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.