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Those dirty dishes are in the sink because *you* left them there.

As a Deputy Editorial Director for BuzzFeed’s shopping team, I love to get into the weeds of why a product’s worth the money by deep diving into customer reviews, and product-testing as much as possible.

There are nearly too many wonderful things about living solo to list. But I'll try a few: You can watch the sea hag episode of Widow's Bay for the 49th time if you want, you don't have to share a closet, you can try out eight hair masks in the shower at a time for science.... You get my drift. But when you live by yourself, you also have to do the tidying and cleaning because the mess is all yours. As someone who relishes living alone, here are lots of things that have made a difference in keeping my place cleaned and organized without it feeling like it's a second full-tme job. 

The kit comes with 60 gel stamps and 5 different stamp designs. Each stamp can be flushed about 150 times.

Promising review: "I love the look of these and the smell. They were easy to apply to the toilet and lasted a long time. The box came with so many that I don’t need to buy more for a long time. 10/10 a bathroom must-have." —Jon Mark

Promising review: "I recently moved into my first solo apartment and I knew I needed a step ladder to reach things because your girl is 5'2. This ladder is very sturdy, and I love that it folds up easily so I can hide it in my storage room. Would definitely recommend." —kmill

Promising review: "Bought the 2-pack. Wanted my mother to be able to reach rarely used items in the topmost cupboard without getting on a step stool if my sisters and I weren’t available. I’m using the other one to pick up trash when out mudlarking. Sturdy and convenient that it folds up." —Kristen

Cup Cozy Pillow is a small biz as seen on TV specializing in cleverly designed cup holders. 

Promising review: "I liked that it worked with cups and mugs, perfect for clumsy friends." —YAZ

"This thing is great! I’m home on maternity leave with my new baby and spend most of my time on the couch under a sleeping baby. This product makes it easy for me to keep my drinks, remote, etc close by even with crazy dogs running around. It’s a little more expensive than I would have liked but it works and I love it so money well spent!" —Amber

Get it from Amazon for $34.99 (available in more colors).

Promising review: "OMG this is disgusting!!! I hope this isn't all just cat pee that shows up cause there is a lot! I bought this because I thought my cat was peeing in one room and couldn't find the exact spot so I bought this. Found the spot and more. Would recommend." —Momof3boys

Promising review: "The water recently changed in our areas, and I noticed this awful blue staining. I had used this back in August and let it sit overnight, and it worked wonders! It worked so well, I purposely let my shower get gross again to take a picture to share with others. I work a demanding schedule and do not have time for deep cleaning ALL the time. This works wonders without scrubbing and no horrific fumes. I bought it for my almost 70-year-old Mom, too. She was so sick of scrubbing. Now she uses it bi-weekly! Highly recommend!" —Amelia

Promising review: "I have a golden retriever and the shedding is out of control. My fabric sofa is constantly covered in hair and I finally decided to try this after reading an article about popular TikTok products. The reviews do not lie, this thing works magic!! I wish I had taken a before and after picture because the difference is noticeable. I watched the video tutorial before I tried it to ensure I was using it properly and everything he says is true, you do really have to put your arm to work with vigorous back and forth movement! However, I find it's a great arm workout and it works wonders." —Joanne Ertel

Includes three brushes that'll attached to a standard handheld drill. The white is a soft bristle, best for wheels, carpet, upholstery, glass, and leather; the yellow is a medium bristle, best for bathroom, bathtub, shower, tile, and porcelain; the green is a medium bristle, best for kitchen, stoves, cabinets, countertops, and linoleum; the blue is a medium bristle, best for boats, pools, canoe/kayaks, hot tubs, and plastics; the red is a stiff bristle, best for outdoors, siding, brick, garage, and gutter; and the black is a hard bristle, best for grills, loose paint, furnaces, ovens, and industrial use.

Drill Brush is a small business based in New York!

