Basic DIY Ingredients to Have Handy

As I post DIY recipes and solutions on this blog, you'll notice a few recurring products which, while not uncommon, are not necessarily a staple in everybody's households. This post will highlight some of the more important ones, and make an argument for why you should consider having them around, even if you never use them for any of this DIY stuff.

Borax

Everyone should own Borax. A giant box of it is cheap, and a little of it goes a long way. Most commonly, it is used as a laundry additive, but it has dozens if not hundreds of uses beyond that. The entire back of the box and one of the sides is covered in uses for the product. It can remove water spots left by your dishwasher, clean your carpet, kill bugs, preserve flowers, kill odors, make crystal ornaments, unclog drains, kill weeds, and make farting slime. It doesn't cause cancer, is safe to touch, and doesn't harm the environment. It's sold in the same isle as laundry detergent in most grocery stores.

If this costs you more than $4.99, go punch the store manager in the face.

Washing Soda

This is another product most commonly used as a laundry additive. It acts as a water softener and degreaser, thus making it a common ingredient in many DIY cleaning solutions. It is most commonly sold by Arm & Hammer, and like Borax is found in the laundry isle in most large superstores (Wal-Mart carries it for sure). It is usually $3-$4 for a large box, but you can always make your own out of baking soda, if you prefer.

Essential Oils

The world of essential oils can get really overwhelming really quickly, so I'm going to keep the focus narrowed down to just the oils that serve this blog's purposes. Essential oil enthusiasts will claim that various oils can accomplish anything from providing relaxation to teaching your children to drive a stick shift, with varying degrees of accuracy. But to keep things practical, let's focus on just a few: citrus oils (lemon, orange and grapefruit), lavender, and tea tree (also called melaleuca). The common quality of all of these is their disinfecting and antibacterial properties. Added to various cleaners, they give some antiseptic power to the mix in addition to their strong scents. And since only a few drops are used at a time, a small bottle lasts quite a while. The price of oils varies a lot, and there's no single outlet that is best. Shop around online (Amazon has everything, but the price points are all over the map) and in local health and craft stores to get the best deal. There's no need to get all of the oils I mentioned, either. Start with the scent that you find most pleasing, and expand your inventory as needed. I personally think lemon and lavender make the best jumping off point, as their scents and abilities cover a wide range of uses (I use lemon for kitchen solutions and lavender for laundry solutions). Tea Tree oil is the best disinfectant, but it is also the strongest smelling of the bunch.

Soaps

I am aware that you probably own soap already. If not...that's disgusting and you should feel ashamed. But the soaps I want to mention here are probably not the ones you have: laundry bars and castile soaps. Laundry soap bars are...well, exactly what their name says they are. You can rub them on tough stains as a pretreatment, use them to hand-wash delicate laundry, or grate them and use as a powdered laundry detergent. They are super cheap and easy to get. I checked the stock at my local grocery store chain that has the highest regular prices, and the bars of laundry soap they had in stock were $0.99 and $1.65. And that was at the store that marks up the prices.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but the Zote bar is huge. 

The other kind of soap I want to call attention to is castile soap. Castile soap, like Borax, has almost innumerable uses. It is a very gentle cleanser, suitable for cleaning just about everything. You can actually brush your teeth with it, if you feel like it, as it's more effective and gentler on your teeth than normal toothpaste. By far the most popularly recognized brand of castile soap is Dr. Bronner's, aka "that expensive soap with the absolutely insane religious text all over it." And yes, Dr. Bronner's is pretty fantastic stuff, available in a variety of sizes, scents, and forms (liquid and solid). But you can also get a plain old bar of Kirk's castile soap for under $2 (Walgreen's has a 3-pack for $4) at most stores. Get whatever is your preference, but definitely pick some of this stuff up. It's the most versatile soap you'll ever use.

This outside of this bottle contains the most surreal novella you'll ever read.

Vinegar

I'm sure you know what vinegar is, and you may even have some in your kitchen. But my point here is this: you should be buying this stuff by the gallon. It makes a great glass cleaner, dissolves mineral deposits in your coffee machine, gives your dishwasher a spot-free rinse, gets that nasty smell out of old bath towels (without making them smell like vinegar), and can kill weeds. Per gallon it's cheaper than milk, is sold by the gallon in every grocery store, and has dozens of uses around the house.  So go buy a shitload of it.

