There are nowhere near enough hours in the day, especially if you’re a working parent (pet or otherwise). Mundane tasks like drying my hair and cleaning up after other people seem to take up a disporportionate part of my day and my Netflix queue ain’t gonna watch itself.
So, I did some research into handy products that’ll save you time by getting the job done faster or more efficiently so you can get back to the important things, like eating dinner over the sink. Read on to find out the most useful gadgets you can get on Amazon that speed up annoying tasks like cooking dinner and folding clothes – I guarantee they’ll be starring in your daily gratitude journal for a long time to come.
This Jewelry Cleaning Stick Is Dazzling
Soaking jewelry in a chemical solution is messy and time-consuming. Not this Diamond Dazzle Stik jewelry cleaner – you can even wear the jewelry while you clean it! Simply “paint” on the cleaner and watch the sparkle come alive. The before & after reviewer photos are amazing!
This Cute Bottle Dryer Lasts Beyond The Baby Years
We’ve had this cute grass drying rack since the kids were drinking from baby bottles, eight years later we’re still using it weekly to dry water bottles! The genius design works fast to dry bottles (and any other dishware) thanks to the great airflow through the “grass”. It also adjusts to custom fit anything you want to dry. It’s pretty much the cutest, hardest working item in our kitchen today!
These Safe Scrubbers Have A Zillion Uses
Think these Safe Scrubbers are only useful for cleaning your cookware without scratching? Think again! These antimicrobial, quick-drying mesh cloths are great for your countertops, dishes, veggies and fruit, bathroom surfaces and any small corners and crevices. Good thing they come in a pack of six so you’ve always got a clean one on hand (and you’ll avoid cross-contamination!)
This Extendable Feather Duster Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before
Dust gathers in the most inconvenient places – under bathroom cabinets, on top of ceiling fan blades, allll the way underneath the couch – thankfully, this extendable feather duster is here to help! It easily reaches all the places you can’t without Go-Go Gadget arms thanks to its extra-long telescoping handle and bends up to 90 degrees to get all the tricky places. When you’re done, the duster head detaches so you can throw it in the washing machine! Easy peasy cleaning and clean up.
This Ceramic Ionic Styling Hair Dryer Lets You Sleep In And Still Have Great Hair
You don’t have to choose between a good hair day and the snooze button anymore with this ceramic ionic styling hair dryer. The ionic technology breaks up water molecules to dry hair faster and the ceramic material seals in moisture for frizz-free silky hair. It includes three comb attachments to make styling a breeze and gives any type of hair swingy shine, from fine to coarse.
This Hot Dog Slicer Makes Quick Work Of Lunch
As a mom, I spend a lot of my waking hours cutting food into tiny pieces so my offspring don’t choke as they hoover up their meals in order to get back to important things, like watching other kids play with toys on YouTube. If you’re in the same situation, this dachsund hot dog slicer will save you so much time – just place the hot dog into the bottom plate and press down on the plastic dog. Voilà – bite size meals and sanity intact!
These Makeup Eraser Cloths Use Only Water
I’m a skin product minimalist, I find anything beyond sunscreen and moisturizer too high-maintenance to stick with. That’s why I love these makeup eraser cloths so much – they can take off even waterproof, long-lasting lip stains and mascara with just plain water. Yay for no bottles of makeup remover cluttering up the counters!
These Refrigerator Handle Covers Cut Down Your Kitchen Cleaning
What’s the most visibly dirty place in the kitchen besides the sink? The refrigerator door handles! The stainless steel shows every peanut butter and jelly-smeared sticky fingerprint that the kids (ok, and me) leave. These refrigerator handle covers are so smart because they repel dirt and blend in to the handles, so you only have to throw them in the wash weekly instead of the daily wipedown. They come in multiple sizes so they’ll fit on your dishwasher and oven handles, too!
This Jalapeno Corer Works In One Swift Move
Cutting jalapeno peppers can be a giant pain, especially cleaning all the seeds out and remembering not to touch your eyes or face lest you be in the depths of a burning ring of fire. This jalapeno corer does the hard work for you, and fast – just use the serrated edge to cut off the pepper tops then insert the tool into the pepper, twist and remove the core plus seeds in one move! You still have to wash your hands, though.
These No-Tie Laces Will Add Years To Your Life
Think about how much time you spend tying your shoes (or your kids’ shoes) – it’s a lot, right? When you lace up your shoes with these stretchy no-tie elastic laces, you turn ever pair of shoes into slip-ons! These come in a plethora of colors and get stellar reviews from adults and kids alike.
This Wrinkle Release Spray Eliminates Ironing
Some people like ironing. For those of us that would rather clean the toilet or do literally anything else, there’s this wrinkle release spray that magically smooths fabric while you sit back and watch! Plus it smells like a minty, citrusy mojito. “Ironing” might by my new favorite chore…
This Supersmooth Shaving Cream Fights Nicks & Cuts
It totally puts a hitch in your giddyup when you have to stop mid-shave to deal with tiny nicks that just wont. stop. bleeding. This buttery smooth shaving cream actually works to fight nicks, so you can shave faster without worrying about death by a thousand cuts. With over 3,000 rave reviews, you know it delivers on its promise!
