In this tutorial, we learn how to make polymer putty with household materials. You will need: borax, white glue, water, 3 plastic cups and spoons, and food coloring to color your putty. Now, dissolve 4 tbsp of Borax in 2 liters of warm water. Then, prepare equal parts of glue and water together. To make this, you will need 2 parts of the glue solution to 1 part of the Borax solution. Once you mix these together, you can add in some food coloring to it. Pour this into different cups to make di...
In this video, we learn how to make green fire from household materials. You will need: antifreeze, boric acid, and a glass jar. First, pour the antifreeze into the jar until it's 1/3 of the way filled. After this, drop a spoonful of the boric acid into the mixture and mix it up thoroughly. Now, let it sit for 30 seconds and then go into a dark room. Light this up, then watch it burn! You can also put it into a spray bottle and spray it over a flame to see the green fire right in front of you!
In this Home & Garden video tutorial you will learn how to build your own windmill with household materials. Materials needed for the windmill are a template, scissors, straw, some yarn, some pennies, a paper cup, rubber bands, pencil, single hole punch, a skewer and thumb tacks. Take the template, cut it out along the solid lines and punch holes on the corners as shown in the video. Now with a thumbtack and a pencil make a nice hole at the center of the template. Fold the template along the ...
If you've purchased a Nook (the Barnes and Noble e-reader), then you probably want to keep it safe and free from cracks or scrapes. While you can certainly purchase a Nook cover from the store, why not personalize it instead by making your own Nook cover?
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make a guerilla spotlight using household items. Users will simply need a cardboard cylinder and a light source. Te materials used in this video were a toilet paper roll, piece of aluminum, gaff tape and a lamp. Begin by cutting a couple of 90 degrees slots in the middle of the foil, slide in the tube ad secure it with tape. It should be a bit longer than the tube. Now wrap it around the light source. This video will benefit those viewers who produ...
Dirty House? Clean it up with Alka-Seltzer! Who knew the same product that has provided indegestion relief and humorous explosions for millions of people world wide could be used to do some of your most basic household chores. Alka-seltzer can get rid of lots of stains, in toilets, sinks, pots, pans, and lots of other household surfaces, without using elbow grease. Watch this video housekeeping tutorial and learn how to clean with Alka-Seltzer.
You can easily make an inexpensive silicone mold in your kitchen for cheap! This is a great project to do with your kids, or just for fun! You can also use this method to easily make theatrical props and prosthetics.
You can get push alerts to your iPhone from lots of things online like Facebook and Foursquare, but now here's a way to get push alerts sent to your phone from everyday household objects like the mailbox or the refrigerator. In this Arduino project, a mailbox is wired so that a push alert is sent to the iPod when mail is delivered.
If you've ever seen It Might Get Loud, you probably remember the part where Jack White makes a one-string guitar out of household scraps. This type of guitar is called a Diddley Bow, after Bo Diddley, and is about the simplest and easiest electric guitar you can make. Watch this video to learn how.
If you recently unearthed your silver from storage hoping to use the pieces to set your holiday table, you may have been a bit disappointed at how tarnished all those spoons and forks look.
Nitrogen Triiodide is a very powerful contact explosive, but like most fun chemicals is not readily available to the general public cheaply. If you want some and have some chemistry skills, watch this video to learn how to make Nitrogen Triiodide at home out of household ammonia and water purification iodine crystals.
Ovens get filthy pretty quickly, and that can stink up your kitchen and your food. Watch this video for an in-depth guide to cleaning your grill with cheap household products, restoring flavor to your food and a pleasant smell and appearance to your most important food cooker.
The continuity test is one of the least well-known but useful functions on a multi-meter. It allow you to determine whether a fuse works by touching the contacts to it, which allows you to diagnose all sorts of electrical problems. This video will show you how continuity tests work and give you some examples of using them to find problems in household devices like a lawnmower.
The human body is full of different kinds of fluids, most of which are either gross or dangerous to remove from a person for use in one of your films. Fortunately, most of them are pretty easy to replicate using household materials. This video will show you how to make edible prop fake blood, feces, vomit, and snot. They all look great, are safe, and will make you movie much more realistic.
Lady Gaga is known for her crazy fashion style and now you can achieve the same look at home. Using simple household products, you can assemble this gothic vampire queen crown that lights up just like Gaga's. This "Alejandro" look is one of her most extreme and would be perfect for Halloween or even a daring night out. Have fun!
When you're a vegan, meals must be pre-planned in order to ensure you're not using animal products of any kind. Make your next cookie recipe a little bit easier by learning what sorts of things you can use to substitute eggs.
Gnats seem to come out of nowhere - one day your house is clear and the next you're covered in a million little pests. They get in your eyes and nose and all over your food.
In 2 minutes you can make a stove from household materials that you probably already have. Learn this great survival trick by watching this how-to video. You will need rubbing alcohol, a soda can, a sharp knife, and a food tin. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to build a survival stove out of an aluminum can.
In this April Fool's edition of Household Hacker, we will show you how to prank a roommate, sibling or anyone really.... Follow the video instructions and have a fun day. First the table smash, then the toilet spray & finally, the tire balloon prank. Use this as inspiration for one of your April Fools Day pranks!
This guy shows how to easily bust out of handcuffs with one of three household items. Its a cool thing to know but most of the time if someone puts handcuffs on you its best to just leave them on. Uses a dental tool and bobby pins.
