Brilliant UFO abduction lamp.
Your blood puddle pillows are in.
Clean your dishwasher with Lemonade Kool-Aid.
Clever light bulb design.
Days Ago digital day counters are small gadgets that attach to your food containers via suction and magnets to keep a running count of how many days ago you put your leftovers in the fridge.
Scrabble furniture.
Handy way to skip all the intro crap on DVDs that is usually forced on you when you throw a disc in your player. Apparently the chapters on DVDs that you can't skip (FBI warnings, copyright stuff, etc.) are flagged, on the disc, as UOP, or User Operation Prohibited. This site lists some of the techniques you can try to skip the ennui.
This colour coordinated bookshelf looks cool, but you might have a hard time finding a particular title.
For chewie edge lovers or corner brownie fans - it's the Edge Brownie Pan. All edges, all the time. Via BoingBoing
Puzzle carpet.
This to That is a handy site that will tell you what adhesive to use when attempting to glue various objects together.
Super creative bathroom tiles.
Skinny house in Brazil.
Apparently there are many LED lightbulbs available already. Via TreeHugger
WiiRoomba. YouTube of a guy controlling his Roomba with a Wii remote.
Hardcore Lost fans have a party and repackage the snacks and beer as Dharma Initiative rations. Make your own with the PDFs that they've so generously shared.
Here's a nice set of home improvement videos with the energetic and snappy Eric Stromer.
Faucet Fountain turns your regular faucet into a drinking fountain.
Kids and the Home Office. Here's a list of tips for the parent that works from home.
Save the Internet.
Your blood puddle pillows are in.
Clean your dishwasher with Lemonade Kool-Aid.
Clever light bulb design.
Days Ago digital day counters are small gadgets that attach to your food containers via suction and magnets to keep a running count of how many days ago you put your leftovers in the fridge.
Scrabble furniture.
Handy way to skip all the intro crap on DVDs that is usually forced on you when you throw a disc in your player. Apparently the chapters on DVDs that you can't skip (FBI warnings, copyright stuff, etc.) are flagged, on the disc, as UOP, or User Operation Prohibited. This site lists some of the techniques you can try to skip the ennui.
This colour coordinated bookshelf looks cool, but you might have a hard time finding a particular title.
For chewie edge lovers or corner brownie fans - it's the Edge Brownie Pan. All edges, all the time. Via BoingBoing
Puzzle carpet.
This to That is a handy site that will tell you what adhesive to use when attempting to glue various objects together.
Super creative bathroom tiles.
Skinny house in Brazil.
Apparently there are many LED lightbulbs available already. Via TreeHugger
WiiRoomba. YouTube of a guy controlling his Roomba with a Wii remote.
Hardcore Lost fans have a party and repackage the snacks and beer as Dharma Initiative rations. Make your own with the PDFs that they've so generously shared.
Here's a nice set of home improvement videos with the energetic and snappy Eric Stromer.
Faucet Fountain turns your regular faucet into a drinking fountain.
Kids and the Home Office. Here's a list of tips for the parent that works from home.
Save the Internet.
Better Cable Management through Pegboards
Cables and desk clutter are often the bane of many people's home office experience. Decluttered.com demonstrates one way to get a handle on the situation by making clever use of a pegboard and wires. A pegboard is mounted on the underside of the desk and any routers, powerbars, modems and the like can be lifted off the ground and secured to the pegboard, bringing the plethora of associated cabling along for the ride. The site has a lot of pictures of the process and results, and has recently added pictures sent in by people who've tried the pegboard method on their own desks.
Total cost: $33.42 CDN.
DIY Chalkboard Wall Calendar
Martha Stewart offers directions on creating this slick chalkboard wall calendar / planner for your home office. From the site:Start with a base coat of store-bought black chalkboard paint, and then mix in varying amounts of white chalkboard paint for lighter squares.
The effect is nice and the calendar would probably be quite handy, although it might be tedious painting work to ensure straight and clean lines.
Via Lifehacker
Ferris Wheel Shoe Storage System by Rakku
Rakku Designs makes this clever Ferris wheel-like shoe storage system that, depending on shoe size and type, can hold up to 30 pairs. Shoes are inserted through elastic bands, which both hold the shoes in place and allow for easy retrieval. This page lists some of the features of the device, which include the ability to adjust the rotation speed through a tension controller. This picture gives a better impression of the width of the unit (dimensions are here) than the pictures on the home page do.
Price: 65 bucks, but currently sold out (January 2006).
Keeping an Organized Kitchen
RealSimple.com shares some kitchen efficiency tips for daily use as well as for entertainers. Getting more organized and strategically locating frequently used items saves time during meal preparation and clean up. The article gives some ideas on how to do just that.
