Knowledge Weighs Nothing

How To Stay Warm: 25 Tips For Saving Money & Keeping Warm (UPDATED 2020)

Tips for keeping warm

In the quest of saving money without sacrificing your comfort, many homeowners and renters alike are searching for ways to stay warm this winter without turning on, or turning up the heating at home. If you’ve been searching for how to keep warm on a tight budget, save on your energy bills this winter whilst remaining warm and cozy with these 25 effective ways of staying warm sans your heating unit.

If you heat your home via a wood fire or wood-burning stove, be sure to check out our post: How to get totally free firewood to heat your home. I can honestly say that we have more than enough firewood to get us all the way through the winter, and it didn’t cost a penny. Combine free firewood with the ways to stay warm below, and you’ll be warm and cosy in even the worst weather.

How To Stay Warm This Winter: 25 Tips And Tricks

1.) Wear Multiple Layers of Clothes – now is not the time to strut around in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Dress in multiple layers to keep your core temperature comfortably warm.

2.) Don’t Forget Your Socks – according to the University of San Diego, if you have cold feet, you’re going to be cold. Keep warm by wearing thick wool socks

3.) Keep Your Oven Door Open – after baking, keep your oven door open to let its heat circulate throughout your kitchen. The smaller your home, the better this technique works.

4.) Eat Hot Soups – raise your core temperature by consuming hot soup on cold winter days.

5.) Don’t Skip the Coffee or Tea – along with the caffeine boost, hot coffee or tea keeps you warm from the inside. Want to avoid stimulants? Drink decaffeinated coffee or tea.

6.) Open Your Window Curtains or Blinds – during the day, open curtains or blinds to let warm sunlight naturally heat your home.

7.) Treat Windows to Capture and Safeguard Heat – install special window treatments to capture and retain heat within your home. Improperly treated windows can let a vast amount of heat escape into the cold winter nights.
homemade thermal curtains
8.) Close Window Curtains and Blinds at Night – prevent Father Winter from stealing your heat by closing window blinds and curtains at night when temperatures drop. Making some thermal curtains from an old comforter is one of the best low-cost ways to keep warm and stop heat from escaping from doors and windows.

Sure it’s a very simple solution, but often the simple things are worth talking about and focusing on. Sometimes things like making some DIY thermal curtains are so simple they are often overlooked, but if you have a cold, draughty house, some thick thermal curtains will make a huge difference if you hang some over your doors and windows. This is a good project to get working on now before it starts to get really cold.

Making your own DIY thermal curtains doesn’t really get much easier than this – an old comforter, a bit of sewing and a few hooks and you are all but done. You can pick up old comforters from Craigslist and thrift stores etc, you can probably even get them for free if you ask around… Check out a tutorial here: Cheap DIY Energy-Saving Thermal Curtains

9.) Stay Active – clean your home or exercise whenever you feel the sting of coldness. By staying active, you’ll naturally increase your core temperature.

10.) Increase Humidity in Your Home – humidity increases the temperature within your home. Therefore, skip your space heater and turn on an energy-efficient humidifier

11.) Reverse Ceiling Fan Circulation – instead of keeping your ceiling fan turned off, reverse its circulation to push warm air down into your living space. This is effective after you’ve run your heater for a little while.

12.) Buffer Hard Floors With Blankets – while rugs are best if your budget doesn’t allow for this purchase, place blankets on bare floors to keep them warm.

13.) Keep Bathroom Doors Open When Showering – let the warm, humid air seep out into the rest of your home while showering by keeping your bathroom door open.

14.) Don’t Run Bathroom Ventilation Fans – while ventilation fans draw out unpleasant smells after using the bathroom, it also sucks out warm air. Light a candle to eliminate smells to keep your bathroom warm throughout winter months.

15.) Use Towels to Block Chilly Air – roll up a towel and place along the bottom of a door to stop drafts and heat leaks. Alternatively, you could make some homemade door snakes/draft stoppers.
DIY door snake

Here is an excellent tutorial showing how to make your own door snakes/draft stoppers. These door snakes are an excellent way to reduce the draft and cold which can come in through the gap at the bottom of your doors. These draft stoppers are cheap and easy to make, so now’s a great time to get making and sort out those drafty doors.

Full tutorial here: How To Make A DIY Door Snake (Draft Stopper)

(Photo from: 17 Apart)

16.) Keep the Fireplace Flue Shut – prevent winter drafts by keeping your fireplace flue tightly shut.

17.) Enhance Your Bedding – change out your sheets for flannel and use a down comforter to stay warm during frosty winter nights.

18.) Warm a Bag of Beans – heat up a bag of beans in the microwave and place in your bed or against you while lounging on the couch. This is one of my favourite ways to keep warm and snug on a cold evening.

Another similar old school alternative is to use a soapstone to warm things up

Soapstone is an incredibly dense stone that is great for absorbing, storing and radiating heat back. It can be warmed up in the fire/oven and unlike a hot water bottle etc, it will radiate heat back and keep you warm for most of the night.

Unlike many rocks that hold moisture that can be dangerous to heat up, soap is so dense that it doesn’t absorb water, so it is perfectly safe to heat up, as demonstrated in the video above. If you don’t have heating, or you are lucky enough to have a cabin somewhere remote, this is a great way to warm your bed up and keep warm. Get some soapstone and give it a try!

(Image from: engineer775 Practical Preppers)

19.) Cover Your Head – much like your feet, heat escapes through your head. Wear a wool hat or beanie to keep your body toasty. It might seem strange to wear a hat indoors, but so much of your heat is lost through your head, so wearing a hat indoors is an excellent way to keep warm and retain your body temperature.

20.) Keep Door Shut – keep all the doors in your home shut. The smaller space, the easier it is to keep warm.

21.) Stay Away From Windows – move furniture away from large windows to keep warm. Even treated windows emit cooler temperatures during the peak of winter.

21.) Stay Cozy – when lounging on your couch, cover with a warm blanket or sleeping bag.

22.) Wear Slippers – in addition to wearing wool socks, keep your feet extra toasty when doing chores by wearing slippers.

23.) Install Clear Shower Curtains Over Windows – allow your home to absorb heat, and keep it in, by installing clear shower curtains over windows that receive direct sunlight.

24.) Add Insulation in Your Attic – keep heat from leaking out of your home by adding insulation to your attic or crawl space. Your house loses heat through the attic in a similar way in a similar way to how people lose heat through their head. If you can afford it, insulating your attic is one of the best investments with regards to staying warm this winter, you can make.

25.) Light by Candles – along with saving on energy costs by keeping your light off, candles also produce a decent amount of heat. While not as warm as a fireplace, these small heaters can keep your immediate area warm. Candles can be especially good for warming hands.

If You Can’t Buy Hand Sanitizer? You Can Make Your Own…

Homemade Hand Sanitizer

If you haven’t already stocked up on hand sanitizer, you are likely too late. People have been panic buying hand sanitizer ever since coronavirus started making headlines. Most stores sold out ages ago. Some stores that still have hand sanitizer in stock are selling at 10x the list price.

Not to worry, though. It is cheap and easy to make your own hand sanitizer at home. Any hand sanitizer with a total alcohol content of 60% or above is considered effective. See here for CDC advice on handwashing and hand sanitizers.

Note — If you CAN buy regular hand sanitizer, it is probably best to buy and use this in the first instance as it is made for the purpose and it does what it’s supposed to. Homemade hand sanitizer may not be as effective due to human error measuring ingredients etc.

If you are looking for regular soap/hand wash, but it’s also sold out in the shops, check out our dish soap DIY foaming hand wash post. Also, be sure to check out our – how to make homemade germ and virus-killing disinfectant spray and homemade disinfectant wipe posts.

You only require two ingredients to make an effective hand sanitizer – rubbing alcohol and aloe vera gel. At the time of writing, you can still purchase both rubbing alcohol and aloe vera on Amazon

Basic DIY Hand Sanitizer Recipe

  • 2/3 cup Rubbing Alcohol (90-99% alcohol)
  • 1/4 cup Aloe Vera Gel

Many homemade hand sanitizer recipes suggest a ratio of 2/3 cup t0 1/3 cup ratio alcohol to aloe vera. Using 90% rubbing alcohol and this ratio would result in a hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol.  To be extra safe I suggest 2/3 cup rubbing alcohol to 1/4 cup of aloe vera to ensure a higher alcohol content.

Add the rubbing alcohol and aloe vera to a bowl and mix them together. Be sure the mixture is thoroughly mixed. Once mixed, decant into some small plastic bottles that you can carry with you.

Use liberally and keep rubbing the sanitizer around your hands until it has entirely dried.

The hand sanitizer we buy often has added emollients and moisturisers to counteract the drying effect of the alcohol. This basic recipe does not. With this in mind, I highly recommend using a hand moisturising cream daily when using this DIY hand sanitizer.

Watch the video below for more advice. It also shows how to make this simple hand sanitizer.

How To Make A 60 lb Hunting Bow From PVC Pipe For Around $10

PVC pipe DIY hunting bow

$10 and a few hours simple DIY in the garage gets you a 60 lb PVC bow that you can use to practise your skills and even hunt with. Now that’s pretty cool.

I don’t have much experience with bows, but a quick Google quickly shows that you that the entry price for a decent-ish longbow, recurve hunting bow or a compound hunting bow is around $200. The upper price range for a high-quality hunting bow seems to be around $700 across the board. It’s actually interesting to me that it doesn’t seem to matter the style or type of bow, the entry price for decent one is around $200. I’d assumed a compound bow would be more expensive than a longbow.

