Clean Carpet (soda

I love cheap, nutritious food: lentils, rice, toor dal, and other beans and grains. Even popcorn. The only problem is that they usually come in floppy plastic bags that make measuring ingredients more difficult. I usually open up one corner of the bag only to have everything c ...more

In my last quick clip, I demonstrated how to take a bottle of soda and freeze it on command. I received many requests for a more detailed article on this, so here we go. This "super cool" trick works with cans of soda too, not just bottles! Video: . This project was inspired b ...more

When it comes to common household items with a million practical uses, baking soda reigns supreme. We all know that baking soda is great for deodorizing stinky things, whitening your teeth, and helping with clean-up around the house, but did you know about the other weirdly un ...more

Things smell, and whether or not those things smell good or not is up to you. For lingering food odors on your hands, try using stainless steel or coffee grounds to remove the stench. To de-stink smelly jars, use mustard and water. For cutting boards, use lemons and salt, and ...more

Want to make your homemade pancakes and waffles fluffier? To enjoy a restaurant-quality breakfast, simply replace liquids used in the recipe with club soda. Need to prepare a lot of raw oysters by hand before the big buffet? Dunking your oysters in club soda before shucking w ...more

A few years ago I went hog-wild trying to achieve a zero-waste lifestyle. I didn't succeed, but the experiment taught me that we throw away things we could—and should—be using more. In ye olde days of our forefathers, people generally used every part of the animal in cooking. ...more

Is your beloved silver bracelet looking a little worn? Stick it in a bowl of tomato ketchup to remove the tarnish. The acid in the tomatoes oxidizes with tarnished silver, which helps make your silver items look newer than ever before. If you're not keen on the idea of mixing ...more

Flavored oils are amazing. They add a new flavor and depth to dishes not possible with plain oil. Most unfortunately, however, flavored oils almost always come with a hefty price tag to reflect their deliciousness and to capitalize on the general cluelessness of the public. Y ...more

If you want to prevent your bathroom mirror from fogging up in the morning, simply rub shaving cream all over the surface before hopping into the shower. Shaving cream, a common bathroom staple for many people, can also be used to clean hands on a camping trip, silence a sque ...more

Finally, the much-hyped Xbox One is out, setting the stage for an epic holiday showdown between Microsoft and Sony. While the PS4 was released a full week before the Xbox One, Microsoft's next generation system is fully equipped with the latest games and acts as an all-out med ...more

Chances are you've got a bunch of wooden takeout chopsticks doing nothing but cluttering up your utensils drawer. That's a darned shame, considering that chopsticks aren't just for shoveling food into your mouth—they're actually the best cooking tools a cook can have (plus the ...more

Many of the beauty products you buy at drug and department stores are loaded with potentially toxic ingredients like parabens, while their active ingredients are made of things like glycolic, lactic, malic, and alpha hydroxy acids and retinoids, which are all derived from food ...more

Onion scrubs, salt and olive oil blends, a baking soda slurry... despite the many methods already out there to clean your (old or brand-new) cast iron cookware, there's one you may not have considered: using a potato. Don't Miss: The Ultimate Potato Cheat Sheet According to ...more

If you have an oil stain on your asphalt driveway, wipe up the excess oil with an absorbent cloth or mop it up, then act quickly using the common household items below to make sure that it doesn't become a permanent eyesore or a headache to clean up later. Dawn dishwashing so ...more

Need a broom and a dust pan to clean up your living space? Look no further than your recycling bin and upcycle some of your empty drink containers to make new cleaning tools for your home. Using 3-5 empty 2-liter bottles (labels removed), a wooden dowel, and a few tools from ...more

The oven is arguably our most essential kitchen appliance (right alongside the fridge, freezer, and yes, even the microwave). But even though we've been using them for a few millennia, many of us know so little about our ovens that our cooking or baking can feel like a roll of ...more

Salad greens are a staple in my house and for good reason: they're cheap, nutritious, and work as a base or an accompaniment for almost all meals. However, it's all too easy to forget about them and then pull out a bag filled with sludgy dark goo or yellow, inedible leaves. T ...more

We all know to should swap out our toothbrushes one every three to four months, but did you know your used Toothbrush still has a number of handy uses once its time in your bathroom is done? You can use an old toothbrush indefinitely to remove silk from corn, exfoliate your li ...more

Cleanliness is next to godliness. My interpretation of that age-old adage means that keeping your house clean is just as un-fun and boring as being a goody two shoes. That's why they call things like laundry and doing dishes "chores," I assume. Yuck. Lucky for you, though, we ...more

The origins of vodka are shrouded in mystery, with both Russia and Poland laying claim to its invention. Some say Genovese merchants brought vodka (then known as aqua vitae, or the water of life) in the late fourteenth century to Russia. For many years, vodka wasn't just an al ...more

