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Most Items To Complete These Projects Can Be Found At Your Hometown Elsberry Hardware Store

Carpet Cleaner Solution


In 1 cup add:

3/4 cup laundry detergent

2 caps of vinegar

rest of cup is fabric softener


Dishwasher Detergent


1 teaspoon oxygen base cleaner

1/2 teaspoon Dawn dish soap

1/2 cup white vinegar (poured into a bowl or cup on the top rack of the machine)

Homemade Laundry Soap


Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*

½ Cup 20 Mule Team Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. To make it easier to dispense you may fill old laundry jugs. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 5 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*

½ Cup Borax

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent (Approx. 40 loads).

Woodworking Tips


Paint Leather - Wipe down your leather item with laquer thinner and spray it with 2x spray paint.

Tighten chair rungs - Use denatured alcohol to tighten your chair rungs, legs and arms. Denatured alcohol will swell the wood - but do not let the alcohol run as it will also remove the finish.

Fun and Games


SLIME

  • In a glass or ceramic bowl, add 1/2 cup water and 1 cup white glue.
  • Stir in 4 drops food coloring if desired.
  • In another bowl, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon borax in 1/2 cup water.
  • Slowly add the dissolved borax mixture to the glue mixture. Stir well.
  • When not in use, store in a tightly sealed jar.

Tips:

  • Borax can usually be found next to the laundry detergent in your hardware store.
  • Encourage your children to play with this outdoors as it's messy.

What You Need

  • Borax

PVC Fishing Jug


Right click on each picture to print the instructions for this creative fishing jug.

Hillbilly Golf

Great Summertime game you can make for $30.00 + tax. Thanks to the Instructables website for these great plans.

Parts and supply list


You will need:

6 3/4 PVC T's

6 3/4 PVC Elbows

About two 10 foot 3/4 PVC pipe

Nylon rope

6 golf balls

Scissors

Drill

Saw


If you are making 2 you will need to double the supplies.

How to build the "ladder" (upper part)


Ok now we are going to start building. First cut the PVC.

Cut 3 2ft PVC pipe

Then cut 6 1ft PVC pipe


Attatch two T's on both sides of the 2ft pipe

Now put 2 1ft pipes on the T's

Add two more 1f pipes on the T's

Then you must add 2 more T's with a 2ft pipe conecting

Then get two elbows and put them on a 2ft pipe

Connect them together and get a finished project that looks like the picture.


The Base


4 elbows

5 2ft pipes

2 T's


Get one 2ft pipe and attach it to two of the elbows

Then attach two more 2ft pipe to the elbows

Repeat this

Attach the two T's to the pipes


How to make the throwing balls


Nylon rope

Golfballs

Drill

Scissors

Tape measure

Lighter


Ok now cut the nylon rope to about 20in

Now drill the hole in the golf balls

Burn the ends so they dont frey

Then just stick em' through and knot them

Make 6 of them

DIY Self Watering Container

You can make your own self-watering container from a couple of 5-gallon plastic buckets. (From our food co-op, I’ve scored free buckets that had housed peanut butter and other such things.)

Materials:

2 5-gallon plastic buckets

1 plastic funnel (from hardware or home supply stores)

Tools:

Drill with a quarter-inch bit

Saber saw

  • Fit one bucket inside the other bucket. The space between the respective bucket bottoms is the reservoir.
  • Mark an oblong hole in the side of the outer bucket about an inch high and 2 inches long, so the top of the hole is even with the bottom of the inner bucket. Cut it out with the saber saw. This hole serves triple-duty as the fill hole, the overflow hole and the place to stick a finger to gauge how full the reservoir is.
  • Cut a hole in the bottom of the inner bucket large enough so the funnel will project into the reservoir all the way to the bottom.
  • If necessary, cut the bottom off the funnel so it is about a half inch longer than the space between the bucket bottoms.
  • Drill a dozen or so holes at random in the bottom of the inner bucket.
  • Fit the inner bucket into the outer bucket; insert the funnel. Fill the top bucket with moist container soil, making sure that the funnel is filled, but not packed with soil. Fill the reservoir, and you’re ready to plant! (See “Selecting Soils,” above.)
  • There is a kit available for $15 at Gardener’s Supply that can be inserted into any fairly large (15 to 20 quarts or more) round container. The result is a self-watering container with a 4-quart reservoir. Be sure to make an overflow hole in the container if it doesn’t already have one.
  • Article compliments of Mother Earth News Magazine.
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