Anyway, my point is – for $10-$20 you can make your own decent longbow out of some PVC plumbing pipe and a fibreglass rod. It’s very straightforward to make as well. Anyone with some basic DIY skills could make one.

If you are into archery or thinking of getting into it, but you are on a tight budget, this homemade DIY PVC bow is a great, low-cost place to start. Watch the video tutorial and see how this PVC pipe longbow is made.

How To Make Mead: Plus 5 EASY & Delicious Mead Recipes To Try

How To Make Mead

Mead makes for one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in history and, using a basic recipe that consists of just honey, water and yeast, it can also be considered as one of the simplest. That said, for the many that may have tried to make mead and suffered some form of a misstep, this drink can also seem like a frustrating mix to get right. So with that in mind, here is a complete introduction to mead, and five solid recipes for the beginner to get to grips with what this wonderful homebrew can offer. If you are interested in making mead, you may also be interested in our moonshine recipe post!

Mead: The world’s most varied drink

From being completely flat through to being super sparkling; from being crisp and dry through to seriously sweet and from straight-up mead flavour through to being fruit flavoured, it seems that mead may very well be the world’s most varied drink. So, after you’ve gotten to grips with the five recipes within this article there is a whole world of other recipes to try out, so…. let’s get started!

Recipe One: Dry/Semi-Sweet Mead

This recipe produces a mead that strikes the balance between dry and sweetness just right and makes for an excellent first-timer recipe.

 Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 14.5 Pounds of Honey
  • 4 Gallon soft water
  • 10 Grams of Fermaid-K
  • 14 Grams Diammonium phosphate (DAP)
  • Liquid yeast
  • 5 Grams of calcium carbonate
  • ¼ Teaspoon of potassium meta-bisulphite

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Primary food-safe fermentation bucket
  • Hydrometer
  • Pure oxygenation system OR an air pump and a sterile air filter

Dry/Semi-Sweet Mead: Step by step

Step One – Soak your honey in water for 15 minutes

This will help loosen the honey from its original thickened state.

Step Two – Add in one gallon of high-quality soft water (this needs to be no more than 150ppm TH)

You should also use a sanitized fermenter.

Step Three – Add in the honey and stir until dissolved

Step Four – Add in a further 3 gallons of room temperature soft water

At this stage you should take a gravity reading with a hydrometer, writing it down in your logbook.

Step Five – Add your Mermaid-K and Ammonium phosphate (DAP) to the mix

Step Six – Add your liquid yeast to the must

Before undertaking this step be sure that the yeast has warmed to room temperature.

Step Seven – Add your calcium carbonate

Step Eight – Oxygenate the must

You do this by either splashing or shaking the mix (which, to be honest, if pretty ineffective) or through a professional pure oxygenation system (alternatively you may opt for an air pump and a sterile air filter).

Don’t oxygenate the mix for any longer than 60 seconds if you’re working with pure oxygen. If you go for the aquarium pump then you can leave it to run for around 30 minutes.

Step Nine – Place your lid on

Ideally, you’ll be using a lid airlock, and you should fill the bucket with water or vodka to the airlock’s fill line. The fermentation should take place at between 55 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Ten – Stir each and every day

Once the must has used up around a 1/3 of its sugar add in about 5 grams of Fermaid-K and 7 grams of DAP.

Step Eleven –Keep an eye on your mix and somewhere between 7 and 20 days it’ll be ready for the next step

Your must is ready when the activity within it slows down to around 1 bubble every two minutes or less. Once this happens you should take a gravity reading, which should be 1.018 or below). Then go ahead and siphon your 5-gallon carboy and add into the mix ¼ teaspoon potassium meta-bisulphite (which should have been hydrated with a 1/8 of a cup of room temperature water).

Step Twelve – Allow to rest for 3 to 4 weeks and then rack one more time

Recipe Two: The fastest, most efficient way of making mead (kind of)

So the first recipe may seem a bit intimidating to some, so here is a simpler mead recipe for those who want to make mead fast! However whilst it’s super quick to mix together, the brewing time still takes a couple of months.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 1 Gallon of Spring Water (room temperature)
  • 3 Pounds of honey (this needs to be pure)
  • 1 Pack of Yeast
  • 1 Box of raisins
  • 1 Orange

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Water jug
  • Rubber band
  • 1 Balloon pack (these should be large enough to cover the mouth of the water jug)

The fastest, most efficient way of making mead: Step by step

Step One – Pour half of your water into a container

Step Two –Slice up your orange into 1/8’s

Then place the slices, honey, twenty-five raisins and the yeast into a jug. Pour a little water back into the jug so there’s around a couple of inches space at the top. Put the cap on and give it a good shake (ideally for around five minutes)

Step Three – Pinprick one of the tops of the balloons and remove the cap from the water jug

You should then place the balloon over the mouth of the jug; the idea behind this is that the gases from within will fill the balloon, so place a rubber band around the jug mouth to secure it.

Step Four – Leave to rest on the side and keep an eye on it

After around twenty-four hours you’ll see the balling being to inflate, this then means that your yeast is busy working on transforming the contents of the jug into delicious mead wine! If it gets too large you should prick another hole into it… you want to avoid it bursting.

Step Five – After two weeks…

After around two weeks you should see that the balloon has gone limp, this will then mean that fermentation has finished.

Step Six – After 2 months…

Following two months you should notice that the mix has become a whole lot clearer and is now ready to serve!

Recipe Three: Super-fast mead (otherwise known as cheat mead!)

OK, so for those who really are impatient, here we have a recipe that takes just two weeks, rather than the months that the other recipes require.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • ½ Gallon of cheap white wine
  • 1 Pound of honey
  • 1-2 cloves
  • Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Saucepan
  • Jug
  • Corkscrew (for the wine)
  • Spatula

Super-fast mead (otherwise known as cheat mead!): Step by step

Step One – Empty the wine and honey into a large saucepan

Heat this up gently being sure to stir the mixture frequently until a scum forms on the top of the mixture.

Step Two – Scrape the scum off and chuck away

Step Three – Pour the liquid into your wine bottle

Step Four – Place the cap on and leave the mixture to rest in a cool, dark space for a minimum of two weeks

Step Five – After two weeks…

Your mix should be ready to drink after just two weeks, however, the longer that you can manage to leave it, the stronger it will be!

Recipe Four: Metheglin (Flavoured mead)

Metheglin is the name for flavoured mead, and it’s this stuff that can date its roots back to a time before even wine existed. Unfortunately, Metheglin fails to get much attention nowadays, so I wanted to include it here for those who want to mix up mead with a difference.

This drink hails from Wales in the United Kingdom, with the Welsh word ‘meodyglyn’ being translated over time, as such many of the recipes that are out there use traditionally English sourced herbs, with a lot of recipes being focused upon serving up as an excellent accompaniment to Lamb.

Possible Metheglin flavours

Metheglin can and very much has been created from all sorts of ingredients to create practically every flavour going. Documented in history are recipes that use the following flavourings: watercress, fennel, liverwort, marshmallow roots, scurvy grass, cloves, borage, marjoram, ferns and flowers.

 Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 3 Pounds of runny honey
  • 1 Gallon of water
  • 2 Tablespoons of chopped rosemary
  • 1 Dessertspoon of thyme leaves
  • 6 bay leaves
  • 2 lemons – You want both the juice and zest
  • ¼ Teaspoon – Grape tannin
  • Yeast nutrient (be sure to follow the instructions on the yeast packet)
  • White wine yeast (again, follow these instructions to the letter)

 Equipment that you’ll need

  • Large saucepan
  • Muslin cloth
  • Demi-john
  • Food safe fermentation pot

Metheglin (Flavoured mead): Step by step

Step One – Place the water in a large pan and heat up

Once boiling you should pour in the honey and wait until it’s dissolved; boil for ten minutes, skimming off any scum that may form on the surface.

Step Two – Turn off the heat

Once the heat is off you can add in your herbs, grape tannin, lemon zest and lemon juice. Then you can leave the mixture to rest, being sure to cover it over – leave to cool.

Step Three – Pour the mixture into your sterilised fermenting bucket

Once in the bucket, you can add in your yeast. Once well mixed allow to ferment for a period of around three days.

Step Four – After three days…

Pour your mix into a demi-john, being sure to filter the mix through a muslin cloth.

Step Five – Fit on a bubble trap/airlock and leave to rest for two months

Melomel meadMelomel mead

Recipe Five: Making Melomels (otherwise known as fruit filled mead!)

Recipe four is pretty flexible as far as flavourings and herbs go, but if you want a mead recipe designed specifically for fruit, then this is it. However rather than re-running through the steps of the other mead recipes, this instead provides guidance on how and when you should add fruit to any traditional mead recipe.

 Melomels: Common fruits flavours

The official term for fruit flavoured mead is ‘Melomels’, and is commonly brewed with the following combinations (with each having a specific name for its flavour):

– Cyser-is: Honey and apple juice/apple cider

– Capsicumel: Chile peppers

– Morat-is: Honey and mulberries

– Omphacomel-is: Honey and verjuice (verjuice is the juice from unripe grapes)

– Perry-mead: Honey and pears

– Rhodomel-is: Honey and rose hips

– Other fruits that can be used: Other fruits that are used within this recipe can be anything of your choosing, and are simply named with the fruit placed before ‘Melomel’, so you can have apple melomel, cherry melomel, orange melomel or strawberry melomel.

