Under-$30 Upgrades Your Bathroom Is Probably Missing

This tiny air purifier may be just what your bathroom has been missing. It’s designed to help capture dirt, dust, dander, odor and the plethora of icky airborne particles that abound in a bathroom, simply by plugging into an outlet. It’ll help keep your air fresher and cleaner — a no-brainer in a room that literally shares space with a toilet (for this reason, reviewers recommend using this next to litter boxes, too). It also doubles as a nightlight (another bathroom must-have) and an essential oil pad for aromatherapy.

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Few things ruin a restful night of sleep faster than having to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and turning on the blinding overhead light, jolting you awake and making it that much more difficult to fall back asleep once you’re done.

I always assumed nightlights were for children who struggled with being afraid of the dark. But when a previous roommate wordlessly put a nightlight in our bathroom, I quickly realized how subtly revolutionary these practical little gadgets are. I absolutely love never having to turn on that overhead light once it’s late at night — so much so that once I moved into a different place, I, too, wordlessly bought and plugged in my own nightlights in order to convert a new group of roommates.

These GE 40 lumens LED nightlights are light-sensing, meaning that they stay off during the daytime and light up at dusk or when the room is dark, providing just enough soft illumination for you to easily see and get around without hurting your eyes (and making these lights energy-efficient, to boot). Plus, they’re sleek enough that they leave you room to utilize the outlet underneath. I love how they rotate a full 360-degrees so you can direct their light directly to where you want it. I swear by them for my bathroom as well as for staircases and the kitchen; once you realize how useful these are, one won’t be enough.

If you’re not using a tongue scraper, you may be missing out on an oral hygiene step that’ll help freshen your breath, make your mouth feel cleaner and even make food and water taste better (one reviewer even writes that they never knew what tap water tasted like until after using this). Tongue scrapers help remove the coating of soft plaque, bacteria and other gunk off your tongue that can cause bad breath and buildup of plaque. They are more effective than simply brushing your tongue with your toothbrush (after all, toothbrushes were made to clean teeth, not tongues). Reviewers love this highly-rated stainless steel version by Dr. Tung’s, which provides a gentle yet thorough cleaning thanks to its precise curve and comfortable handles. It includes a fabric travel pouch for safekeeping.

This practical, incongruous toilet paper holder provides hidden storage for wet wipes, tampons, pads or anything else you might need at a moment’s notice. It also doubles as a convenient shelf that you can place your phone or room-freshening spray on, with a lipped edge to help prevent your items from accidentally sliding off. You can install it easily with adhesive or with screws; both are included. It’s available in four colors.

There’s little worse than having to touch the lid or seat of your toilet, whether you're lowering the lid after use or, worse, having to put the seat down after someone else uncouthly left it up.

These toilet seat handles are designed specifically to replace this shudder-worthy experience with a cleaner and more convenient place to raise the lid, allowing you to move the toilet seat via a handle rather than having to touch the toilet. (It may even serve as a visual reminder to those you live with to — please — lower the seat after they’re done using it.)

The handles attach with 3M adhesives and include thin adhesives for toilets with flat bottoms and thicker ones for toilets with curved bottoms. The adhesives are designed not to leave residue once they are removed.

Reviewers swear by the award-winning TubShroom hair catcher tool, which is carefully designed to snuggly fit inside your drain to neatly and effortlessly catch both human and pet hair. It’ll help prevent your drains from clogging, so you don’t have to stand in a pool of dirty water every time you attempt to shower yourself clean, and possibly also saving you from expensive visits from the plumber.

Best of all? It’s super easy to keep clean — just wipe the TubShroom off and re-insert it into your drain when it's time for a refresh, no chemical cleaners required. It fits standard 1.5-inch to 1.75-inch bath tub drains and also comes in a version for bathroom sinks. It’s available in multiple colors and in packs of two.

This durable toilet stool is absolutely beloved by reviewers, who say the resulting squatting position helps them relieve themselves faster, more easily and with less strain, especially for those with hemorrhoids and constipation. After all, according to the Squatty Potty, squatting while pooping is a more natural position for our bodies than sitting up at 90 degrees. Yet not just any stool will do the trick — the Squatty Potty is crafted with a slight slope so your heels will be positioned slightly higher than your toes, an extra lift for your body that makes a difference for your colon while you’re on the toilet. It also features an anti-slip surface to help you feel stable and comfortable, and also makes the stool easier to clean. Best of all? It requires no assembly, so you can start using it as soon as it arrives.

It’s designed to accommodate folks up to 250 lbs. and fits around standard toilets.