When you move into a new house, it can take a bit to get settled in. You have to clean, get everything organized, make it cozy and livable…it’s a lot of work. Having recently moved, I wanted to share some Rental Home or New Home Essentials That Make Life Easier.
This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com and we are so excited to partner with them to share these fun new home essentials!
For me, the most important parts of making a house feel like a home (beyond the people) boil down to functionality, cleanliness, comfort, and personality. The main rooms I focus on are the rooms we spend the most time in–the bathrooms, kitchen, and bedrooms then the living room and office after that.
These Rental Home or New Home Essentials will make all of this come true–they’ll help you get organized, help you clean, give you comfort, and make your personality shine through!
Rental Home or New Home Essentials That Make Life Easier
My Cloud Home from Western Digital
Organization. It makes such a big difference in your home, functioning in life, and saving your sanity. Whether it’s keeping all your important documents in one place, storing photos, saving family videos, or working from home, having a My Cloud Home from Western Digital can help you keep everything digital neatly in one place.
As someone who frequently breaks computers (losing data and pictures that didn’t have an updated backup) and misplaces her loose hard drives, I cannot tell you how amazing this is! I can store everything in one place…for work and family life. My husband can store any files for his college courses. The files are stored all in one place and can be accessed easily from anywhere in the house or even away from home via their mobile app, desktop app, or MyCloud.com.
The device connects to your WiFi router so you can set your devices to automatically back up (pictures, documents, etc) so you don’t have to stress over forgetting to back up and losing things. This also means less mess on your devices. Scan your important paperwork into the computer and back up on here too and you’ll have less mess in your house too!
With My Cloud Home from Western Digital, there are no monthly storage fees. The apps are free to use. At no extra cost, you can even create separate accounts so everyone in your family can have their own private personal cloud storage space (for us, that would be my husband’s college work, my business content, important paperwork, and a family one with pictures and videos).
I am so excited to be able to access all of my family documents, blog files, and family photos from anywhere. Since I have computers break often (as I mentioned earlier…all this blogging and graphic design wears them out), my blog content is currently split between two computers, some USBs, and several external hard drives. Now I can keep all the content I need handy readily available rather than jumping from computer to device to computer.
Get hooked up in your home! You can purchase the My Cloud Home from Western Digital from Best Buy and several other popular retailers.
It is available in different sizes:
Because you are my awesome readers, you can also receive a special 15% discount from for a limited time. Enter the code WDBABBLEBOX to receive your discount. This promotion ends 4/30/18, is valid for one use per shopper, and does not combine with any other promotional offer.
Comet® Bleach Powder and Foaming Bath Spray
I’m all about getting a house super clean before moving in. It took me days to deep clean the house we are renting, but I felt so much better once it was done. Comet® Bleach Powder and Foaming Bath Spray is tough on gunk on all surfaces.
Growing up, I remember my mom always using Comet® products and they helped get everything so clean. Bonus points…they’re versatile too! The main areas that really need a deep cleaning when you move in are the bathrooms, the kitchen (those stoves can get pretty gross), and mud rooms or anywhere else that may have collected dirt from muddy shoes.
Pssst…want to know a little secret? I don’t even have to do the cleaning with Comet® myself because my husband will do it!
Comet® Bleach Powder is tough on grime, but gentle enough that it won’t leave a scratch. This all purpose bleach cleaner is great for cleaning and deodorizing many surfaces: stainless steel, ceramic tile, natural marble, porcelain, fiberglass, Corian*, and solid surfaces. Comet® Foaming Bath Spray, on the other hand, is a handy bathroom cleaner that leaves surfaces shiny (it can also be used in the kitchen). Spray, wipe clean, done!
Waterpik Shower Heads
Whether you’ve had a long day at work or you just need some motivation to get up and start the day, a relaxing shower can go a long way. What can make that shower even more relaxing? An awesome shower head, of course!
The Brushed Nickel PowerSpray+TM Fixed Mount Shower Head (model YBC-939T) has tons of great spray options and, best of all, the NEW PowerPulse Massage® that is engineered to maximize water flow and spray for 2x the massaging power compared to other competing shower heads. Talk about a power shower!