Adding your fruit: Stage by Stage

Regardless of what fruit or flavouring you choose to use there are many stages at which the fruit can be added. Each will make for a different end taste of the fruit, so this really is a recipe that benefits from experimenting with. You may even wish to make up multiple batches so you can add the fruits at varying stages with one brew.

Stage One: Adding your fruits and flavourings during primary fermentation

Adding fruits at the primary stage of fermentation is a particularly common way of making melomel. This isn’t so surprising given that it provides for certain benefits, such as the early introduction of nutrients that the yeast can work with to create a mixture with a regulated ph. What’s more when adding fruit into the mead mix early on you’ll find that the mead ferments more quickly.

Lastly you’ll also find that this method still retrains the flavour of the fruit, as the majority of the volatile aromatics will be gassed off.

Stage Two: Adding your fruits and flavourings during secondary fermentation

When adding later on most will choose to mix in the fruit when the mead is almost fermented completely. This is, once more, something that benefits from experimentation as everyone has varying tastes.

The one drawback of adding at this stage however is that is the fruit will take a longer time to blend in, and may lengthen the overall brewing time. This can additionally make it a little more difficult to judge the exact right time to bottle up.

Stage Three: Adding your fruits and flavourings just before bottling

This latter option of adding in the fruit may be the most straight forward, although you will need to be absolutely sure that the yeast is dead (e.g. the must has stopped producing bubbles) before adding the fruit, as you otherwise could end up with exploding bottles!

You can be sure of this by sulphating the must, which requires the addition of potassium sorbate, followed by the addition of the various fruit juices or extracts to the bottling bucket.

A further way of avoiding exploding bottles is by bulk aligning the mead for a particularly long time, and then follow this with a couple of cycles of racking up. This may lengthen the process further, but it does mean that you can be sure that the must is safe to bottle.

Fruit: How much should you add to your mead mix?

The amount of fruit that you should ideally add differs fruit by fruit (which makes sense, given that fruits feature drastically differing strengths of flavour). So here’s my guide on how much fruit makes for the perfect mix.

– Cysers-Apples: 4 Gallons of apple juice or cider (primary stage).

– Cysers-Apples (strong): 3 cans of apple juice concentrate (16 oz.) (secondary stage).

– Blueberry Melomel: 7 to 10 pounds of blueberries (secondary stage).

– Blueberry Melomel (strong): 2.2 pounds per gallon (secondary stage).

– Cherry Melomel (strong): 7-8 lbs of cherries (secondary stage).

– Citrus Melomel (medium): 6-8 lbs (secondary stage 1.2-1.6 lbs/gal).

– Citrus Melomel (strong): 1.8 lbs/gal.

– Melon Mead (medium): 6-8 lbs of pulp (secondary stage).

– Melon Mead (strong): 1.8 lbs per gallon.

– Peach Melomel (medium): 8-12 lbs (secondary stage – 1.2-2.4 lbs/gal).

– Peach Melomel (strong): 2.5 lbs per gallon (secondary stage).

– Plum Melomel (medium) -Add 8-9 lbs to secondary (1.4-1.8 lbs/gal).

– Plum Melomel (strong): 2 lbs per gallon (secondary stage).

– Raspberry Melomel (medium): 5-7 lbs (secondary stage – 1-1.6 lbs/gal).

– Raspberry Melomel (very strong): 1.8 lbs/gal (secondary stage).

– Strawberry Melomel (medium): 8-10 lbs.

– Strawberry Melomel (strong): 2.2 lbs per gal (secondary stage).

(Image from: Ryan McDonough)

Over 40 Of Our Favourite DIY Solar Projects & Tutorials

40+ Of Our Favourite DIY Solar Projects & Tutorials All Here In One Place
Over the years we have featured a whole load of awesome DIY solar projects for you guys to try building for yourselves. This fairly big post is a round-up of some of the shorter DIY solar posts we have done. I have rounded them up here, in one place, to make them easier to find. The DIY solar projects below are in no particular order, so make sure you have a scan through all of them! You can use the ‘table of contents’ below, to jump to any specific project.

DIY Beautiful Solar Light Pathway

DIY solar path lights

How awesome does that look? This solar light pathway is made with glass blocks and solar-powered LED lights. In the tutorial below, most of the items used were purchased, but I think you could pick up almost everything required for free if you ask around…

For example, when we moved into our house, the previous owner had left 15 of those glass blocks in the garage. They knocked around for a while and then I ended up just giving them away. Also if you didn’t want the different colours, you could pick up some free unwanted solar garden lights, and utilize the solar panel and LED in the glass blocks; this method would also cut down on any wiring. If you want to give this a go, get on Freecycle (or similar) and see what you can acquire for free. Tutorial: DIY Beautiful Solar Light Pathway.

Build A Solar Panel From A Picture Frame & Some Solar Garden Lights

DIY picture frame solar panel

If you have been following K.W.N for a while, you’ll know we love cheap recycling/re-purposing projects. Today we have a nice little solar project to build a cheap solar panel from a picture frame and some old garden solar lights…

This would be a cheap project even if you were purchasing the solar garden lights specifically to build this solar panel.  You can pick them up for a dollar or two and you could save the batteries and LEDs for other projects. It’s just not necessary to buy new lights though. Almost everyone has some of these solar lights laying around unused at home. The cheap batteries fail and then they get discarded in the shed. Ask around, I am sure you’ll have no problem getting hold of some for free! Once you have enough solar garden lights, check the tutorial and get building your own cheap DIY solar panel.

How To Get Cheap Solar Power: 14 DIY Solar Projects

Homemade solar projects

For most people, the dream of living off-the-grid can only be accomplished by utilizing solar power, but this doesn’t always have to mean purchasing $10,000 solar system to power your home.  Solar power has never been this cheap! Here are 14 DIY solar tutorials to get you generating free electricity and cooking for FREE, using just the power of the sun.

There are cheap DIY solar projects here ranging from simple solar food dehydrators and cookers, through to small DIY solar generators and even a fully DIY home-built solar system…

DIY Home Built Solar Power System

DIY solar power system

If you truly want to live off-the-grid or insulate yourself against rising energy prices, you have to embrace and utilize solar power (unless you have running water source, in which case you could utilize hydropower instead).

The problem is that getting a professional company to kit out and set you up with a solar power system can be very expensive, but if you have sound DIY skills, with a bit of planning and research, you can set up your own DIY home solar power system. Check out the link here to see how this can be done.

 

How To Make A Better Solar Dehydrator

Homemade solar dehydrator

We did a post ages back about how to make a different solar dehydrator,  but that dehydrator was a completely different design…

Personally I think this solar dehydrator is a more effective design.  The whole thing seems more effective and simple and this applies to how it’s built and how it functions. If I had to choose between the two solar dehydrator designs, I would choose to build this one. Check out the great photo tutorial (including materials list) from ’10 Degrees Above’.

 

Make A Cardboard And Duct Tape Solar Oven

DIY solar oven

Now I’ll admit – until I started reading up on them a bit more – I thought solar ovens were a bit of a gimmick, you know, something to do with the kids, or just a fun project that isn’t that practical… How wrong I was! On a sunny day these babies rock, I have seen them cooking all manner of foods, I have even seen one bake a loaf of bread!

The tutorial below shows have to make a super quick, super simple solar oven from just a cardboard box, aluminium foil and some duct tape, and even this solar oven managed to get to a temperature of 280 degrees! This is a cardboard box and aluminium foil solar oven; imagine how much a solar oven would be if it was made from higher quality materials! I have read posts saying that 450 degrees is easily achievable. I’ll search out a higher quality, more permanent solar cooking tutorial, but in the meantime, have a go making this cardboard box solar oven and see how it goes. Tutorial: Make A Cardboard And Duct Tape Solar Oven.

How To Build A Solar Food Dehydrator

DIY solar dehydrator
Being able to eat and enjoy the fresh fruit and vegetables your grow is one of the best things about becoming more self-sufficient. However, in many places the growing season is short.  You end up with an abundance of crops in the summer and fall, but hardly any through the winter.

The main solution to this problem is to preserve your fruit and vegetables so you can enjoy them through the winter months. In my opinion, one of the best ways to do this is to dehydrate food.  You can purchase electric dehydrators, but why spend money on an electric dehydrator and continue spending money on the electricity it uses, when you can make a solar dehydrator pretty cheaply that costs nothing to run.

If you’re interested in building your own solar dehydrator, check out the video below. Also, check out this link for more information on building a solar dehydrator.

How To Build An Awesome Solar Oven (Bakes Bread & Cooks Whole Chicken!)

Solar oven project

A while back we did a post showing how to build a very cheap and easy solar oven from a cardboard box. Today we are featuring its big brother (built by the same person), which is made from wood, fully insulated and even has a sun finding a pivoting base, making it easy to focus the oven at the sun.

People dismiss solar ovens as a gimmick, I think this is a mistake, sure, they are useless on a cloudy day, but it is worth building a solar oven because when the sun is shining, you can cook all day long for free! This particular oven can maintain a 300-degree temperature on a sunny day, and it is often used to bake bread and cook a whole chicken.

 

DIY Solar USB Charger – Upcycle An Old Altoid Tin

DIY solar USB charger

If you are a fan of DIY and LOVE solar-powered stuff, this is your next project. This Altoid tin solar USB charger will power your iPod or phone where ever you are.

