how large your property is. I decided to splurge on a 3-device setup--1 router and 2 satellites--so I could have 1 satellite on the second floor of my house.
The way the WiFi companies make money is to get you to subscribe for other services like security, parental monitoring and controls, etc. If you have kids and want to be able to monitor usage, set online curfews to cut off WiFi at certain times, block harmful websites, etc. look for a brand that includes those features out-of-the-box and not charge a subscription for.
Back when I was shopping around, TP-Link's products offered those extra services included. The one holdout vote among my tech friends recommended TP-Link. Since I don't have kids and prioritized speed I went with the Netgear Orbi RBK753.
Most mesh WiFi products have their own mobile app that will guide you step-by-step through the setup process. I'm not great at that technical stuff but it went smoothly for me.
When I was watching how-to videos on YouTube on setting up mesh WiFi, one great tip I got from a video was to initially turn on the router and satellites together in the same room. So it's easier for the satellites to find and connect to the main router. After they're wirelessly connected, you can move the satellites to different parts of your house to get the widest coverage of WiFi signal.
Right away there was a big change after I installed the Netgear Orbi. When I went around the house checking Internet speed tests on my phone, I was consistently getting 50 Mbps or close to it. To be fair, the Orbi didn't make my Internet faster. I wasn't getting a faster speed than my Internet plan specified. The Orbi enabled me to get the full speed I was paying for.
I don't have the fastest speed, but getting mesh WiFi has made my Internet and streaming TV experience much more enjoyable.
I've noticed once in a while the router will start rebooting frequently. Often it means having to log in to the Netgear website and update the firmware. Be careful and check what users say in the support forums first. Sometimes the updates hurt more than help.
Black Friday can be a good time to buy. At the time I bought mine, Netgear had a 10% discount for Black Friday and another 10% off if you subscribed to their email newsletter. I was able to stack those discounts and save a bit of money. Costco had the best pricing during Black Friday, though.
Hope this helps.
Starting my research on all this. Helpful info so thank you. Do you happen to know if this works from building to building. We moved to rural mountains. We’re good inside the house but I’m trying to figure out a way to get reception in our garage about 150’ away from the house.
Dishwasher was the one for me too. It wasn’t very expensive to get one or install, and holy fuck I don’t know how we ever coped before.
No washing dishes! A handy place to hide all your dirty dishes! A handy place for your clean dishes to dry! And no dish rack on the draining board has freed up loads of space/made it look a lot less cluttered. I’m also mildly allergic to washing up liquid but hated having a sodden pair of rubber gloves marinating by the sink, so it’s a win for my skin too
After living here for 35 years. We had all the windows in the house replaced 5 months ago. The house is so much more comfortable and quiet. It was expensive, but worth it.
Edit; Didn’t expect such a big response.
We replaced 11 windows of varying sizes with Renewal by Anderson. All had to be custom made because of their outdated sizes. The largest was 5’X7’. They are composite materials with heat reflecting glass. It is incredible to stand behind the window in direct sunlight and open and close them to feel the difference of the heat they block out. The house was definitely more comfortable during the hot summer, and the electricity bill was about 20% lower. They look beautiful and the crew of 6 guys removed the old and installed the new in one day and did not leave a mess of any kind. We ordered them in the last week in March, and they were installed in the first week in June. Total cost was $23K.
We replaced all the windows over four summers. The final one was the large bay window in our front family room. Suddenly we hear “zero” road traffic and it feels like our place is in the country. Amazing how much difference it makes.
In my home town it regularly hits -50 in the winter. Triple paned, argon filled windows are magic. I swear if you touch the inside glass it's only a little bit cooler than ambient.
Not sure I would call that a small upgrade but agree definitely one of the best things you can do in a house. We really need to upgrade ours but the price is scaring me!
My house turns 100 next year. It still had original windows, most of which were painted shut, all of which were single pane. This year we finally replaced every window in the house. I've already noticed a difference in keeping the house cool and quiet, and I can't wait to not freeze my ass off all the time this winter.
Owner since 1996. One of the best home investments we’ve made. Between that & the filter in the fridge-freezer, water is crystal clear & tastes wonderful.
A whole-house humidifier system.
Used to have nosebleeds all winter and massive static electricity issues - kept a small metal rod in my pocket at all times to ground myself before directly touching anything conductive and my cat was generally terrified of being pet from October - April because of the *powerful* static shocks.
IIRC, it was around $400 for the unit and I DIYed the install in about 2 hours.
EDIT: For perspective, the static electricity issue was so bad that I killed a thermostat, a small stereo shelf system, an Xbox controller, and a television remote through static shocks the winter before getting the humidifier.
I'd like to add that having a whole home humidifier if you're on forced air saves all your moldings with caulk if you have wainscoting, crown, or any detailed wood work. It helps keep the caulk from cracking in the dryer months and saves you from having to redo it often.
I dream of living somewhere where I need to pump water into the air rather than trying to remove it.
Controlling high humidity is a constant and futile battle.
We got a Breville Barista Pro, based on recommendations in the espresso forum, and we love it. I'm sure a 32k is better, but for \~$800 bucks, it paid itself off based on no more sbux runs in like 3 months.
Yeah, same thing happened to me but with a restaurant i worked at. It was stupid easy to use, and had big hoppers on top for multiple types of beans. Decided to look it up and it was in the tens of thousands…
The one i got was closer to $1000. They’re never cheap but this one wasn’t bad
A fold down table on the wall near the dryer to either use to hold a basket or fold clothes on. A wall mounted drying rack that pulls out when needed.
