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How To: 9 Exciting Uses for Boring Cotton Balls
Cottons balls may not be the most exciting bathroom product in the world, but there are some surprisingly useful things you can do with them.
How To: 11 Crazy Useful Things You Can Do with a Candle
Originally made using whale fat, candles first appeared over 2,200 years ago as a means of illumination. From the 1st century up until the 19th century, candles were primarily made using beeswax or tallow, and aside from providing light, were used as a method of keeping time.
How To: 15 Clever Uses for All Those Extra Bobby Pins in Your Bathroom
Bobby pins are great for pinning down flyaway bangs, but they're also great for pushing up the unused gel in a tube of toothpaste, marking the end of a transparent tape roll, opening the plastic seal in food jars, and even removing the pits from ripe cherries or olives.
How To: Cut Glass Bottles in Half Using Fire and Glass Cutters or Acetone-Soaked String
Want to make your own glass drinking cups? You don't need to be a glassworker to get creative. Just recycle some of your old beer, soda, or wine bottles into stylish toothbrush holders or glass cups.
How To: DIY Ways to Clean Your Computer Screen, Keyboard, and Mouse
Got a dirty desktop computer or laptop screen? Mix together a solution of equal parts white vinegar and purified water and place solution in a spray bottle. Spray a clean cotton rag with the solution and gently wipe the screen for simple, streak-free cleaning. For a quick clean-up of dust particles that won't scratch the glass, use clean coffee filters or a dryer sheet.
How To: 15 Ways to Reuse Old CD Spindle Cases
Compact discs...remember those? Before you toss your old CD spindle cases away, consider upcycling them to a DIY terrarium, cable storage container, hamster toy, rainfall shower head, bird feeder, bagel sandwich lunch box, and more.
How To: 12 Helpful Uses for Those Annoying Bread Clips
Plastic bread clips, which are primarily used to keep bread bags closed, can also be used to add new life to your old flip-flops, scrape gunk off your nonstick pans, keep matching socks together before laundering, label your cable cords, and more.
How To: Organize Your Chaotic Cable Clutter
If you are like most people, you probably have a discordant mess of cable and computer cords in your workspace or living room snaking all over the floor or against your desk. Though you can buy various cable organizers at the computer store, you can also organize them the DIY way with bread twist ties, binder clips, cardboard tubes, old credit cards, Velcro tape, or even your old hair clip.
How To: 10 Alternative Uses for Your Old Oatmeal
Oatmeal may not be the most exciting breakfast option in the world, but in uncooked form the oats can be used to neutralize odors in your refrigerator, relieve your dog's itchy skin, soak up kitchen oil spills and treat your poison ivy or chicken pox itch.
How To: 12 Innovative Ways to Reuse Plastic Cups
Don't add your plastic cup to the trash bin just yet. The sturdy plastic material of these ubiquitous containers makes them perfect to use as miniature DIY greenhouses for seedlings, smartphone sound amplifiers, Christmas ornament storage, and even packing material.
How To: 8 Awesome Uses for Chalk That You've Probably Never Heard Of
Commonly associated with classroom blackboards and sidewalk art, chalk can also be used to repel ants from invading your home, lift grease stains from clothes, prevent your tools from rusting, and hide your wall scrapes and nicks in a pinch.
How To: 14 Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Cornstarch
Cornstarch, a fine, powdery starch commonly used as a thickening agent for sauces and gravies, can also be used to remove ink stains from the carpet, detangle stubborn knots, silence your squeaky floorboards, and give your pooch a dry shampoo.
How To: 8 Amazing Non-Edible Uses for Rice Grains
In their cooked form, rice is great for making spam musubi, sushi, and other amazing meals. In their uncooked form, dry rice grains are unexpectedly useful for preventing your salt from clumping in your salt shaker, cleaning out the insides of weirdly-shaped, hard-to-wash containers, weighing down your unbaked pie crust, cleaning out your coffee grinder, and—if you act quickly enough—saving your wet cell phone from cell phone death.
