Archive for the ‘Household’ Category

HowTo Juice a lemon (Juicy Post)

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

If your anything like me your not so handy around the kitchen. No worries, you can obtain master cooking skills from various sites around the internet and with a little practice, you can improve your cooking skills. To get you started heres a great video on how to squeeze a lemon to optimize juice production when juicing.

www.startcooking.com

Clean like a maid!

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007

featherduster01_large.jpg
Curbly blog has a great article on how to clean like a maid. The article walks you through the methods used by former housekeeper Ivy. Great read if your like me and love a clean house but hate to clean. Ivy mentions cleaning a 1200 square foot home in 45 mins. Now that my friend’s is cleaning GTD style.

The mantra of the company I worked for was top to bottom, left to right. This way you could easily walk into any room and know exactly where to get started.

Clean like a maid!

Site of the day: Snacksby - Recipe search

Wednesday, February 7th, 2007

Snacksby Recipe Search

Snacksby.com is an easy to use recipe suggestion search engine that provides quick, simple and easy to prepare recipes for those of you who procrastinate going grocery shopping. Simply enter the items you have on hand and Snacksby.com will make recipe suggestions based on those items. There are quite a few recipes available and some very interesting ones at that. Link

HowTo Tell if a DVD or CD disc is blank

Monday, January 15th, 2007

I made a quick video to demonstrate how you can tell if a CD or DVD is blank. If you look on a disc that is not blank you will notice a ring indicating the disc’s contents. The further the ring is to the “outer” edge the more data the disc contains. Pretty simple but useful.

HowTo fix a laptop power cable with Repair4laptop.org

Sunday, January 14th, 2007

Broken Laptop

The thought of repairing your own laptop can be painful. There are lots of little screws, springs, prongs, nuts etc. However some PC shops will not even fix laptops and recommend you contact the manufacture for repairs. So what is one to do when their laptop power supply breaks? Should you contact your laptop manufacture and see about a warranty? Or do you try to mend it yourself and save time and possibly some money? Repair4laptop.org has a great guide that covers in detail, with pictures how to repair your laptop power supply cables. The guide features Apple and PC models and the list is quite extensive.

LINK - Via Repair4Laptop.org

Make an Auto Accident Survival Kit

Friday, January 12th, 2007

Car accident photo

If you own a car you should also own an auto accident kit. An auto accident kit can mean the difference between getting you much deserved settlement and getting screwed by an insurance company. For the most part accident kits are easy to put together and you may already have some of the items around your home or office. I have put together a list of items you should have on hand in the invent of an accident.

(more…)

How to conserve water with a milk jug

Friday, January 12th, 2007

Milk jug in toilet

Water conservation is alway a good practice. Here is a tip on how to use less water on your next stop to the shitter.

Items needed

  • 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon milk jug or other container
  • 1 gallon of h20 (actually sand or anything to fill the jug works.)

Start by filling up the jug with sand, water or whatever you want just make sure its heavy enough to stay submerged with the toilet back removed. Flush the toilet to allow the water to drain from the basin and place the jug down into the basin. The water will rise but will have less volume to fill this time resulting in less water used for each flush.

HowTo Oil a pan with a paper towel

Sunday, January 7th, 2007

How to oil a pan with a paper towel.Scott has a great tip for oiling up a cooking surface using a paper towel to evenly spread the oil. Start by pouring the desired amount of oil into the center of your pan and spread it around with a paper towel. “it’s that simple” Says Scott.

How to make retro bottle cap magnets

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

Cool retro bottle cap magnetsSo you have a huge collection of bottle caps and your significant other is pressuring you to use em or loose em. The solution is obvious, make cool retro bottle cap magnets and display your bottle cap collection with pride.

To complete this project you will need the following supplies. I did not include any photos for this project as they are not needed due to the simplicity of the project.

1. 1 or more bottle caps any brand will do.
2. A “hot” glue gun (Be Careful). Super glue or any other adhesive can alternatively be used.
3. Some craft magnets pick em up online or Hobby Lobby or anywhere you like.

To begin place a bottle cap face down on a level surface and begin filling the cap with hot glue or equivalent. Allow the glue to fill the cap creating a flat surface of “dry” hot glue. This will ensure your caps do not damage your fridge, car, bike or whatever metal surface you are applying the magnets. Once the glue is hard or dry apply another small amount onto the newly formed surface and place the magnet on the glue. Allow the glue to once again dry 4 - 5 minutes and that’s all there is to it.

How to get gum out of the carpet

Monday, September 18th, 2006

How to gget gum out of the carpet
Ever got gum in your carpet? Well I have and let me tell you it is no picnic to try and get it out. Here is some tips on how to remove the sugary compound from your rug, carpet etc.

