Low- or no-cost solutions to common problems
1. Smartphone too quiet?
Just set it over the top of an open glass fruit jar. This is an old trick, but one that still works.
2. Crowded closet?
Find an aluminum can and break off the opener, which should have two small circles. Run the tops of two hangars through each circle. Put up one hangar, and the other hangar hangs just below it, on the second hole of the opener. You’ve just doubled your closet space.
3. Slow leak in a tire?
Instead of immediately buying a new inner-tube for your tire, first pump up that tube and stick it under water. Bubbles will come out of even the smallest leak. Patch it up and you’re good to go.
4. Stubborn screw?
Try rubbing the screw on a slightly wet bar of soap. It should be easier for the screw to fit into tight holes.
5. Faded headlights
The covers of headlights, the part exposed to the outside, get faded over time. Use toothpaste and scrub for a minute to take away the cloudiness.
6. No bottle opener?
Take a small piece of wood, about an inch thick and six inches long, and drive a nail partly through it. Leave about half an inch between the head of the nail and the plane of the wood. On the side where the sharp end of the nail is gone through, bend the nail over. Use the nail head to grip onto a bottle cap, and lift the wood to lever it off.
7. Ugly nail or screw hole?
Did a screw leave a messy hole in a chair, table or wall? Just firmly push a golf tee into the hole, saw off the end, and sand it down. Golf is good for something after all.
8. Campsite cooking problems?
Pots and pans are a hassle when camping, so get them out of your way with an old belt. Just strap the belt around a tree, and use “s” hooks to hang up pots and pans.
9. Ladder scratching everything?
Put gloves over the top two ends of the ladder, and save your house, or whatever you’re climbing up, the wear and tear.
10. Want a skid free floor?
Want a non-slick surface for a tree house, garage or shed? Just mix a pound of sand per gallon of floor paint, and apply.
11. No iron?
Just take a pan, cover the bottom in tin foil, heat it for 15-30 seconds, and there you go.
12. Dirty keyboard?
Clean it with the sticky part of sticky note. It picks up dust and bits of whatever surprisingly well.
13. Ant problem?
Try drawing a line with chalk. It may be just the defense you need to keep ants away.
14. Slugs in the garden?
Pour beer around the outside of your garden, and save it from slugs.
15. Paint bucket helper?
Paint keeps pooling in the rim of your paint can. No problem. Just take a small nail and hammer holes into the rim, spaced around the circumference, says Popular Mechanics.
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