General Archives - Knowledge Weighs Nothing

How To Get Used/Working Solar Panels For FREE

October 27, 2018

That’s right, there is a way you can get solar panels for free! I know someone who did it and so can you. Here’s how it’s done…

Solar panels are used everywhere these days. They are often used by construction crews and traffic systems (signs, cameras & emergency signal lighting etc) and these are where we are going to focus because they quite often have contracts with the solar panel providers. Whenever a solar panel becomes cracked or damaged, they are replaced under contract, even when they are still serviceable.

The solar panel provider ends up with a whole load of damaged but working solar panels. They can’t sell them so they usually have to pay to have them disposed of. What you need to do is find the contact details for the solar panel providers and give them a call to see if they have any damaged but functioning solar panels you can take off their hands.

The person I know who did this got around $800 of working solar panels for free, just for a bit of detective work. He saw a solar panel on a road sign and noticed the sign had a sticker with a phone number on it to report a problem. He simply phoned the number and asked for the solar panel provider’s details and gave them a call. A few phone calls later and a trip to their facility and he had a load of free solar panels.

UPDATE: We have several solar farms locally, that generate and sell electricity as a business. I reached out to two of them. Both had old, in some cases slightly damaged solar panels, which still functioned. Both said I could have some of these panels for zero cost. In fact, one of the solar farms offered to deliver some for a small fee.

I enquired about the efficiency of these panels. It was explained that these old or slightly damaged panels were not as efficient as new solar panels (hence why they were replaced). With a solar farm, everything is about efficiency at generating electricity. They are a business. That said, for home use (and at zero cost) these panels have years of life left in them. Additionally, if you have space you can simply have more panels, to make up for any lower efficiency with these older solar panels.

I guess you could also try researching and directly contacting solar panel manufacturers too. They must get loads of panels that are damaged or defective that still work but can’t be sold. Even solar panel stores must get loads of damaged but working solar panels returned, or have panels that get damaged in storage etc. No one wants to pay to have to dispose of damaged goods. Take advantage of this and you could get free or heavily discounted stuff that works just fine.

Just a little thinking outside the box can save you a huge amount of money. Give it a try, all you have to waste is a little time and a phone call.

Related post: How To Build A Water Wheel Generator

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

October 6, 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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!)

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

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

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.

(Image from: Wikipedia)

Home DIY: How To Do Home Repairs Yourself 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

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

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.

(Image from: Wikipedia)

The Fine (and Frugal) Art of Repurposing Leftovers

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

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!

(Image from: Live Like You Are Rich)

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

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)

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

April 28, 2020

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

The US Election: One Important Thing You Should Know Right Now — 2 Min Read

September 16, 2020

With the coronavirus pandemic and the US Election, there is a lot to be stressed and concerned about. There is so much information and disinformation, it is becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to make informed decisions. I don’t wish to add too much to the information overload, but there is an issue relating to the US election that I feel is vitally important for people to know about, and factor in with their decision making.

Facebook Political Microtargeting

There are over 190 million active US Facebook accounts. Both political parties and their supporter groups (and possibly hacking groups) pay millions of dollars to display political ads on Facebook. Many of these political Facebook ads are specifically targeted and tailored for you. This is known as microtargeting. The political ads you are seeing on Facebook are not the same, generic ads everyone is seeing, like on the TV, they are just for you.

You might be being specifically targeted due to your online history and Facebook data – the years of posts you have read/liked/shared/commented on, and the people and organisations you follow (or have unfollowed) on Facebook. You can read more on microtargeting here and more about social media use in politics here.

Now if you are a 100% diehard Republican or Democrat, you will likely see less targetted ads, as what’s the point, they already have your vote. The people targetted the most are those undecided, on-the-fence voters. If you are undecided, but your Facebook data suggested you can possibly be swayed one way or another, you will likely be targeted with some highly effective, highly biased advertising designed to sway you.

This Is A Problem…

I have two main issues with this Facebook microtargeting – firstly, most people are unaware that they are being lead-down-the-path via these individualised, highly biased advertising campaigns that are cleverly designed to sway them to vote one way or another. Secondly, these microtargeted ad campaigns don’t even have to be truthful or factual. They can, in effect be lies. You may be seeing ads which are highly biased stating outright lies, day after day… Facebook ads are not fact-checked by Facebook.