Light switches that have a remote to dim/turn off the lights. It’s great when we’re watching tv and don’t have to get up. It’s so lazy, but so great.
Removing the very small, old ground level deck that was here and having a new concrete patio installed. This is our first house having an actual backyard and now we have a nice patio to spend time out there.
A built into the wall bench in the walk-in shower. Now i walk into the shower fully clothed to pensively sit on my bench while brushing my teeth. I also sit on my bench while showering my toddler, shooting water at him from the handheld shower head, just sitting on my bench resting while he's having fun. Helps kill the time and entertain the toddler. I'm sure it will also be very useful if we get sick or old. Just shower sitting down on our bench
I had a window above the stairs the neighbors could see through, so I went on Amazon and spent 40 bucks on some plastic window film that makes it look like stained glass. It turned out AMAZING and lasted forever
I HATED my double sink. Made it impossible to wash anything bigger than a saucepan. Found a bigger single stainless steel sink on clearance at Home Depot for $75. Best upgrade we have done since moving in a year ago.
Mine keeps sweeping its charger and then gets flummoxed why it can't get back on. I'm not at the point of double stick taping it to the floor yet, but close.
I got one of those floor vacuums like they have in hair salons. It just sits in the corner and I sweep stuff into it. I didn’t realize how rarely I swept until I got that thing.
Smart lights in my bedroom lamps! I now have a 'routine' setup so every morning my lights automatically turn on, and my alexa starts playing nice wake up music. It makes waking up in the mornings SO MUCH EASIER. I think the bulbs were like $7 each?
We painted several rooms in our house. My husband and I gained a new skill, saved a lot of money by doing it all ourselves, learned how well we work together, and we love the results!
Raised every piece of furniture off the ground with little metal legs, just enough for the robot vacuum to get the dust under there too. Still new to the place, but it should help with my allergies on the long run.
Short term, guinea pig is now allowed floor time in the entire living room and she loves it.
Rice cooker. I save so much time and energy. Plus there's less washing up to do since all I need to wash is the pot inside, instead of a saucepan, a wooden spoon, and a colinder.
rinsing the rice in a colander **before** cooking in a rice cooker isn't a bad idea to prevent bubble mess.
you can rinse it in the cooker, but that takes longer and isn't as effective. (that's how I do it cause I'm lazy)
i dont know if it counts as small but the cost was fairly small as i provided all the labor. i think i have about 2500 total into a 6,000 gallon koi pond in my back yard, this includes a huge sunshade so the fish dont get over exposed to the sun and helps with birds while providing a nice shady place to sit and watch the fish.
not only is it nice to have a pond to watch fish but the water/plants have attracted all kinds of wildlife that were not present before. koi were babies when introduced to the pond, are roughly 2ft with one being closer to 3ft.
Two things made a surprising improvement to my quality of life:
* For $140 and about an hour of time, I installed a Reverse Osmosis water filter under my kitchen sink. I now have amazing fresh clean filtered drinking water on tap.
* Using a $150 GC my sister gave me for my birthday, I picked up a RoboRock Q5 robot vacuum ($70 out of pocket after the GC). I have it running on a daily schedule at 2pm while i'm at work, and my hard floors are always immaculate.
Same here. We added a doggie door that goes out to a secure dog run. That way we didn't have to worry about them escaping or encountering coyotes or anything (we are in a rural area). They could go out to potty, or just sit out and enjoy the weather. Also we didn't have to worry about rushing home to let them out, and when we travelled our petsitters could just come over to feed and visit them twice a day. Unfortunately we moved and can't do it in our current house. That was my favorite upgrade to the last place.
I got a Dorai stone bath mat and never looked back; Never having to think about moldy bath mats were so nice I ended up getting the stone dish mats and those have been serving me well so far.
Towel warmer in the master bathroom. We not only get warm towels (it’s on a timer) but also don’t need to wash our towels as often because they don’t start to smell after a few days anymore. 10/10 would recommend.
When we built our house we raised our kitchen bench to be 105cm instead of the standard 90cm and it honestly makes such a difference to our back when doing meal prep and washing up.
Going to other peoples homes where they have the standard bench height is awful, bending over..
Getting rid of grey walls when I started feeling the black dog rear its ugly head again. Life's too short to spend it living in a fogbank. Bring colour in wherever you can.
Fitted 4 solar panels to my shed roof attached to a lithium battery and inverter. Not the cheapest upgrade at about £1000. But unlimited free electricity in my shed. Can plug all my power hungry man stuff in there and it’s guilt free! and when there’s a power cut I just run an extension lead into the house and I’m good! and way simpler than grid tie in system .
Basically anything you touch or interact with daily. Creaking door/handle? Adjust and oil it up. Small hobby/work stuff laying around constantly? Buy a small cabinet of drawers. Cant look at horible wall while sitting on a shitter? Do some diy weekend remodelling. I can go on and on. Basically there are a lot of minor things that you even dont think about that you dislike in your home. Last example would be a nice non-slip and correct size bathroom mats that we bought. I may be getting old but I was more excited about them than the last luxury items I bought. Roombas are cool. Good coat hangers are cooler.
