Frustrated by the tax-fueled rising costs of cigarettes, a Brooklyn woman has developed a private tobacco garden to feed her addiction frugally. She buys her seeds for $2 online and plants her tobacco along with roses and geraniums in her back yard. She expects to yield a total of 45 cartons of cigarettes from crops planted in 2009 and last year, saving her $5,000 from what she’d pay at retail. [More]
diy
Clean That Drain Before It Cleans You Out
By 2.17.11
A clogged drain can rob you in a number of ways, either by forcing an expensive plumber’s visit or causing a flood. Taking some time to learn a few pointers on how to find your way around your plumbing can pay off well. [More]
10 Meals You Can Make In A Coffeemaker
By 2.14.11
As this winter has taught us, the snowpocalypse can hit at any moment, potentially leaving you snowed in at the office, stranded in a coffee break room without access to vital food heating appliances. But armed with a coffee maker, you can make several different delicious dishes to keep you going until help arrives, or at least make being attacked by the snow zombies less painful. Because nothing sucks more than getting mauled by a snow zombie on an empty stomach. Of course, ramen is a no-brainer and so are rice and soft-boiled eggs, but how about lemon pepper chicken? [More]
Make Your Own Thin Mints When The Girl Scouts Aren't Around
By 2.1.11
Like other delicacies such as the McRib and eggnog, Girl Scout cookies only come around every so often, leaving you to spend your time craving them in abject misery. But anyone with a cookie sheet and the ability to follow directions can easily make the latter for themselves. [More]
Save Big By Replacing DLP HDTV Lamp Yourself
By 1.13.11
HDTVs that use DLP technology have faded in popularity, meaning you can find some great deals out there. One aspect of DLPs that tends to scare people off is that their lamps degrade over time and will need to be replaced eventually. [More]
Make Your Own Glitter Flats At Home
By 12.22.10
Why drop $285 on a pair of Kate Spade glitter flats when you can make some yourself? Over at We Are Not Martha they show you how to take an old pair of flats and turn them into foot bedazzlers with just some mod podge, glitter, a foam brush, clear glaze spray and a mimosa. [More]
Make A Tissue Pop-Up Out Of A To-Go Cup
By 11.11.10
Here’s a crafty way to make your own tissue pop-up out of a to-go coffee cup. It fits in your car’s cup holder! [More]
American And Delta Too Busy To Tag Your Bags, Want You To Do It Yourself
By 11.3.10
Thought there wasn’t much more the airlines could fob off on the customer? You were wrong. Apparently, the employees at American and Delta are so slow at tagging your checked bags that the airlines think you’d do it better yourself. [More]
Make A Fruit Fly Death Trap With Apple Cider Vinegar And Dish Soap
By 9.27.10
Fruit flies can be an annoyance but you can get rid of them using stuff right from your kitchen, no tools required. One method is to pour apple cider vinegar in the bottom of a glass along with some dish soap. Come back after leaving it out for a few hours and you’ll have yourself a nice cup of dead fruit flies. [More]
4 So-Called "Essential" Cleaning Products You Can Ditch For Good
By 8.20.10
Chuck these four disposable “essential” cleaning supplies and replace them with these alternatives that do the job better, are cheaper, kinder on the environment and you can reuse or make yourself. [More]
Know How Much Your Bag Weighs Before Flying
By 8.9.10
Delta tried to charge “Frustrated Traveler” an illegitimate bag fee yesterday by claiming it was over the weight limit. He knew, however, that unless the bag had been eating tubs of frosting throughout the flight, it was still the same 47 pounds it was when he weighed it himself before boarding. [More]
How A Police Barricade Becomes A DIY Bench
By 7.30.10
For a city with so many people, New York has a severe shortage of comfortable places to sit and enjoy the outdoors for free. That’s why this man in Spanish Harlem took matters into his own hands, transforming a police barricade into a public bench. [More]
This Home Depot Banner Upsets Customers For Some Reason
By 7.20.10
What do you think of when you think of Home Depot? Planes from a nearby airport crashing into the building, of course, which is obviously why this Home Depot in Farmingdale, NY put up such a creative felt banner. The person who shot the photo and posted it to NYCAviation last Friday says that when he asked to see a manager the sales associate responded, “What kind of manager?” You know, the store manager or the incendiary felt banner manager, because there’s both. [More]
Artisanal Is The New Organic
By 7.13.10
There’s a burgeoning artisanal market in the U.S., where goods made by hand or in small batches–and marketed with lots of footnotes and descriptions of quality–are growing increasingly more popular. But why, and is it just a hipster lifestyle ingredient or an actual shift in the larger population? [More]
Make A DIY Meat Smoker Out Of Some Flower Pots
By 6.30.10
Meat smokers are expensive, but apparently you can make one that works just fine out of some unglazed terra cotta flower pots and various other cheap and readily available supplies. When you’re done, remember 5 out of 7 Consumerist editors love BBQ. [More]
Make Your Own Ketchup, No HFCS Necessary
By 6.1.10
If you’d rather not have your ketchup sweetened by sketchy high-fructose corn syrup, you may want to consider making your own. [More]
Defense Department Has A 26-Page Brownie Recipe
By 5.27.10
Looking to make brownies that can be stored in a hot warehouse, dropped out of an airplane, dragged through the mud, left out with bugs and vermin and still be eaten 3 years later? Then you should check out this 26-page PDF from the Pentagon. [More]
Track Down A Water Leak In Your Home
By 5.27.10
A water leak on your line can run up your utility bills, plus it wastes water. But before you spend money on a plumber, there’s a few things you can do yourself to try to locate and stop the leak. Wikihow has a good DIY guide, from listening to toilets to checking hose bibs. Even if all you can do is find the leak, you can save money if you’re able to tell the plumber where it is and he doesn’t have to go looking for it.
How to Find a Water Leak in Your House [WikiHow]