Promising review: "I’m in love with this. I manage many apartment properties and finding people to do the cleaning has been tricky business, so I end up having to get in and clean these horrendous filth pods tenants lived in and left me to deal with when they move out. The ovens and stove tops are usually the worst, and I absolutely hate cleaning. I came across this drill attachment set, and let me tell you, it helped me tremendously! I still had to get in with a putty knife on some of them but it really cut down my elbow-grease time. If it wasn’t for this drill attachment, I think my arms would have just fallen off trying to clean it as good as I did! My only con would be that it doesn’t have any extension of any sort, so I really had my drill all up in that oven, but well worth it." —alicia haats

Get it from Amazon for $19.99+ (available in six bristle types).

Check out a TikTok of the rectangular lazy Susan in action. 

Promising review: "This is perfect for short people with big refrigerators! I could never reach anything on the top shelf and had to grab a step stool, now everything fits perfectly on this, and I can reach them all! It glides great and is very sturdy." —Tara Mann

I live in an apartment without a dishwasher, and I honestly use that as an excuse to order takeout food instead of cooking. But, as soon as I got my hands on a bottle of this stuff (regular Dawn is my go-to dish soap, BTW), I put it to use on both a saucepan I used to make homemade enchilada sauce *and* the casserole dish I baked those enchiladas, which had a ton of caked-on food. It really does work like I say it does! Like, scary well.

Get the starter pack from Amazon for $17.50 (also available in lots of other scents, including a Free & Clear option).

Promising review: "I love these! Since I started using them my sheets haven’t popped off once and that used to be a several-times-a-night problem because I toss and turn when I sleep. Thank you, TikTok!" —Gabby

Get a set of four from Amazon for $8.99 (available in three colors). 

Checkout a TikTok of the duvet clips in action. 

Pinion Pins is a small business specializing in home improvement products. 

Promising review: "I was super worried about if I would have enough of the Pinions, and I totally do! My duvet is kinda thick and the Pinions pierced through with no problems! Plus with a little extra room if I had some extra layers. I REALLY like how you have to have the magnet tool to pull them apart. Absolutely no moving! Don’t walk, RUN TO BUY THIS. I also like how unnoticeable they are." —Abigayle Mishler

Get a pack of eight from Amazon for $17.95. 

Promising review: "So I saw this tiny trash can on TikTok, and I was moving into a tiny studio apartment and thought this would be perfect. Turns out it's one of the best things I've ever bought. I installed mine with the over-the-cabinet hooks (also comes with adhesive stickers) on my kitchen island, and it is so convenient I can't even express with words. The lid is on this nifty hinge so you can open it by flipping the lid up, or by sliding it forward and it folds down out of the way. I usually keep it open while I'm cooking but I can close it super quickly if I see the dog coming. There is a little pull tab for easy opening. It is so easy to use and easy to clean. It's also so cute! I use my plastic grocery bags as trash can liners for this and they fit perfectly. It comes with a roll of bags as well. The lid lifts off easily to change bags out. Clicks back on easily over the new liner. Can't recommend this enough!! This is going on my list of 'best things I've ever spent my money on.'" —Ginger

Get it from Amazon for $20.39 (available in three colors). 

Promising review: "These are my absolute favorite. They are stretchy and durable. They smell great and keep my house from smelling bad when I have food trash. And I love that they are pink." —Ashley van Kirk

Bonus: There's a lil' side pocket for your phone, glasses, or other nighttime accessories. 

Promising review: "I did not realize that these were out there until I watched a TikTok about one. This has saved my pillows. I do have a headboard, but there was about a three-inch gap between it and my mattress. This has stopped my pillows from sliding down in between. I have had no issues at all with it. I did let it sit for almost 72 hours while it was getting its shape back from being in a shipping container, but after that, it was perfect!!! I highly recommend." —Miss_Beck

Get it from Amazon for $20.99+ (available in three colors and Twin–California King). 