Why spend 50 bucks on one from online when you can make one for a lot cheaper and a lot cooler looking. You can pop the solar panel away and no one will ever know what is inside. Tutorial: DIY Solar USB Charger – Upcycle An Old Altoid Tin

How To Build A Solar-Powered Still To Purify Any Water Source

Build a solar still

The great thing about using a still, or in this case, a solar still to purify water is that any water source can be used, even dirty unfiltered water and sea water!

Boiling water is the most common way to purify water to make it safer to drink. The problem is that boiling dirty water with debris in isn’t very effective as even after the water is boiled, there is still potentially dangerous sediment and debris in the water. It is the same with salt water, boiling won’t make it drinkable… Purifying water with any still and in this case, a solar still, will effectively purify both dirty unfiltered water and salt water.  This is because in both cases, the sediment and salt etc, don’t evaporate, so they are left behind to be discarded. To find out more about building a solar still, check out the great post from ‘Off The Grid News’.

 

DIY Solar Water Heater from Stock Tank

Solar water heater tutorial

Are you looking to get off the grid to heat your water? Batch heaters have long been known as the best choice in warm climates or for seasonal use in colder areas, and recent work with improved materials and designs suggests they may also be the best choice even in colder areas.

You could find a lot of the parts and materials needed to make this on craigslist to make this build even cheaper. Tutorial: DIY Solar Water Heater from Stock Tank

DIY Miniature Soda Can Solar Heater

Soda can solar heater tutorial
A few weeks back I did a really popular post: Cheap To Build Soda-Can Solar Space Heating Panels.

This is very similar, although on a much smaller scale. This soda can solar heater from Primed Preppers is designed to fit on a windowsill.  It is not going to completely heat your home, but every little bit helps.

I think this would be a nice fun project to do either with the kids or perhaps as a proof of concept/trial, before taking things large scale like our previous post on a soda can solar heaters.

How To Build Your Own Solar Thermal Panel For Around $5

Solar thermal water heater tutorial
I did a post a few days back about solar power for your home. Some folks on the Facebook page pointed out that the options featured were expensive and out of the reach of many people.

Today I am going to focus on budget solar power and when I say budget, I mean less than $5. That’s right, for less than $5 you can build a solar thermal panel, which will heat water to a temperature that scalds.

This option is small-scale and it is built around a reclaimed heat dispersal system from an old refrigerator (which you can get with the gas removed from your local dump). It has no pump as it is gravity fed and it requires no electricity to work. Just put it in the sun, turn on the water feed and you will get a slow but constant supply of very hot water.

Now, this is all small-scale, but I see no reason why several of these panels could not be used together in some way, to meet a family’s entire hot water needs. The idea of using reclaimed heat dispersal systems from old refrigerators is genius and I definitely think there is enough here to run with and create something more large-scale.

Head over to The Sietch and check out their tutorial complete with lots of photos to help you along the way.

DIY Solar Panel That Follows The Sun

DIY sun tracking solar panel tutorial

Solar power is a great way to get off the grid or at least power some household items to be more self-sufficient. The only problem with this is you have to have the solar panels pointing in the direction where the sun the most.

This relatively low cost and straightforward to build project actually allows your panel to follow the sun so you have more hours of sun on your panel, thus, giving you more power, apparently, between 30 and 50% more power! See the full instructable here.

How To Build Your Own Solar Thermal (Free hot water!)

Simple DIY solar thermal water heater
This is a super simple, super effective, budget DIY solar thermal for hot water. It is so effective it can heat water to a temperature that scalds… The system can heat five gallons of water and due to the high temperature of the water, this is more than enough for a quick shower as you will need to add more cold water to adjust the temperature. The whole system costs around $30 to build.

To be fair, the person who built this solar thermal is based in Hawaii, but it has proven very effective there, so there is no reason this should not be just as effective for anyone else living in similar warm regions. It could also be utilized in cooler climates, but its performance is very much determined by the heat and sun. Even so, it could still be a worthwhile project, even if it is only effective seasonally.

Head over to The Sietch and check out their tutorial complete with lots of photos to help you along the way.

DIY Portable Solar Water Heater

Portable solar water heater

I go camping pretty much every few months and I have always wondered if there was a way of getting hot water without boiling it over a fire! I found a DIY portable water heater that you can make for around $10 and can be folded and carried in a backpack, suitcase, car or boat!

This could be used to have a shower or to wash. Even better, if you were bugging out, this would give a much needed moral boost to get you going again. See how to make it.

DIY Solar Powered Radio (or other AA powered devices) For $3

DIY solar powered radio tutorial
This great tutorial shows you how to adapt a 2/3 AA cell-powered radio to be solar-powered, by using the small solar panel from one of those cheap solar garden lights.

Sure, you can go out and purchase a new solar-powered radio, but they cost a lot more, and this way you can convert an existing radio you have.  If you also have an old solar garden light as well, this project will cost next to nothing to complete. Once completed you can put rechargeable AA batteries in your radio and they will be recharged by the solar panel when it is left in bright light.

I am not an expert, so someone please tell me if I am wrong, but I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t do the same thing with any 2/3 AA cell powered device.  The principle would remain the same…

If you want to give it a go, head over to Got Wind and check out the tutorial.

Make A Solar Scorcher (Fresnel Lens) Frame

How to build the Solar Scorcher

The Solar Scorcher in action, burning and melting stuff…


This DIY solar scorcher (Fresnel Lens) is so powerful that it produces a 2,000-degree ray of heat, that instantly sets wood alight. With a focused beam, it can also melt sheet metal!

It could be used for cooking boiling water etc and I am sure it has some other genuine uses (fire starting and melting stuff etc), but I am mostly just featuring it as it is pretty cool and it seriously demonstrates how the power of the sun can be harnessed into something that’s crazy powerful. This DIY project was made with the panel out of an old TV and some low-cost wood; the whole thing cost less than $8 to build.

Build A DIY Solar USB Phone Charger For $5

DIY USB solar charger tutorial

We have featured several DIY solar chargers in the past, some large scale with others being small USB chargers like this one. We featured a DIY USB charger a while back, but the cost came in a bit higher than this charger, due to the fact that that solar charger was effectively a solar battery charger which could then charge mobile USB devices via the power stored in the rechargeable batteries.

This solar charger doesn’t have a battery pack, it charges the battery in your USB device directly.  This brings the cost down as you don’t need to purchase some rechargeable batteries to use for the project. It also means you never have to worry about the batteries failing over time (because there are none!) AND the solar charger is lighter/smaller and way more portable.  It could fit in your pocket. Check out the tutorial.

 

Make A Cheap Solar Charger From 2 Garden Solar Lights

USB solar charger from garden lights

I think almost all of us have some of those cheap garden solar lights, with many of those lights being broken/unused. If they are broken, see our previous post: DIY Quick Fix For Solar Lights.

If you do have some old unused garden solar lights, why not put them to good use and build this simple solar charger, which uses the solar panels from two garden lights? This DIY charger also has an LED light added for extra functionality. Once built this solar charger should be able to charge/power any small USB device. Tutorial: Make A Cheap Solar Charger From 2 Garden Solar Lights

Easy Solar Panel Or Cooker Sun Tracker Made From A Clock

DIY sun tracking solar panel

So we have posted before about DIY solar panels that track the sun for maximum performance, see: DIY Solar Panel That Follows The Sun. The problem is that was a fairly technical DIY build. This solar tracker is much, much simpler though as it basically involves hacking a large clock to provide the mechanism to track the sun. Once built you just set the clock to the sun and it will then track the sun as the clock turns. Seriously, I don’t think you will find a simper or easier to build solar tracker.

This clock solar tracker could be used with a solar oven or a solar panel. Using a solar tracker should increase performance by 30-50% Vs a static solar panel. Check out the build tutorial.

 

How To Build A DIY Portable Solar Generator

DIY solar generator tutorial

First I should clarify – there are solar panels, solar chargers and solar generators. We have featured several tutorials showing how to build cheap solar chargers. These are simple to build as they are basically just a solar panel that produces electricity and charges when the sun is out, but when the sun goes in, it does nothing. This tutorial is to build a simple weatherproof solar generator – when the sun is shining the panel produces electricity AND then charges (and tops up) an internal battery so you can store the electricity to use later. To be fully weatherproof I would probably make a little cover to go over the external socket, just to keep it dry.

A solar generator like this would be awesome for camping, fishing and emergency preparedness etc. With it you can power lights and other small devices. Check out the full build tutorial here.

 

DIY Solar Powered Evaporative Cooler (Portable!)

DIY swamp cooler tutorial
In arid areas of low humidity (desert/ southwest US etc) an evaporation cooler or swamp cooler can reduce the temperature of a room by 20-30 degrees. In many cases, they are even more effective than traditional air conditioning. Evaporation coolers are also very low-tech and cheap and easy to build and run. In fact, the DIY evaporation cooler in the tutorial below is run via solar power.

DIY evaporation coolers provide true off-the-grid cooling for arid areas. The fact most arid areas have constant sun easily allows these cooler to run via solar power. If you hook in a battery to charge in the solar system, you’ll be able to run the cooler throughout the night too. A great option for RVs, trailers/caravans and cabins. Check out the DIY build tutorial.

