Who doesn’t have scratches on a DVD or CD? Over at Household Hacker I found this video – How to remove scratches from any DVD or CD.
This will only remove the scratches not the cracks. You can’t fix the cracks.
Author: admin
10 Alternative Uses for Vodka
Vodka is not just for drinking anymore. In fact its been used for many many years as medicine, having been sold by druggists to cure everything from infertility to colic and the plague. I was surprised when I read these 10 weird uses for vodka on the Daily Green.
Here are 10 alternative uses for vodka:
- Treat Poison Ivy – Immediately pour vodka on skin that has come into contact with poison ivy, and the alcohol will wash away the itchy culprit. Some say the vodka needs to be at least 100 proof to work.
- Freshen Laundry – You can keep your clothes smelling fresher with vodka. Spritz your duds with the stuff, then hang to dry in a well-ventilated area. (Do a spot-test first to be safe.) Vodka kills odor-causing bacteria, but doesn’t leave a scent when dry.
- Shine your Fixtures – Its easy to get your chrome, glass and porcelain fixtures shining just moisten a soft, clean cloth with vodka, then apply a little elbow grease.
- Preserve Flowers – Add a few drops of vodka and a teaspoon of sugar to the water in your flower vase. It should help keep your flowers fresh longer. Change out the mixture with fresh ingredients daily.
- Repel Insects – DEET is no longer a safe repellent so give Vodka a try. Pour a little of the saucy spirit in a spray bottle and squirt on the little buggers, or yourself as a repellent.
- Soothe Jellyfish Stings – Vodka can also disinfect and alleviate some of the bite of a jellyfish sting.
- Get Great, Shiny Hair – Try this remedy for healthier, lush hair: Add a jigger of vodka to a 12-ounce bottle of shampoo.
- Clean Away Mold – Instead of harsh chemical sprays, try filling a recycled spray bottle with some bottom-shelf vodka. Spritz on, then let sit for 15 minutes. Scrub away with an old toothbrush (please don’t use your sister’s).
- Make a Soothing Lavender Tincture – Fill a clean glass jar with fresh lavender flowers, then top off with vodka. Seal the lid tightly and place in the sun for three days (same idea as making sun tea!) Strain the resulting liquid through a coffee filter, and poof! You have a homemade tincture to rub into aches and pains. You can pour into smaller bottles, decorate them and give them as unique gifts.
- Ease a Toothache – Try swishing a shot of vodka over the affected area. It can help disinfect, and should numb some of the pain in your gums. Just beware that your honey may accuse you of smelling like a saloon.
5 Tips For Getting Patio Furniture Winterized
As the weather gets cooler its time to think about putting your patio furniture away. You still probably have a few weeks of intermixed good weather, so don’t put them away too soon but be prepared by mid October to spend a day or two getting them ready for storage.
1. Clean off accumulate grime. Wash off any dirt which has built up over the summer and fall with soapy water and a sponge then rinse the furniture and let it dry thoroughly. It’s best to do this on a fine and if possible, windy day so that the furniture can dry off easily. Power wash wicker with a gentle spray to remove the dirt from loose weave.
2. Clean cushions and pads. If possible machine wash the cushions and pads from the chairs. You can also sponge clean them if the care instructions prefer you don’t machine wash them. Always store you cushions and pads indoors, in a place that is not damp, which could cause mildew problems.
3. Bring umbrellas indoors. Clean your umbrella on a nice day and leave to dry outside and then bring indoors.
4. Patio furniture storage. Move what you can indoors and for those items that stay outdoors, make sure they are completely covered with all weather coverings.
5. Check your furniture regularly. If you do have some furniture that will be staying outside make sure and check on it regularly. Its a good idea to brush snow and remove ice from your stored furniture, so that the weight of either don’t cause damage.
7 Ways to Cure Those Butterflies in Your Stomach
Do you get nervous when you are going to do something new? Starting school, first day of work, or learning how to do a new task can all cause a persons stomach to become all tied in knots. If you are that kind of person who’s stomach seems to become its own personal barometer for what you are feeling and butterflies take up residence in your stomach more often than not – then here is some helpful ways to cure those butterflies.
- Deep Breaths – On your way to the meeting or new situation, breath deep, sit back, relax and clear your mind of anything that will take you away from your deep breathing and just breath. In and out, just breath.
- Eat Healthy – Keep your mind producing its own natural feel good chemicals by eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grain foods, getting plenty of fresh air and sunshine and exercising regularly.
- Relax – Practicing relaxation techniques, meditation or even taking time for a regular walk on the beach can all help to reduce stress levels and facilitate a feeling of calm – helping us to wind down and relax.