This 2 In 1 Corded Vacuum Is A Versatile MVP
It’s a total pain to lug out the full-sized vacuum when I just need to clean the stairs or suck up some spilled Goldfish, but I don’t want to store a handheld vac, too. This 2-in-1 corded vacuum solves that problem since the top half detaches for your small jobs and then reattaches to make a heavier-duty vacuum for carpets and flooring. The best part is it’s lightweight so you won’t be fighting it every crumb of the way!
This Kids’ Dinner Tray Makes Dinnertime So. Much. Faster.
My husband and I are often finished a good 20 minutes before the kids even start on their veggies at dinner, making it an interminable wait for dessert. If your kids need prodding and encouragement for every bite, get this fun dinner tray to moves things along for you. It’s mealtime gamified with a dessert hidden under the last game square so kids won’t take forever and a damn day to finish their meals!
This Clothes Folding Board Makes You Marie Kondo, Basically
My t-shirt drawer is a hot flaming garbage dump, so this clothes folder that makes tidy little packages of clothes is looking mighty tempting right about now. It has an unbelievable number of rave reviews for helping customers basically turn into Marie Kondo overnight. Just look at their tidy drawers and clean closets! I have organization envy.
These Silicone Scrubbers Wash Both Your Tub & Kids
These silicone bath toys are pretty dang smart – they masquerade as bath toys, but will actually clean your tub and kids at the same time! Kids can “wash” the tub with soapy bathwater while you scrub them with the soft, nubby surface. The bright colors and fun squishiness make the scrubbers even more enticing to play with! (And they’ll dry fast without retaining water, so no swampy black gunk will ever grow, which is more than I can say for most bath toys.)
This Red Wine Remover Gets You Back To The Party Faster
It’s a major bummer when someone spills red wine at a party and everyone stops to gasp and blot at the stain. This red wine remover lets you get back to the fun, faster since its “unique and gentle chemistry” breaks down wine stains in a jiff without harsh bleaches that can harm skin and fabric. Didn’t notice the stain for a while? No worries, it works amazingly on both old and new spills.
This Latex Peel-Off Cuticle Guard Makes DIY Manis a Snap
Whenever I do my nails at home, I spend countless minutes ‘touching up’ my paint job with Q-tips dipped in nail polish remover. This peel-off latex skin barrier shaves many minutes off DIY manis and pedis since you can slop some polish on without worrying about staying in the lines. When you’re done painting simply peel the latex away and you have a perfectly polished nail, no futzing necessary.
This Car Cleaner Literally Does It All
It seems like whenever I go to clean the car, there’s a special cleaner for the upholstery, another one for the dashboard, still another one for the tires. This Car Guys Super Cleaner makes all those other cleaners obsolete because it literally can do it all. Fabulous on upholstery and carpet stains, dashboard dust, tirewall grease since it uses nanotechnology to “lift away dirt and grime at the molecular level”. Judging by the 1,000+ rave reviews, this stuff is as good as its marketing copy!
This Sink Strainer Virtually Cleans Itself
The only thing worse than ironing and toilet cleaning is probably picking the unidentifiable gunk out of the sink strainer. This OXO Sink Strainer takes the disgusting work out of cleaning out rotting food and God knows what else because you simply flip the silicone basket inside out to empty the gunk, no wiping or touching it required!
This Multipurpose Slicer Makes Quick Work Of Fruits & Veg
Whether you’re prepping a salad or feeding small kids, there’s lots of tedious slicing involved. This multipurpose veggie and fruit slicer makes the prep job go so much faster since you just pop the food item in the slicer and press for instant, uniformly-sized pieces of food!
This Wireless Charging Pad Is Perfect If You’re Forgetful
Fun fact: your phone charges faster when you remember to plug it in. I’m guilty of setting my phone on my nightstand and coming back hours later to find it’s still at 3% because I forgot to plug in the darn cord! This wireless charging station makes it easier for scatterbrained people, since you just place your phone on it and walk away, instant charging!
This Makeup Brush Cleaner Takes The Pain Out Of Clean Up
Makeup brushes are just one more item on the long list of “things to clean” and quite frankly, they often get pushed to the very end of the queue and neglected because OHMYGOD I can’t. This quick makeup brush cleaner takes the pain out of the chore since you just swish the brushes on the sponge for five seconds and you’re done! And it uses only water so it won’t hurt your fancy brushes.
These Grooming Gloves Are Fun For You And Fluffy
Some pets hate being groomed, but when you use these deshedding gloves, they’ll think you’re just dishing out some extra love! These gloves are amazing because the hair won’t stick to them, you can use them wet or dry and the nubby textured glove surface does an excellent job of gently cleaning and redistributing natural oils for a healthy coat. They’re great for cats, dogs, horses and other small livestock and come in a bunch of sizes to fit everyone, even kids.