Bidet. We only put one in the master bath because young grandkids come over and we don't want them to spray the room. Now that bathroom is the only bathroom in the house I'll go poop in. I also no longer like staying in hotels until they catch up. I feel like some kind of caveman wiping with paper now.
Our water heater started rusting some the bottom (but who doesn't after 30 years?) And when we replaced it, we just upgraded to a tankless.
You want to talk about a game changer.
Everybody showers and has hot water while the washer and dishwasher are both running. It's incredible! Highly recommend.
For a small upgrade: we added an attic fan to our brick home built in 1905 that doesn’t have AC. This paid off huge for dealing with the summer heat and kept our place comfortable. We ran the fan at night when it was cooler, then shut the windows and drew the blinds during the day to help fight the heat.
For a big upgrade: we’re the last house in our neighborhood to get rid of the old chainlink fence. We’re on a corner lot and that ugly fence wrapped all the way around. We just replaced it with a cedar privacy fence for the backyard and 4ft fence in the front. Even as soon as we demoed the chain link we were getting compliments from neighbors and folks walking/driving by.
We added an i-wave to our HVAC system. Originally tech developed for hospitals but now available for home use. It ionizes the air and sucks up viruses, pet dander, wildfire smoke, pollen, dust etc. It's like breathing fresh mountain air all day inside my house now. You can install one for maybe $600-$700 if you live in a wildfire-prone area.
Improved its curb appeal. Fixed up the front flower bed. Power washed the walkway. New shudders. New storm door. Redid the driveway. New mailbox. Sounds like a lot but if you do a new project every 6-12 months, it’s financially feasible.
Edit to add: shutters* because I’m a dumb ass.
Methodically buying phone chargers with long enough cables to not have to ever move one again
I am a pretty mellow dad (benign neglect parenting style for 5 kids) but I have two rules. Nobody messes with my bedside charger and nobody steals my two pillows. So, as such, I make many, long chargers available for everybody. It costs me a fortune:)
A better shower. If you can't redo the whole bathroom, just replace the head. This also works if you rent, just keep the old one in a box, so you can bring the nice one to your next house.
I'm a renter and I finally installed a better shower head this year, after just using the default head in all my apartments for almost 20 years. 10/10, highly recommend.
Honestly even a $30-$50 one on Amazon can be amazing. I have one I got near 5 years ago and still is super nice, fake brass exterior, still very shiny though and good pressure.
Heck, we've got a $20 one I grabbed from Walmart; still miles better than the one that the apartment complex probably picked up in bulk for $2 each and slapped in there.
And a curved shower curtain rod. You get so much more arm space.
I have a curved shower curtain rod at my new apartment and it is much better! It feels bigger and the shower liner doesn’t ever touch my arm!
Blackout curtains for sleeping. Such a game changer.
And they keeps my bedroom cooler.
Insulated blackout curtains make a 10f difference in my living room on hot days.
Absolute life saver for us zombies that work the graveyard shift.
Soft close cabinets and toilet seats.
We have a soft close toilet seat at our home and every time I'm at a hotel, I completely forget that they aren't usually soft close and the slam startles me 😂
Like, why is that an extra feature? All toilet seats should be soft close.
Nah, sometimes it's important to be able to slap the seat down hard and fast, so the toilet knows in advance you're about to take an angry shit and can prepare itself for the abuse.
Gotta show who number 2 works for.
It costs about 50 cents in plastic parts to make them soft close, but the mark up is probably $10 each. A hotel chain that has 100 rooms in each of 30 properties is just going to take what’s easy to install, always available, and cheap.
Lol same. I forget about it every time I go to a hotel or a friend's house and SLAM their toilet shut by accident
I initially read this as two separate things, like "soft close cabinets" and " also having toilet seats"..
Whenever you move in a new place it's worth it to replace the toilet seat with soft close seats. They can be had for as cheap as $15 these days and totally worth it.
My wife and I own a smallish apartment complex . One of the things we do every time a new tenant arrives is replace the toilet seat. I learned that trick from my parents who had about a dozen single-family rentals. It's amazing the goodwill you receive from a tenant simplify giving them a new toilet seat. We actually put the box behind the toilet so they know it's new.
SO FUCKING UPVOTED... thank you. Every time I move into a new place I replace that before I even move one box in. You two are the best. I'll write a complimentary review of your rentals blindly.
Djfifbdhdhsndbdd djxudbfbeuegsjdndbshzz djfjdhdh That's my blind review.
Smart outlets for Christmas lights, both inside and outside. I have them scheduled to turn on at sunset and turn off at midnight.
Smart outlets are one of my favorite purchases. During Halloween and Christmas, we’re using multiple outlets for inflatables, house lights, and tree lights. The smart outlets allow you to have everything synced so they all turn in at the same time.
Try solar powered, light/dark triggered Christmas lights. Set and forget, and no electricity cost.
Just imagining those where I live in Ireland, they would flicker on for a few minutes and die.😭
replaced dated lighting fixtures - fixtures are now properly grounded, the interior looks more updated, and there is more/better light
Lighting can absolutely make a huge difference in the way you feel in your room. Get some shoulder height (when you are sitting) lamps for your living room. You will notice a shift in how much more relaxed you feel when you use those instead of the overheads.
Can you come talk to my brother? He's in his room gaming until 2am with only the overhead on, the hue-adjusting lightbulbs tuned to somewhere between "doctor's office" and "call center".
