MacGyverisms Features
How To: 8 Easy Ways to Remove Cigarette Smoke Smells from Your Car
The lingering smell of cigarette smoke can bother just about anyone, including smokers themselves. Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to mask or completely get rid of the smell altogether. While you can go through extremes like washing and even repainting the walls in your home, those options don't exist when the odor is in your car.
How To: Make a 40 Watt Electrical Generator from Common Household Items
There's no charge for this electricity! All you'll need for this project is... Now, watch and learn how to make your own emergency power if you find yourself in a bind.
How To: Replace Worn Off Lettering on Home Appliances with Sugru
Whether you've had them for years or bought them used off Craigslist, old appliances can always benefit from a facelift. One of the first things to go is usually the lettering on the knobs, buttons, and other surfaces that are frequently touched, leaving them faded and difficult to read.
How To: Fix Crooked or Uneven Wall Shelves with a Piece of Paper
You can spend all day putting up shelves and still have them end up crooked. Even if you've got a stud finder or a level, it's still easy to make mistakes, and a few millimeters is all it takes to screw make a shelf noticeably uneven. If you find yourself in this predicament, the worst part is that correcting the problem usually means repeating the entire process from the beginning, though you'll be left with unwanted holes in the wall. But redditor Swedish__Chef__Bork__x3 found a way to fix ...
How To: Make a Soda-Box Soda Cooler
For some reason, there's only ever one person in a group of friends that has a cooler. Every time there is a hangout or BBQ, that friend is called and has to lug his expensive, huge plastic cooler around for everyone. Not really fair, is it?
How To: Boost Up Your Smartphone Tunes with One of These MacGyver-Style Speaker Amplifiers
There's nothing worst than throwing a party without any music. That's like having watching the Super Bowl without any chips or beers...lame.
How To: 10 Reasons Why Everyone (Even Men) Should Have Nail Polish in Their Homes
When you think of nail polish, it's probably almost always in the context of a manicure. I mean, that's what it's made for, right? But there are plenty of other things you can use clear or colored nail polish for besides painting your nails.
How To: Extend the Life of Your Disposable Razors & Keep Them Sharp
Early in the morning, there's almost nothing worse than discovering your razor is dull midway through your pre-work routine. No matter how hard you try to preserve those precious blades, it can seem like they're dull every time you reach for the razor. With one, seconds-long step after each use, you can save your razor blades and make them last longer.
How To: Make an Impossible-to-Find Doortop Safe to Hide Secrets, Cash, & Other Valuables
Thanks to the internet and its increasingly lack of privacy, secrets don't even seem safe in our own homes anymore. So how do you hide your secrets, stash your cash, or keep your valuable jewelry out of sight where no one can find it? Well, the answer might be right above you... if you're standing under the threshold of a door, that is.
How To: Make a Cheap, Stylized Paper Cup Dispenser for Your Bathroom
If you're anything like me, you probably rinse your mouth out after you brush your teeth. I know technically you're supposed to not rinse your mouth out after brushing, but I just can't stand the feel of the excess toothpaste in my mouth. It's a surefire way to dry it out.
How To: Use Nuts to Repair Small Nicks & Scratches in Your Wood Furniture
Furniture gets beat up—it's a fact of life. Your beautiful tables will end up scratched, the legs of your chairs will grow nicked, and you'll find interesting dents and damage in other places around the house, too. Yet if most of your furniture is made of wood, you don't have to live with unsightly scratches. In fact, you can remove years of damage with a simple snack food: nuts.
How To: DIY iPad Stand and Stylus, Plus 8 More Ways to Recycle Old Chopsticks
Chopsticks are very easily reusable, yet they always get thrown away. You use them when you get Chinese takeout, then toss them out without even a backwards glance.
How To: Turn Any Ammo Box into an Awesome Set of Portable Speakers
Believe it or not, an ammo box can still be of use to you once its rounds are gone. You can use it for storage, as a toolbox, or possibly even as a Faraday cage. But if you want to use it as more than just a container, why not turn it into a portable set of speakers that you can take with you anywhere? The ammo can speaker pictured above was made by Instructables user Dustin White. He started with an empty .50 cal box, though you could probably even use thinner 5.56 or 7.62 mm cans. He remove...
1 Buck Toothpaste Hack: Make This Tube Squeezer in Under 5 Minutes
Let's face it—if you care about anyone around you, then you brush your teeth. Brushing is an excellent way to not only prevent tooth decay, but to keep people from running away from you with their noses pinched.