Gak!

If you grew up in the 90's, you remember Nickelodeon's Gak! It was a slimey, jiggly, farty-sounding substance that kids would play with for 5-10 minutes before inevitably getting it stuck in the carpet or so full of pet hair that it lost all of its fun properties. Gak! sold for $3-$5 for a small container of the stuff, and had to be replaced often. It's technically still around, but its expense far outweighs its usefulness. Fortunately, if you have kids who would find fart slime amusing, it is really simple to make on your own.

What You Need:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup PVA Glue*
• 1 tsp. Borax + 1/8 cup of water

*The glue must be a polyvinyl acetate (PVA) glue in order for the recipe to work. Most standard white glues that you can find in the U.S. are PVA (Elmer's All-Purpose Glue is PVA, and available pretty much everywhere for under $2), as are nearly all basic wood glues.

Worked for me. Cost a buck.

Step 1:

Completely dissolve the Borax in 1/8 cup of water. If it is not completely dissolved, the end result will be gritty instead of slimey. Thoroughly mix the water and glue together with a spoon, then add the dissolved Borax and mix until it starts to thicken. The substance will still be wet to the touch

Step 2:

Knead the substance in your hands until it's a slimey consistency and all of the moisture has been absorbed. The end result is a non-Newtonian fluid. If you let it sit in your palm it will slowly flatten out and run through your fingers, but if you pull it quickly it will break apart.

Looks like something the Michelin Man secreted.

You can add color to it if you want, but it may stain your hands or whatever surfaces it touches, depending what you use to color it (here's a hint: food coloring will absolutely stain everything).

If not ruined within minutes, it can be stored in a refrigerated plastic container. To play with it in the future, just allow it to reach room temperature again, or knead it slowly until warmed up.

Microwave Brownie Cake In A Mug

Ever wanted a brownie or some chocolate cake but were too lazy to bake some? Alternately, have you ever been really drunk at 3:00 a.m. and oh my God some chocolate cake sounds sooooo good right now but you're pretty sure your motor skills can't be trusted to crack eggs and/or work an oven in a safe manner?  Good news! I know a simple, easy way to whip up a single-serving portion of chocolate brownie cake* that requires only basic ingredients, a coffee cup and the microwave.

*: I've seen similar recipes that call the end result a brownie, and others that call it cake. I call it brownie cake because the result is a bit in between, like really dense, rich chocolate cake.

What You Need:

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. warm water
• Dash of salt
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 4 tbsp. flour
• A 12 oz. or larger coffee mug

Step 1:

Put the butter in the mug and melt in the microwave, about 30-40 seconds. Remove from microwave and add the water, salt and vanilla. Mix well.

Variation: for a richer chocolate taste, use brewed coffee instead of water or dissolve 1/2 tsp. of instant coffee in the water before adding it to the mug.

In case you are unfamiliar with what melted butter should look like.

Step 2:

Add the cocoa to the butter mix and mix well. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the flour, and mix well yet again.

If you're really impatient you can just go ahead and start eating it now.

Step 3:

Put the mug back in the microwave and cook for 60 to 90 seconds. The top may still look like it's uncooked. This is normal. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, as it tends to be boiling lava hot right out of the microwave.

Also, have fun cleaning the mug afterwards.

Throw some ice cream, frosting, or other desired topping on it if you'd like.

This post is sponsored by Type 2 Diabetes.

Washing Soda

So, what is washing soda and why do you need it? Well, the long answer will come in later posts, but the short answer is that it can be added to your washing machine for added laundry cleaning power. Washing soda is different from baking soda (despite them both being most associated with the Arm & Hammer brand and coming in almost identical packaging), and is not interchangeable with baking soda in recipes. Washing soda can be found in the laundry section of most large superstores (like Wal-Mart), but is no longer commonly carried in smaller grocery stores. It's fairly inexpensive, too. But most people don't have it on hand, and probably won't want to make a trip to Wal-Mart just to acquire it should it end up being needed. But you know what most people do have? Baking soda. And baking soda can be turned into washing soda very, very easily.