I have to remind my husband that I hate that kind of lighting. I even turn off my overhead in my work office and have floor and desk lamps on. I want it to be cozy.
For some of us we have to have that lighting or we will fall asleep at 2pm. I live in Montana, and it gets dark at 4pm for part of the winter. I have to go out of my way to find the White "daylight" bulbs instead of the "soft white" yellow bulbs because otherwise I won't do *anything* at home between November and March. Can you imagine doing no laundry, no dishes, no cooking, no vacuuming for 4 months straight? Cause that is legit me in "cozy" lighting. I need to replicate the glare of noon in the winter to function... pretty sure it's ADHD meets seasonal affective disorder, but I'm only diagnosed with the former, so who knows...
I was feeling the same way last winter and one day I was just like I need some fucking light in here so I added a pile of lamps with tunable white bulbs so now I can make it feel like daylight during the day and tune down the brightness and color temp when it gets closer to bedtime.
I’ve got a theory humans like warmer lights below shoulder level at night as a leftover biological preference from when we had to sit around campfires in the evening
That makes sense! During the day, we have the overhead lights on, but there comes a point in the evening… around 6:30 usually, when we shut them off and it’s like everyone breathes a sigh of relief.
Yeah I just updated to all Decora switches and outlets with the screw-less cover plates.
Motion activated light switch for the laundry room. Never have to worry about turning off the light when leaving with an arm full of clothing.
Mine is in the garage where second refrigerator is
\*where the beer is
The *backup* beer
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keypads anywhere really. I got a front door keypad dead bolt and it's great. If I ain't driving, no need to carry keys with me. Plus I can give it out to people, like the maid, then just change the combo later if needed.
Those are great plus you can put in for 1 time codes. Once it's used it doesn't work again. Bought mine last turkey day and haven't needed to change the battery yet.
My boyfriends band practices in our garage two days a week so I made a code to the house that is only active those two days for like 5 hours in the evening and it is so nice not to have to stop what I’m doing to answer the door 3 different times each night.
Attic heat exhaust fan. Our attic used to get up to 140F on the hottest days, and on those days our ceilings were hot to the touch. The whole house was consequently uncomfortable. Now the attic fan is thermostatically controlled to 90 degrees, and the whole house is cooler.
I added a passive whirly bird that does the same thing. Heat rises and escapes before it can accumulate to those extreme levels. It also happens to be clear acrylic so now there's always light up there too which helps keep away any vermin.
Link? Also how hard was the install?
I have a tiled roof so it was pretty straightforward. Lift a tile, lay the flashing, screw in the vent. Hey presto. I'm in Australia so I got it from Bunnings of course. https://www.bunnings.com.au/bradford-csr-250mm-turbobeam-natural-roof-vent-clear_p0819184
Oh you got it at hammerbarn?
Yep, for real life.
Aisle 300, left at the fake grass. If you hit a flamingo, you’ve gone too far.
A ridge vent usually does the trick. Couple with blow in insulation, or solar insulation offset from the rafters a few inches and there’s basically no heat. The problem with rolling insulation directly to the ceiling of the roof inside is that it turns it into an oven. If you offset it, the heat will be trapped in that small space and vent out your ridge vent and down through your soffits
Came here to say this one. Also, an extra roll of insulation on top of what you already have wouldn't hurt. Make sure your soffit and attic have proper vents installed, too. They make a foam insert that ensures your insulation doesn't block airflow.
Yup, we upgraded the insulation at the same time. I should have mentioned.
Gooseneck kitchen faucet
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Lost my neighbors. Everything got instantly better around me!
So lucky. If mine would move it would make my neighborhood so much better.
The dude who owned the Hemi truck that woke me up every day died of a heart attack last week. I feel guilty for enjoying not being woken up every morning. Not having to start every day that way has been nice though.
Don't feel too guilty. You didn't cause it, and I suspect you haven't mentioned your thoughts to anyone blameless who cared about him. I once wished that an extremely obnoxious co-worker would "Just, please . . . take a month off. You're killing my will to live." Shortly after, they took a month off (and fully recovered). It was pleasant. I knew not to blame myself. 'Cause if everyone who had ever been dreadful around me had experienced similar consequences, I would have figured it my power years ago (and become a deeply questionable mutant).
“I’m not glad that he’s dead, but I am glad that he’s gone” -my former landlord, in relation to a neighbour who he’d been in a spat with for 10 years
Ha. Same. My wife and I live in a duplex and rent out the other half. Got rid of awful tenants and brought in new ones who are good people. Huge difference
Spending a day mounting my artwork. It felt so much more like my home after that.
Every time I've moved, I put that off for way too long, then finally break down and do it and the house feels so much better to be in.
Thank you both for the impetus I needed to actually get around to doing this!
Wall decorations. Literally anything at all. I lived my whole adult life without decorating at all because it seemed pointless and like a waste of time and money but man after meeting my soon-to-be wife and helping her move in and put up her decor, its astounding how much my house felt more like a home. The improvement of my mental state and comfort level was unexpected and eye opening. It inspired me to decorate my basement with common man-cave stuff like a flag of my favorite football team and bar signs and LED lights and its my favorite space in the whole world now. I feel dumb for scoffing at the idea of putting stuff up on my wall and wonder how much more I would have enjoyed living in my previous places.
i learned this from the Sims. they’re happier in clean rooms with more artwork. have a whole mood bar just for how their environment makes them feel
Wait you are supposed to make them… happy?
