Reddit reviews Flents Ear Plugs, 50 Pair, Ear Plugs for Sleeping, Snoring, Loud Noise, Traveling, Concerts, Construction, & Studying, NRR 33

Oh man. Brace yourselves, I am a total Amazon junkie. (Note: These may not all be BIFL, but I'm responding to the OP in specific.)

• $9 butter keeper. (I bought a slightly different one that's no longer available, but it's the same basic design.) Keeping butter that isn't for cooking or baking in the fridge is for chumps. Mine is always perfectly spreadable room temperature while staying fresh for weeks... sometimes months.
  
  
• $9 TV antenna. I didn't own a TV until a few years ago, and it didn't have a built-in antenna. I don't watch much broadcast TV, so I grabbed the cheapest one I could find. Case in point for why digital is better than analog, this one picks up every digital channel perfectly.
  
  
• $13 shoe rack (now $18). Over the past year of living in this flat, I'd developed a bad tendency of kicking my shoes off at the bottom of the stairs just inside the front door. This looked like a cheap piece of shit, but I figured for the price I couldn't go wrong. Now almost every single pair of shoes I own is in one spot where it's easy to grab—and, more importantly, everything's out of the way of people coming in and out of the house.
  
  
• $14 jug of earplugs (50 pair). Essential for sleeping with the window open in loud neighborhoods, sharing rooms with snoring friends on a trip, or sharing beds with snoring dudes or gals you're sleeping with. These were also my go-to earplugs for shows until I got a pair that's better for listening to music.
  
  
• $22 electric kettle. The coffeemaker in our office puts out water that isn't nearly hot enough for a proper cuppa, and I got sick of microwaving it to boiling a mug's worth at a time. No bells and whistles, but it's performed perfectly since day one, with no breaking-in period like you get with kettles that have plastic parts in contact with the water.
  
  
• $32 32'/10m HDMI cable. Ran it between the computer in my bedroom and the TV in my living room, allowing me to watch all kinds of streaming TV and downloaded videos with friends in a spot more comfortable than standing in front of my desk.
  
  
• Slightly over the $50 limit, but $53 space heater. My best friend and roommate is one of those dudes who's built like a furnace, and our place uses radiators for heat. We had a few days of him sweating his ass off even with the thermostat set to 68, before I realized that we could just turn it way the hell down, and I could heat my own bedroom separately. This sucker dumps out a ton of heat, with a slew of features to sweeten the deal (my favorite being the remote control).
  
  
• Another that's slightly over, but $55 garment steamer. Collapses small enough to fit pretty much anywhere I've ever needed to store it, puts out steam within maybe 30 seconds of turning it on, and with a full tank has enough water to steam as many items as I've ever needed to do in a row. I haven't touched my iron once since I bought this thing, and my only regret is not buying one as soon as I started college over a decade ago.
  
  And, saving the best for last:
  
  
• $43 heated footrest. Hands-down, this is one of the best things I've ever bought in my life. I was looking for an unobtrusive, unobnoxious way to help myself stay warm in the office, which tends to be chillier than my taste year-round. When I opened it up, I was skeptical, since it looked like a cheap injection-molded piece of shit. Now, I'm pretty sure I'd rescue it from a fire before my mother. I don't want to imagine ever trying to get through another winter without it.
  
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  EDIT: As requested by /u/Mogrix, I posted List Part II: Electric Boogaloo, with more items from my Amazon history.

Best ear plugs: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F5VDVE/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001J4HB1C&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1QR4KKF0CWEJRA2BC7YG

Those are the only ones that really work for me...I made the mistake of buying a different brand and it's just not working, so I have to hurry up and buy more of the Flents purple magical ones.

I think these are the best. You can get them at walmart in the pharmacy section.

I wouldn't even bother with investing. I bought these after trying them and they work great. They actually let you hear your surroundings better by filtering out wind noise and still allow you to hear the exhaust tone. Then when they start looking old and used you just toss them and use another pair.

Get soft earplugs meant to wear while sleeping (these are nice), don't just buy a pack from home depot or something. You can't get out of your lease over a crying baby. You can maybe see if your landlord is willing to move you to a different apartment, but I wouldn't count on it.

Of course it's important to get plenty of sleep.

If possible, try to get on a schedule more like your mom's (i.e. go to bed very early, so you'll have had enough sleep by the time the dogs start up). If you have to work late, obviously this isn't a solution, but if you're studying in the evening, you could study in the morning instead.

If you haven't already started wearing ear plugs at night, do this. The foam rubber ones are the most comfortable for sleeping. I use these 33 decibel-rated ones which are available in most drug stores http://www.amazon.com/Flents-Quiet-Time-Comfort-Plugs/dp/B001F5VDVE

If that's not enough to do the trick, get a pair of Remington M-30 ear muff style hearing protectors http://www.basspro.com/Remington-M30-Earmuffs/product/26026/ (available a lot cheaper on eBay). Even though they're technically rated at only 30 decibels, because they cover the whole ear and immediate perimeter, I find they block out a LOT more noise. Obviously there are comfort issues with sleeping in these, and I wouldn't really recommend trying to wear them all night. But if you keep them right by your bed and put them on when you hear the first bark, before you're fully woken up, they may be very helpful. I used them many years when I had a problem neighbor in an apartment building.

Flents Quiet Time Ear Plugs/Earplugs | 50 Pair | NRR 33 | Made in The USA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001F5VDVE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_EC9FDb2PZ0E21

Cannot recommend these enough. They might not drown it out completely but it will help for sure

I've been using these things for a good 12 years now and can't live without them.

Highest NRR I could find for cheap.