 

How To Make A DIY Solar Furnace For Under $50

Free heating for your home, that’s the dream… Unfortunately, short of owning your own woods with a free supply of wood, heating your home entirely for free is probably going to remain a dream. However, there are loads of DIY heating and insulating projects you can undertake that can dramatically cut your heating costs. See Cheap DIY Energy-Saving Thermal Curtains, Endless Hot Water Without Electricity, DIY Bubble Wrap Window Insulation and 5 Ways To Heat Your Home For Free.

The video above shows how to make a simple solar furnace for around $50. It’s not going to entirely heat your home, but every little bit helps and even if it allows you to turn the thermostat down by one degree, that will save you a load of money over the winter.

(Image from: thegulley.com )

48 Hydrogen Peroxide Uses & Home Remedies To Try

48 Hydrogen Peroxide Home Remedies

Hydrogen peroxide is a staple in almost every home first aid kit. While this product kills germs and protects your body from infections, its use spans far deeper than cleaning scraped knees. This common household product can be used for anything from whitening your teeth to cleaning stains out of clothes. Continue to explore several surprising uses from this simple water and oxygen compound.

Realize it or not, Hydrogen Peroxide – H2O2 – is one of the most versatile products to have in the home. It has a multitude of uses for maintaining personal health and beauty and is handy to have available for cleaning and even cooking.

Hydrogen peroxide is available in different strengths, generally 3% to 35% for domestic use. Unless stated the hydrogen peroxide, even when diluted, listed below is 3%. Always check the correct strength is being used.

Hydrogen peroxide chemical formula

Hydrogen peroxide chemical formula

48 uses and benefits of hydrogen peroxide:

Household Uses:

  1. Keeping the Refrigerator Clean

To clean the refrigerator, spray the inside with hydrogen peroxide. Let it soak then after a few minutes wipe with a clean cloth to get rid of food debris and stains.

  1. Washing Fruit and Vegetables

Remove dirt, wax and other contaminants from fruit and vegetables by spraying them with hydrogen peroxide. Let the spray soak in for a couple of minutes then rinse in cold water.

  1. Disinfecting Cutting Boards

 Raw meat and other foods are cut on cutting boards and this can lead to germs and bacteria left behind. So the boards need to be regularly cleaned. Spraying with hydrogen peroxide will thoroughly cleanse them.

  1. Disinfecting Dirty Dishrags & Sponges

Dirty dishrags and sponges need to be soaked to disinfect them. The most efficient way to do this is to soak them in hydrogen peroxide for up to 30 minutes to ensure they are thoroughly disinfected.

  1. Cleaning Bathroom & Kitchen Countertops

To clean and disinfect countertops in either the bathroom or kitchen spray with hydrogen peroxide.  Simply pour 1 to 2 cups of 3% hydrogen peroxide into the toilet bowl and allow it to soak for 30 minutes. Using a toilet brush, scrub the bowl interior and flush away the grime.

  1. Cleaning Glass Surfaces

Dirty mirrors and glass surfaces can be difficult to clean. To do the job efficiently, spray with hydrogen peroxide. This will loosen the dirt and grime which can then be wiped away with a clean lint-free cloth.

  1. Banish Mold From Your Home – The H202 Remedy

Did you know standard 3% hydrogen peroxide is so effective at eliminating mold spores, that even government health agencies recommend this remedy? Leaving mold untreated, can result in serious respiratory illnesses and even constant allergy attacks. Eliminate mold from your home or office by pouring undiluted 3% hydrogen peroxide into a spray bottle. Spray until the mold area is completely saturated. Allow the solution to sit for 10 minutes before scrubbing the area with a sponge. Wear protective breathing masks to prevent inhaling mold spores. If in doubt, repeat the cleaning process up to three times.

  1. Removing Soap Scum From the Tub

Soap scum and dirt as well as other stains build up in the bathtub over time and they can be difficult to scrub away. To make cleaning easier first spray the tub with hydrogen peroxide. Leave for around 30 minutes as during this time the grime will be loosened leaving it much easier to be wiped away.

  1. Use as a Toilet Cleaner

Using hydrogen peroxide is a good way to clean the toilet bowl. Just pour half a cup into the toilet and leave for around 30 minutes. This will help clean the bowl and remove any stains.

Tip: for blocked drains – see our homemade drain cleaner post.

  1. Whitening Grout

For whiter grout mix hydrogen peroxide with some white flour and turn into a thick paste. Next apply the paste to the grout and cover overnight with plastic wrap.  The next day rinse with water and the grout will be whiter.

  1. Cleaning Tile Surfaces

Hydrogen peroxide provides an efficient way to clean tiled surfaces. Over time tiles become dirty and pick up stains. The dirt and stains can be removed and the surfaces cleaned by spraying the hydrogen peroxide directly on the tiles.

  1. Improving Seed Germination

Fungal spores can impede seed germination. The spores can be removed and germination improved by soaking the seeds in hydrogen peroxide.

  1. Cleansing Humidifiers

Hydrogen peroxide can be used to cleanse humidifiers by adding a pint of the liquid to a gallon of water. By running the solution through the humidifiers they are disinfected and any mold or mildew growing inside them removed.

  1. Disinfecting Lunchboxes

 Lunch boxes need not only to be clean but also hygienic. This means they should be disinfected regularly. This can be done by spraying the lunchboxes, along with any coolers and cooler bags with hydrogen peroxide. After spraying let them sit for a few minutes and then wipe to leave clean and disinfected.

  1. Keeping Re-usable Shopping Bags Fresh

A good way to freshen up re-usable cloth shopping bags is to spray them with hydrogen peroxide. This will remove any lingering food odors and leave them clean and disinfected.

  1. Cleaning Rugs and Carpets

Hydrogen peroxide in the home can be used to clean dirty rugs and carpets. Light carpets, in particular, can pick up dirt and mud from footwear worn outside very quickly. Dropped food and spilled drinks cam also mark the carpet. To clean them spray on hydrogen peroxide. It is important to test this cleaning method on a hidden area first as the substance can bleach some fabrics.

  1. Remove Unpleasant Odors From Fabrics

Over time fabrics pick up odors that are unpleasant and unwanted. To remove the odors and freshen up the fabric soak in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar.

  1. Removing Organic Stains From Fabrics

To remove organic stains, such as coffee, wine, blood and sweat from a fabric mix two parts hydrogen peroxide with one part dish detergent. The mixture should then be applied to the stains. Hydrogen peroxide can bleach some darker colored fabrics, so be cautious when using this method.

  1. Whitening Laundry

Over time some laundered items can be become yellow or dingy. They need revitalizing in the wash. Do this by adding a cup of hydrogen peroxide to the wash water, leaving the laundry to soak for around 15 to 30 minutes.

  1. Contact Lens Cleaner

Hydrogen peroxide in the home is very useful for people who wear contact lenses. The lenses can be soaked in the solution overnight to remove protein buildup and leave them clean for wearing again next morning.

  1. Use as an All-Purpose Cleaner

All–purpose cleaners are expensive and can eat into the household budget. To save those hard earned dollars use hydrogen peroxide which is a cheaper, and viable, alternative to those commercial cleaners. Hydrogen peroxide can be used undiluted or mixed with water for cleaning.

  1. Save on Dishwasher Detergent

Dishwasher Detergent can be expensive so a good way to save money is by mixing it with hydrogen peroxide. Also save on ordinary detergent by using hydrogen peroxide when hand washing the dishes.

  1. Use as an Emetic for Household Pets

Household cats and dogs can sometimes suffer after eating something which makes them very ill. In these cases a dose of hydrogen peroxide can induce vomiting purging the pet of possible dangerous substances.

  1. Control Fungus Growth in an Aquarium

People who keep an aquarium in the home can use hydrogen peroxide to control the growth of fungus. It must be used sparingly to prevent any harm to the fish.

  1. Use Directly on Clothing to Remove Stubborn Stains

Stains such as blood can very stubborn and difficult to remove from clothing. One option to deal with this is to use hydrogen peroxide and pour it directly on the stain. Leave for a minute, rub, and then rinse with cold water. If need be repeat the process.

  1. Disinfecting Toothbrushes

To ensure oral hygiene is maintained it is important that toothbrushes are regularly disinfected. One way to do this by soaking them in hydrogen peroxide as it will help kill the bacteria and germs which thrive in the typical bathroom and which can infect toothbrushes.

  1. Growing Mushrooms in a Refrigerator

One of the lesser known benefits of having hydrogen peroxide in the home is that it can be used for growing oyster mushrooms in a refrigerator. The process involves freezer bags and a gallon of diluted hydrogen peroxide. This is not a quick way to grow oyster mushrooms; it takes around 6 months but the end result is well worth the wait.

  1. Marinade Meat, Fish or Poultry

Hydrogen peroxide can be used for marinating. To marinade fish, meat or poultry place in a casserole and cover with equal parts hydrogen peroxide and water. Loosely cover the casserole and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Rinse before cooking.

Health Uses:

  1. Treating Foot Fungus

 To treat foot fungus mix hydrogen peroxide and water in a darkened bottle (hydrogen peroxide should not be exposed to sunlight). Apply to the area affected by the foot fungus. Alternatively you can try the mouthwash home remedy instead.

  1. Dealing with skin mite infections

Using hydrogen peroxide can be a home cure for people suffering skin mites. Dealing with the problem is quite simple. If the hydrogen peroxide is sprayed on the affected area of skin and the process repeated a few minutes later then the mites will be killed.