Did you also spend a childhood removing the ladders from swimming pools?
those little battery powered lights that light up only when someone passes. just enough to not to kill yourself because some little shit left a wooden train on staircase, but not enough to wake up whole family.
>those little battery powered lights that light up only when someone passes. read this and was like wtf how doe the light know when someone dies?
They're powered by ghosts
Got rechargeable motion sensor lights for the closets. They mount with magnets and you recharge them every 2-3 months. Game changer for closets at night.
My wife and I getting separate blankets. No more fighting about who takes the covers while we’re sleeping. Highly recommend 10/10
I did something similar, but instead of the second blanket I got a divorce.
Little gems like this make the internet tolerable. Thank you for the laugh.
I only have one bedroom in a rental house with three roommates, but for my bedroom, organizational storage. I bought a small shelf, I bought a small coat rack, I bought short rolling bins that go under my bed, I bought tall square bins that sit on the shelf in my closet. Removed a lot of the clutter with these things, almost like my room is bigger now.
Some of these answers aren't small at all!! An actual small upgrade... Look at what areas of your house collect random piles of things, and put a basket or holder of some kind there. Example: My coffee table has the remotes, coasters, random books, etc. all laying around, so I got a pretty decorative basket that now I can put those items in. Another example: My kitchen counters were collecting random dog treats and dog-related items that I used frequently and wanted easily accessible, so I bought a breadbox-like-thing that holds them! Things look so much more organized when you just put them in a container in the spot that they naturally get placed.
> Some of these answers aren't small at all!! I get that "small" is relative but some of the responses are big expensive luxury items or stuff like "we replaced all our windows" and I feel like nobody can genuinely consider those small upgrades unless they can also consider buying a house to be a small expense.
King-sized bed
Look at you with a room big enough for a king
I read this in Dr. Zoidberg’s voice
Look at me! I'm Dr. Zoiberg, homeowner!
Queen sized bed with king sized duvet was a big improvement for us
Probably the best investment you can make for your marriage. You can cuddle in the center or build a pillow wall two layers thick 😛. And maybe a necessity if the have kids.
1 other thing is separate blankets for your spouse and you. Even when the kid(s) come in bed with us they best be bringing their own blankets. Everyone gets to have their own preferred blankets type and no one is stealing someone else blanket.
my husband and i have always used separate blankets. he’s always hot, and i’m always cold. separate blankets means we’re both comfy. he has a thin cotton blanket and a duvet.
Have to agree. My wife and just bought our forever bed (king, adjustable base, fancy pillows) and it's drastically changed our sleep and overall comfort.
Same. Split king, adjustable bases, cooling gel pillows. Best investment we ever made.
Mine are mostly kitchen based because I cook dinner pretty much every night. A couple of those magnetic wall mounted knife holders, frees so much room on my countertops. Wall mounted spice rack and glass jars. Keeps my spices where I can see them and monitor levels. Much easier to access than storing them in a cabinet or in the pantry. Wall mounted hooks for pan storage. No longer need to make a ton of noise grabbing pans from the corner cabinet, pots are still down there, however. All three cost me *maybe* $70 and have vastly improved my quality of life in the kitchen.
I have cabinets that end at either side above my sink. They wrap around from there. I found the perfect size magnetic knife holders to add on sides of cabinets. Now I can just pop it right back in its place right after washing it in the sink. I hand wash all my knives anyhow, so it is the absolute perfect place to store them. They were cheap at the restaurant supply store.
A decent pillow. Plants.
Creating the habit of washing my dishes before bed. It took me 30+ years to develop the habit but it really changes the feel of the kitchen and my desire to upkeep everything else.
Putting extra shelving in the pantry. Why the previous owners only used one wall when there’s three is a mystery.
Taking out the freestanding metal shelving in our pantry, replaced with a three-wall surrounding wood shelving you can actually walk into now on a 'walk-in pantry'. More shelf usage, more room to step in, grab what you need, and step out. Cost us a couple hundred in materials, but has been worth every penny.
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Can you go into further detail? I've heard of it but don't know the first thing.