In this video, we learn how to build parachutes with household materials. You will need: a long string, Mylar, mesh, plastic, scissors, tape, and a weight. To get started, you will first cut your plastic or mesh into a circle or octagon shape. Then, take your string and cut it into several pieces. Then, tape the strings onto your material all around. After this, tie your weight to the strings so it's fully secured. Now, go to somewhere high and throw down your item! The parachute will help ke...
In this tutorial, we learn how to make fake blood with household items. You will need: 5 ml flour, red food coloring, 20 ml syrup, and blue food coloring. You will also need a container, spoon, and mixing sticks. First, place the flour in, followed by the syrup and the food coloring. Mix this all together with the mixing sticks until it's well combined. If it's not to the color or consistency that you would like, then you can add more color or ingredients until it's how you like it. After thi...
In this video, we learn how to save space while packing using 3 household items. You will need the following items: garbage bag, vacuum, and rubber band. First, fold your clothes and stack them on top of each other in a pile, then place a garbage bag around them. Now, take your rubber band and tie it around the bag, then stick the hose of the vacuum into the hole. Now, turn your vacuum on and let it suck the air out of the bag, and you will see the bag shrink within just a few minutes. Keep s...
There are some days when you and your loved ones could be eating dinner and the power suddenly shuts off. The next best thing to do would be to find a flashlight or candle to help make things a bit more clearer in the dark. If you have a flashlight, but need a bit more light, then this video may be for you. This tutorial will show you how to make a small pocket sized light using easy to find household items. Enjoy!
This is a hobbies and toys video tutorial where you will learn how to make flubber with household supplies. Put three fourths cup of warm water into one jar. Measure half a cup of glue. Take food coloring or any other color and pour it into the glue. Stir the glue so that the color mixes well. Now add the glue into the warm water and stir well. For the second mixture, take two teaspoons of borax and half a cup of warm water and stir. Now combine both the mixtures together in a jar. With both ...
In this video you will learn how to make a bow and arrow from household items. In order to do this, just follow these steps: The first thing to do is to get your tools. Get any tool that will help you to cut things. Now, you need 2 yard flags and an elastic. Take 1 yard flag and cut it in half. Use a tool to bend 2 loops on each end of the flag. Make the arrow using the same cutting process and put the elastic on the bow. Fire the arrow with the bow and you're done.
In this video tutorial you will learn how to decorate for a party using household stuff. The materials you will according to the hosts are wires of all sizes and colors (whatever you'd like), beads (the bigger the easier), a drill, an ice bucket, and indoor outdoor lights. With these materials you can learn how to decorate a ice bucket, and your stemware. Its very fun and easy according to the hosts and they will guide you step by step sharing there ideas and ways to decorate these items so t...
Got 3D glasses leftover from the Superbowl? Time to break them out! You will need cheap 3D glasses from television promotions or you can grab them off eBay for this demonstration. Or you can simply make your own 3D glasses red and blue or yellow and blue cellophane.
In this Household Hacker experiment, we'll demonstrate how to completely remove scratches from your CD or DVD media.
This video tutorial will show you how you can build a rocket from trash. That's right... trash. To make the rocket, you'll need a paper towel roll (or three toilet paper rolls), a spray can cap, a model rocket engine, scrap cardboard or wood pieces, hot glue gun with glue, a straw and a paper cup.
Use red cabbage to determine the pH of different common household items. Great experiment for kids. Begin by cutting up a red cabbage. Put in a blender and blend it. Put in a coffee maker and turn it on. After all has come through, turn off the coffee maker and let it cool. Now test it and determine the pH of different household items.
Build your own miniature gryocar from a toy gyroscope in this fun little project with Kipkay and make it ride on skinny tracks! All you need is a toy gyroscope, a spraypaint canister top to fit the gyroscope assembly, and some assorted parts that you could probably find around the house (or at your local hardware store). Ask your parents for permission first!
In this how-to from Household Hacker, we learn of a number of free proxy services that make getting around your school's Internet filter software a breeze. For all of the details, and to start accessing and using all of your favorite websites when at school, watch this video guide.
With a voltmeter, you can safely check the AC and DC voltage levels, measure resistance and even measure amperage or give circuit readings. What this means is that you can use this to diagnose problems that some of your household appliances might be having.
Is there toilet water all over the floor and you have no idea why? It could be a leak toilet, which is pretty common if you have faulty supply lines, or the wax rings have worn out. But don't worry, you don't need to call a plumber to ease your woes, in this video you will learn how to fix your leaky toilet with a few household tools and some extra knowledge!
If you don't want to use toxic or environmentally unfriendly ant poisons and bug sprays to control your ant problem, you can make a greener bug repellent using household items and natural ingredients. Salt, chalk, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, white vinegar, oranges and petroleum jelly can all be used to keep ants out of your house, yard, garden or picnic.
For just a fraction of the cost of a pair of expensive designer distressed jeans, you can make your ripped pants own at home! With just a few household items and a bit of time, you can get that worn appearance by adding a few holes and using bleach to get the right faded look.
In this clip, learn how to make a traditional pasta salad from Food Network host, Giada De Laurentiis. Giada has been eating pasta since the day she was born and was raised in a big Italian household. In this clip, she shows you one of her favorite recipes - straight from her Mom's kitchen. This pasta salad will serve up great at any get together and is absolutely delicious.
Does the sound of the vuvuzela fire up your passion like it does for the South Africa supporters at this year's World Cup? Do you wish you could hear their divine drone more often? This video will teach you how to create a vuvuzela-like sound using common household items: a balloon and some hex nuts. If you can't get the real thing, this will be a good substitute if you think your life needs a little more noise.
With inflation making even simple household wares like cups and pencil holders going for $10 a pop, it's easy to see how attractive making your own home essentials is.
