21 helpful products we've bought for our apartments

TheInsider Picksteam writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.Your home has a big impact on your quality of life, and mitigating those small daily annoyances you experience around the house can vastly improve your time spent there.I asked my Insider Picks colleagues what the best purchases they ever made for their apartments were. Find all 21 below.Find more smart home devices we love here.Whether it sounds hyperbolic or superficial, your home has a drastic impact on your quality of life. The little inconveniences and annoyances you learn to live around become a fixture from day to day, and, over time, become too much a part of your life.Thats why were all so willing to spend the money on exorbitant rents, resilient plants, and smart home features. We want our home to be peaceful, comforting, and useful.In my own self-interest, I crowdsourced from my colleagues on the Insider Picks team to find out what they consider the best purchases they ever made for their own apartments. Below, youll find the 21 wed call the best and most important home purchases weve yet made, in case any might help you too:Below are 21 of the best apartment purchases we ever made:Smart lightsPhilips Hue White Ambiance Smart Bulb Starter Kit, $120, available at AmazonI'm a pretty low-maintenance person, but the one luxury I'd buy over and over again is this set of $120 smart bulbs. They have over 50,000 shades of white light to play with for the perfect atmosphere, and they work with a pre-set schedule, timers, and smart assistants like Amazon's Alexa. I always have the ideal light for whatever I want to do and enjoy at home (reading, relaxing, movie-watching, etc.). I wake up to warm, pseudo-natural light naturally every morning before my alarm, and fall asleep naturally before my bedtime because I've timed the lights to decrease from bright to mellow half an hour before I'd like to fall asleep. They may be the best and most unexpected improvement to my quality of life at home that I've ever made.And even though they're ridiculously expensive upfront, you're mostly paying for the smart bridge which can control up to 50 smart lights. Replacements are comparatively much cheaper.Mara Leighton, Insider Picks reporterA streaming stickAmazon Fire TV Stick, $49.99, available at AmazonWhether theyre all your own or youre mooching off a friend or family member, having access to a handful of streaming services is the norm nowadays. The Fire TV Stick provides an easy-to-navigate home base for your Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, and other streaming accounts. As a small device, its easy to take it on the go, too, so you can continue enjoying shows and movies on big screens wherever you have a TV.Connie Chen, Insider Picks reporter Vacuum storage bagsSpaceSaver Premium Reusable Vacuum Storage Bags, $25.49, available at AmazonI've said it before, but these cheap vacuum bags are the best space-saving hack I've figured out yet for a small apartment. I fill the bags with seasonal or sentimental clothes (like big puffy jackets or nostalgic college T-shirts) and use a vacuum to suck out the air to a fraction of their typical size. They can be stacked inside empty suitcases to maximize your storage even more (or even used to travel if you're checking and don't mind more weight).Mara Leighton, Insider Picks reporterSee the rest of the story at Business Insider
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