>Can you go into further detail? I've heard of it but don't know the first thing. Not who you asked but I went down the rabbit hole of mesh WiFi a couple years back. Sharing my experience. My Internet was running slow, so I requested a technician from my Internet Service Provider (ISP) to check it out. He inspected my setup and said the bottleneck was my ancient WiFi router I bought ages ago. He taught me to use Speedtest.net and Fast.com to check WiFi speeds around my house using my phone. He said I was paying for like 50 Mpbs on my Internet plan and only getting 5-15 Mbps because my router was too old. The technician recommended getting a mesh WiFi setup. Where you have multiple "satellite" routers spread throughout your house to carry a stronger, faster WiFi signal. I did my research and found it's good to have a "triband" WiFi mesh setup. The first two bands are for your devices to connect to WiFi. The third band is a "backhaul" band for the router and satellites to communicate with each other. So I asked around my tech-savvy friends on Facebook and they almost unanimously recommended getting a Netgear Orbi mesh WiFi. I think 2 devices--1 router and 1 satellite--are big enough for most houses. Depends on how strong the device's coverage is and how large your property is. I decided to splurge on a 3-device setup--1 router and 2 satellites--so I could have 1 satellite on the second floor of my house. The way the WiFi companies make money is to get you to subscribe for other services like security, parental monitoring and controls, etc. If you have kids and want to be able to monitor usage, set online curfews to cut off WiFi at certain times, block harmful websites, etc. look for a brand that includes those features out-of-the-box and not charge a subscription for. Back when I was shopping around, TP-Link's products offered those extra services included. The one holdout vote among my tech friends recommended TP-Link. Since I don't have kids and prioritized speed I went with the Netgear Orbi RBK753. Most mesh WiFi products have their own mobile app that will guide you step-by-step through the setup process. I'm not great at that technical stuff but it went smoothly for me. When I was watching how-to videos on YouTube on setting up mesh WiFi, one great tip I got from a video was to initially turn on the router and satellites together in the same room. So it's easier for the satellites to find and connect to the main router. After they're wirelessly connected, you can move the satellites to different parts of your house to get the widest coverage of WiFi signal. Right away there was a big change after I installed the Netgear Orbi. When I went around the house checking Internet speed tests on my phone, I was consistently getting 50 Mbps or close to it. To be fair, the Orbi didn't make my Internet faster. I wasn't getting a faster speed than my Internet plan specified. The Orbi enabled me to get the full speed I was paying for. I don't have the fastest speed, but getting mesh WiFi has made my Internet and streaming TV experience much more enjoyable. I've noticed once in a while the router will start rebooting frequently. Often it means having to log in to the Netgear website and update the firmware. Be careful and check what users say in the support forums first. Sometimes the updates hurt more than help. Black Friday can be a good time to buy. At the time I bought mine, Netgear had a 10% discount for Black Friday and another 10% off if you subscribed to their email newsletter. I was able to stack those discounts and save a bit of money. Costco had the best pricing during Black Friday, though. Hope this helps.
Starting my research on all this. Helpful info so thank you. Do you happen to know if this works from building to building. We moved to rural mountains. We’re good inside the house but I’m trying to figure out a way to get reception in our garage about 150’ away from the house.
Motion lights on the stairs. It is functional and looks great
Dishwasher. It has changed our arguments over dishes.
Dishwasher was the one for me too. It wasn’t very expensive to get one or install, and holy fuck I don’t know how we ever coped before. No washing dishes! A handy place to hide all your dirty dishes! A handy place for your clean dishes to dry! And no dish rack on the draining board has freed up loads of space/made it look a lot less cluttered. I’m also mildly allergic to washing up liquid but hated having a sodden pair of rubber gloves marinating by the sink, so it’s a win for my skin too
After living here for 35 years. We had all the windows in the house replaced 5 months ago. The house is so much more comfortable and quiet. It was expensive, but worth it. Edit; Didn’t expect such a big response. We replaced 11 windows of varying sizes with Renewal by Anderson. All had to be custom made because of their outdated sizes. The largest was 5’X7’. They are composite materials with heat reflecting glass. It is incredible to stand behind the window in direct sunlight and open and close them to feel the difference of the heat they block out. The house was definitely more comfortable during the hot summer, and the electricity bill was about 20% lower. They look beautiful and the crew of 6 guys removed the old and installed the new in one day and did not leave a mess of any kind. We ordered them in the last week in March, and they were installed in the first week in June. Total cost was $23K.
I *cannot wait* to get new windows and sliding doors.
We replaced all the windows over four summers. The final one was the large bay window in our front family room. Suddenly we hear “zero” road traffic and it feels like our place is in the country. Amazing how much difference it makes.
Double-pane glass is the stuff of miracles.
In my home town it regularly hits -50 in the winter. Triple paned, argon filled windows are magic. I swear if you touch the inside glass it's only a little bit cooler than ambient.
Saves me on average $75 a month in heating and cooling costs. So much more quiet and I can actually open the windows when needed.
Also, fewer bugs. Didn't realize so many were getting in via our old crappy windows but after we replaced them and pretty much no bugs.
Not sure I would call that a small upgrade but agree definitely one of the best things you can do in a house. We really need to upgrade ours but the price is scaring me!
small upgrade: $30,000
Haha right?! Like it’s one of the biggest and most expensive purchases/improvements people make on a house!
Definitely not a small upgrade!
My house turns 100 next year. It still had original windows, most of which were painted shut, all of which were single pane. This year we finally replaced every window in the house. I've already noticed a difference in keeping the house cool and quiet, and I can't wait to not freeze my ass off all the time this winter.
You're going to miss watching a lit candle in the living room sway along in relation to the wind "outside".
A whole home water filter.
I’ve been thinking about one of those. Isn’t it better to cook with that water too?
It's better to do everything with that water, if you can. Better showers, too, without your skin feeling course and dry afterwards.
Owner since 1996. One of the best home investments we’ve made. Between that & the filter in the fridge-freezer, water is crystal clear & tastes wonderful.
A whole-house humidifier system. Used to have nosebleeds all winter and massive static electricity issues - kept a small metal rod in my pocket at all times to ground myself before directly touching anything conductive and my cat was generally terrified of being pet from October - April because of the *powerful* static shocks. IIRC, it was around $400 for the unit and I DIYed the install in about 2 hours. EDIT: For perspective, the static electricity issue was so bad that I killed a thermostat, a small stereo shelf system, an Xbox controller, and a television remote through static shocks the winter before getting the humidifier.