From the site:
Keep necessities within easy reach. You don't want to waste precious time during dinner prep looking for things. Make a place in the hot zone (around the stove and the sink) for the essentials: oil, vinegar, knives, cutting board. Move special-occasion cookware, like a fondue pot, out of cabinets in the zone so what's left can be neatly organized and easily spotted.
And also:
Make recycling efficient, too. Having a bin for bottles and cans right next to the one for regular trash, instead of out in the garage or in the mudroom, streamlines end-of-meal cleanup.
Link: RealSimple.com
From the site:
Keep necessities within easy reach. You don't want to waste precious time during dinner prep looking for things. Make a place in the hot zone (around the stove and the sink) for the essentials: oil, vinegar, knives, cutting board. Move special-occasion cookware, like a fondue pot, out of cabinets in the zone so what's left can be neatly organized and easily spotted.
And also:
Make recycling efficient, too. Having a bin for bottles and cans right next to the one for regular trash, instead of out in the garage or in the mudroom, streamlines end-of-meal cleanup.
Link: RealSimple.com
Be CordFree by Untangling your Computer Workspace
Why do we so readily resign ourselves to a workspace of entangled wires and cables? With the number of peripherals many of us use, it doesn't take long before an evil wireball from hell forms below our desk. An annoying, eye-sore of a cabling situation can quickly become something that is easier to relegate to the to-do list then to actually deal with. Perhaps seeing this sweet, organized cabling solution will help by motivating us to finally take action. This step-by-step guide from Lifehacker.com uses an Ikea cable management basket, some Zip ties and a power bar to give a computer workstation the appearance of cordlessness. There's nothing groundbreaking about what's being done here, but there is something about seeing great results that can inspire one to take needed action.
Basement Tuneup Ideas
Realsimple.com offers this list of handy tips and tricks that will help keep your basement in organized, working order. Shelving, containers, labelling, moisture control and safety items are all recommended. Martha Stewart's got a couple of basement organization tips, as well as a basement layout that suggests different areas for long term and short term storage.
The Dollar Stretcher has a bunch of tips as well:
Handling Sentimentals. If you haven't organized the basement or attic in awhile, be prepared to take a trip down Memory Lane--old photographs, games that haven't been touched in years, ice skates, granny's silverware, and so on. Try to put these items to one side until you've reached your organizing goal for the day. Then, reminisce with your family later on that night after dinner, rather than right now. This way, you'll finish what you set out to accomplish.
PowerSquid Electrical Outlet Multiplier
Put this one in the "Why didn't I think of that and have tens of thousands of dollars to pursue the idea assuming I had sufficient motivation to actually follow through with something for once in my life?" file.The PowerSquid is a power bar that will actually allow you to utilise all 5 of its outlets, regardless of the size of any attached power adapters, thanks to its unique, power distributing tentacles. Pure genius for like $12.99.
Categories: electronics electricity computer organization clever invention gadgets
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Good List of Bathroom Design Tips
If you plan on redesigning a bathroom, or are lucky enough to be able to design and build one from scratch, here are some tips on making the most out of the space you have available to you, including things like where to place the toilet, amount of space required for sinks, showers and baths, as well as storage and safety ideas.
How to Fold a Fitted Sheet
Target Australia has a solution to a problem that many of us simply assumed was just one of those little annoyances that we'd have to live with forever - struggling with folding a fitted bed sheet neatly. This step by step looks easy enough, and the end result would please even the most organized among us. Also, if you're into folding things, check out this cool Japanese shirt folding technique.Edit: Fixed the link. Thanks et.
Reduce Your Junk Mail
If you're tired of coming home to a mailbox full of junk mail , check out this helpful article entitled "Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, email and phone calls, which has some solid tips on keeping the junk down by preventing your name, number and address from being added to every customer database on the planet. One clever gem:Sexually Oriented Advertising (SOA):The only help you'll get from the Post Office in controlling junk mail is for explicit stuff. Fill out USPS forms 1500 if you wish this type of mail to stop. You define what you find to be explicit -- if that's an automobile parts catalog the post office won't disagree with you.
Good stuff.
Secrets of Organized Families
BabyCenter.com has a great, idea packed article on organizing your home through a concerted familial effort. The article has plenty of useful tips for anyone feeling that they are losing the clutter battle. Another solid resource for a variety of general purpose organizational ideas is Online Organizing's aggregation of organization tips from the pros.
How to Best Make Use of a Small Kitchen
If you're having trouble making do with a small kitchen, then perhaps these nice retro "Big Chill Fridges" should wait until after you've maximized your kitchen's usable space with this article from SignOnSanDiego.com. The article is full of tips for uncramping your kitchen, even if you're working with very little square footage and/or counter space.Regarding clutter: see Frugal Homemaker's "Taking Control of Your Clutter" for ideas.
If the kitchen re-org puts you in clean sweep mode, then the plethora of tips over at HowToCleanAnything.com should save some serious elbow grease.
Categories: efficiency kitchen cleaning organization gtd tips tricks fridge appliances
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