Build It Yourself.
Do It Right.

Nobody wants to think of themselves as a prepper. The word carries a lot of baggage: bunkers, freeze-dried buckets, people convinced civilization is two weeks from collapse. That is not what this is.

This is about the more realistic stuff. A nor'easter that locks you in for a week. A blackout that stretches longer than expected. A stay-at-home order. A job loss that tightens the budget hard for a month or two. An injury that keeps you from getting to the store. These things happen to normal people all the time, and a little planning means they stay inconvenient instead of becoming a genuine problem.

I built a wall-mounted can organizer a few years back specifically for this purpose. This post is the companion to that build: what to stock it with, how to use it, and how to feed yourself reasonably well across a range of scenarios from "slightly annoying" to "nothing is working." The goal is not survival mode. It is keeping life reasonably normal on reduced effort and limited resources for a week or two.

If you’re building a tiny home with a loft and want to pull a permit, your stairs need to meet Appendix AQ of the International Residential Code. This is the section added specifically for tiny homes under 400 square feet. It relaxes the standard stair requirements — regular code would eat up too much floor space in a small build — but you still have to follow specific formulas for rise and run.

This post walks through how the math works and includes a calculator that handles all of it for you.

If your basement has ever taken on water, you already know that one sump pump is only as reliable as its float switch, its circuit breaker, and the last time it was tested. I run two pumps down there, and they're not set up as overkill. They're set up as insurance. One is on a dedicated circuit and handles normal duty. The other is on a separate circuit so a tripped breaker can't take both of them out at once. At some point I'll put the second one on a battery backup so even a power outage doesn't leave me with a wet floor.

The other reason to run two pumps is volume. During a really heavy storm, a single pump can fall behind if water is coming in faster than it can discharge. When that happens, the second pump kicks on and both of them are pushing water out together through one shared discharge line. That's the setup this guide covers. It's a pretty straightforward plumbing job and you can put it together in an afternoon with materials from Home Depot.

I used to run the discharge through a corrugated 1-1/4" discharge hose and it cracked on me during a flooding event, which is about the worst time for that to happen. PVC is what I'd recommend for the main run, and I'll explain why at each step. But if you already have hose fittings on your pumps or you're renting and don't want a permanent install, I'll cover the hose option at the end too.

One way you can get more Airbnb bookings is if you attract more professionals to your Airbnb by making your rental more work-from-home friendly. In the past couple of years a lot of jobs went and stayed remote. Many people have been taking that opportunity to travel and see different cities and these guest tend to book longer stays which is very desirable. In this post I'll give you some tips and suggest products to make your Airbnb more attractive to guests that are planning to work from home.

I'm going to break down the WFH setup into 3 levels, Basic WFH, Advanced WFH and Video Conferencing WFH and within each of those levels, I'm going to suggest products that fit different budgets from low to high to cover different needs. Keep in mind I'm writing this at the end of 2022 which will affect the prices I mention.

If you have Nespresso Vertuo coffee maker you can save a lot of money by refilling the pods yourself. You just cut off the old foil top and use new foil tops after It's a little cumbersome because the pods are round on the bottom and it can be difficult to align the foil top so I designed this Nespresso Pod Refill Holder that can be 3D printed to make refiling Nespresso Vertuo Pods easier.

My 3D Printed Nespresso Vertuo Pod Refill Holder will hold up to 2 Nespresso Vertuo pods. It is small and compact for easy storage.  I have a video showing how to use it and links to where you can download the .stl files to 3D print your own.

Free woodworking plans to build a wall-mounted can organizer for storing, rotating, and organizing canned food. Simple enough to build in an afternoon and does not require power saws.

In this post I share tips on how I wash my hands away from home without hand sanitizer.

The Corona Virus Pandemic has created a shortage on certain items including hand sanitizer. Even hand soap is difficult to find sometimes. At home I use some foaming hand soap dispensers because they make a significant savings in the amount of soap I use. I use a similar concept when away from home.

Disclaimer

What You'll Need

Step 1: Prepare Soap Solution

Step 2: Prepare the Bleach Rinse Solution

Try to get bleach that has the concentration of bleach (sodium hypochlorate) listed on the label. If it's not on the label it's at most 3% but I'm not sure if it could be less than that. Use this bleach concentration calculator to help you determine the amount of your bleach you need to add to your bottle. Make a new solution every day. Try not to make too much more than you need. Use the calculator below to determine how much bleach you need.

Bleach Concentration Calculator

Step 4: Rinse away soap

How are you washing your hands?