It also includes four dry-erase markers! 

Promising review: "Saw it on TikTok being used as a dinner menu for the week! It will help me be more organized and add little chores that needs to completed or important reminders. Love it, no complaints." —Clarince Thomas

Promising review: "Effective at keeping the toilet bowl clean and very easy to use." —Amazon Customer

It's super quick to install, and one cartridge can last up to three months!

Promising review: "I have hard water, and the constant ring in the toilet was super aggravating. This little thing took all of 30 seconds to install, and has kept my bowl ring-free for over a month now. I LOVE it. I can smell the bleach a tiny bit when the toilet is flushed, but that's not a bad thing; I kinda like that, as I know it's working. Also, excellent design that delivers on its promises. Please run and check out one of these for every toilet in your house." —AmazonShopper

Promising review: "Cleaned stove top and the hood vents. Then, I had to clean the sticky grease from the sink. Worked very easily and without chemicals. Easy to use and to refill. The attachments make various jobs easy to clean." —Lori

Promising review: "I'm a clean freak with hard water, and this stuff took off the build-up like magic. I would recommend using a slightly damp scratch pad. It takes a little elbow grease, but I have tried a ton of products, and this one is the only one that worked!" —Lori

Promising review: "Okay, so these cleaner pods are awesome! I didn't know how gross our Keurig was until today. The big mason jar on the left is when I actually ran the cleaner through, plus one rinse cycle. The middle one is another rinse cycle, and the last one, on the right, is the last one I did. So yes, I would suggest running two or three rinse cycles instead of the recommended one. But it's still an awesome product for the price! I have a Keurig 2.0, and I had no issues." —Mads0421

Get a pack of six from Amazon for $9.99.

Promising review: "Saw on TikTok (don’t judge) and automatically added to cart. So easy to use, takes probably a minute to fully bubble up and clean, and you’re left with a clean sink! I use with other drain cleaning products, but would 100% recommend for weekly maintenance." —Jessica Hamilton

Check out a TikTok of the foaming pink drain cleaner in action. One reviewer said it cleaned five sinks with one bottle!

Promising review: "Wow! I don't think I've ever been more excited to use a cleaning product before. Who knew you could get so much satisfaction from a drain cleaner. I could probably make an ASMR video and post it, as it is that satisfying! Even though I had to angle this over my sink drain, to avoid the low faucet, it worked perfectly. The foam went down the drain and up through the overflow, bringing lots of black, yucky gunk with it. I have used lots of drain cleaners before, but not one that actually came up through the overflow. I'd never even considered what stuff was in there. It did a great job of cleaning everything out and it left the sink smelling fresh and clean as well." —Amazon Customer 

These work on almost any surface: leather, fabric, furniture, hardwood, pans, metal, WHEREVER. And! They'll clean up grease, oil, tar, dirt, ink, lipstick, nail polish, food, and a whole lot more.

Promising review: "Only within a couple of seconds of using these wipes, I get a clean result. I am a busy mom of three, and need something quick that ACTUALLY works. This product is amazing. I would highly recommend. Renting an apartment, it's hard to clean the walls without removing the paint. This gets the job done 100%." —Sirena

Get a pack of 90 from Amazon for $14.98 (available in nine sizes/packs).

Promising review: "I have a golden retriever, and the shedding is out of control. My fabric sofa is constantly covered in hair, and I finally decided to try this after reading an article about popular TikTok products. The reviews do not lie, this thing works magic!! I wish I had taken a before-and-after picture because the difference is noticeable. I watched the video tutorial before I tried it to ensure I was using it properly and everything he says is true, you do really have to put your arm to work with vigorous back and forth movement! However, I find it's a great arm workout, and it works wonders." —Joanne Ertel

Get it from Amazon for $23.99+ (available in four colors). 

