DIY Life

Clean and de-clutter with Flylady

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-22T08:00:00 00:00

Filed under: household hacks, organization and storage, cleaning

I have a very busy house. Two teens in full-time residence, three teens in part-time residence, five toddlers here during working hours. And one very patient husband. (There are still more offspring, as it happens. They're just old enough to live elsewhere.)

It's also a very small house, particularly for the number of people. Oh, and an old house, so that not every bedroom has a closet, and there is really no front hall to speak of, and certainly no front hall closet. I think I have now established my clutter and cleaning challenges, no?

Which is why I think I have some credibility when I say that, if you are looking for help in creating a clean and clutter-free home, my friend the Flylady is a terrific resource. She provides a system for cleaning, a system that starts very simply (shine your sink!), and then moves up through a month's worth of wee little baby steps, gentle, gradual steps, steps that even a woman with twelve people in her house a lot of the time can manage.

Not only that, she offers a virtual support group. You can sign up for daily email tips, notices, directions, and letters of encouragement. If keeping an orderly household seems about as likely to you as scaling Everest, you will love Flylady. She doesn't nag, she encourages. She doesn't criticize, she tells you to give up on the perfectionism. She doesn't run a white-gloved finger over your mantelpiece -- but she will sell you a feather duster!

Thanks to her, my small, overcrowded home is always ready to receive guests. Well, guests who don't wear white gloves, at any rate.

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Salvaged wood + doorknobs = shelf

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-21T20:00:00 00:00

Filed under: home decor, organization and storage, weekend projects

Yearning for more closet space, but you have no space for a closet? A row of hooks can work just as well, and this one, from Apartment Therapy, is not only stylish and efficient, but also eco-friendly.

The rails are salvaged wood, the hooks are old doorknobs, and the shelf above is a metal stud, folded in at either end. The entire project cost its designer US $17, and a little time.

If you don't have a box of old doorknobs rattling around your basement -- though we can't imagine why not -- you can try thrift stores or garage sales, or, as the article suggests, use garden faucets from your local hardware store instead.

For more instructions on creating your own salvaged wood shelf, follow the link!

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How to trim bangs

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-21T16:00:00 00:00

Filed under: kids, beauty and skin care

Your 'do is getting a bit faded, but you just don't have time to get to the stylist , or you don't want to fork out that much money so soon. You could put off the trip to the salon another three or four weeks if it weren't for your bangs, which are in your eyes and driving you crazy!

What to do?

With this very simple trick from Darla at Chic Critique, you can get yourself those extra days, and you can do it yourself!

Take a small section of hair and twist it very, very tightly. This keeps the bangs from being jagged, or showing too obvious a straight line. (Or, worse, a crooked one!) Snip a bit off the tip of the twist. Darla suggests no more than an eighth of an inch at a time, and no more than a quarter of an inch overall.

Then go to the next section, and repeat. In a few minutes, your bangs will be tidied right up. This will not replace professional hair cuts, but it is a great way to expand the time between visits to your stylist.

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Open a stuck jar

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-21T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: food, household hacks, in the kitchen

You reach for the jar of salsa. A dollop of that on each plate, and dinner's done! Except that the jar is still sealed, or perhaps is just stuck, and you can't get it to open.

There are a few things you can try. First on the list is the ever-popular "give it a whack" strategy.

That gentle tap shown in the video is a far cry from my version. In our home, we deliver a series of lusty wallops around the edge of the lid with the handle end of a sturdy butter knife.

Angle the blows in the direction you want the lid to turn, give the lid three to six wallops, depending on its size (and how annoyed you are), and you'll usually break the seal, so you can open it easily. Usually.

Therapeutic as beating that stupid jar with a blunt object can be, it doesn't always work. Then you move to the second helpful tip: the wide elastic band.

Stretch the elastic around the outer edge of the lid. The elastic grips the lid, and prevents your hand from sliding. (Which is the only reason you couldn't open it before, right?) Et voilà! Dinner is served!

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Get rid of fruit flies

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-21T08:00:00 00:00

Filed under: household hacks, in the kitchen, health

That decorative bowl of fruit on the end of the table has suddenly become a haven to a horde of ravenous fruit flies. You get rid of the over-ripe fruit that attracted them, you clean down the area, but you still have the little wretches. You can swat them, but wouldn't it be fun to trap them?

The people at Chow.com have a great tip for making a fruit fly trap, which involves a small dish of wine, a sploosh of water, and a drop of soap, stirred up with a finger. It would take about 10 seconds to put together.