How To: Refill an Air Duster Can with a Bicycle Pump
In this life hack video, I am going to show you how you can refill your air duster can with a bicycle pump.
How To: Make an Ovitrap Mosquito Trap
Do you have a major mosquito problem? Well, here's a solution used by the military to drastically cut down their numbers.
How To: Keep Cool Outside with This Overhead DIY Water Misting Rack
Summer is here, and with the season comes more freedom and searing heat. It's the ultimate between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place situation. You want to be outside and enjoy the sun, but you don't want to be over-powered by it. Thankfully, you can create makeshift misters on the cheap to enjoy the summer heat right on your deck.
How To: Make a Homemade Lightsaber from Junk!
This may not be something MacGyver would make, but it would be if he was dropped into the Death Star with a horde of Imperial stormtroopers hot on his trail. Especially if he found himself temporarily trapped in the trash compactor with some friendly Jedis, because this DIY lightsaber is made of pretty much all junk. Surely, he'd be able to find all of the parts, which include a broken camera lens, old hard drives, chrome pipe, film canister, busted microphone, and rubber mat. Some of the par...
How To: Turn Dried Out Markers into DIY Alcohol Ink That Works on Glass, Metal, and Plastic
Dried out markers are the worst. They take up space, and for some reason, even though they're totally useless, most of us have at least a few lying around just for the sake of not throwing them out. Luckily, Julie Finn over at Crafting a Green World has come up with a way to repurpose them into alcohol ink, a versatile type of ink that can be used on non-porous materials like plastic, glass, and metal. This is truly a tutorial for the pack rat in all of us. First, a little primer on what you ...
How To: Make a MacGyver-Style Chess Set Using Just Nuts & Bolts
You know what ladies love? A man who can handle his tools. What do the ladies love even more? A man who can say checkmate. Well, except maybe this lady.
How To: DIY Impossible Light Bulb, Plus 6 More Ways to Repurpose Burned Out Bulbs
The next time a light bulb burns out in your house, don't throw it out. Believe it or not, burned out light bulbs aren't entirely useless. Besides creating an extra task on your to-do list, they can be hollowed out and used for a variety of different things from home decorations to miniature indoor gardens.
How To: Turn Your Old Satellite Dish into an Outdoor Solar Cooker
Harnessing the power of the sun is something that Captain Planet made cool before it was the go-to for renewable energy. Solar-powered energy is quick and cheap, and can make for some really cool DIY projects. And for those of you wondering what you should do with your old satellite, look no further. Aaron from Sharealikelicence offers up a way to create a DIY outdoor satellite cooker. He started with an old Ku Band dish and covered it with aluminum tape, for better reflection of the sunlight...
How To: Save Money Barbecuing This Summer with One of These Inventive DIY Grills
Sometimes you just want to grill. It doesn't matter where you are, what you have, or whom you're with—you just want a delicious burger and you don't care what it takes.
How To: Build a Corn Dog Rig for Easy Deep Frying
Fairs and festivals are awesome, and one of the best parts about them is the food. Sure, it's all deep-fried and terrible for you, but it's so delicious. It's also always on a stick, which makes eating fried food even easier for us fat Americans.
How To: Hack Your Spray Bottles to Spray at Any Angle—Even Upside Down!
There's nothing more annoying than that last little bit of Windex that won't come. Most spray bottles are horribly designed, with the suction tube usually the culprit, but you can replace it and have a spray bottle that works in any position in about five minutes.
How To: Use Extra Shower Curtain Rods to Increase Bathroom Storage & More
If you're anything like me, clutter scattered across the bathroom counter, on the shower floor, or on any other available space is maddening. Who enjoys a mess of shampoos, scrubs, and sponges strewn around their feet or just out of reach in the shower? What can you do when space is limited?
How To: EnLIGHTening Home Hack! How to Change Hard-to-Reach Light Bulbs Without a Ladder
Unless you're living in some weird parallel universe where plug-in light bulbs are the norm for household lighting, chances are you've had to unscrew a light bulb every now and then.
How To: Make Your New Apple EarPods Fit Better in Your Ear with Sugru
Along with the release of the new iPhone 5, Apple has introduced EarPods, which now replace the soon-to-be-defunct EarBuds. For three years, Apple has been testing the EarPods with users to try and find the most secure fitting, best sounding headphones for that price range. Loose Fit?
