Five $20 and Under Bathroom Upgrades You Should Buy Right Now

It’s easy to think of bathroom upgrades in terms of big-ticket items and total remodel jobs, but we’ve rounded up some great cheap upgrades you can enjoy right now for less than $20 each.

The bathroom gets a lot of use in a home but it’s all too easy to overlook it. One day it looks pretty put together and you’re happy with it, but before you know it the bath mat looks like it got beat up by a wood chipper and you’re wondering why you never get around to replacing all this busted up stuff. We’re here to help. We’ve rounded up our favorite cheap bathroom upgrades, all of which cost under $20, so you can enjoy a little bit of budget-friendly luxury and convenience in your bathroom.

Better Living Soap and Shower Dispenser ($19.58)

I’ve had one of these Better Living dispensers in every shower in my house for years now and it’s, possibly, one of my favorite inexpensive bathroom upgrades. For just shy of twenty bucks you can get rid of three different bottles from your shower. It comes with waterproof labels (Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash, etc.), adhesive (you can use either the included two-sided mounting tape or the little tube of silicone caulk), and you can mount it flat to the shower wall or in the corner with ease.

Simple Human Step Trashcan ($15)

Simplehuman products are really nice and, typically, really expensive. This petite 6-liter pedal trashcan offers the solid design and construction you’d expect from the company but you can grab it for only $15.

Why use a pedal can and a small one at that? Pedal cans are great for bathrooms because they contain odors, keep pets out, and conceal the contents of the trash can until it’s time to empty it. Not only are smaller cans like this little one great for bathrooms with limited spaces but the size also encourages you to empty the bin more so you don’t end up with a giant compressed block of makeup wipes and discarded tissues funking up your bathroom.

TubShroom Hair Catcher ($13)

The TubShroom falls soundly into the category of things that look stupid and can’t possibly work but absolutely do work and the only stupid part is how you feel when you realize you should have bought the $13 little rubber plug years ago.

Most hair catchers are total garbage as they either let too many hairs get by or they quickly clog up and you’re left trying to deal with it during your shower to get the water flowing down the drain again. The TubShroom’s design is quick clever in that it encourages the hair to wrap around the base of the mushroom-shape while providing plenty of holes along the “stem” of the mushroom and the top for the water to flow through. The way the TubShroom sits in the drain, I’m not even sure if it’s entirely possible to totally clog it short of shaving your head in the shower.

Cleanup is super easy too, just pull it up, pull the hair off and throw it away, and plug it back into the drain. Since installing one I haven’t had to snake the drain to get any hair out.

SlipX Overflow Drain Cover ($9)

Your bathroom has an overflow drain because, practically speaking, you don’t want a flooded bathroom. At the same time, you’d like to soak in a tub properly without half your body sticking out of the water. Enter the overflow-drain cover. Unlike overflow drain replacements that remove the overflow drain function, this SlipX cover suction cups over the drain and effectively raises the drain point ~4″.

The end result is you get around 4 more inches of soaking depth in your tub but the water will still flow over the top of the puck shape, through the hole, and out the overflow drain—which is perfect in case you’re so relaxed with all that extra soaking depth that you nod off while the tub is filling.

Gorilla Grip Bath Mat ($14)

Most bath mats are garbage, which is something you don’t fully appreciate until you toss them in the washing machine once or twice. That’s when you realize your cheap bathmat is actually a carefully constructed lint and rubber bomb designed to coat everything it touches with fuzz and tiny bits of rubber-backing.

You don’t have to worry about that with the Gorilla Grip bath mat. Unlike most bath mats, the backing on the Gorilla Grip isn’t cheap PVC rubber but a stronger TP rubber. So far despite regular washing, pet accidents, spilled bathroom products, and more, the rugs have held up in our house. At first, I thought the little soft “fingers” design of the rug looked a bit odd (compared to more traditional looped carpets) but its so soft and comfortable to walk on I’m totally sold on it now.