One of the commenters suggests putting plastic wrap over the surface of the bowl, and making pin pricks in it -- apparently the flies can get in the holes, but are too stupid to get out again.

In fact, once you've watched the video, read the comments. There are a few more very creative fruit fly trap ideas there, too!

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Stack a set of shelves

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-17T16:00:00 00:00

Filed under: home decor, organization and storage, weekend projects

A set of ten boxes, nested one within the other. The largest is perhaps two feet square and a foot deep (60 cm x 60 cm x 30 cm), the smallest half those dimensions.

You can purchase the yummy unit shown at right through Seletti, or -- using instructions provided by those generous folk at Seletti -- you could make your own very personal unit, and save yourself a significant bundle of cash!

You'll need a collection of sturdy wooden boxes in various sizes, decorating materials, and two sections of heavy-duty strapping.
Stick with wooden boxes. Because the assemblage will be under a fair amount of pressure when the unit is completed, you will likely find that even the sturdiest of cardboard boxes will not be up to the strain.

Paint and/or paper these boxes, inside and out, in any way that satisfies your creative heart. When the boxes are decorated, play with their placement until you get an arrangement that satisfies you. Our picture shows all boxes being oriented in the same direction, but, depending on where the unit sits, you may choose to have some boxes facing at 90 degrees to others.

Lay your two pieces of strapping on the ground, and place your boxes on top. Wrap the strapping around, pull tight -- I think this would be simplest as a two-person job -- and that's it! (Almost) instant shelving!

[via: Apartment Therapy]

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Unusual Uses: dryer sheets

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-17T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: household hacks, staying green, Unusual Uses

You're generally an eco-friendly sort. You try not to use that dryer much, and when you do, you cut your dryer sheets in half to make them go further.

It still rankles a bit that you then throw them right out, though, doesn't it? You could always make your own, re-usable dryer sheets, of course: they're far less expensive, less loaded with chemicals,and less wasteful.

If, however, you happen to have a box of Bounce sheets lying about the laundry room, you'll be happy to know that the creative sorts over at Apartment Therapy have come up with a list of 20 uses for used dryer sheets.

It will come as no surprise to find out you can use the anti-static properties of dryer sheets to dust things that you hope to keep dust-free, at least for a little while! Dryer sheets can be used this way on computer monitors, television screens, and even venetian blinds.

Though it might not seem related, it's the same anti-static quality at work when you sew: run a sheet over your thread, and it won't tangle so easily!

They're great for freshening things from linen closet shelves to tennis shoes to books that have become a bit musty.

They can even help keep mice out of the house!

Eager for more? Check out the complete list of uses for dryer sheets on Apartment Therapy. Maybe you have an idea or two they haven't considered!

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Cupcake tree for your wedding

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-11T18:00:00 00:00

Filed under: food, wedding, wood working, entertaining

Cupcakes have come into vogue as a sweet alternative to the traditional wedding cake. No fussing with cutting the cake, and guests can choose from a variety of flavors. Besides that, a well-decorated cupcake is just plain adorable!

If you have a couple hundred guests, though, that's a couple hundred cupcakes, at least. Where on earth do you serve them? Cupcake stands are the norm, but generally these hold only a couple of dozen.

If you're an enterprising DIY bride, however, you might just want to craft a cupcake stand to beat all cupcake stands, and put a solid 375 cupcakes on the one, enormous tree! You could consider it the centerpiece to the reception hall!

Standing at least six feet and change, this tree's largest tier is 40-inches in diameter, and the smallest, topmost tier is nine inches. The layers are made from half-inch medium-density fiberboard, with edges rounded and the whole disk painted white. Remember that fiberboard is known for off-gassing pretty copiously when cut, so wear a mask when cutting, and be sure to seal the cut edges thoroughly.

The dividers between layers are Styrofoam cake dummies covered in glossy white paper. The tower is settled on a Christmas tree stand (too bad we can't see it in the pictures!), and stacked on a curtain rod which went up through holes bored through the center of each segment of the whole affair.

For more pictures and information, check out the post on Craftster.

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Keep those pins and needles sharp

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-10T16:00:00 00:00

Filed under: sewing

See that photograph? Remember those traditional pincushions? Perhaps you even own one yourself. The larger pincushion is a tomato, the smaller a strawberry. You see them all the time, but have you ever wondered about that strawberry?

Turns out that it's filled with metal filings and is used to sharpen pins and needles! Just push the dull and/or rusted pin into the strawberry a few times, and it comes out clean and sharp! How about that?