How to remove gum from the carpet

Making better grocery lists via Amazon Wish List

Friday, July 28th, 2006

Amazon Wish List Grocery ListIf you are anything like me making a grocery list to go to the store with is sometimes a hard task to conqueror. One day I thought to myself I know what I like now if I could just see it I could write it down. Then the idea came to me why not set up an Amazon Wish List then use there grocery store to make a printable shopping list. Well I did just that and find this very useful in making good shopping decisions.

A cure for stress?

Sunday, May 28th, 2006

A cure for stress?

It started as a hi-tech relaxation technique for burnt-out executives. Now everyone from schoolchildren to sports stars are discovering the seemingly miraculous benefits of Heartmath. Jerome Burne investigates

I recently came across this article on alleviating stress.

A cure for stress? [via Independent Online Edition]

[TAGS] Stress, Relaxation, Cure for stress, Alleviating Stress[/TAGS]

GET CABLE SIGNALS TO A TV WITHOUT RUNNING CABLES

Friday, May 26th, 2006

Get Cable Signals To A TV Without Running CablesHave you ever noticed the effect an array of coax can have on the look and feel of your living room? Well now you can minimize the cables with this handy gadget.

These units are designed to take an audio and video signal from an A/V device (like a VCR, DVD player, or some cable boxes with audio-video outputs) and send it to another part of the house. There are two parts to this system, a transmitter that is attached to the AV device and a receiver that goes next to the remote TV. The transmitter takes the signals from the Audio and Video jacks on the AV device and beams it over to the companion receiver next to the remote TV.

I found an interesting product over at SmartHome.com that is perfect for the job. The 2.4GHz Wireless Video Transmission System was just what the doctor ordered after deciding I wanted to run cable to my garage. I am working on having Windows Media Center up and running in my garage. With the weather getting warmer I wanted to spend more time outdoors while still maintaining my websites and emails. I wonder if this could be used to transmit cable internet from the main cable box to my cable modem ? I know you could just setup a wireless network to get internet to a garage or other part of your home. However that was not going to solve my no cable issue. This device is affordable and very well worth it I recommend it.

[TAGS] Home DIY, DIY, Wireless Cable TV, Home Theater, Garage Gadgets[/Tags]

6 ways to decorate without leaving a footprint

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006

6 Ways to decorate without leaving a footprint

First off I am by far not an interior decorator. These are just a few ideas I have for LifeHacker.com reader and student Sigbjørn to spruce up his dorm room. This article can be applied to a similar situation in an apartment or flat.
Hint: A quick way to cover up holes in a wall without spackle is to use white toothpaste. This is an old trick I have used for years. I am not advising anyone to go against their lease or dorm policy and put holes in the wall, just a quick tip.

1.You do not really need to make holes to hang items on the wall. There are several damage free wall hanging solution available at an affordable cost. Some of these solutions even accommodate brick mortar walls as well.

For hanging items on brick walls I found the following items online.

Brick and Mortar wall hangers

More Brick and Mortar wall hangers

For hanging items on a conventional wall I found the following products.

3M Wall hangers

3M Mounting Strips

2.Another solution to the NO HOLES IN WALL policy is to erect your own wall. This could be done fairly easy. I recommend having a look at MakeZine.com for any insight on this. However if your not a handyman or just do not have time to build a wall. You could buy cubicle walls from an office supply store, put them up, and decorate them. I found the following online for under $200 at Office Depot.

Cubicle Walls from Office Depot

3.For added flexibility check out Poster Changer. Poster Changer is a simple poster solution which allows you to hang posters of variable sizes and change them at anytime with ease. Used in conjunction with one of the NO HOLES hanging solutions mentioned earlier this is not a bad idea.

Poster Changer

4.Don’t paint your walls reflect colored light off them using mood lamps or spot lamps with colored bulbs. This will give you a more cozy feeling without the paint and you can easily change colors. You could also purchase a wall light that changes color to achieve a different result. I found a nice solution for this online that implements LED lighting technology. LED is a better lighting source because the bulbs will last forever and they have a lower power consumption than conventional light bulbs.

LED powered wall mood light

5.Use fabrics to soften up the hard edges in a room. You can use fabrics from any fabric store to give any room a softer look to it. You will however have to take into consideration the weight of the fabric if you do not want to make any holes in the wall. Hanging fabric over a wall is also a good way to reduce noise in a reading or study area.

6.Don’t forget to checkout Crib Candy for some unique furnishings when you finish decorating. Hopefully this article will help you decorate your space without the dreaded holes in the wall.