Well, hey, friends. It’s been a spell since I’ve shared some of my favorite Amazon finds — and I wish I could say it was because I’ve scaled back on buying things online. In truth, I did for a long while. And then baby made four, and COVID finally tagged Chris, and suddenly convenience was the name of the game again.

So for the sake of keeping it extremely real, here are 10 Amazon household finds that have made their way into our abode, for better or worse (some of them during the 3 a.m. nursing scroll).

Drying Racks, Compost Bins + A (Cheap) Magic Eraser Dupe: 10 Household Amazon Finds

All of them are truly game-changing in one way or another, from a shockingly efficient duo that maximizes kitchen space to the system that has allowed me to skip out completely on scrubbing toilets for, ohhhh, the past five years now.

drying rack | colander

In other words, I’m here to vouch for the fact that these 10 products are, indeed, Buy It Now-worthy. And maybe even good enough to curb just a bit of that ever-present Amazon Guilt.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

1. Umbra 2-In-1 Drying Rack 

This Umbra drying rack is easily one of my favorite buys for our home…ever. Not to be dramatic, but it’s just so freaking well designed — chic, simple, looks great on the counter and, moreover, does exactly what you’d want it to do. The 2-in-1 name comes from the fact that it’s both a drying mat and a drying rack with a detachable utensil caddy.

Use the rack over the mat on the counter, OR expand the little arms on the rack and use it over the sink when you want to maximize counter space (or when you want to drain things that either drip more water than the mat can handle OR could benefit from some additional air circulation, like bento lunchboxes with all their tricky little nooks and crannies). Both pieces are also relatively flat, so when I’m doing the whole “Company is coming — let’s seriously declutter!” thing that I do all of twice a year, the whole system can handily be stashed away in a cupboard or under the sink. I did a little reel showing it in action here. Also in gray.

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2. Over-The-Sink Colander

Oh, look, another over-the-sink thing. I swear, together with the drying rack, these two little gadgets make me feel like I have one of those really high-end modular sinks I keep seeing design influencers tout on instagram. But for $1K less. I’ll take it.

If you’ve ever had your partner rinse their soapy hands right over a colander of draining pasta, this is for you! (No? Just me?)

This extendable colander from KesaPlan has been so dang handy for rinsing fruit in the summer, draining pasta (and keeping it safe from contamination from other sink activities!) — or even as a backup drying space for baby-bottle pieces or other miscellaneous items I don’t want lying in the sink or getting mixed up on the drying mat.

(I will say that, contrary to the photos here, I usually place it IN the sink to do my rinsing — or else the spray can rebound and mist your countertops. Then, I lift it out and rest it over the sink for draining or drying.)

And half the time, any fruit that’s resting in it is considered fair game, so we kinda use it as a free-for-all snacking trough too.

Overall, super-convenient product that also happens to stash perfectly off to the side on my drying rack when not in use.

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3. Elephant Sink Drainer

I bought this Peleg Design cutlery drainer six or so years ago when I wanted a way to drain and corral our dish brushes without using one of those suction-cup-holder thingies that never seem to actually stick to your sink. It’s worked like a charm, and it’s neutral enough that it feels almost chic despite its playfulness.

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4. Under-The-Counter Compost Bin

We’ve used a countertop compost bin for 12 years, and recently we realized what a pain in the butt it is for little Lana to have to grab a stool every time she wants to throw away a banana peel. So in the name of lowering the height a bit — and reclaiming some counter space — Chris found this Tiyafuro under-the-counter compost bin.

Talk about game-changing.

It mounts to the back of our under-sink cabinet with little sticky thingies that actually stick (no screws or hardware required, it’s all included), but it can easily be removed from its cabinet mount to hang over any cabinet door or drawer. It also has a double-hinged lid, so you can flip it open traditionally or swing the lid out and down, meaning if you clip it onto a cabinet or drawer below your workspace, you can sweep scraps right into the open bin without the lid getting in the way.

Chris uses it daily for emptying out the espresso grounds — he just clips it onto the cabinet right below the espresso machine and knocks the grounds directly into it — and I use it multiple times a day when prepping meals. When we’re done, it instantly hooks back onto its little under-cabinet mount and disappears out of sight. No issues with ants or fruit flies, either. Also available in a larger capacity, and we use these bags.