How To: Make a String Ball Ornament and Magazine Bowl Using Inflated Balloons
Using an inflated balloon, some string and glue, you can make yourself a hanging string ball ornament for your living space. Simply hang an inflated balloon upside-down from the ceiling, and then cover the hanging balloon with glue covered in string. Allow for the string to dry, and then carefully pop and remove the balloon.
How To: 12 Awesome Kitchen Hacks for Your Next Cooking Adventure
Good home-cooking does require time, but not every step of the process has to be a time-consuming chore.
How To: 18 Clever Uses for Empty Film Canisters
Film canisters, remember those? Those black containers with the grey lids that used to contain... camera film?
How To: 13 Non-Lip Uses for Chapstick
Now that the weather is colder and drier than usual, you may be using Chapstick more frequently to moisturize your dry lips. Did you know that you can also use Chapstick on dry elbows, dry cuticles, dry knuckles, and even the ends of your hair?
How To: 10 Non-Cooking Uses for Onions
Want to reduce the overwhelming smell of paint from a newly painted room? Slice up some raw onions, place them in a bowl of water, and leave them in the room overnight.
How To: 13 Cool Ways to Use Rubber Bands
Other than holding together bundles of pens or creating a miniature catapult for a science project, rubber bands have many other surprisingly practical uses in the kitchen, office, for DIY home projects and more.
How To: 11 Exercises to Do While Sitting at Your Computer
If you are sitting in front of a computer all day for your work, make the most of it by exercising your different muscle groups even while you are finishing a PowerPoint presentation or filling out cells in an Excel worksheet.
How To: 9 Ways to Get People to Do What You Want
The art of persuasion (or subtle emotional manipulation, depending on how you're looking at it) does not necessarily have to be an evil thing.
How To: 4 Crafty Ways to DIY an Emergency Oil Lamp
If you're ever in a survival situation where you have no electricity and you're fresh out of flashlight batteries, fear not. By using commonplace items such as glass containers, old T-shirts, and cheap vegetable oil, you can very easily put together your own DIY oil lamp that will brighten up that darkness for hours. And no matter how fancy those store-bought scented candles can smell, none of them will smell as good as a DIY lard candle made with your leftover bacon grease.
How To: Collect Safe Drinking Water from the Wilderness
Without water, human beings can only survive for a few days. When you are out in the wilderness, knowing how to collect safe drinking water can be a matter of life or death. Large plastic bags are extremely handy for collecting condensation from grass and tree leaves, as well as creating a solar still. Dew water can be collected very easily with a clean towel and a small bowl. Large waterproof vinyl sheets are especially good for keeping your belongings from getting wet—and for collecting cle...
How To: Unlock Your Car with a Shoelace
Locked out of your car and need to break in ASAP? Unlace a shoelace from one of your shoes and you've got yourself the only tool you need to open your car door from the outside.
How To: 7 Home Remedies for Relieving Common Cold Symptoms
The next time you find yourself with a stuffy nose and the beginnings of a sore throat, breathe in warm air through your nose while holding a hair dryer blowing 18 inches away from your face. (Be sure the hair dryer is set to "warm" and not "hot.")
How To: 4 Cheap & Easy Ways to Unclog Your Kitchen Sink Without Any Nasty Chemicals
Oh, boy. A stopped-up drain. It'll inevitably happen with any home plumbing system and your kitchen sink is no exception. That clog won't go away on its own and will require immediate attention to keep any standing water from rising. But you don't have to resort to calling an expensive plumber or using a bottle of hazardous chemicals. Using simple kitchen staples or common household objects, as well as some determination, you can unclog your kitchen sink on your own without paying a dime.
How To: Three More Ways To Open A Wine Without A Corkscrew
Don't let a missing corkscrew deter you from uncorking your bottle of wine at your next party, picnic or romantic dinner at home. Following up on a previous post on how to open a bottle of wine using just a towel and a flat, vertical surface (a wall or a wide tree trunk), listed below are three more handy ways you can open a bottle of wine using common household objects or tools. And what better way to impress your date than taking off your shoe, placing a wine bottle between your knees, and ...