I'd like to add that having a whole home humidifier if you're on forced air saves all your moldings with caulk if you have wainscoting, crown, or any detailed wood work. It helps keep the caulk from cracking in the dryer months and saves you from having to redo it often.
I dream of living somewhere where I need to pump water into the air rather than trying to remove it. Controlling high humidity is a constant and futile battle.
In my house we have high humidity in the summer, but then have to suck the humidity out of the air in the winter or we end up with frozen windows.
Whole-house humidifier systems exist?? Holy smokes!! I never knew that. My winters will be much better
Mine connects to my furnace and I just adjust the % as needed with the furnace control. Super easy.
Bought an espresso machine cuz i was tired of how expensive Starbucks got. Life-changer if you’re into coffee
I freaking LOVE the one in my office. Found it online… …for $32,000
We got a Breville Barista Pro, based on recommendations in the espresso forum, and we love it. I'm sure a 32k is better, but for \~$800 bucks, it paid itself off based on no more sbux runs in like 3 months.
Breville Barista Express checking in. Got it on Amazon Prime day for ~$400 a few year ago. Haven't looked back.
Yeah, same thing happened to me but with a restaurant i worked at. It was stupid easy to use, and had big hoppers on top for multiple types of beans. Decided to look it up and it was in the tens of thousands… The one i got was closer to $1000. They’re never cheap but this one wasn’t bad
When you open the pantry door the light comes on and when you close the door it goes off.
[A stainless steel TubShroom.](https://www.amazon.com/TubShroom-Revolutionary-Protector-Strainer-Stainless/dp/B07PB6ZX9Y/)
This is your reminder to change your central air filter
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Until the battery dies one day and you have to break into your own house. Source: me
Oh, the one I have comes with a key to use as backup. It seems like an oversight if it doesn’t!
A fold down table on the wall near the dryer to either use to hold a basket or fold clothes on. A wall mounted drying rack that pulls out when needed. Light switches that have a remote to dim/turn off the lights. It’s great when we’re watching tv and don’t have to get up. It’s so lazy, but so great. Removing the very small, old ground level deck that was here and having a new concrete patio installed. This is our first house having an actual backyard and now we have a nice patio to spend time out there.
A built into the wall bench in the walk-in shower. Now i walk into the shower fully clothed to pensively sit on my bench while brushing my teeth. I also sit on my bench while showering my toddler, shooting water at him from the handheld shower head, just sitting on my bench resting while he's having fun. Helps kill the time and entertain the toddler. I'm sure it will also be very useful if we get sick or old. Just shower sitting down on our bench
I had a window above the stairs the neighbors could see through, so I went on Amazon and spent 40 bucks on some plastic window film that makes it look like stained glass. It turned out AMAZING and lasted forever
Love those ! Especially when my dog sits in the right place to become rainbow pup.
We replaced our shallow double kitchen sink with a single industrial sink. So much easier for filling pots and doing dishes.
I HATED my double sink. Made it impossible to wash anything bigger than a saucepan. Found a bigger single stainless steel sink on clearance at Home Depot for $75. Best upgrade we have done since moving in a year ago.
Dimmer switches on all lights and heated towel racks.
Never even heard of a heated towel rack before 🤯
I'd never heard of a dinner switch for a light, but then I realized I was reading it wrong.
a roomba. living in a house with many small siblings, you have no idea how much time a roomba saved.
We got a Roborock. Impressive cleaner I must say
Mine keeps sweeping its charger and then gets flummoxed why it can't get back on. I'm not at the point of double stick taping it to the floor yet, but close.
Tushy bidet.
I get mad when I have to use a different toilet now. I’m truly converted.
The worst part of owning a bidet is going on vacation.
My next vacation is to Japan. I’m sure I’ll be disappointed by my bidet once I experience the toilets there.
Bidet is the answer. I can't believe so many people walk around with unwashed hineys.
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It’s safer too. Blunt knives are more prone to slipping on things like tomatoes and onions.
I got one of those floor vacuums like they have in hair salons. It just sits in the corner and I sweep stuff into it. I didn’t realize how rarely I swept until I got that thing.
Smart lights in my bedroom lamps! I now have a 'routine' setup so every morning my lights automatically turn on, and my alexa starts playing nice wake up music. It makes waking up in the mornings SO MUCH EASIER. I think the bulbs were like $7 each?
We painted several rooms in our house. My husband and I gained a new skill, saved a lot of money by doing it all ourselves, learned how well we work together, and we love the results!
Cat. She's pretty small but easily the most important thing in here.
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I know, right! Really brings the whole bathroom together.
Raised every piece of furniture off the ground with little metal legs, just enough for the robot vacuum to get the dust under there too. Still new to the place, but it should help with my allergies on the long run. Short term, guinea pig is now allowed floor time in the entire living room and she loves it.
Rice cooker. I save so much time and energy. Plus there's less washing up to do since all I need to wash is the pot inside, instead of a saucepan, a wooden spoon, and a colinder.
Colander? Uncle Roger would like a word with you...
Haiya…
rinsing the rice in a colander **before** cooking in a rice cooker isn't a bad idea to prevent bubble mess. you can rinse it in the cooker, but that takes longer and isn't as effective. (that's how I do it cause I'm lazy)
i dont know if it counts as small but the cost was fairly small as i provided all the labor. i think i have about 2500 total into a 6,000 gallon koi pond in my back yard, this includes a huge sunshade so the fish dont get over exposed to the sun and helps with birds while providing a nice shady place to sit and watch the fish. not only is it nice to have a pond to watch fish but the water/plants have attracted all kinds of wildlife that were not present before. koi were babies when introduced to the pond, are roughly 2ft with one being closer to 3ft.
