You don't have to spend much to fix little annoyances in everyday life.

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Steve Jobs once said that customers don't know what they want until you show them. And he was right. But he was also lucky because he was showing people iPhones and not, say, rechargeable nose trimmers.

Of course, when Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, Amazon wasn't the global behemoth it's since become. Now there's virtually nothing Amazon doesn't sell, and a lot of it is dirt cheap. In the post-Bezos world, Jobsian marketing principles no longer apply. Customers still may not know what they want, but if it's cheap enough, they'll buy it anyway and then throw it out and buy something else.

Thus begins our quest to assemble a list of cheap gadgets that are worth every penny, which should come in handy around the shopping season. If you treat them right, these may last you for many holidays to come.

It's the middle of the night when you wake up and need to head to the en-suite bathroom. You snap on the light and you're blinded because it's too bright. Or worse, you wake up your spouse, who can't easily get back to sleep even with their favorite sleeping app.

This scenario may sound exaggerated, but if you've ever been there, you know it isn't. Or, to spin it back to Steve Jobs, you just don't realize what you need. In this case, it's a motion sensor light for your bathroom.

Decent motion-activated lights for around $10 that don't require any drilling come in two varieties. They're either battery-powered stick-ons like the Star-Spangled LED Puck Light ($8.99 for 5), or they plug right into a socket. The latter are more like smart night lights.

The BN-Link Backlit Motion Sensor ($12.34 for 2), for example, has an auto mode that only activates with motion, plus a night mode that gives a dim light until activated.

In both cases, you get to see at night without waking anybody else up. And you're good to go for years because the bulbs are LEDs and use very little energy.

Those of us driving around without built-in infotainment displays in our cars have tried every so-called solution for mounting our phones: suction cups, clips, vent mounts and more. The more expensive and heartier the holder, the faster they wilt, with one exception: peel-off phone magnets.

This WixGear offering costs $6.99 and is simple to use. First, peel off the film on the back. Stick one on the back of your phone (or preferably your phone case), stick the other on your dashboard, and bring your phone close to snap them together. It shouldn't plop to the ground ever again.

A few caveats here. One, the stickiness of the adhesive makes this a permanent fix, so don't expect to move the magnets around once they're on. Two, we recommend finding a vertical position on your dashboard that's close enough to tap, but not too close to a vent. Extreme temperature changes might lead to your phone slipping, while heat blowing on it is never good.

And three, a phone stuck to your dashboard can easily become dangerous. Don't spend too much time playing with it; you could easily get distracted. Apple has also reported that magnets can influence photo quality in certain cases, so keep an eye on that. All said, for speaker phone calls, Google Maps or playing music in your car, peel-off magnets are a tested fix.

There are two types of people: those who are aware of keyboard gunk and those who have blissfully never observed it. If you don't make a habit of cleaning your keyboard, the first tool you're likely to reach for to remove gunk is a brush.

You may, with much practice, reach a state of competency where you can finagle stray brush hairs into the cracks around individual keys and dislodge the detritus of your typing life that way. It works, but you can do better.

A handheld, mouse-sized vacuum cleaner may strike you as effete, and in a sense, it is. But for those who like a clean keyboard, a vacuum is quicker and much more efficient than hunting for crumbs with a brush.

Our recommendation also comes with a nozzle, brush and USB charging cable, amenities that nudge it a bit over the $10 mark. While you can find cheaper options, caveat emptor. Some of them look good but get horrible customer reviews. For best results, disconnect your keyboard from a desktop PC (or shut down your laptop) before you clean.

If you haven't kept up with other forms of computer cleaning, it's also worth learning how to clean your screen the right way.

Yes, it's just a lowly phone stand. But it could be a life-saver. If you doubt us, you've probably never had a last-minute Zoom interview where, in lieu of propping your iPhone up against a fruit bowl, you opted for a grainy, handheld shot that gave your potential employer a bold view of your inner nostrils. That isn't the only reason to invest in an inexpensive, versatile phone holder, however.

Modern versions of iOS and Android can turn your phone into a webcam, which is a great way to reuse an old smartphone. But unless you own a folding phone, you're back at square one.

A budget stand like the Nulaxy solves this problem neatly. Whatever stand you end up with, make sure it's universal so you don't have to buy one for everyone in the house. It should have a gap at the bottom to make room for the charging cable, and remain steady whether in landscape or portrait.

There is perhaps nothing more disturbing than a wax-bejeweled earbud. Actually, there is: having to send your…