The bottom line is – don’t be swayed by the political Facebook ads you are seeing. They are not fact-checked. They are highly biased and cleverly designed to push you to vote one way or another. You are basically being cleverly deceived. Most people don’t know this.

If you are interested in seeing some of the different ads that are used to target people on Facebook, check out the ProPublica Facebook Political Ad Collector where they compile a user-submitted database of the political ads currently doing the rounds on Facebook. Seeing all the different ads that are being shown to different people is eye-opening, to say the least.

UPDATE – New Sources

Almost all news sources have some political bias. If you always read the same news websites or newspapers, it is easy to get caught up with their biased reporting and mistake their political opinion as fact. Even if you use a news aggregator such as Google News it can be biased even though it includes all news sources. Google News was recently found to slightly favour leftish news reporting.

There is a great website called allsides.com where they attempt to provide a balanced 360 view of the news by including news from left, center and right news sources. No matter whether you consider yourself left – center or right, it is great to be able to view the news issues from all angles. It is really interesting to see how different news sources report the same issues, but with different biases. Check out the allsides.com US Election portal here.

A final note for the 2020 US Election – however you do it, postal or in person, please be sure to vote!

Homemade Bushcraft/Frontier Knife Made From A File/Rasp — No Forge Required – Simple Tools Only

July 2, 2020

Mora Knives aside, it can be difficult to find an affordable, quality bushcraft type survival knife. Mora knives are very cheap and very highly regarded, but they are not full-tang knives, which means the blade steel does not travel through to the end of the handle. A full-tang knife is always preferable as it is much stronger, and even if the handle breaks, the remaining steel shaft can be wound with paracord or replaced. If the knife is not full-tang and the handle breaks, the knife is all but useless.

So what’s the answer? Well, you can try your luck with cheap full-tang knives, or you can easily make your own bespoke full-tang bushcraft knife from a metal file. The excellent video tutorial below from Outdoor Boys YouTube channel (I highly recommend subscribing! They put out some amazing video tutorials) shows how to make a homemade full-tang, high-quality knife from an old file/rasp. The best thing about this knife making tutorial is the minimum tools/equipment required — literally all you need is a bench vice, a hand grinder, a drill, and a belt-sander. You can even do away with the belt-sander if you don’t have one! There are a couple of clamps used to fit the handle, but at a push, you could easily just use the bench vice for this.

Tools aside, the other great thing about this knife/tutorial is that you do not need a forge to make this knife! That’s right, no forge, you heard me right. If you do a bit of DIY, you likely have everything you need already! This would make an awesome weekend project, check out the tutorial below. The tutorial also covers making the sheath.

One thing that came to mind when watching this tutorial – you could easily skip making the beautiful, but the time-consuming wood handle. Instead, you could make a simple paracord-wrap handle. This would save time and also allow you to always carry a length of paracord with you.

How To Make Your Own Disinfectant Wipes — Quick, Easy & Cheap!

April 30, 2020

Since it has become difficult to buy disinfectant spray and disinfectant wipes in some countries many people are looking online for homemade disinfectant solutions. The problem is many websites and blogs are touting a whole range of homemade, natural, alternative and holistic disinfectant recipes that are simply ineffective. This is bad enough during normal times but during this coronavirus pandemic, it is dangerous.

To be clear – as far as coronavirus is concerned, I would not be relying upon any disinfectant recipes that rely on essential oils (including tea tree), vinegar, lemon juice, vodka, bicarbonate of soda or witch hazel as the main germ/virus killing agent. Stick with bleach, hydrogen peroxide or alcohol, at the correct mixing ratios recommended for killing germs and viruses.

From my own research on the CDC website (see here, here and here), I have found the following products and ratios to be effective for killing germs and viruses, including coronavirus.

Bleach — a bleach solution with bleach to water ratio of 1:10 will kill all germs and virus within ten minutes. The CDC state that a ratio 1:48 is effective for coronavirus (4 teaspoons per quart) so using a 1:10 ratio is more than adequate.
Hydrogen peroxide — 3% hydrogen peroxide – will kill germs and viruses within ten minutes. The CDC state that commercially available 3% hydrogen peroxide is a stable and effective disinfectant when used on inanimate surfaces.
Alcohol — alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol – will kill germs and viruses within a minute. The CDC state that 70% alcohol is effective for disinfecting and sanitizing.