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5. Kaboom Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaning System

I’ve talked about this before, but because I just reordered refill tablets for all our toilets, I figured it was time again I praised this toilet-bowl cleaning device by Kaboom, which has saved me from scrubbing a single toilet for the past five years. (OK, that’s not true — I let the refills run out in Lana’s bathroom recently, and a hard-water ring formed, so I have scrubbed a toilet once in five years. And also re-convinced myself that these dang things work.)

Basically, the little system attaches to your tank’s water supply in such a way that the cleaning tablet comes into contact with only the water as it’s being fed into the bowl, so it doesn’t sit in your toilet tank corroding the tank or any of the toilet’s plumbing. Sound complicated? I promise it takes about one minute to install, and assuming you start with a clean toilet (it won’t clean a dirty toilet, but it will most definitely keep a clean toilet sparkling) and refill the little tabs every couple of months, you’ll never scrub a potty again.

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6. Light-Switch-Outlet Combo Thingie

For the first couple of years we lived in this house, I begged for a stick Dyson. And we put it off for those years exclusively because we didn’t have handy place to mount it for charging.

And then one day, whilst sweeping up dinner crumbs yet again, I kinda jokingly said to Chris: “Hey, babe, maybe for Christmas you can put an outlet in the pantry. Then we can get a stupid stick Dyson and mount it in there.” And after poking around in there for a couple of minutes, he said, “Yeah, I think we could do that.” I about made out with him on the spot. And they say romance is dead!

So, this is the little doohickey that enabled The Purchase and Mounting of the Stick Dyson. Chris has some electrical knowhow, so he did it quickly himself, but it would be a simple enough job for an electrician to handle. Basically, you can use it to add either a switch to an existing outlet or an outlet to an existing switch (what we did) — and you could even make the switch operate whatever is plugged into the outlet, I suppose. I realize this is an extremely specific item that fulfills an extremely specific need, but it really is super-handy.

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7. Wine Organizers

Totally self-explanatory — a duo of wine organizers that allow you to stack a couple of bottles of wine in the fridge so they’re not rolling around precariously. We also use this style of modular wine rack for storing wine that’s not in the fridge. (Reviews also suggest using them for corralling water bottles, which seems pretty genius.)

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8. Epicurean Pizza Cutter

OK, full disclosure: This pizza cutter by Epicurean is on its way to me as we speak, but I already know how much I’m going to love it. We use a traditional pizza cutter pretty regularly for frittatas, quesadillas and, yep, pizza, but it’s so clunky to store — not to mention kinda risky to reach for and clean. Even though a traditional one is fairly sharp, it still drags toppings off the crust occasionally. And you have to make several passes if the crust is especially thick or crunchy.

I can’t wait to use this new one for All The Things. The rocking motion seems so easy and efficient (Lana is going to love using it too), and I’m already planning to store it nested easily atop my baking sheets.

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9. Melamine Sponges

Did you know that Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are just fancy-branded melamine sponges? And said melamine sponges can be purchased in bulk for next to nothing? Now ya do! These melamine sponges are actually thicker and longer-lasting than Magic Erasers, but clean with that exact same “Do I even want to know what is in this…?!” effectiveness we all know and love. At 20 sponges (yes TWENTY) for around $10, this might be the best buy of 2022. Tell your friends.

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10. Huogary Milk Frother

You all know how much I love my daily matcha latte, and this is the milk frother a friend gifted me when she caught wind that my beloved Nespresso Aeroccino crapped out after 11 years of daily use. “You’ll love it,” she said. “It might even be better than the Nespresso one.”

Seeing as how this is the same friend who taught me how to make my daily matcha latte in the milk frother, I trust her completely, and it’s exceeded expectations so far. The weight and quality don’t feel quite on par with the Aeroccino, but the performance is, as promised, perhaps even better. It’s pretty on the counter too — and a fraction of the price. (Psssst… You can see the frother in action, and my matcha-latte method, in this video. Oh, and this is the only matcha I buy.)

xo,
Em

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