If you don't have one, they're easy to make. CraftyPod put one together by sewing a pincushion and stuffing it with 00 grade steel wool. Head on over and check out the very well-illustrated instructions. She warns that it's a little hard on the fingertips, but in short order you, too, can have an efficient pin-sharpener!

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Brush your dog's teeth

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-09T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: pets

Do you have a dog? If so, do you brush its teeth? Though I grew up with dogs, I have no recollection of anyone ever worrying about doggy dental care -- which probably explains why they all had really bad breath.

"Dog breath" was our highly original term for it. I had no idea this meant they were likely suffering from periodontal disease, which left untreated could lead to bacterial infections which could hit any of a large number of my poor pets' internal organs.

You can help keep their teeth clean by feeding them hard, crunchy foods and specially-designed dog biscuits. Beyond that, though, your dog does indeed need his teeth cleaned, two or three times a week.

Just how does one accomplish this?The best way, according to Puppybuzz.com, is to start when they're puppies. You get your puppy accustomed to you putting weird things in his mouth in gentle stages, starting with your finger (wrapped in sterile gauze if you wish) rubbed gently across his gums and teeth, through a rubber finger pet brush, and then to a proper tooth brush. At this point, you're only spending a minute or two at the task. The goal at first is simply to acclimatize them to the idea, not to accomplish real dental care.

Remember, dogs can't really spit: they'll almost certainly swallow the toothpaste, and human toothpaste is liable to make them sick. You'll need to use toothpaste specially formulated for dogs.

Once your pet is quite comfortable with the whole idea of a toothbrush and toothpaste, you can start giving them a more thorough cleaning. You can find detailed instructions for brushing your dog's teeth here, at Puppybuzz.com.

[via: Tipnut.]

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Aloe vera for healthy skin

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-08T18:00:00 00:00

Filed under: in the kitchen, health

I'd taken the kids to their grandparents' some years back, and my eldest managed to brush her hand against a hot element on the stove. It was a mild burn, but painful!

While I was racing for an ice cube, Grandma simply reached for the plant in the window over the stove, snipped off a bit of its pointy leaf, gave it a squeeze so that some clear goop oozed out, and then rubbed the damp innards and goop of the leaf onto my daughter's hand. Grandma repeated this a few times that day. It seemed to do the trick.

"It" was an aloe vera plant, of course. Not only did Grandma use it for burns, but for mosquito bites, bee stings, and just about any other surface skin pain. I always wondered if this was just psychosomatic: My kids all believed 100% in the healing properties of Grandma's "magic plant", but a little research shows that it really does do all that stuff! (It's also pretty effective as a laxative. Who knew?)

It turns out they're not hard to grow, either. It's best to get yourself a large one. Not only are the larger ones more potent in their healing properties, but the plant grows slowly. Don't hesitate to nip off a section of leaf as needed, though: even as it heals your skin, the plant heals quickly, too!

If you'd like to grow your own aloe vera plant, Tipnut provides some sound basic information.

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Fold that paper, neatly!

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-04T18:00:00 00:00

Filed under: miscellaneous, organization and storage

A newspaper is a great way to pass the time when on a bus or a subway, or sitting in the coffee shop. The problem is, a broadsheet-style newspaper (which is to say, most of them), is awkward. You don't want to be the obnoxious guy (or gal) with their arms spread wide, blocking the view and crowding the fellow sitting beside you.

There is a way for you to catch up on the news without catching your neighbor in the eye with the paper. Check out the four easy steps on Real Simple. A matter of a few simple folds, and you'll be able to scan, flip through, read, and store your paper within a minimum of space, and without annoying the people around you.

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Organizing coupons

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-03T20:00:00 00:00

Filed under: money, organization and storage

If you're a coupon-clipper, you'll know the challenges:

how to keep those bits of paper, plastic, and cardboard from taking over your purse or the drawer in the kitchen,
and how to develop a system that ensures they get used before they expire.

The super-helpful people at Tipnut have put together a list of suggestions that pretty much guarantee you'll find the system that will work for you, whatever your organizational style -- or lack thereof! You like the casual efficiency of envelopes? You can do that! You prefer an accordion file or a wallet, a card file or a binder? It's all there!
If you simply don't know how to choose a system, Tipnut provides a list of links to sites where you can see a system in action. If that's not enough, there's another set of links to articles with even more detailed information. Really! How helpful can you get?