How To: DIY Stormtrooper Helmet, Plus 10 More Ways to Reuse Old Milk Jugs
When it comes to milk, my family consumes anywhere between two and four gallons every two weeks. That's about four to eight gallons every month. That's a lot of milk—and a lot of empty milk jugs! Instead of simply tossing them in the recycling bin, why not get creative and make something useful out of them yourself?
How To: Steam Tons of Food at Once with a DIY Multilayer Steamer Basket
Steaming food has a lot of advantages over other cooking methods. The gentle heat of steam allows for meats, such as chicken wings, to become more moist after cooking.
How To: Keep Tall Boots from Slouching (And Organize Your Closet Chaos)
During the colder months, it seems like almost everyone wears boots. Even when it's hot out, people can be spotted with knee-highs and westerns. Whether it's for fashion or because you live in a place where 3 feet of snow is common, a good pair of boots (or five) is nice to have.
How To: Turn Leftover Cardboard Boxes into Sturdy Chairs and Stylish Nightstands
Contrary to popular belief, IKEA can get pretty expensive. You find something that comes pretty cheap, but then, you decide that your GORF will look good with the BLERGH, and you really need the SPLOOF to tie it all together. Pretty soon, your living room looks like an IKEA magazine ad, and your bank account has seen better days. Instead of spending so much money at IKEA, why not build your own pieces of furniture?
How To: 3 Easy In-Flight Hacks for Hands-Free Movie Watching on Your Smartphone or Tablet
The closest I've ever been to first class was when I was a young kid running up and down the aisles on a long international flight. I remember being in awe of how big the seats were and how much food was available. Ever since that moment, I've made it my life goal to earn enough money to make first-class flights a regular occasion.
How To: Save Money on Your Home Theater with This Pro-Looking DIY Projector Screen
Projector screens can be pretty expensive, depending on the size and quality you're looking for. If you're thinking of installing one and want to save some money, you can build a pretty decent one yourself with just a few simple materials. Redditor dodgeboy made this 128" DIY projector screen for only $200, and I have to say it looks pretty impressive. Poplar 1x4s make up the frame, with pine 1x3s as supports. Once the frame was assembled and painted black, he installed mounting blocks on bot...
How To: Recycle an Empty Wipes Canister into a Neat & Tidy Plastic Bag Dispenser
Plastic bags may be banned from retail stores in some cities, like Santa Monica, Seattle, and San Fransisco, and will be banned in Los Angeles shortly, but we still use billions of them every year. What else are we going to use for throwing away cat litter or picking up dog poop?
How To: Charge Your Cell Phone with Fire
There are plenty of times when we need to charge our phones but don't have access to electricity. Whether the power is out do to storms, you're camping and run out of juice, or you're in a Tom-Hanks-like Castaway situation, it's important to have a charged phone in case of an emergency.
How To: 10 Creative Ways to Upcycle Your Junk into Usable DIY Chairs
With the upcycling revolution, folks are turning their otherwise useless junk into something functional for the home. Practically anything that you would normally toss or recycle can be reused for a bigger and better purpose. Your milk jugs, chopsticks, toilet paper cardboard, glass jars, and even your old junk computer keyboards can be upcycled into something totally useful around (or away from) the home.
How To: Create a Grease Splatter Screen Out of Pantyhose and a Wire Coat Hanger
We've all been there. You wake up early, hungry for breakfast, but not just any breakfast will do. You want bacon and eggs. So, you blindly stumble into your kitchen, underwear-clad, and begin fumbling about with pots and pans. After a few minutes, you fill your pan with delicious and smokey rashers and turn the heat on. Everything seems okay... until the bacon actually starts to cook. With a splat, burning hot grease flies out of the pan and bombards your skin, causing intense pain and great...
How To: Turn Your Charcoal Grill into a Tandoori Oven Using a Flowerpot
Indian food is amazing. One of the things that makes it so great and exotic is the cooking methods used. Among the best of these methods is the use of the tandoori oven, a cylindrical oven used to primarily cook skewered meat and various flatbreads with heats upwards of 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Regrettably, such heat and taste is hard to replicate in the average home kitchen.
How To: 10 Clothes Iron Hacks Everyone Should Know (Flatirons Aren't Just for Clothes!)
Ironing is a serious chore: hot, unpleasant, and frustrating all in one, but necessary if you don't want to look like you crawled out of bed just before work. While you might only turn to your flatiron when faced with wrinkled clothing, this little appliance packs the power to tackle even greater challenges—and here are our 10 favorites.