Check out my two previous posts: How To Make A Disinfectant Spray From Bleach and How To Make Your Own Hand Emergency Sanitizer

Simple Homemade Disposable Disinfectant Wipes

You will need

Kitchen towel/paper towel (try not to use cheap/thin kitchen towel as it will tear easily). To make more durable wipes, try using Jay cloths or other similar semi-disposable cleaning cloths. These could also possibly be cleaned and reused.
Bleach
Water
Kitchen gloves/rubber gloves
Mixing jug
Baking tray or similar flat-bottomed container
A Ziploc or sealable bag

Method

When bleach is diluted with water it starts to break down after 48 hours or so. With this in mind, I recommend making a small batch of disinfectant wipes every few days.

Take the kitchen towel and carefully tear off 20-30 sheets. Stack them tidily one on top of the other in a stack. Place the stack of paper towel in the baking tray.
Put on your kitchen gloves.
Mix some bleach/water solution at 1:10 ratio in the mixing jug. Around 100ml of water and 10ml of bleach should be sufficient depending on the size/quantity of paper towel.
Carefully pour some of the mixed bleach solution over the stack of paper towels (in the baking tray!). You just want enough solution to saturate the paper towel completely, nothing more.
Leave to sit for a few minutes to be sure the paper towel is fully saturated.
Now place your hand on top of the stack of paper towel and gently press down to squeeze out excess bleach solution into the baking tray. This bit is down to your own judgement. You don’t want the paper towel wipes to be dripping wet, but they obviously need to be wet enough to wipe down surfaces. You can fine-tune this over your first few batches until you find the consistency/moisture level that works best for you.
Carefully place your new disinfectant wipes in a Ziploc or similar sealable bag. Keep sealed and use as necessary and dispose of in the bin.

Note — you could also adapt this to use 3% hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down when exposed to light so you will need to store your wipes in a dark-coloured or opaque airtight container.

It’s recommended that you wear kitchen gloves when using these wipes as they are bleach-based. At the very least make sure you rinse your hands after using them…

How To Make A ‘Doctor Approved’ Reusable Face Mask — No Sewing Required!

May 18, 2020

Firstly a disclaimer of sorts… Simple cloth face masks like the ones featured here are NOT worn to protect you from catching coronavirus. They are worn to help protect others from being infected by you when you are in close proximity.

This is important with coronavirus for two reasons. Firstly, coronavirus can infect others for several days before you begin to experience any symptoms. Secondly, many people who catch coronavirus are asymptomatic. This means they get the virus and are capable of infecting others, but they experience no symptoms themselves. These two points are precisely why coronavirus is so successful at spreading and infecting lots of people…

These cloth face masks work by covering your mouth and nose and catching and reducing the number of droplets you cough, sneeze and breathe out. This reduces the number of virus particles emitted. This has two benefits — fewer emitted virus particles means there’s less chance of passing on the infection to those around you. Also, even if you do pass on the infection, their viral load (the amount of virus passed on) will likely be lower, which could mean the infected person gets a milder illness.

If lots of people wear simple face coverings (buffs and scarfs etc) or cloth masks when in towns and cities and crowded and confined places such as public transport, shops and places of work, this can dramatically reduce the spread of coronavirus in those places.

Note — The only way to completely protect yourself with a mask is if you wear a properly fitted medical, respirator style mask. Even then great care is required when putting on and taking it off to avoid infecting yourself with your hands or surfaces etc.

How To Make N0 Sew Reusable Face Masks

You can purchase simple, reusable face masks on Amazon and eBay etc, but to be honest, they are very simple to make out of an old t-shirt and then they don’t cost a penny either. Watch the videos below to see how it’s done.

The first video is by Dr Cellini. Dr Cellini is a senior diagnostic & interventional radiology doctor and he has a very popular YouTube channel. He has seen various styles of homemade face masks, but he recommends this particular DIY face mask. In this video, Dr Cellini makes his own face mask whilst following another tutorial from Jan Howell. I have also included Jan’s original video tutorial down below, in case you would rather just follow that tutorial instead.

(Main image from Dr Cellini)

How To Make Foaming Hand Wash With Dish Soap

March 30, 2020

It’s the end of March 2020 and most of us are stuck at home trying to slow down the spread of coronavirus. Regardless of the country we live in, we are all getting the same basic information and instructions – stay at home – social distancing – frequent hand washing – disinfect common points of contact in the home (door handles, taps, countertops etc).