Promising review: "Absolutely works as described. Removes the gunk, discoloration, and crud from the bottom of pots easily. Wet the sponge with water, start scrubbing and watch the magic begin in seconds. Minimal elbow grease needed." —Marty Marion

Promising review: "I went in skeptical, I'm not going to lie. We had grease spilled on our brand-new paver patio. The grease had been sitting for a few weeks, and I saw an ad for this stuff. I ordered it to try because why not? Well, I'll be damned because this took the spots right off! No evidence we ever spilled anything! I'd buy it again." —Susan

Promising review: "After using this product, I am happy to report that my $5 investment saved me over $500. I was ready to replace my dishwasher due to super cloudy glasses, residue, and dishes just not getting clean. Then, I became aware that the water softener was no longer doing its job so I had the rental company replace it. Dishwasher performance improved somewhat. I decided to do two more loads before deciding to purchase a new one. Then I saw a product test review for Affresh. I was ordering some stuff from Amazon anyway so I added that to my order. When it came, I tossed one of the tablets into the bottom of the full machine per the instructions and ran the regular cycle. I did not expect the results I got! The glassware that I thought was permanently etched and ruined came out like new. Same with cutlery. The difference is unbelievable. I will use this faithfully every month, as recommended. I can even put it on my subscribe and save order so I will get a new pack every six months. I am amazed!" —Sheila

Get a six-month supply from Amazon for $8.99.

You run your bath, add the cleaner, watch the gunk emerge, drain your bath, and then clean off the gunk! Btw, Oh Yuk is a small biz. 

Promising review: "It's disgusting to see what comes out of your jets when you use this product. I can't believe we bathed in this! I've run bleach and dish detergent through my jets before, and that combination never cleaned with this efficiency. I highly recommended this product." —Amazon Customer

Promising review: "My parents have a washer that's a few decades old. I used to make DIY 'detergent' by grating bars of soap. We all used to use wayyyy too much detergent. We have a lot of pet hair, etc. Needless to say, we had a lot of buildup, and it stunk so bad. I added 2 tablets to the longest hot cycle and look at all that nasty comes out. So gross but satisfying." —Hannah

Oh Yuk is a small biz specializing in cleaning solutions. Their jetted hot tub cleaner is a fan fave!

Promising review: "The most important is it cleaned the sensors in the drum. Now, the machine smells fresh and works as it should. Ran front loader on normal setting, hot water." —Lorraine

Get it from Amazon for $21.99 (enough for four cleanings). 

Promising review: "It’s a little hard to squeeze but that totally makes up for the AMAZING results. I was embarrassed about our tubs because the people we bought our house from didn’t caulk or seal them properly and this resulted in mildew buildup. I tried EVERYTHING until I saw this on TikTok, I believe — MIRACLE FREAKING WORKER. I will be buying more, the only complaint I will ever have is the shipping got mixed up but that is not a problem and was fixed very easily!" —Brooklyn Nguyen

Promising review: "I’ve tried everything I could think of to get my oven clean, then came across this on Amazon. It smells like green apples to me, which is far better than most cleaning products. The picture was taken during the cleaning process of the inside of the glass door. I’m amazed!" —Star

Get it from Amazon for $4.86 (also available in a bathroom spray and window and glass spray).

Promising review: "Our poor older pup started having some incontinence issues and had several accidents in the house. I was really frustrated until I found these. They work amazingly well. They're small, so if the area was larger I had to use two or three, but they pulled up stains and saved the house from being smelly. I even used one on an older stain (that I'm pretty sure wasn't pet related) and it came up after leaving it on for about 24 hours. I make sure to keep a supply of these in the house at all times now." —MC

Get a pack of 20 from Amazon for $26.11.

My bathroom sink tends to stop up far too easily and this does a drastically better job of clearing the gunk than Drano or Liquid Plumbr. I also love that it's noncorrosive (I live in a pre-war apartment building with old pipes) and odorless (no one loves feeling like a bug being fumigated in their own home)!