  1. Relieving Ear Infections

Putting 6 to 8 drops of hydrogen peroxide in the ear using a small dropper bottle will ease the symptoms and help clear up the infection, or you can try this instead.

  1. Preventing Swimmer’s Ear

To avoid ear infection – swimmer’s ear – mix hydrogen peroxide and vinegar in a small dropper bottle. Following the swim put a few drops in each ear to prevent infection developing.

  1. Removing Earwax 

To remove earwax first put 2 drops of hydrogen peroxide in the affected ear. Wait for a couple of minutes then put a couple of drops olive oil in the ear. After another minute drain all the fluid from the ear and that will clear the wax. Here is another alternative home remedy for earwax.

  1. Softening Corns & Calluses on the Feet

To soften corns and calluses on the feet make a foot soak using equal parts hydrogen peroxide and warm water. Soak the feet in the mixture and the hydrogen peroxide will soften any corns and calluses quite naturally.

  1. Healing Boils 

A use of hydrogen peroxide is to help heal boils. Fill a bathtub full of warm water and add 1 cup of 35% hydrogen peroxide. A soak in the bathtub will help treat any boils on the body.

  1. Clear Acne

Acne is an unpleasant condition which can cause personal embarrassment. A hydrogen peroxide face rinse will kill the germs that cause the acne and lead to a clearer complexion. See here for out post: how to get rid of blackheads.

  1. Use as an Antiseptic Mouth Rinse 

To take advantage of hydrogen peroxide teeth whitening use it as antiseptic mouth wash. As well as whitening teeth the hydrogen peroxide will also kill germs in the mouth which lead to bad breath.

  1. Disinfecting Small Wounds 

To disinfect small wounds and avoid infection use hydrogen peroxide as it is a natural anti-sceptic.

  1. Easing Toothache

If someone is suffering toothache the pain can be eased by rinsing or gargling with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and coconut oil. This benefit is down largely to hydrogen peroxide’s antibacterial properties.

  1. Clear Infected Sinuses

Infected sinuses are very painful. One way to clear the sinuses and provide relief from the pain is to make a homemade nasal spray using hydrogen peroxide. The amount of hydrogen peroxide to be used will depend on the severity of the infection, but generally 3% HP mixed in a cup of non-chlorinated water should do the trick.

  1. Rejuvenate With a Detox Bath

A soak in a bath laced with hydrogen peroxide offers the benefits of detoxifying and rejuvenating the body. To prepare the detox bath pour cup of 35% hydrogen peroxide into a tub of warm water. Then it’s a case of soaking in the bathtub, adding hot water to maintain a comfortable temperature, for half an hour.

Beauty Uses:

  1. Add Highlights to the Hair 

Spray hydrogen peroxide over damp hair to give it sun-bleached highlights. After spraying allow it to soak in to the hair for around 10 to 15 minutes before rinsing.

  1. Hair Bleaching

Hydrogen peroxide is much milder than household bleaches so it is great option for “bleaching” hair and making it lighter.

  1. Whiten Finger and Toe Nails

To whiten finger and toe nails put the finger tips and toes in hydrogen peroxide. This is a proven and natural method of nail whitening.

  1. Teeth Whitening Agent – Swish Away the Stains 

The primary ingredient in most whitening toothpastes and products is hydrogen peroxide. Obtain the whitening power of this simplistic compound, without paying the high price tag many of these products demand, by using hydrogen peroxide as an occasional mouthwash. This compound whitens teeth by naturally bleaching its surface through oxygenation. Not only will your teeth shine like the sun, but its anti-bacterial qualities help prevent the formation and/or progression of gum disease and bad-breath bacteria.

How to Use

  • Brush your teeth with your standard toothpaste.
  • Mix 1 teaspoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide with 2 teaspoons of water.
  • Pour in your mouth and swish for 30 to 60 seconds DO NOT SWALLOW
  • Rinse with water and repeat two to three times per week.

Check out our related post on oil pulling.

Bonus Uses!

  1. It’s Time to Clear the Air – Remove Airborne Germs from Your Home

Place 1 pint of 3% hydrogen peroxide for every gallon of water within your humidifier. Allow the humidifier to continuously run. The anti-bacterial and disinfecting properties of hydrogen peroxide gently infiltrate the room to prevent airborne germs from infiltrating your home

Note: This is an excellent way to prevent colds and other sicknesses from lingering in your home or office.

  1. Wash Away the Pesticides – Vegetable Cleaner

Fresh vegetables are often produced using spray pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals. Prevent these, and any germs, from infecting your family by adding ? cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide into a large mixing bowl. Combine with 3 cups of water and soak fruits and vegetables for 20 to 30 minutes. Rinse and refrigerate.

  1. Fight Away Colds and Viruses With Hydrogen Peroxide Ear Drops

By placing 2 to 3 drops of pure 3% hydrogen peroxide into each ear, holistic proponents claim cold and flu durations are significantly lowered. After placing the drops in one ear, allow the peroxide to bubble for 5 to 10 minutes before tilting your head and allowing the peroxide (and ear wax) to drain out. Repeat on the other ear.

How To Modify A Generator To Run Almost Silently With A Muffler

Silent Generator Using A Muffler

A backup generator is a great investment so you can keep the lights on when the power’s off.  Also in many remote locations, a generator is the only means of electricity. The problem is no matter whether you use your generator for emergency preparedness or to power your remote cabin etc, they are noisy as hell. They’ll annoy you, and annoy your neighbours! Also in a bug-out retreat, a noisy generator could give away your location…

Why oh why, are generators so noisy? Why don’t generators come fitted as standard with some kind of muffler like vehicles do? Or even if you could purchase an official muffler for your generator, that would at least be something… Unfortunately,  manufacturers just don’t seem concerned with the level of noise their generators produce…

Luckily though, you can relatively easily adapt and fit a DIY muffler to your generator, and dramatically reduce the noise it generates. The video tutorial below explains exactly how to do it.

Check out this link and you will find another tutorial which shows how to adapt a thrush muffler and fit it to your generator. The result should be a silent or near-silent generator. I am sure there will still be some very low-level noise from the motor etc, but there is no way your neighbours will hear it, and it should be a good option for a bug-out location as well.

The Rocket Mass Heater: Everything You Need to Know

DIY rocket mass heaters

Looking for the most efficient way of heating your home? Perhaps you’ve heard all about rocket mass heaters and just how clean they are? Whatever the reason, this guide takes a closer look at these heaters, explains how to build them, and covers all of their benefits (of which there are many!).

Wait A Minute… Just What Are Rocket Mass Heaters?

You’re likely here because you know all about rocket stove mass heaters and the benefits that they provide. However, for those who may be less than completely up on everything that these handy heaters can offer, here’s a quick summary.

Rocket mass heaters can:

  • Heat up your home with 80% to 90% less wood than is required with a traditional fire or log burning stove.
  • Exhausted output is practically all steam and CO2 (this is minus a little smoke at the beginning).
  • Heat from a single rocket mass fire can burn and heat your home for days on end.
  • A rocket stove mass heater can be easily built within the space of one or two days (less if you have a helping hand from friends or family).
  • When being particularly careful, you can build a rocket mass heater for under $20!

Rocket Mass Heaters… What Are People Saying?

 Rocket stove mass heaters have great reputation amongst the survivalists and off the grid living crowd. Here are some of the most common comments that you’ve likely heard:

“I burn nothing but dead branches, and the heating within my home has never been warmer”.

“They burn cleaner than any other form of heating… and are a lot more efficient to boot”.

“I’m a city dweller who uses rocket mass heating to cut down my bills”.

 So, now that we know that these really are the most efficient forms of heating on the planet, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of how they work, and what you’ll need to build one.

Example of a rocket mass heaterRustic rocket mass heater used to heat a permanent tipi

The science behind a rocket mass heater

OK, so you may be wondering just how rocket stove mass heaters work, particularly as they seem to buck all the trends and go against all of the fire guidance that you’ve ever been taught (e.g. they output no smoke and the wood burns sideways).

What’s more, with a 75% efficiency rate you’d think that the most wood you could possibly save on would be the remaining 25%, right? And to top it all off, just how on earth can such a contraption not emit a plume of smok,e given that there’s a gaping big hole right in the top of it?

Well many of these questions are answered as soon as you see a rocket mass heater in action, here’s a quick overview…

How rocket mass heaters work – In detail

With the sticks within a rocket mass heater stood straight up, it’s only the bottom ends that burn and, what’s more, as they are at a junction within the heater, they burn sideways. The heat within is also insulated, which is why rocket mass heaters get so hot. As this naturally has a strong convective current, encouraging hot gasses to hit the barrel where they then expel much of their heat, consequentially cooling the gasses and making them easier to push around the heater. The gasses that finally exit are then simply made up from steam and carbon dioxide.

The main magical act that makes a rocket mass heater super special, and the main working of the rocket mass heater that we should be in awe of, is found within the heat riser. Here this open ended combustion chamber, coupled with a strong convective current, ensures that the smoke never gets sucked upwards and instead the air is continuously sucked in from the wood filled hole, meaning that no smoke escapes at all. In fact, it’s so hot within this top region that most of the smoke gets burned up!

How to build a rocket mass heater

2 Rocket mass heater plans from the tried, tested and completely trusted experts

Bonny rocket mass heaterThe ‘Bonny Convection Bench’ rocket mass heater

The first  tutorial is based upon one of the most popularly referred to designs for rocket mass heaters there are. Constructed by Ernie and Erica Wisner, this is a roadmap that has been carefully put together by two engineering veterans (who reassuringly have over 700 rocket mass heater builds under their belt).

