DIY Life

Popcorn and reheats. I use my microwave for the most boring tasks. (Perhaps we're experiencing a person-appliance relationship rut?) However, I just discovered a ton of unusual uses for microwave ovens and it has me thinking: maybe I need to get more creative in the kitchen! Check out my sweet list of 16 unusual uses for microwave ovens.

First, a little safety note: Drying clothes in the microwave is NOT recommended. It's a fire safety thing, people. I actually know someone whose college roommate started an apartment fire trying to dry lingerie in the microwave. Both girls had to endure the embarrassment of having half a dozen burly firemen coming in to investigate the cause of all the smoke.

As for myself, I've never set fire to anything this way but I did melt a pair of baby booties once while trying to dry them in the microwave. Oops. Bottom line: it's safest to keep clothes out of the microwave.

My husband was walking an underground tunnel in Jerusalem a couple years ago when his flashlight died. Thanks to the LCD screen on his digital camera, he was able to get enough light to see where he was going and find the exit.

Yep, just like cell phones, digital cameras are handy little gadgets to have on you. They're definitely not just for taking family snapshots anymore! Let's explore some of the ways they can help out in a pinch:

1. Flashlight. As I've just noted, digital cameras make a pretty decent light source when you get stuck.

The humble cardboard carton: the perfect vessel for holding milk or juice. Alas, even with the rise of recycling, squillions still end up in the nation's landfill each year where they wait for Mother Nature to do her thing.

So how about putting them to good use around the house and garden? Here are a bunch of clever, thrifty, crafty and downright surprising uses for the humble cardboard milk carton.

INDOORS

Mega-sized ice cubes. Clean cartons thoroughly, fill with water and freeze. Remove cardboard and use them in the cooler for your next party, or let kids and pets play with them outside.

Hair conditioner: it's essential for soft, tangle-free tresses. But did you know hair conditioner has a bunch of other uses? It's true! Check out my super list of unusual uses for conditioner:

1. Shaving lotion. Why buy a separate product for shaving when an inexpensive conditioner goes a lot further? It works just as well as shaving foam. Really.

2. Makeup remover. Conditioner dissolves makeup beautifully and softens the skin without being greasy.

Straining pasta. Martian helmets. These images spring to mind when I hear the word "colander." But the humble colander has lots of other potential uses ... and why not? The steel version does, after all, sport a super-cool classic design that just begs to be creatively repurposed. Check out these ideas!

Handy Household Uses
1. Grease splatter reducer. Carefully place a colander upside down over frying foods. The heat can get out, but the grease is largely contained.

2. Warm a serving bowl. I love this one: Set your colander inside a pasta serving bowl, then drain boiling pasta as usual. Instead of running down the drain, the hot water will get the bowl warm and ready for your spaghetti and meatballs.

Most of us have at least one old computer keyboard stashed away somewhere, right? Maybe it's broken, or maybe it's just an old and outdated one kept as an emergency spare. Well, here are five easy craft ideas that repurpose useless old keyboards into fun and unique accessories. Hint: These are nice end-of-summer rainy day activities for bored kids/teens!

1. Turn old computer keyboard keys into stylish thumbtacks. This inspired Instructables post shows you how. You will need keys that already have a hole in the back to hold the pushpins. You'll also need to do a little drilling and trimming of the plastic to get a perfect fit. Then it's just a matter of gluing the pushpins into the keys. Beautiful.

2. More notice board fun awaits, this time converting keyboard keys into magnets. This is way easier than the thumbtack idea, but just as cool lookin' – and all you really need to buy is a strip of magnetic tape and some glue. Trim the underneath side of the keys, affix the magnets (cut to size) with glue, and you're done!

Contrary to urban legend, toothpaste isn't a magic cure for a pesky pimple you want gone by morning. But it can take the itch and inflammation out of a mosquito bite.

So often, we go looking for new products to solve our new problems. But toothpaste is one of those old standby's that has multiple uses around a home. In most cases, a white non-gel toothpaste works best, and as always, test a small corner out first to make sure you aren't ruining one of your favorite possessions.

Quick Fixes

• Got an old piano? Clean up those ivories with a little toothpaste on an old toothbrush, then wipe clean with a damp cloth. This works for newer, plastic keys as well. Also works well on silver and chrome.
  
• A household pet peeve: That gunk that builds up on the bottom of the iron, then rubs off on your clothes. Use some toothpaste on a (cool!) iron, scrub off with a rag, then rinse completely.
  
• College kids are savvy to this trick: When you're short on spackle, simply fill a nail hole with toothpaste, let it dry, then paint right over it.
  
• Tired of tape marks on your walls? Hang your kids' artwork or small posters with just a dab of toothpaste in each corner. When you're ready to take it down, the toothpaste will clean up with water.

We brought home a new patio set last week -- for an imaginary patio that's yet to be built, but that's a story for another day. After unpacking and setting it up, I looked at the huge pile of bubble wrap sitting on my lawn. Surely, there must be a way to reuse this stuff, I thought. So after letting the kids have a few pieces to pop, I got busy looking for new ways to put it to work.

What I discovered is that besides being a fun and addictive noisemaker, bubble wrap is surprisingly versatile. I've squirreled mine away so that I can try out some of these unusual uses:

• Use bubble wrap to line the crisper drawers in your refrigerator. It'll protect delicate fruits -- like pears -- from bruising when you toss them in. And when you forget the pears are there and discover them too late ... easy clean-up!
• Bring bubble wrap with you to the grocery store to wrap frozen items in before bagging, ensuring they'll still be frozen when you get them home.
• Start saving bubble wrap now for when the cooler weather sets in, then use it to winterize your delicate outdoor potted plants.

Take a look in your bathroom vanity. Chances are -- especially if you've got young kids in the house -- there's a bottle of baby shampoo hidden in there somewhere, even if those kids aren't babies anymore. And if you don't, baby shampoo is inexpensive and easy to find, and often even turns up in thrift stores and garage sales.

That half-used bottle -- or an inexpensive new one -- is a soapy gold mine. Baby shampoo can be used for jobs around the house, as a stand-in for personal care products and for family fun, too. Here are some ideas:

Around the House

• Zipper stuck? Don't get annoyed. Instead, dip a q-tip in baby shampoo and rub it on the stuck spot. It'll lubricate the zipper and get things moving again.
• Groan. You've just discovered that you shrunk your favorite sweater in the wash. You can hand it down to your daughter, or you can try to resize it using a sinkful of water and some baby shampoo. Use it to wash your delicates, too!
• Some baby shampoos contain mineral oil, excellent for revitalizing leather shoes, coats and purses. Dab a little shampoo onto a soft cloth and rub the shampoo onto the leather, leaving it soft and gleaming.
• Take advantage of shampoo's natural grease-cutting properties. Mix it with a little baking soda and use it to clean your chrome faucets.

As I have said many times before; almost everything has more than one use, and I believe it is our duty as inhabitants of this planet to recycle as many items as possible, sometimes reusing the same item over and over again.

Plastic soda and water bottles are items that can be reused. Join me after the break, as I give you a list of things that you can reuse plastic bottles for, which I found over at Green Home.