Promising review: "OK... So I have to do a little review on this product BECAUSE I have had a stopped-up kitchen sink and have LITERALLY tried EVERYTHING down to the industrial products with NO luck. I decided to go on Amazon and read a few reviews. This is the one I decided to go with. I only used one chamber, let it sit for an hour, and then used boiling water. My sink is NO LONGER stopped up!!! I saved a plumber bill and this was $11.97. HUGE win for this woman!!" —Tabpeach

Promising review: "I have a finished carpeted basement that my dog peed on… mix in that horrible smell and basement smell. I’ve tried so many products, and nothing worked. Then I tried this and it is the only thing to actually neutralize the smell. For the comments saying that the spray bottle sucks, I think they are using it wrong? Mine worked perfectly fine. Just turn it to a mist setting, and it was perfect for the carpet." —Damian velez

Promising review: "I. AM. Shook! The previous tenant kept this apartment NASTY. I moved in the day he moved out and was scrubbing this nasty drain for months to no avail. I let this sit for an hour and came back just to peek and wow. The difference is crazy. Now I feel better about taking baths in my own home. Amazing. 9/10 because the instructions says rub lightly. I tried that way first and almost thought it was a dub (Meaning it wouldn’t work lol) But it definitely worked after letting it sit." —Julia R.

Promising review: "This SAVED me my rent deposit!! I had stupidly put pots on the floor thinking the terra-cotta tray wouldn’t mold through to the wood floor (wrong!).

This took the mold and water damage right off! I did first try baking soda/water mixture which helped get the mold off, but these wipes are what saved the water damage! Any light-colored water damage will be easily fixed by this, but it seemed that any dark or black-water damage wasn’t fixable with this." —Al

It works on wood, tile, fiberglass, showers, floors, counters, and grout!

RMR Brands is a small business specializing in professional grade cleaning solutions for your home.

Promising review: "I bought this RMR spray with low expectations, even with the good reviews. I sprayed a small patch in the evening and let it sit overnight. The next morning, the grout where I had sprayed was as white as if it were brand new. I decided to spray the entire wall and part of the roof. The next day everything I sprayed had no visible mold. By the third night, I was pretty much spraying everything left in the shower. This stuff is amazing." —John Werner

Get a 32-oz bottle on Amazon for $16.99+ (available in four sizes and multiple quantities).

Promising reviews: "Bottle Bright was what I've used for years in powder form in professional kitchens and specifically CATERING. You know those HUGE carafes you see at a hotel or wedding? Yeah, those suckers get GROSS. Bottle Bright every week — we'd let em' soak over night, and rinse in the morning. They looked new for YEARS. So clearly I use it at home for all of my stainless carafes (coffee pot) and travel cups. Works great in bottles too obviously." —RuffTuffCreamPuff

Get a box of 12 tablets from Amazon for $7.99.

* Products That’ll Make Your Home More Comfortable *And* Stylish

* Products That’ll Help Disappear Home Eyesores So Well, Your Space Will Feel Totally Refreshed

* Things That’ll Help You Make All Kinds of Home Upgrades You Thought Were Too Difficult to Try/Out of Your Realm of Possibility

* Just 30 Under-$10 Home Upgrades You Can Do In An Hour Or Less

* Quick Home DIYs You Can Pull Off, Even If You Couldn’t Pick A Screwdriver Out Of A Lineup

Plus, finds from Walmart, Wayfair, and World Market.

BuzzFeed Shopping is service journalism first: our writers and editors spend all day shopping so you don’t have to, vetting products, fact-checking brand claims, and surfacing what actually helps in real life. We center readers over revenue, recommend products with authenticity (using real experiences, not ad-speak), and reflect our diverse audience, inclusive of a variety of price points, people, and needs. We cut through fake deals, favor useful info over glossy fluff, and recommend both budget and splurge options with context so you can decide what’s right for you — and still have a little fun along the way.

The reviews for this post have been edited for length and clarity.