Once you've got your system chosen, you have to determine how to use it. Will you sort by expiration date, by product, or put them in alphabetically? How will you choose the coupons you need when you go shopping? How will you get them to the store?

If there's a question about coupons that isn't answered in this post, I'll ... eat my coupons!

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Make a map purse

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-03T08:00:00 00:00

Filed under: recreation, Crafts, sewing

Planning a road trip this summer, and want the perfect accessory? How about a map purse? Or, for you guys, a map bag. Instead of lip gloss and lotion, you can put... um... manly things in it. Spare socks? A razor?

Perhaps it should best be the "car bag" and hold things to make the trip more comfortable: tissues, a water bottle, sunglasses, chewing gum, and, a little art-comes-to-life, maybe your maps can go in the map bag.

I envision using it as storage inside the car rather than as a purse to carry around town, because I'm just not sure how sturdy it would be. Most women I know carry a load of stuff in their bag. Would a map and two layers of contact paper, no matter how well-stitched, be up to the job?

To make one, follow the instructions here at Sonya Style. If anyone makes one, feel free to report back and tell us how it holds up!

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Reducing mosquitoes

Ilona Peltz — 2008-07-02T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: seasonal

Yesterday was Canada Day up here, which is to us northerners what the Fourth is to you down there. Canada Day: day to head out to the cottage, or perhaps just to the back yard; there to kick up your feet, kick back a few beverages (and maybe a few grown-up popsicles), and ... swat a few mosquitoes. Ugh. Vile blood-suckers. Who invited them to the party?

It's been a very wet summer so far in my neck of the woods, and the mosquitoes are loving it! Thankfully, Howcast has a terrific video with several practical tips on dealing with the itch-inducing varmints.

I wasn't surprised to be told to get rid of any standing water, though I was a little appalled to hear that a small plastic lid with some pooled stagnant water could be breeding ground to thousands of them. Doesn't the very thought make you itch?

The other tips range from low-tech, low-chemical:

keep the lawn mowed and vegetation trimmed back
stock any ponds with mosquito fish
seal the house with 16 - 18 gauge mesh
use yellow light bulbs outside the house
wear long sleeves and pants if you're outside, particularly at dawn or dusk
use repellent with oil of lemon-eucalyptus
put a fan on yourself to blow those little wretches away

They touch on the usefulness of garlic as a deterrent, but only when ingested. (Sounds like spraying your garlic works a whole lot better than eating it.)

To the higher-tech, higher chemical:

use repellents with DEET or Picaridin
mosquito traps (which attract them with CO2)

Sadly, mosquito zappers are not effective, and are probably a waste of money. Which is really too bad, because there are few things more satisfying to hear, as you scratch on a summer's evening to hear the "BZZT!" which informs you another mosquito has gone to meet its maker. Before it bit you, we hope!

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Margarita pops: Why should the kids have all the fun?

Ilona Peltz — 2008-06-30T18:00:00 00:00

Filed under: food

If you've ever tried to make your own grown-up version of your kids' fruit popsicle, you'll have discovered that alcohol doesn't freeze so well. In fact, a little googling showed physics-deprived me that alcohol does indeed freeze, but needs much colder temperatures than provided by the average home freezer (which I'd discovered myself through trial and error, but now I know why).

Well, boo. What if mommy (or daddy or Aunt Suzie or Uncle Fred) wants a margarita popsicle while the tots are having their wholesome real-fruit-juice frozen goodies?

Epicurious has a great way around the non-freezing alcohol problem. What you do is take a few regular store-bought lime popsicles, and over top of them you pour a lime juice-tequila mix, and then rim the popsicle with salt. Is that not brilliant??

While lime margaritas are one of my top three summer vices, if you prefer something else, this would be a very simple recipe to modify for just about any fruity summer drink

[via: Tipnut]

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Make a backyard catapult

Ilona Peltz — 2008-06-30T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: kids, toys

Is your ten-year-old son interested in the Middle Ages? Or are you a ten-year-old boy at heart? Whether you're a history buff, or you just like firing stuff, you'll love these make-your-own catapults.

Storm the Castle, a medieval-theme website, provides instructions for making catapults in various sizes: the backyard two-foot Ogre, the tabletop ten-inch Troll, and the Teeny-tiny, made of popsicle sticks.

If you're interested, Storm the Castle provides tutorials and/or sells kits, so that anyone who can read can put one together. All three catapults can shoot with considerable force, so you're reminded to take appropriate safety precautions:

don't fire anything sharp or too heavy
don't fire in an enclosed space
always wear safety goggles.