Y’all, momming is hard, especially when you homeschool. Half the time I don’t get my morning shower, so I most definitely look forward to my nighttime shower massage to soothe the stress of the day! The massaging power of the Waterpik Shower Head feels so good…and it’s pretty (because that’s important too, right?).
Right now you can get $10 off experiencing your very own Waterpik shower massage by purchasing this shower head at .
Wemo Mini Wi-Fi Smart Plug
Do you ever leave the house and realize you forgot to turn something off or on? Thankfully I’ve never been one to leave my curling iron on (I know many who have), but I have forgotten to turn off a lava lamp. Thank goodness nothing went wrong, but it could have!
The Wemo Mini Wi-Fi Smart Plug helps prevent situations like this! Plug it in to the wall, download the free app, connect it to Wi-Fi, then plug in the device(s) you wish to control. That’s it! So easy. As soon as you remember that you forgot to turn something off, you can access your Wemo from anywhere in the world and turn off the connected items remotely!
Get multiple and hook up your smart home so you can control many items when you are away. Set up automatic lighting; have certain lights in your home set up on an automatic timer so it looks like you are still home when you are really away on vacation. Time your Christmas lights so you only have to use that electricity at night time when they can be seen.
We already know what we will be using ours for mainly…our turtle/fish tank! When we go out of town, we have people take care of them (feeding, etc), but we don’t have them mess with turning the lights on and off so they aren’t left on too long. Now we won’t have to worry about that! We can time the lights so they stay on during the day and turn off safely for night. It will make it look like we are still home and it will keep our pets safe and happy!
Because you’re special, dear reader, I have another extra special discount for you should you decide to get one of this nifty smart technology. Through April 12, 2018, get $5 off a Wemo Mini!! Just use this code when purchasing: BWM-KX5B-M5XR-E5RK.
Smooth Top® Easy Liner® Brand Shelf Liner
Depending on the house you get, the shelves in closets may need…a little help. We’ve had ones that are just gross (even after they’ve been cleaned) with paint peeling. We’ve also had wire shelving that was difficult for properly holding certain items we needed to store on them, especially in our pantry.
Our solution was to line them with Easy Liner® shelf liners by Duck® brand. We’ve had many different color liners over the years. These are a great way to promote functionality of your home while showing off some of your personality.
Since these liners do not adhere to your shelving, they won’t leave any marks or tear up your shelving and can be reused many times. The top is smooth for ease of grabbing out items and ease of clean-up, but don’t worry, the bottom is grippy so your shelf liners won’t fall out either.
Easy Liner® shelf liners are so easy to use. You can cut them to the sizes you need and, get this, they are machine washable! Seriously, all these years of using them…how did I not know this?! What a time saver!
You can use this handy non-adhesive liner in all sorts of locations: kitchen cabinets, pantry shelving, bathroom cabinets (even medicine cabinets), linen closets, desks, dressers, the dreaded under-the-sink cabinet area, in the garage, and they even make cute photo backgrounds…just saying.
Get just the shelf liners you need to fit your home. They come in a variety of colors and styles and widths range from 12″ to 20″ to fit spaces of all shapes and sizes. Find them in a variety of retail and online stores at suggested retail price of $5.00-$6.00 or so, depending on the size and style you choose. For a limited time, get $1.00 off of two rolls with this coupon.
Trinkets That Show Your Personality
Trinkets that show your personality are really important in making your house a home, in my opinion, because they are a unique way to show your interests to guests or as a reminder to you of who you are. These can be pictures of your family, paintings, porcelain dolls, houseplants, or anything else that immediately shows who you are and what you are passionate about. We make crafts and art together and find neat furniture and decorations that fit our personality (well, mine…mostly cows and chickens and farmhouse things) and it makes the house feel so much more…homey.
You’ll love these tips for furnishing your home to accommodate guests after a PCS.
Read also: 10 Ways to Make Your Rental House Feel Like Home and 8 Quick Tips to Transform Your Home Decor
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