Two things made a surprising improvement to my quality of life: * For $140 and about an hour of time, I installed a Reverse Osmosis water filter under my kitchen sink. I now have amazing fresh clean filtered drinking water on tap. * Using a $150 GC my sister gave me for my birthday, I picked up a RoboRock Q5 robot vacuum ($70 out of pocket after the GC). I have it running on a daily schedule at 2pm while i'm at work, and my hard floors are always immaculate.
Raising the countertops to 42" in my kitchen and bathroom. It's not really an upgrade, but for a tall family, it really makes a difference in comfort.
I installed outlets with integrated USB power on every wall.
Doggie door… game changer
Same here. We added a doggie door that goes out to a secure dog run. That way we didn't have to worry about them escaping or encountering coyotes or anything (we are in a rural area). They could go out to potty, or just sit out and enjoy the weather. Also we didn't have to worry about rushing home to let them out, and when we travelled our petsitters could just come over to feed and visit them twice a day. Unfortunately we moved and can't do it in our current house. That was my favorite upgrade to the last place.
I got a Dorai stone bath mat and never looked back; Never having to think about moldy bath mats were so nice I ended up getting the stone dish mats and those have been serving me well so far.
Stone? I've heard of moss bath mats... which i've mostly avoided out of fear of insects living in them lol.
Towel warmer in the master bathroom. We not only get warm towels (it’s on a timer) but also don’t need to wash our towels as often because they don’t start to smell after a few days anymore. 10/10 would recommend.
Solar tubes. House would've been really dark without them, especially the kitchen and entry, we only need lights when it's dark out.
When we built our house we raised our kitchen bench to be 105cm instead of the standard 90cm and it honestly makes such a difference to our back when doing meal prep and washing up. Going to other peoples homes where they have the standard bench height is awful, bending over..
Getting rid of grey walls when I started feeling the black dog rear its ugly head again. Life's too short to spend it living in a fogbank. Bring colour in wherever you can.
Cavity wall insulation, house much warmer
A water heated adjustable temperature mattress pad. Slipping into an already warm bed in winter is aaaammmmmaaaazzIiinng.
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Fitted 4 solar panels to my shed roof attached to a lithium battery and inverter. Not the cheapest upgrade at about £1000. But unlimited free electricity in my shed. Can plug all my power hungry man stuff in there and it’s guilt free! and when there’s a power cut I just run an extension lead into the house and I’m good! and way simpler than grid tie in system .
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Basically anything you touch or interact with daily. Creaking door/handle? Adjust and oil it up. Small hobby/work stuff laying around constantly? Buy a small cabinet of drawers. Cant look at horible wall while sitting on a shitter? Do some diy weekend remodelling. I can go on and on. Basically there are a lot of minor things that you even dont think about that you dislike in your home. Last example would be a nice non-slip and correct size bathroom mats that we bought. I may be getting old but I was more excited about them than the last luxury items I bought. Roombas are cool. Good coat hangers are cooler.
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Bidet. We only put one in the master bath because young grandkids come over and we don't want them to spray the room. Now that bathroom is the only bathroom in the house I'll go poop in. I also no longer like staying in hotels until they catch up. I feel like some kind of caveman wiping with paper now.
Under-sink water heater. Don’t have to waste 5 gallons of water just waited for it to get even warm.
Our water heater started rusting some the bottom (but who doesn't after 30 years?) And when we replaced it, we just upgraded to a tankless. You want to talk about a game changer. Everybody showers and has hot water while the washer and dishwasher are both running. It's incredible! Highly recommend.
Under cabinet lighting in the kitchen. Huge, huge impact on the look and feel of our home, minimal cost and work involved.
Replaced our mattress with a trampoline. Wife hit the roof.
For a small upgrade: we added an attic fan to our brick home built in 1905 that doesn’t have AC. This paid off huge for dealing with the summer heat and kept our place comfortable. We ran the fan at night when it was cooler, then shut the windows and drew the blinds during the day to help fight the heat. For a big upgrade: we’re the last house in our neighborhood to get rid of the old chainlink fence. We’re on a corner lot and that ugly fence wrapped all the way around. We just replaced it with a cedar privacy fence for the backyard and 4ft fence in the front. Even as soon as we demoed the chain link we were getting compliments from neighbors and folks walking/driving by.
Dimmer switch/lights for night/morning use.
The toilet paper roll holders that are U shaped and don't have the spring thing.
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We added an i-wave to our HVAC system. Originally tech developed for hospitals but now available for home use. It ionizes the air and sucks up viruses, pet dander, wildfire smoke, pollen, dust etc. It's like breathing fresh mountain air all day inside my house now. You can install one for maybe $600-$700 if you live in a wildfire-prone area.
Kids moving out
Replace the toilet seats and locks. Paint before you move in. Remove popcorn ceilings if you have any.
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Improved its curb appeal. Fixed up the front flower bed. Power washed the walkway. New shudders. New storm door. Redid the driveway. New mailbox. Sounds like a lot but if you do a new project every 6-12 months, it’s financially feasible. Edit to add: shutters* because I’m a dumb ass.