Here’s the link for the ‘Bonny Convection Bench’ rocket mass heater professional build plans. It currently cost $25 but they are professional quality build plans that could save you $1000s

Rocket Mass Heater Annex6‘RocketMassHeater-Annex6’ rocket mass heater

Need a pretty large rocket mass heater for your home? Well, the second tutorial below are for a heater that’s more than capable of heating a 3 storey, multi-level family home, even in cooler regions such as right by the coast. The reinforcement within the plans along with the in-built air flow channels ensure that any flooring, hardwood or otherwise, is completely protected whilst providing for effective circulation that heats the whole house.

Here’s the link for the ‘RocketMassHeater-Annex6’ rocket mass heater professional build plans. It currently cost $25 but they are professional quality build plans that could save you $1000s

If you need an adapted plan to fit within your cabin then here it is. This design maps out an eight inch diameter rocket mass heater which takes up just 3.5 foot by 9 foot on the floor.

Rocket mass heaters versus the traditional wooden stove

There may be many readers out there who are avid fans of the conventional wooden stove, and who may be seriously pessimistic about just what a rocket mass heater may be able to offer them. So this section is dedicated to demonstrating just how a rocket mass heater compares when talking about heating efficiencies between the two.

“They say that a current wood stove is 75% efficient… so if the most improvement that can be seen is 25%, and rocket mass heaters can heat the home with a tenth of the wood… isn’t a rocket mass heater then 750% efficient? And why wouldn’t 100% be the maximum efficiency rate at which you can operate?”

The statement above sets out both a confusing landscape as well as a few common misunderstandings. And there are two ways in which this conundrum can be answered.

First, you should measure the temperature and volume of smoke that leaves your traditional wood stove (in short, it’s both extremely hot and of a large amount) and compare this to the exhaust found within a rocket mass heater (where there is a trickle of output that has a temperature of a little more than room temperature). This shows that there is far more heat that is retained by the rocket mass heater than by the conventional stove.

Second, we should look at the figures. Being 75% efficient does not consider the heat that escapes up through the chimney in smoke form. If we were to test a conventional oven within the lab we’d find that between 14% and 16% of the heat were escaping in smoke form alone. So then the 75% rating then becomes 64%. The higher rating is simply marketing spiel helping the big stove companies in their quarterly figures.

Lastly, we must consider that this original 75% may not be all that it seems in any event. This is a rating that was found within a laboratory with experts who were focused on getting the very best rating (and therefore skewing the results). So even though a wood stove may be able to achieve 75% when in ideal laboratory settings with a bunch of experts, the rating that you’ll receive within your home is likely to be far less. In fact it’s been found that on average the operating efficacy of a conventional wood burning stove tends to level off at around 35%, which becomes ever less efficient for those who are opting to burn damp leaves (where efficiency can run at something like 5%!). Now in comparison we take rocket mass heaters, which have no way of losing their inner air flow, and thus never lead to a slow, inefficient burn.

If you liked this post, but you’d like something a bit simpler to build first, why not check out our DIY rocket stove post?

(Images from: Wikipedia & Ernie and Erica Wisner)

Start Preparing Now – Expert Advice – How To Stock Up & Be Prepared For Winter Lockdowns & Quarantines

How To Stock Up & Be Prepared For Winter Lockdowns & Quarantines

It doesn’t matter whether you actually identify with being a prepper and the emergency preparedness lifestyle, or whether you are simply someone who wants to be better prepared for an uncertain future. The fact remains — if you are going to responsibly stock-up and stockpile goods, you want to be sure that you are buying and storing the right things…

To help you compile your own list of items to be better prepared, I have created this round-up post. This post features 5 expert preppers with large followings on YouTube. Each of these expert preppers shares their list of must-buy items to stockpile. There is obviously a lot of overlap between experts, but this only goes to confirm the value and importance of those specific items.

To be clear, I am not advocating that you should rush out and panic buy and stockpile all of these goods in one go, as this is the behaviour that leads to food shortages at the store, which then leads to further panic buying by others. Panic buying becomes viral – when people see shortages they panic buy themselves in response.  Personally, I think it is more considerate and responsible to steadily stock up over a number of weeks. An additional thing you can do is to spread your purchases over different retailers. We spread our shopping between small local stores, supermarkets and Amazon and eBay etc.

***Personally — right now we are stocking up a little each week, mostly on non-perishable foods (tinned and dry foods like tinned tomatoes and lots of different tinned beans, wholewheat flour, dried yeast, wholewheat pasta, brown rice and lots of tinned fish), frozen foods (mostly vegetables and some meat), pet food, pain/temperature meds, soap, bleach/disinfectants, hand sanitizer and toilet roll. Oh yeah, and coffee! Lots of coffee!

Check out the videos below for each expert’s list of items to consider stocking up, together with their thoughts and opinions on what and why you should consider stocking up and hoarding these items.

15 Items Every Prepper Should Horde for SHTF

Sensible Prepper – 600k+ subscribers to their YouTube channel

25 Items Every Prepper Should Stockpile / Hoard

DropForgedSurvival – almost 300k subscribers to their YouTube channel

13 Items to Hoard Before Societal Collapse

Canadian Prepper – almost 400k subscribers to their YouTube channel

18 Inexpensive Items You Should Stockpile Now

Iridium242 – almost 70k subscribers to their YouTube channel

Top TEN Cheap Items Every Prepper Should Stockpile or Hoard

Prepper University – almost 50k subscribers to their YouTube channel

500+ Money Saving & Frugal Living Tips (HUGE Resource)

500 money saving tips

This is a money saving and frugal living ’round-up’ post. I have gone through all our shorter posts on frugal living etc and consolidated them into this one huge resource on money saving. There may well be some overlap on some tips, but overall I am fairly certain there is around 500 money saving tips and tricks here.

5 Things You Can Do Today To Save Money And Be More Self-Sufficient

5 things to save money

For millions, the notion of living a more financially self-sufficient life is nothing more than just that – a notion. Existing free from the bounds of debt and comfort knowing you aren’t relying on anything other than yourself is a concept many desire, but few achieve. While the road of being financially self-sufficient is different for every person, achieving financial security and sufficiency begins at the same point for all adults.

The following five tips are geared to increase your savings account while simultaneously boosting your financial self-sufficiency in the modern world. Use these topics as the foundation for your personalized plan to reach financial stability and personal reliability.

Switch to a Better Bank

There’s a disturbing trend in the modern financial industry – fees. Whether it’s debit card fees, minimum account balance fees or the always mysterious, maintenance fees, banking institutions love to charge its customers for simply existing. While this may be true for many banks, there are a select few who offer stellar financial services without charging a fee for every action.

Research and switch to a bank that is fee-free and one that offers a decent interest on checking and savings accounts. Take your time researching the best bank for you. Much like your financial life, banks are unique and cater to specific financial situations. You can also research and switch insurance companies and energy suppliers. We saved $800 a year switching to a better energy tariff…

Create a Daily Budget (In Cash)

For many, the word ‘budget’ is nothing more than a fancy way of setting unachievable goals. The art form of budgeting is not easily acquired, yet it’s necessary to truly save money and become self-sufficient. Take an afternoon and review your monthly bills and expenses on all items (including food, drinks, entertainment activities, etc.). From here, subtract this total from your monthly income. Subtract a little extra for unexpected expenses.

The remaining balance is your expendable income. To ensure you actually spend within this limit, create a daily ”petty’ cash envelope. In an envelope for each day of the week, place the amount of cash you’re able to spend for that day. This method is a relative thought-free way of staying within your daily spending budget.

Fatten Your Piggy (Don’t Be Quick To Dismiss)

Now that you’re conducting your daily spending with cash instead of debit or credit, you’re bound to end up with a fair amount of loose change. Focus on placing this change into your piggy bank. Did you know that by placing aside fifty cents per day for a year, you’ll be at almost 40% of the recommended $500 emergency savings account? Become diligent in saving loose change and leftover bills, and you’ll soon be sitting on a significant amount of cash.

Keep Your Car in Top-Notch Shape

It’s no secret that a well-maintained car lasts substantially longer than a neglected vehicle. However, did you know that by keeping your car tuned-up results in saving money and making you more self-sufficient? By keeping tires properly inflated and the engine maintained, it’s possible to save hundreds in gas purchases each year.

Not only does a properly maintained vehicle save you money on required maintenance and expenditures, but a reliable mode of transportation is among best ways to solidify your self-sufficiency. Take care of your vehicle and watch it care for your livelihood.

Weatherproof Your Home

Regardless of where you live, the weather has a tendency to become extreme. Whether it’s blistering heat or bone-chilling cold, you likely spend hundreds on annual heating and cooling costs. Reduce your monthly utility bills by weatherproofing your home. Because all homes are unique, the exact process to make your residence efficient can vary. Spend time researching various weatherproofing techniques and adopt a system to save you money and sustain the comfort and viability of your home.

46 Penny-Pinching Ways To Save A Lot Of Money This Year

46 ways to save money

The little things really add up. Admit it, there’s a small part of you that relates to the ladies on Extreme Couponing. I read a great blog on how to save money by doing simple DIY projects, tips on how to reuse old things and awesome ways of saving money by doing simple things to items you already have.

