The Most Life-Changing Items You’ve Bought for Less Than $100

Since we’ve flipped to a work-from-home, stay-at-home, see-none-of-the-people lifestyle, it’s been a long time since I’ve been influenced by a co-worker or friend’s stuff.

The “Oh my God, where did you get that?” conversation used to be pretty common around the office and get-togethers, and I miss it.

Some of the most simple, life-changing things I’ve purchased in my years were thanks to coworkers showing me just how amazing and life-changing things like pop sockets or blue-blocking glasses can be for very little money. And yes, maybe these things don’t sound amazing to everyone, but I drop my phone significantly less and am not peeling my eyes open at the end of the day. Little victories, you know?

Thankfully, after the Reddit community tossed this question out there, I've learned about tons of life-changing things that are impressive and cheap.

Here are some of the other fun things my friends chimed in with when asked what the most life-changing thing they’ve purchased for $100:

• A portable shower for the beach. Not only does it provide a nice warm rinse at the end of the day, but it keeps all that sand at the beach where it belongs.
• A curved shower curtain rod that instantly provides more room in the shower.
• A wet brush. If you haven’t experienced pain-free detangling of long hair, you need this.
• A bamboo memory foam mattress topper is just at the threshold of $100 but is like sleeping on a cloud and worth the price if you don’t have the big bucks for a new mattress.
• Rice cooker. Why waste time getting it wrong when the rice cooker gets it done correctly 100 percent of the time. Plus, if you’re wild, you can cook non-rice things in it.
• A pet-hair remover roller for the furniture. All the cats, none of the hair everywhere.
• The Squatty Potty. Even if this person gave the answer as a joke, the thousands of reviews are enough to make you think about giving it a try.
• Water shoes. From a fashion sense, people don't love them but totally worth it for the feeling of not having your feet touch something underwater, especially since we are a coastal community.
• A weighted blanket to calm all of your sleep troubles.
• A grill mat so veggies can't fall in.
• An air fryer to turn all of your veggies into crispy delights.
• A child life-vest so the whole family can play safely in the water together.
• A driver's license. Not the first thing that comes to mind for most people but definitely life-changing to have.
• A Yeti tumbler for drinking incognito at functions.
• A babysitter. Buying time is something they say you can't do, but you can when you buy a babysitter.
• A leaf blower. Sure, you can get a super-duper leaf blower for many hundreds of dollars, but an $80 leaf blower is still going to save your back from hours of raking.
• A weighted eye mask. Lots of people said a weighted blanket was the buy of a lifetime, but the pressure of a weighted sleep mask can block out light AND send signals to your brain that its time to relax.
• Prescription sunglasses. Eye health is important, yes. Fashion is also important and wearing sunglasses over your normal glasses isn't quite the look most of us are going for.

So now that you're thinking about it, what's the most life-changing thing you've bought for under $100? And what are you going to buy from this list to bring some life-changey-ness to your life?