If you're letting a child build this, you might consider only letting them play with it under adult supervision, depending on his/her age and general level of common sense (or lack thereof)!

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Remove ink with tea bags

Ilona Peltz — 2008-06-27T13:00:00 00:00

Filed under: food, household hacks, cleaning

In my house, ink on skin happens when my teenage kids want to make a "mental" note. With a pen, or sometimes, in a moment of hormonal lunacy, a Sharpie. Perhaps you have a creative toddler in your house, or perhaps you even do it yourself. I've been known to jot down a critically important "must remember" note on the nearest available surface -- even if it is the palm of my right hand!

But once you don't need that note any more, you're stuck with it: ink just doesn't come out so easily. It's one thing to scour your own arm raw trying to remove that black stain, but just try doing that on an outraged toddler! It's a three-man job... unless, that is, you have a teabag.

According to a post by writer Lisa Katayama at Lifehacker, it's a simple matter to steep the teabag, let it cool briefly, then scrub away. Ink should lift right off -- even permanent marker stains.

Katayama's book, Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan, which features this tip, has been getting a lot of coverage at Lifehacker lately. She refers to urawaza as "life hacks and unmapped shortcuts" that were developed in Japan during the economically lean days that followed World War II. Now that they're available in book form, why not check them out?

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Predicting the weather: Keep your eye to the sky

Ilona Peltz — 2008-06-25T08:00:00 00:00

Filed under: backyard science, miscellaneous, nature

You're heading out for the day, you missed the weather forecast, and you have no idea what to take along? Don't panic.

It doesn't take a degree in meteorology to be able to predict the general patterns of weather a day or two in advance. Just look up. The answer's in the clouds. It's also over at Instructables, where there is an excellent page on clouds and weather prediction.

Do you remember your grade school science? I'd bet that at some point along the way, someone told you about cirrus, cumulus, and stratus clouds. They may even have explained that clouds float along at three different heights, too.

Put those two bits of information together, and you have pretty much all you need to know. In the very simplest terms, the higher the cloud, the fairer the weather.

[via Lifehacker.]

Cirrus clouds are the highest, those bright white, wispy clouds you'll see on a hot summer's day. The sun (or moon) shines right on through them. Because they're so high, they're formed of ice crystals, hence the bright white color. Cirrus clouds -- whether cirro-stratus, which spread across the sky, or cirro-cumulus, which are puffier -- tend to mean clear, dry weather.

Alto clouds are the middle height, formed of water usually, and darker than the white cirrus clouds. They tend to precede a change in the weather. Like cirrus clouds, they also come in stratus ("sheet") and cumulus ("puffy") variants.

Stratus clouds are the lowest clouds, the ones that sometimes sit right on the ground -- then we call them "fog". They're dark, and they generally cover the entire sky. Nimbo-stratus are rainclouds, the ones that cover the sky in a solid sheet of gray. They mean precipitation, and often precipitation that will last for a day or three.

And then there's that most dramatic cloud, the cumulo-nimbus, also called "thunderheads", and for good reason. They are quite flat on the bottom, and can begin low in the sky, but they pile waaaay up from there, thousands of feet sometimes, can be very dark gray, almost black, and almost always mean violent weather of some sort: thunder, lightning, storms.

There. You're all set! With a few moment's observation of the sky, you'll know whether you can have that picnic this afternoon. Outside my window right now? A sky full of cumulus, turning darker and steadily piling up, with a rising wind out of the west. No picnics for us today, and maybe I'll just sneak into the back yard right now and make sure the bicycles are covered ...

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BAD project idea: cell phone popcorn

Ilona Peltz — 2008-06-24T18:00:00 00:00

Filed under: food, electronics, Don't-it-yourself

You know, there are some DIY projects that are such a bad, bad, bad idea that you can't imagine people need to be told NOT to do them, and yet they're out there! Here we have just such a bad, bad, bad idea.

It's the cell phone hoax -- you know, the one where someone apparently makes a kernel of popcorn explode using their cell phone? Seems it's done by taking the magnetron out of your microwave and cooking the kernel from under the table. Do we really, really need to explain that a magnetron is dangerous? That there's a good reason it's carefully housed inside a casing inside your microwave?

That reason would be radioactivity. You know, the stuff that causes cancer, mutations, sterility and/or death, which is really not something you want to broadcast willy-nilly all over your kitchen.

So, yes, you likely can pop a popcorn kernel this way. And your future children may all be born with three eyeballs. Are you sure it's worth it?

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