Originally discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet, borax is a mineral and a salt of boric acid, and is usually sold in white powder form in drugstores. Like baking soda, borax has many household cleaning uses, and can also be used to get rid of insects and pests from your living ...more

After cutting fruits, veggies, and especially meats, it's good idea to regularly disinfect and deodorize your cutting board thoroughly. From using kitchen chemicals, to all-natural ingredients you probably have around, there are several ways to do it. For an all-natural quick ...more

Aluminum foil is one of those things that every cook, experienced or just starting out, has in their kitchen. And while we may think we know how useful this handy material can be, there are hundreds of ways we could be utilizing tinfoil to make our lives a whole lot easier. 1 ...more

Learn how to remove blackheads from nose and face, naturally at home! Video: . The steps as described: Step 1: This Is a Scrubbing Technique. You will need: Old toothbrush Toothpaste Salt (Add lemon and baking soda to this if you want) Step 2: Steam Facial (A cool shortc ...more

Whites are the hardest color to keep looking bright and new after just a few months' time. Your sweat and oils quickly become stains, and colors from other clothes will eventually bleed into the fabric, discoloring your bright whites into something merely whitish. But before y ...more

Is your favorite black T-shirt starting to look a little old? To restore a faded black fabric color to its former glory, add two cups of brewed coffee or black tea to your washer's rinse cycle. If you have the opposite problem and need to make your dirty white tees look super ...more

Most of you probably spread ketchup all over hamburgers and fries. Some of you may even drink it straight. But did you know that tame (and slightly addictive) condiment in your fridge is also a powerful cleaning agent? Melissa Ibbitson, 19, consumes 3 bottles of ketchup every ...more

Everyone has a junk drawer in their kitchen. It's like an unspoken rule. The junk drawer is full of all the strange bits of what not that accumulates in your home over time. Everything in there is useful, and you never want to throw any of it away for fear that you might need ...more

Boxed brownie mixes advertise their convenience compared to homemade brownies—with only a few ingredients, they promise a moist, chocolatey crumb. However, these "instant" mixes still require fresh ingredients and a baking time that matches that of homemade brownies. When you' ...more

Ever see those cars so covered in dirt, dust, and grime that someone writes "Wash me" on it using their finger? Well, for those cars' sakes, as well as cases less extreme, a word of advice: procrastination is not a solution — it can only compound the problem. Self-cleaning car ...more

Certain ingredients that a professional chef might work with in a restaurant-style setting may seem bizarre, dangerous, and even downright scary to a home cook, and for good reason. One of these examples is lye. Yes, that's lye, the alkaline base used to make soap, dissolve h ...more

Coconut oil must be sent from the gods themselves, because this stuff is made of miracles. If you ever wondered why your mother always has it around, it's because she's smart enough to know the countless uses for it. Whether you need a beauty remedy, help with weight loss, or ...more

Becoming someone else for Halloween is a lot of fun, but it can take a ton of tools to accomplish. An elaborate costume can require you to slather yourself in all kinds of makeup, paints, and glues, and putting it on is only half the work. The real fun starts when the party's ...more

I assume at this point you have already completed your control panel using Part 1 of this How To guide. Now, if you are anything like me, you couldn't fight the urge to play, and you have your panel sitting on saw horses in the living room. Depending on your situation, your s ...more

Fire.  It’s everywhere— always has been.  From the Ordovician Period where the first fossil record of fire appears to the present day everyday uses of the Holocene.  Today, we abundantly create flames (intentionally or unintentionally) in power plants, extractive metallurgy, i ...more

Someday, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, you'll find yourself on the road in your car, maybe on the highway, and you'll hear something. With your air conditioning on full blast and your stereo so loud your ears feel like they are bleeding, you normally would ...more

Ingredients 3-5 browned bananas 1 cup brandy/rum (if desired) 1/2 cup butter 2 1/4 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup buttermilk 2 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips butter (for greasing pan) Prepare bananas Squish bananas in a ...more

Ingredients 1 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 large or 3 medium bananas 1 teaspoon vanilla Optional: 1/2 cup raisins and/or nuts (walnuts or pecans work well!) and/or ch ...more

The smokey eye has become one of the most popular makeup looks in recent decades. Worn by celebrities and the casual consumer alike, it is not only popular but is also one of the hardest looks to recreate. A few months ago, I was aske to create a simple, easy to follow tutoria ...more

You Want White Teeth Without Expensive Over-The-Counter Products? Here's An Inexpensive, Effective Solution. Everywhere you look there are products for whitening teeth. You could spend a fortune on products you have to use everyday. This tutorial will show you a natural, inex ...more