Now that we’re heading towards winter, you maybe worried that your plants won’t do so well on those cold nights. This tip will help keep them comfortable during the day and warm at night, and all you need is a few buckets of water.
If you love your olive oil or vegetable oil and cook with it often, you probably have one of those huge metal oil cans in your pantry and use it to refill a smaller container you keep close to the stove. When that container is empty, you can toss it in the recycling, or you can use this trick and grow some spring herbs in it.
It seems like no matter what you do bicycles are just too easy to steal. As long as a thief has a bolt cutter or a crowbar, they can get through most locks in a jiffy. Cars have alarms to deter thieves, but why not bikes? Here’s an easy, cheap way to create a magnetic bike alarm that will leave thieves fleeing the scene.
This portable lamp is just a milk bottle filled with water, with a headlamp pointing into it. It’s a clever repurposing trick that creates a great soft light perfect for reading, writing or illuminating the outdoors.
Instructables user stickmop shares a trick to tell basic barometric pressure using a hot cup of coffee, tea or cocoa: watch the bubbles when you pour the coffee into the cup.
If you don’t have any commercial waterproof matches on hand for your outdoor adventures, you can make your using shellac or clear nail polish. You’ll just want a way to dip the top half of the match, including the head, and let it dry evenly.
If you’re looking for a festive centrepiece or need lighting if your power goes off you can easily turn an orange into an olive oil lamp by cutting it in half and scooping out the fruit, leaving the long piece of white pith in the middle.
It’s nice to have a place to wash sand or dust from your feet when relaxing outdoors whether you live near a beach, have a sand playground for the kids, or just enjoy walking barefoot. You can build a stone footbath with four 7.62cm-high boards and a few river stones.
There’s nothing like a little outdoor relaxation, but if traditional hammocks are just a bit too difficult and uncomfortable for you, you can make a sturdier hammock-like hanging chair out of tree branches.
One item that we often mention should go into your emergency kit is some way to start a fire. Even if you’re in the bush and kindling is plentiful, it always helps to have something that will give your fire a boost. This simple trick involves a couple of cotton balls and some plastic drinking straws — in a few minutes, you’ll have tiny fire-starting kits that fit into any emergency pack.