The problem with the frequent hand washing is that due to panic buying, most stores have been sold out of soap and liquid hand soap for weeks now… You can still buy dish soap (washing up liquid) in most stores though. You could obviously use a squeeze of dish soap to wash your hands in a pinch, but neat dish soap is very strong. Using it more than a few times is likely to dry out and make your hands very sore.

The good news is — you can make a simple foaming hand wash from diluted dish soap! It is probably not the best thing to be washing your hands with longterm, but if you cannot get any soap or liquid hand wash, it’s a good alternative in the short-term.

**If you need a hand sanitizer for when you are out of the home (work or grocery shopping etc), check out our simple DIY hand sanitizer post.**

How To Make Foaming Hand Wash From Dish Soap

You will need an empty foaming hand wash dispenser. Either rinse out an old one or you can purchase foaming pump dispensers from Amazon.
Some dish soap (washing up liquid)

Instructions

Pour some dish soap into the foaming hand wash dispenser. The amount will vary depending on the size of the dispenser. Usually, around 10% will be about right.
Top up with water so that’s approx 90% water and 10% dish soap.
Screw the pump top on and shake to mix the water and dish soap.
Once mixed depress several times until the foam soap starts to come out.

Note: depending on the size of hand wash dispenser and the dish soap you use, you may need to slightly alter the dish soap to water ratio to get the best foam.

**If you are also struggling to find spray disinfectant in the shops — check out our post on how to make spray disinfectant from household bleach.**

The Rocket Mass Heater: Everything You Need to Know

July 11, 2017

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.

Rustic 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

The ‘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

‘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)

Coronavirus — When You Can, Reach Out & Help Elderly / Vulnerable Neighbours

August 19, 2018

This coronavirus (Covid 19) pandemic will be difficult and worrisome for us all. It is a particularly scary time for the elderly, disabled, and those with living with existing medical conditions.

Similarly to the oxygen mask instructions on aeroplanes (put the mask on yourself first, before trying to put them on your children), in the first instance I think it is important to care for and secure you and yours. Once all reasonable preparations are taken care of, we should all then consider what we can do to help and support the elderly and vulnerable in our street and the local community.

Many old and disabled people experience loneliness and difficulties at the best of times. These are not the best of times. In many countries, people over the age of 70 are, or will soon be asked to self-isolate at home for several months. It seems sensible for people with pre-existing medical conditions to do likewise.

I know you have your own priorities and worries, but once you are sorted and in good shape, please consider reaching out to the elderly and vulnerable in your street and the local community. It’s not just the elderly or vulnerable living in isolated areas who will struggle, people living bunched together in towns and cities can feel just as isolated and alone.

If you know anyone who might appreciate some help or support during this global pandemic, let them know you are available to help. Just letting someone know they can call on you if needed could make all the difference…

IMPORTANT — stay away if you are ill. When offering help/support, it is important not to spread the coronavirus to those we are trying to help.

There are many ways you can help without direct contact. For example, swap phone numbers (or email addresses) and talk on the phone rather than in person. Even if you seem well, it is sensible to drop off food/supplies etc by their front door, to keep your distance. They can get it after you have left.

It is vital that you always follow hand washing protocols etc so that you do not pass on the virus on food/supplies you take around.

At all times you want to balance providing support whilst limiting contact as much as possible.

Some Ways To Help The Elderly & Vulnerable

Phone and say hello. Tell them to call if they need anything. Phone every few days to keep in touch. Tell them to call even if they just want some company.
If you don’t know them personally, talk to them at distance or leave a note (see down below) with your name and phone number. Tell them to phone if they need anything at all.
If they are internet savvy — swap email and messaging contacts. Keep in contact online.
Offer to help with errands and groceries. Offer to do their shopping and drop it round.
Offer to go to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions etc.
Some people cannot afford to spend much on heating and food etc. Check they are staying warm and eating well. Local charities and organisations can help.
Offer to walk their dog if appropriate and safe.
Help clear snow and ice from around their home.
If they become unwell, recommend they seek appropriate medical advice. If required do this for them.

Reach out, connect, show compassion and respect dignity.

Viral Kindness Cards

A lovely woman from the UK, Becky Wass, created these excellent postcards below. You can download and print them out here.

Simply print some out, fill them in and post them through elderly/vulnerable neighbours’ letterboxes. *Be mindful to wash your hands etc before printing and filling in these cards.*