- Try Herbs – These herbs might help to alleviate some of those anxious feelings: bugleweed, chamomile, feverfew, lemon balm, mullein and skullcap. These herbs will help to calm an upset stomach: catnip, chamomile, fennel, peppermint and willow bark.
- Be Prepared – There is no worse feeling than to know that you are not ready for your presentation. This is where the standard saying “Practice, Practice, Practice” comes in. Being prepared will help you recover better if you do make a mistake.
- Yoga – The asanas in yoga are what cleanses the neurons, which in turn allow the nervous system to react carefully to stress.
- Meditation – The benefits of meditation are manifold. When practicing meditation, your heart rate and breathing slow down, your blood pressure normalizes, you use oxygen more efficiently, and you sweat less.
Anit-Aging Skin Care Help
Do you have age spots that seem to get darker by the day? Buffy or dark circles under your eyes that don’t seem to go away? Winkles that seem to be getting worse even though you use anti-aging creams? Do you have questions about what the best treatment for your aging face is? Each part of our body and each beauty concern we have needs different care, along with the fact that each persons skin ages differently. Below are some helpful tips to help you get a hold on your aging face and slow down the process.
Wear sunscreen! If you do only one thing for your skin this would be your best bet.
Bags under the eyes – This might be a clue that you are not getting enough sleep. If your eyes look different with different activities you may want to take note of what might be causing it. Drinking alcohol before bed may be a factor.
Dark circles under the eyes – If it is caused from a deficiency of vitamin K try using a cream with vitamin K and retinol, they significantly reduce the puffiness and discoloration in most patients.
Age Spots on your face and neck – Age spots and freckles don’t appear overnight so getting them to fade wont happen overnight either. Your best bet is to use Hydroquinone cream for lightening skin discolorations. Another more expensive option is an intense pulsed light laser, costs about $200 a visit.
Neck Wrinkles – The cheapest bet would be to use the same anti-aging treatment you use on your face, this will definitely slow down the aging process. To tighten and smooth sagginess on the neck, dermatologists often recommend a Thermage treatment, which uses radio frequency to heat the skin but costs about $2,500 a treatment.
10 Helpful Ways to Save Money
- Cancel the Newspaper – If you get the newspaper for the coupons, consider getting the Sunday paper only and save about $10 each month.
- Turn off the AC or Heat (depending on the season) – This can actually save you upwards of $70 each month in the peak of the season.
- Stop buying Lottery Tickets – Lottery tickets if bought on a weekly basis can really cause damage to your checking account.
- Start renting movies – Movie theater tickets are around $10 per person making a night out at the movies a big expense. Renting a movie is around $4 and only $1 if you use Redbox.
- Try Camping – Instead of staying at hotels, try camping, its great for bringing families closer together in both sense of the word.
- Learn to Bake – If you commonly buy cookies, cakes or pies, try making your own and save on the high prices of baked goodies at the grocery store. You will find homemade tastes better too!
- Make your own coffee – Stop those daily trips to Starbucks or coffee shop of choice and start making your coffee at home. The savings will astound you – $70 a month for latte, $30 for drip.
- Disconnect your land line – If you already use a cell phone and your land line usage is pretty low, try disconnecting your land line and using only your cell phone.
- Ride your bike or carpool whenever possible – Its not always the most convenient way to get around but it will save on gas and long term expenses for your car.
- Cook at home – Not only does this save money but it is much better for helping you maintain a healthy weight too.
Instructables – Back to School Help
If you have never visited Instructables, you are missing out. Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others. You have to create a free account to post a new Instructable or to comment on someone-else’s Instructable.
So whats great about Instructables is that you can pretty much find anything you are looking for. If you are looking for back to school help, look no further. Instructables has got what you need.
Paperbag Book Cover – Save money and use a paperbag to cover your books. You can make the cover your own by decorating it with stickers and colored pens. If you don’t happen to have any tape you can try this version too – No Tape Book Cover.
Recycled Juice Pouch Lunch Bag – This is an easy to make lunch bag, especially if you use those little capri sun juice pouches.
Duct Tape School Folder – A folder made completely from duct tape. What could be better?
How to Customize a Binder – Pick up a binder at your nearest goodwill and customize it with a bandana or your favorite material.
Pencil Tube/Holder – A pencil tube made out of a mailing tube – how cool is that?
Flash Drive Safety Case – Easy to make safety case made from an Altoids tin.
Lose 10 Pounds Fast!