Drawing 101: How to Sketch Your First Caricature (Portrait)
If you've ever been to an amusement park or carnival, or even just been on a stroll down the boardwalk or promenade, then you probably know exactly what a caricature drawing is—those cartoony depictions of people or things with extremely exaggerated or oversimplified features that create a comedic effect. Caricatures aren't just for street artists, though—they also work great for political satire and entertainment purposes.
How To: Make Your Own DIY Watercolor Coffee Mug
Using water, nail polish, and a white ceramic mug, you can easily create your own artsy DIY coffee mug with a "watercolor" effect colored on its surface.
More Than Just Candles: 12 Practical, Surprising Uses for Beeswax
Beeswax is a natural wax produced by honeybees and can also be used for your home. Commonly associated with making your own DIY candles, beeswax is the perfect DIY product for making your own lip balm, non-toxic crayons, mustache wax, and more.
How To: Make an Easy No-Bake Watermelon Cake
When it is too hot to use an oven but you want to have a dessert for a summer party, you can very easily make your own no-bake cake out of watermelon, whipped cream, chopped almonds, and fresh fruit.
How To: Make Your Own DIY Leaf Skeleton
Making your own leaf skeleton is a fun, DIY project where you strip green leaves of their outer coating and tissue, leaving behind the "skeleton" of delicate veins underneath. Leaf skeletons can then be used as framed art pieces, or delicate decor for homemade cards or ornaments.
How To: Make Your Own DIY Snow Cone Syrup
Making your own snow cone syrup requires only three ingredients: sugar, water, and a packet of your favorite Kool-Aid flavor. Simply combine sugar and water until it's boiling, then let it simmer for three minutes. Gradually add a packet of Kool-Aid until it's completely dissolved, then pour the syrup with a funnel into a separate container, which can then be chilled in a fridge until it's ready to use.
How To: 6 Clever Ways to Hide Your Spare Keys Outdoors
If you're ever paranoid about locking yourself out of your house, the worst thing you can do is to hide your spare key in an obvious spot, like under the doormat, under a planter, or anywhere near the front door.
How To: 5 DIY Frozen Dog Treat Recipes to Keep Your Pooch Cool During the Summer Heat
If humans love to eat frozen treats during the summer, then it should be no surprise that dogs also love the same. Show your favorite pooch some extra love during hot days by putting together some DIY frozen doggie treats during the summer.
How To: 9 More Unusual Uses for Your Hair Dryer
If your newly purchased shoes are feeling too tight, you can use a hair dryer to add more wiggle room for your feet. Simply wear your shoes with socks, and then direct the warm currents of a hair dryer at your feet, focusing on the areas that feel pinched.
How To: Make Your Own Summer Slurpee at Home
On days when it's too hot to even drive to the convenience store in an air-conditioned car to get an iced Slurpee, it's better to stay indoors and make your own summer Slurpee at home.
How To: Make an Easy No-Sew Pet Bed for Your Cat or Dog
Want to treat your furry best friend to a new pet bed? All you need are two identical pieces of fleece, batting, and a pair of fabric scissors. The best part is that there is zero sewing involved.
How To: 9 Surprisingly Toxic Foods
Tin cans have resin linings that contain bisphenol-A (BPA), which has been linked in animal lab testings to a number of ailments that include reproductive problems, heart disease, and obesity. Tomatoes are high in acidity, which means that the content of canned tomatoes eats away at the resin lining, which causes BPA to leach into what you eat. Long story short: avoid canned tomatoes at all costs.
How To: 11 Surprising Things You Should Never Throw into the Recycle Bin
While it is common sense to toss empty water bottles into the recycle bin, most people do not know that it is also important to remove the plastic bottle cap before recycling. Plastic bottle caps and plastic bottles are made up of different plastics, and the plastic found in bottle caps are not as useful for recycling centers as the plastic found in bottles.