Also, remember, times will only get harder and items only cost more, so save money now to have more money for later down the road. This way of saving money will help you if an emergency were to happen and you had to cut back on spending or even if SHTF.

More here: 46 Penny-Pinching Ways To Save A Lot Of Money This Year

100 Painless Ways To Save Money And Live More Frugally

100 ways to save money

Times are hard, goods and services are expensive but money is short. The rich are still getting richer, and the poor are still treading water, trying to keep their head in the air…

The things is, you don’t have to be living right on the bread-line to be concerned with saving money and living more frugally. It makes perfect economic sense for everyone, no matter what their wealth, to not waste their money. To be honest, I believe that living a more frugal life is also better for the soul, it is a more satisfying way to live. If you’d like to save some money and live a little more frugally, check out the post below.

See: 100 Painless Ways To Save Money And Live More Frugally

(Photo from:  Tax Credits)

50 Nifty DIY Tricks To Save Loads Of Money

DIY money saving tips

Some of these ideas cost nothing, but they result in improved performance and reduced costs. Shortening your dryer hose for example – it costs nothing but will save around $25 a year and make your clothes dry 20% quicker. That said, if the weather is good, you should hang your clothes outdoor to dry for even bigger savings!

My point is – there are loads of free/low-costDIY things you can do that can save you big money. The link below contains 50 DIY money saving tricks in categories of how much money they will save you, $50, $150, $250 and $500 a year. Check out the list below.

Find out more: 50 Nifty DIY Tricks To Save Loads Of Money

(Image from: Alan Cleaver)

100 Great Tips For Saving Money

100 money saving tips

There are so many ways we can save money, but often we are so stuck in our old ways and routines, that we miss the most obvious ways to save money… For example – we have saved $1000s a year by sitting down once a year and reviewing things like loans, utility bills, and insurance. We get the paperwork out, check the numbers and then go online and use one of those comparison websites which help find the best deal. A few hours doing this once a year can save $1000s.

It’s not just the big things, though – a friend of mine was telling me how much debt he was in etc, but then later in the conversation he mentioned that he buys his lunch from a local deli each day on the way to work. I asked why he doesn’t pack a lunch at home to save money and he said he couldn’t be bothered and it wouldn’t save that much money anyway. This kind of thinking is crazy though as $10 a day is $50 a week (5 day week) and that’s over $2500 a year. Little things add up!

If you save some money, check out the post below which lists 100 genuinely useful tips, to help you cut your cloth to fit.

Read: 100 Great Tips For Saving Money

41 Green Ways To Save Money ($1000s Each Year!)

41 Eco Ways to Save Money

It seems quite obvious to me that we are screwing our planet up at a rate far greater than previous generations. Lots of people also seem to be struggling and a lot less well off now too. Therefore if there are things you can do that save you money AND save the environment, surely that’s a no-brainer? It’s a win, win.

The post below contains 41 little things you can do that will save you big money and enable you to do your little bit to help safeguard the planet. I am a parent and I believe it is especially important for our children to see us doing these little ethical things that help us and the environment. Just like if you get them to eat healthily at a young age sets lifelong habits, so can this. Set a good example now and they will carry it on in the future.

Read: 41 Green Ways To Save Money ($1000s Each Year!)

(Image from: Greatist)

27 Ways To Save Some Money

27 ways to save some money
 

Money is tight for most people, and there’s no buts about it, times are getting tough…

If you are feeling the pinch (especially after Christmas), head over to One Good Thing By Jillee and read her excellent article detailing 27 (do-able) ways to save a bit of money this year. Great advice, make sure you check it out!

Find out more: 27 Ways To Save Some Money 

(Image from One Good Thing By Jillee)

High-Deductible Health Plan: How To Cut Costs & Save Money

Health care cost cutting

Ok so this is a break from the norm on Knowledge Weighs Nothing, but I saw this and I thought that with the 30,000 daily visitors to K.W.N, this can really help a lot of folks struggling with their high-deductible health plans. In fact, I guess unless you have an HDHP, you probably wouldn’t be here reading this. Anyway, we’ll see how popular this post is…

Anyway, the link below contains post written by Insure.com that includes lots of help, advice, and tips on how to cut costs and save money on your health care if you have an HDHP. If you just ignore the Insure.com advertising and free quote boxes, there is some great free information to be had here.

Read more: High-Deductible Health Plan: How To Cut Costs & Save Money

(Image from: Wikipedia)

Home DIY: How To Do Home Repairs Yourself To Save Money

Do home repairs to save money

So often when something at home breaks and needs repairing, we just phone a tradesman (or woman) and pay them to do the work for us… You shouldn’t be afraid to do a little home DIY, as many tasks are pretty simple and straightforward, especially with Google as your friend. A quick Google and you can often diagnose the issue, and a lot of the time someone has created a DIY tutorial for you to follow.

In the last year, with the help of Google, the home DIY tasks that I have done myself include: replacing a toilet, replacing a power-shower pump, laying a wood floor, building decking in the garden and fixing my computer and my wife’s laptop several time. My point is – you don’t always have to pay someone else to do the work, with the internet, lots of these tasks are easy to do yourself.

Here’s what I do –

If it is a broken appliance (washing machine, dishwasher, computer etc), I get the make and model and Google the specific issue. For example – ‘Sony Vaio S1 laptop not booting up’. When you do this you will usually find loads of posts and forum threads where people have had the same issue. They often also include the DIY repair and how to do it. A little research is all that is required.

If it is a home DIY task (fitting a new toilet, laying a floor etc), I simply Google how to do the task. For example – ‘DIY guide to laying laminate wood flooring’. Again you will usually find loads of guides and tutorials showing how to do the task you need to get done.

All that is up to you is deciding whether your level of DIY skill is up to the task of following the instructions you have found online. If it is, do the work yourself and save loads of money. If it’s not, bite the bullet and pay a professional to do the work for you…

(Image from: Wikipedia)

200 Tips & Ideas For Living More Frugally & Saving Money

200 frugal living tips

Everyone likes saving a bit of money, but these days, most of us HAVE to save money each month, just to get by… Times are hard and the ability to be able to cut costs and live more frugally is becoming more important than ever. Living frugally doesn’t necessarily mean going without, often it can mean having more for less, gardening for example – you can grow and have more food for less.

There are so many things you can do to live more frugally and cut costs. In fact, almost every single thing you do each day can be evaluated to see if there is a cheaper, better way of doing it. Below are two posts from ‘The Parsimonious Princess’ that list 200 ways to live a more frugal life.

See: 100 Painless Ways To Live More Frugally & 100 MORE Painless Ways To Live More Frugally

(Image from: StockMonkeys.com)

9 Frugal Living Tips From The Great Depression

9 frugal living tips

I read somewhere the other day the frugal living was going to be the new ‘in’ trendy thing for 2014. It’s nice for some to be able to play at having to live frugally, but for many of us, it is simply a way of life, not a trendy lifestyle choice…

Anyway, regardless of whether it’s a trendy choice or a necessity for you, below is a post listing 9 frugal living tips that folks had to rely on during the Great Depression. Actually, when I go through the list, I am starting to think that maybe choosing to live this way as a lifestyle choice (rather than having too!), isn’t such a bad thing after all. I think the world might be a better place if we took on some of these values.

Read more: 9 Frugal Living Tips From The Great Depression

(Image from: Wikipedia)

The Fine (and Frugal) Art of Repurposing Leftovers

Food security

Have you ever been really poor?  I don’t mean “I can’t afford Starbucks until my next paycheck” poor.  I mean “Should I buy food or pay the electric bill before the power gets shut off” poor. If so, this is a great article to read to make leftovers stretch your food budget. There are even some recipes on there so you can make leftovers even more “yummy”

Times get hard sometimes but if you are doing well with money, this is a great way to start preparing for an emergency situation because money will have no value or there will be no food to buy.

Find out more: The Fine (and Frugal) Art of Repurposing Leftovers

Picture Credit:  Muffet

11 Couponing Tips That Will Save You Thousands

Save money with coupons

If you are not couponing, you are throwing money away each and every week. The mistake many people make is thinking that a coupon here and a coupon there, isn’t going to make much of a difference and therefore couponing is not worth the effort. The thing is – if you actively seek out coupons and shop wisely, you can easily save around $200 each month… A $2400 a year saving for a bit of couponing seems a no-brainer to me.

If you want to switch from cashing the odd coupon here and there, to being a couponing pro who saves big each month, I highly recommend heading over to ‘Live Like You Are Rich’ and checking out their couponing guide. I guarantee it will save you money!

Read more: 11 Couponing Tips That Will Save You Thousands

(Image from: Live Like You Are Rich)

Feed A Family Of 6 For Less Than $400 A Month (Including Diapers!)

Save money on grocery shopping

There are two lots of people reading this – one is going ‘blah feeding a family of 6 for $400 is easy’, and the others are going ‘how on earth do you feed a family of six for just $400 a month?’

The things is, if you eat low-quality food it is easy to feed a family on very little money, but the post below from ‘Womanhood With Purpose’ explains  how Bernadette eats healthily, with lots of fruit, meats, and vegetables. The amazing thing is that her $400 a month budget also includes diapers and cleaning supplies. Find out how she does it below. I would also add that you could eat healthier and cheaper by also growing some of your own fruit and vegetables too!

Find our more: Feed A Family Of  6 For Less Than $400 A Month (Including Diapers!)

(Image from: Bernadette Veenstra via Womanhood With Purpose)
(Top Image from: 401(K) 2012)