DIY Life

White t-shirts go through our household like seasons in the Midwest --- often, and with fury. And although I've heard countless methods on preventing underarm stains [i.e. switching deodorants, washing tees separate from socks, etc], I've never heard anyone tackle the process of ridding the stain after its been made.

Until now.

Here is a quick tutorial for keeping those whites white ... for good:

1. Create a solution of one part water to four parts laundry detergent, then spray the inside of your t-shirt's underarms and allow the shirt to sit for an hour.
2. Scrub the underarms with a soft toothbrush to remove stains, then rinse with cold water.
3. Soak the t-shirt overnight in a mixture of cold water and 2-3 Tbsps of laundry detergent.
4. In the morning, run your tee through the appropriate cycle, then hang dry in the sun.

Your underarms will be whiter than snow, and the sun-dried laundry will smell oh-so-fresh at the end of the day!

A great-fitting swimsuit is well worth some TLC. Quality suits don't usually come cheap, so protect your investment! And, hey, even if you got your favorite swimsuit for a song, you'll still want to make it last, summer after wonderful summer. Here are a few tips to keep your suit looking brand new!

1. Avoid sitting directly on concrete or other rough pool-surround materials. If you must, at least don't ever scoot forward or back on your butt. Try sitting on a towel to protect your suit's seat.

2. Keep your favorite suit out of the hot tub. Heat damages the fabric, reducing its elasticity. Use an older suit for soaking in the hot tub and reserve your favorite/s for beach and pool-side fun.

Mmm-mmm. Fresh basil. It's so very fragrant -- the indispensable ingredient in a host of mid-summer recipes.

My basil is lush, green and ready for picking. Okay, I don't have a whole lot of it out in my garden; however, I'm planning on growing a lot more next summer. In preparation for that lofty enterprise, I thought it'd be cool to find out how the expert basil-growers harvest their beloved herb. Here are some tips I picked up:

1. Know your basil. There are lots of varieties out there, and it's always good to know which one you have, as the flavors vary quite a bit between them. Chances are good that, like me, you've got the most common variety: Genovese sweet basil.

I'm getting ready to re-paint the armoire in my son's room, to reflect his budding maturity at three-and-a-half years old. The stark white with the yellow star handles will become a taupe and navy masterpiece when the transformation is complete.

As I look around the house at all of the furniture I have painted, I notice one commonality: they all have newspaper stuck to the bottom, a casualty of the drying process.

Chica and Jo have a tip on how to keep painted items from sticking while drying, and I think it's a clever one. Simply use some push pins to elevate the drying item above the surface to act as "feet," eliminating the stick. Their example was for wooden letters to hang on a wall.

Now, I'm not sure if push pins would keep up a piece of furniture, but I bet a few narrow shims would do the trick. No more newspaper decorating the bottom of my masterpieces... it'll be a good look!

Technology is both a blessing and a curse. Sure, cell phones are getting smaller and smaller, which is a plus for portability. To me, though, small cell phones spell opportunity for accidents. It is easier for them to slip through hands and wind up, say, in a bathtub, boiling pot of pasta, or bowl of soup.

If you are like me and you've just ruined your free cell phone that came with your cheap calling plan, you probably aren't too alarmed. Is that fancy iPhone more your style? You'll want to do something about your wet cell phone, and fast.

Popular Mechanics gives detailed, step-by-step instructions of how to attempt to save your cell phone after getting it wet. Tips like surrounding it in dry rice or silica gel packets could help, as could using an air compressor or shop vac to blow or suck the wetness out.

Other tips? Avoid heat (no hair dryers!) and rinse with fresh water if salt water has gotten into your cell. Hopefully these tips will help you save your fancy cell phone so you don't end up with the free version, like me.

(via HackNMod)

From observing successful gardeners at work, I've learned that one key to joyful gardening is this: stick with what grows. It's about choosing the path of least resistance--encouraging plants that stay lovely with little or no care. Equally important, however: good gardeners don't hesitate to relocate plants that aren't thriving.

Now, I've made my share of mistakes when choosing plant sites. I'm also dealing with a few bad choices made by previous owners of this property. In either case, relocation was the only way to save the plants involved. For example, I recently transplanted a dozen Japanese Holly Ferns from a dry, sunny spot in my front yard to a moist and shady location in back.

Those poor ferns had been struggling for survival. These shade- and moisture-loving plants were in a hellishly unsuitable locale, dotted around the bases of two pine trees on an exposed and drought-prone slope. Last summer's severe drought nearly spelled the end for them. One thing was clear: they would never thrive in such an unsuitable spot.

I promised myself that if they made it through the winter, I'd transplant them in spring. And so I did! I'm confident that the move will transform them from surviving to thriving. Read on to see how my relocation project went. Don't forget to check out my photo gallery, too!

With all the environmental consciousness of today, maybe your mother wasn't crazy to wash and reuse the zip-top bags. However, drying those suckers can be a headache. Gaiam sells a counter top bag drying rack for $19.00 (seen in picture on the right). You can also opt to use chopsticks in a tall glass to create the same system.

Regardless, make sure you clean each bag thoroughly with warm, not hot, water (hot water will warp the bag). Every little thing helps, especially since it takes about 35 years for a single plastic margarine container to decompose.

The next time you buy an electronic machine and find those little packets filled with something called desiccant in with the packing materials, don't throw out those packets. Desiccant is the name for a group of materials which have a special attraction for water. They are placed in the packaging with electronics to help protect them from moisture damage during transit.

Take those packets and just toss them in the bottom of your tool boxes. They will act as mini dehumidifiers, fighting the condensation which tries to make rust specimens out of your tools. Hand tools are prone to damage from condensation because their dense materials make them handy condensers of moisture especially when enclosed in tool boxes. Keep your tools clean, dry and off the floor for longest life, and if you get a couple packets of desiccant, just toss them in those tool boxes. Your tools will thank you!

It happens in every home. Some time or another someone is going to hit a wall with something that is harder than the drywall and the drywall is going to lose the battle.

When that happens you have two choices. You can either hang a picture over the damaged spot where it will remain to snicker at you every time you walk by or you can fix the damage and sleep better at night. I suggest that you fix the hole.

Begin by assessing the damage. Do you have a wall injury that is just a tear through the outer layer of the drywall facing paper or is the drywall fractured on both the inner and outer faces? Even worse, did you actually punch a hole all the way through?