What You Need:

• Baking soda

That's it. One ingredient. And to turn it into washing soda? One step.

Step 1:

In an oven set to 400 F, bake the baking soda in a thin layer inside a baking pan until it turns into washing soda.

Done.

To elaborate:

Washing soda is sodium carbonate, while baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Extreme heat causes the sodium bicarbonate to release carbon dioxide, slowly turning it into sodium carbonate.

So, how can you tell when that has happened?  Well, fortunately the 2 sodas have different physical properties. Baking soda is a really fine powder that clumps together slightly.

Washing soda takes on a grittier texture, like fine sand, and does not clump.

The baking time will vary depending on how much baking soda you're trying to convert. Stirring the powder every 10 minutes or so will help speed up the process. For reference, I baked 1/4 cup of baking soda in an 8-inch metal pie pan, and it was ready in about 30 minutes. Just bake it until the powder is gritty and doesn't clump when you lightly shake the pan.

Easy CD/DVD Sleeve

This may have been way more useful a decade or two ago, but if you find yourself with a caseless cd or dvd that you wished had some sort of simple sleeve to keep it from getting scratched, then I know a quick way to make one.

What You Need:

• The disc
• An 8.5"x11" sheet of paper

You can find these items by looking around your office, or by traveling back to 2003.

Step 1:

Make an approximately 1-inch fold along the bottom of the paper.

You can stop to catch your breath at this point, if needed.

Step 2:

Fold in the bottom corners, leaving a gap between the folds of about 2-3 inches.

I know they're uneven, I just don't care.

Step 3:

Fold in the sides of the paper, leaving enough space in between to fit the disc. You can use the disc itself as a spacer.

Again, evenness and consistency are not necessary for this to work.

Step 4:

Fold in the top corners, leaving a gap between them of about a centimeter.

Yeah, that's right, I went metric.

Step 5:

Fold down the top of the paper, tucking it into the flap created by the initial bottom fold.

In other words, do this.

There you go. It's not pretty, but it's fast, easy, keeps the disc from getting scratched, is completely recyclable and doesn't take up much space.  And obviously you can write all over it if you feel like it.

And a 3-year old's attention to detail.

Ant Killer

If you live on Earth, you've had to deal with ants. Those industrious bastards are everywhere. They outnumber humans a million to one. But we hate them. And we've drawn a line in the sand. Then more lines. Then we dug holes within those lines, poured a concrete foundation, build a structure made of wood, metal, glass and plastic on top of that foundation, and now we don't want those damned ants stepping foot inside our home. We don't care if they were here first and that all they want it to eat all the crap we've carelessly spilled on our floor. They had the nerve to come inside uninvited and now we want to poison them to death. Which actually turns out to be really cheap and easy to do!

What You Need:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon Borax (typically found in the laundry section at the store)

All you need to do is mix the ingredients together and heat until the sugar and Borax have dissolved. You can do this in the microwave or on the stove over low heat. The end result should be a mostly-clear syrup. Using little squares of cardboard (cut up old cereal boxes, for example) or cotton balls, put 1-2 teaspoons of the syrup near the areas where ants have been entering your home, or in the areas you have seen them most often.

I am become Death, destroyer of worlds. Also I really need to clean my vent.

The boric acid in Borax kills the ants, but since it is blended with the sugar the ants don't notice it right away. So they bring a bunch of poison back to their nest, and within a couple of days the ants will all be dead. The few ants that eat it right at the source will die immediately, but most just haul it back to their queen. It's essentially the same stuff that gets sold in stores by brands like Terro.

Special Note: While it generally takes a substantial ingestion of Borax to be truly harmful to humans and domestic animals, it's still best that you place your traps where small children and pets won't have contact with them.

Welcome to my slow descent into frustration and madness!

Hello there. I am just some guy and this is my blog dedicated to documenting various DIY creations and their ultimate success or failure. It should be noted at this time that everything featured on this site will be subjectively judged by me, with a recurring theme of me taking perfectly good DIY solutions, adding my own spin, and having that spin completely ruin the solution.

The rest will get explained as the blog progresses. But for now, I'll leave you with a drawing of an alien.