This Natural Stain Remover Might Be Witchcraft
Have kids or are just naturally a slob like me? You need this Puracy natural stain remover powered by six plant-based enzymes that work on clothes, upholstery, carpets to remove all the stains like spit-up (mmm!), pizza sauce, cosmetics, blood, grass and whatever else you get into, you filthy animal. The company even offers a money-back guarantee if you’re not happy, but judging by the 2,000+ five-star reviews, you’re gonna be satisfied!
This Hyperchiller Makes Iced Coffee In The Blink Of An Eye
I’m an iced tea junkie, but it’s so hard to wait for it to cool down in the fridge and ice just waters it down too much. This Hyperchiller beverage cooler makes short work of all that noise since you just pour your piping hot bevvie in and it’s ice cold in 60 seconds without dilution!
These Sock Locks Will Save My Sanity
Besides cutting food into tiny pieces for my tiny humans, I’m constantly adding to the lost sock pile that’s threatening to take over my house. These sock monsters take the crazy-making out of sock matching since you secure the pair together BEFORE they go through the wash cycle (which also stops the machine from eating random socks).
This Pet Leash With Umbrella Reduces Wet-Dog Smell
Your furry friend needs to go outside to do his business and get a walk in, weather forecast be damned. This pet leash with umbrella lets you go out on rainy days without having to chase pup around the house with a towel or deal with the wet-dog smell after the walk. And it looks flipping cute, too!
This Hand Santizer Protects You For 24 Hours
As a mom, I’m constantly sanitizing to prevent norovirus or whatever else germy kids are sharing freely. This next generation hand sanitizer protects your hands for a full 24 hours, so it’s no longer necessary to obsessively reapply! Besides saving time on sanitation, it also keeps you from being out of the game for a week or more since you’ll battle off colds and bugs like a superhero. I want to bathe in this stuff!
This Needle Threader Is Low-Key Genius
While I don’t sit around darning socks as my ancestors had to, kids (and hubby) are pretty tough on their clothes so I do need to mend an occasional rip or reattach a button. What part of these sewing tasks takes the longest? Threading the @#$*ng needle! This needle threading tool basically does the work for you, no frustration and swearing before you even start the job!
This Pet Hair Removal Broom Works Like Whoa
Don’t waste time getting your vacuum fixed because it’s clogged up with pet hair, use this FURemover pet hair removal broom first then vacuuming’s a breeze! The amount of raked-up pet hair in satisfied reviewers’ user photos is unreal and makes me want to hork up a hairball of my own. Fun bonus, the other side of the broom is a squeegee so you can easily clean their nose prints (pets or kids) off your windows and glass doors!
This Dishwasher Booster and Cleaner Leaves No Streaks Behind
It’s so disappointing when I go to pull freshly-washed glasses out of the dishwasher and notice pale streaky splotches all over. If you have hard or well water, you know my pain. This dishwasher booster and cleaner not only eliminates those unsightly spots but cleans your dishwasher at the same time! (Insert praise hands emoji here!)
This Dry Shampoo Gets You Out The Door Faster
Looking for an excuse to cancel plans? Sorry, introverts, washing your hair is no longer an acceptable reason with this Drop Dead Gorgeous dry shampoo. Simply sprinkle the geranium and lavender scented 100% natural powder on your roots, wait a sec, then comb for luscious, bouncy hair and no greasies in sight. Even better news – it’s made for brunettes and dark-haired beauties so it won’t leave a white residue!
This Meal Planner Will Keep You Uber-Organized
It’s 5 o’clock on a weeknight, do you know what’s for dinner? I sure as heck don’t, that’s why I need this meal planner so I’m not staring slack-jawed at a mostly-empty fridge while my kids put in an Oscar-worthy performance of dying from hunger. This handy little notepad includes a shopping list section so all your info’s in one place – smart!
These Wool Dryer Balls Slash Your Clothes Drying Time
I’m not convinced the washing machine is any faster than hand-washing, but the dryer is what seems to take forever and a day. These eco-friendly wool dryer balls slash your drying time by 20-40% so you’re on your way to clean, dry clothes so much faster. More feel-good news: they’re handmade in ethical working conditions by women from underprivileged communities in Nepal.
These Herb Scissors Are A French Chef In Your Kitchen Drawer
I like my herbes chopped fine but don’t have the patience to carefully julienne them to paper-thinness. No worries – these herb scissors let me cut my way to perfection by slicing tedious herbs into teensy tiny pieces à la professional chefs. Just think of them as a petit French chef that lives in your kitchen drawer.
This Microwave Pasta Maker Gives You Fasta Pasta
Don’t resort to nuking a cup of Ramen noodles when you’re hungry but short on time, use this microwave pasta maker instead for a real meal. Making pasta the traditional way is going to run you at least 20 minutes once you factor in time for the water to boil, but this plastic contraption gets the pasta on your plate in about 12 minutes! The lid also has a helpful portion measurer for dry spaghetti so you don’t carb-overload (as if that’s a real thing, says the carb addict).