While coming home typically means relaxation and calm, sometimes life gets in the way and the clutter starts to add up around the house. If you are looking for new ways to keep your household organized and clean, we understand, and we have found some home problem-solvers to help you get the job done.
Part of our job involves trying out dozens of products and new launches, which that means we need some serious organization skills in our homes to keep everything sane. While I believe I have mastered the art of organizing my closet to maximize space, I am always taking new tips and discoveries from my coworkers. In that spirit, we rounded up some of our favorite home hacks for a cleaner and easier living space. Read on to discover cleaning favorites, editor-loved furniture solutions and cooling products to invest in this summer.
Great for drawers$undefined$19.99
Goodbye carpet stains!$undefined$84.72
A great dual vacuum$169.00$249.00
Editor-loved problem-solving home products
My kitchen has one drawer, so that means it can get cluttered quickly with takeout utensils, sauce packets and more. I found this organizer on Amazon and fell in love with how easy it was to set up. You can expand the organizer to fit your drawer so it wiggles in flush with no gaps.
I am a huge bin girl because it helps hide the mess. These bins help conceal my clutter because they have a top. I buy so many of these at Ikea because they are also so easy to stack. I keep them under my sink in the bathroom with my beauty products and in my room.
For those who have way too many books (me included!), you might be running out of bookshelf space. These Umbra shelves are a favorite of social media video producer Dani Musacchio. She says, “I hung these shelves above my desk and they really add a nice decorative touch to my apartment. They’re sturdy enough to hold a few of my plants, candles and more. They come with everything you need to hang them.”
Editor Kamari Stewart-Jackson bought this years ago and swears by the device. She says, “I used it to breathe new life not just in my older carpets but into our couch that had seen better days. I love that you can see the dirty water accumulate in the separate container.”
I had limited prep space in my kitchen, so I opted to buy one of these stainless steel tables from Wayfair. It was so easy to set up and added so much room to my kitchen. I was able to put a coffee machine, a fruit bowl and a water filter system on top. It made my space a lot more organized and was very affordable.
If you hate having shoes pile up around your door, try a storage system that stows them away. I love this storage system for shoes from Wayfair’s verified section (customer-loved products): Once you put the shoes in, you won’t see them again! I also keep my keys and other important things on top of the shoe storage.
I have been using this vacuum for over a year and it has been the best vacuum I have owned by a long mile. While it does fill up quickly, it is so easy to deep clean my entire home. I use the detachable handheld device to get in between my couch cushions and floorboards.
Editorial operations manager Jillian Ortiz got this kitchen island for her apartment and calls it the most efficient piece of furniture in her place. She says, “It fits all my utensils, pots, pans and even my garbage can (it fits in the pullout drawer, which is so nice for my studio apartment — garbage cans are such an eyesore). The best part is honestly the extendable leaf, which gives me enough surface area to eat a meal at (or work from home and use as a desk) and fits two stools underneath.
Associate editor Lauren Witonsky’s partner has this coffee table from Wayfair and loves the storage element to the design. He was looking for a solution to a coffee table and a dining table in a space that didn’t have room for both. He says, “This has improved my life so much. Dinner with my girlfriend and I is more enjoyable. And it feels like an intentional decision to consolidate my dining table and coffee table versus a compromise.”
The best home storage products
These storage bins are great for homes with kids or pets to keep all their stuff in one place. You can toss dog toys in here or soccer gear like cleats and shin guards. If you plan on buying a lot of them, you can even personalize them with names to make finding everything easier.
I use my door to hang dry a lot of my clothes and I am always complaining that I never have enough hooks for all my clothes. I love this over-door organizer and have it on my list to grab soon because it can hold 14 things at a time. That’s more than enough hooks for each load of laundry.
One of my biggest pain points when cleaning is my fridge. It gets messy and disorganized easily. I love these storage containers for helping make leftovers and veggies easier to manage. The clear glass also helps spot what’s in each container more easily.
If you like to keep your winter and summer clothes separate, try these bins. They can fit in your closet and fit things like t-shirts, socks, shorts and more. And they come with a lid so you can stack them!
The best home cooling products
I use this on my bedroom door and it has been so amazing for keeping my room cold. If I leave in the morning at 8 am and turn off my AC, when I come home at 6 pm it is still cold in my room because this door draft stopper keeps the cold in. It is also so helpful for keeping light out of my room.
Dreo Tower Fan
A tower fan can be a game-changer when it comes to keeping you cool in different areas of your home. Sometimes the AC doesn’t fully reach where you’re sitting or working. This tower fan reaches over 26 feet and has a remote to make turning it on and off easy.
A ceiling fan can help keep you cool even on the hottest days. This one comes in so many different wood stains and comes with a remote, so you don’t even have to get up to turn it on.
I recently tested portable AC units, and as someone with no AC in their living room/kitchen, they really helped make my space livable this summer. This one is great for large spaces and has two speed settings for you to choose from.
More portable AC units to shop:
The best home cleaning products
Scrub Daddy sponges are great for getting rid of dish grime and buildup. This pack is dual-sided, so one side is great for tough stains and the other is a little softer to help buff and handle easy stains.
No matter how clean your space feels, if it smells funky, it will never feel clean enough. One area that tends to get a funky smell in my house is my dishwasher. These pods help get rid of leftover food in the machine and leave it smelling fresh.
Tough spills can be hard to clean on hardwood or tile. If you are feeling your floors aren’t getting clean enough with a vacuum, try a mop. This one from O-Cedar is meant to deep clean your space and leave your floors clean.
Use this scrubber to clean big and small messes on tile and concrete. It is great for cleaning grime or buildup in your bathroom or shower. The multiple attachments make deep cleaning easy with so many options to fight mess.
How we choose
The Shop TODAY editors and writers search the internet to find the best products out there. We interview expert sources, comb through customer reviews and even use our own personal experiences to make shopping easier for our readers.
As an editorial team, we independently create content and determine coverage based on research, reporting and what we think TODAY.com readers would like to read about. The goal of our content is to provide a service and inform readers who are on the hunt for the latest products to help make their life better. Items are sold by retailer, not TODAY. Pricing and availability are accurate as of publish time.