While going to physical therapy I learned that your core strength is very important. I was learning that while walking, running, and doing any kind of exercising you need to keep your abs tight. It goes right along with what I was reading the other day in Family Circle magazine about how to lose 10 pounds fast.
Experts have found that if you stand up straight when you walk, you’ll burn more calories, flatten your belly and look thinner. And really thats the goal, isn’t it? To look thinner and flatten your belly?
The simple trick to helping yourself become an ab-conscious walker is:
Before going out for a fitness walk, place a belt around the thinnest part of your waist(not through any belt loops). Make it snug, but not too tight. As you move, pull your abs up and your shoulders back so that the belt begins to feel almost loose. Wear the belt every time you go walking and in about 3 weeks you’ll automatically start tightening your abs.
Heres the workout plan designed by Brooke Siler –
- 2 Minutes – Walk with your hands clasped on top of your head. This causes the heart to pump blood upward, increasing the cardio benefit and jump-starting the calorie burn.
- 5 Minutes – Focus on your belt and the ab-conscious walking described above.
- 2 Minutes – Make an effort to push harder off of your back foot and feel how that changes the dynamic of your gait.
- 5 Minutes – Continue ab-conscious walking at a brisk pace.
- 3 Minutes – Pump your arms, keeping elbows in (no chicken arms) and your fists moving in an arc from chin to hip level.
- 5 Minutes – Return to a brisk ab-conscious walk.
- 3 Minutes – Add large arm circles to engage your obliques and further elongate the waist. Circle forward and then backward.
- 3 Minutes – Try one more burst of the ab-conscious brisk walking.
- 2 Minutes – Slow it down to reduce your heart rate.
Tips for Cooking in Regular Cookware
If you haven’t heard, non-stick cookware, also known as teflon, emits chemicals when over-heated that have adverse effects on human and animal life causing the EPA to classify it as a likely carcinogen and has urged companies to eliminate it by 2015.
I know that non-stick is easy to use and clean but for your health it should not be used. So what can you do to make it easier to cook in regular cookware?
Here are a few slick tips:
Start with a good pan. Flimsy pans don’t distribute heat well and have hot spots that cause burning and sticking. Invest in some cookware that will last.
Hot pan, cold oil. Place the pan on the burner until you can feel the heat when you hold your palm open a few inches away. Then add your cooking fat, wait until you see it rippling or shimmering, and add your food.
Resist flipping and poking the food. When you are sauteing, meat and fish will stick to the pan at first. But wait a minute or two before you start flipping or poking it and you’ll find it releases quite nicely and has a good, even browning too.
Dry food won’t stick. Pat meat and seafood off with paper towels before cooking. This will also minimize spatters and enhance browning.
Don’t crowd the pan. Give your foods a little breathing room to keep them from steaming and make them easier to flip.
Turn the heat as you go. Start the pan over medium-high or high heat, then turn it down after a few minutes once the pan starts retaining heat.
Soak, then scrub. In the event of a messy pan, soak for 10 minutes or so before scrubbing.
10 Ways to Save More and Waste Less
Spending wisely on everyday living is the key to save more in this economy. It doesn’t hurt to be a little environmentally friendly while saving money too. Below are some easy ways to stretch your dollars, save time and conserve nature’s resources.
- Cut Down on Paper Towel Purchases. Keep washcloths on hand in the kitchen to mop up spills, wipe faces, etc. It not only saves you money, its very green too.
- Dine at Home. Be creative with recipes and table settings, and you won’t feel like you’re missing a thing.
- Use Smart Products. Arm & Hammer Essentials Detergent cleans with plant-based soaps and baking soda and costs up to 50% less per load than the leading detergent.
- Bulk Up. Larger sizes mean lower unit costs. Divide into smaller portions, freezing perishable items as necessary.
- Thirsty? Make water your drink of choice. A very green option is to carry a stainless steel water bottle for refills.
- Before Grocery Shopping. Search online for printable coupons. Spend time with the store’s website or circular, and plan meals around sale items.
- Transfer Shampoo and Conditioner into Pump Bottles. Use just one squirt per application, its all you really need anyway.
- Choose Products that Multi-Task. Try Arm & Hammer Total 2-in-1 Moist Dryer Cloths to get the best of a fabric softener and a dryer sheet in one money saving moist cloth.
- Spend Less on Skin Care. Look for tinted moisturizers and body lotion with built-in sunscreen.
- Whiten Teeth for Less. Buying toothpaste with whitener in it or add whitening booster to your toothpaste, works just as good as whitening strips but much cheaper.
Adapted from Family Circle Magazine.