Home remedies – Sea of Money

Iphone 5 and the hair dryer

My iPhone 5 would not start. The battery symbol showed up and it seem to be charging. When I plugged it into the computer and pushed the on button and also held the circular button in the front computer made a noise. This told me that the iPhone was still working. However it would not start.

I searched on the Internet on what to do. I found some videos on using a hair dryer to start my phone but I did not trust them. I kept searching and found a message board on the Apple website.

Some people seem to say that using a hairdryer or even a hot cuppa coffee would help start the phone again. I thought why not try this. So I took out a hair dryer and I heated the back of my phone for about 40 seconds. I plugged the phone back in and to my surprise the phone actually started and I got the apple symbol.

My battery is not very good. I am not sure how many times you can do this before it does not work at all. At one point my phone would not even charge even when I plugged it in. However I kept at it and it started to charge again. It does not hold a charge very long though.

Lucky I had bought a Logitech external battery case. This has allowed me to recharge the phone often. What seems to happen now is that if I let the phone lose charge completely and it turns off it does not seem to turn back on. I had to use the hairdryer again the start the phone. Since then I’ve kept the phone charged. What makes it difficult though is sometimes my phone will just shut off or the screen google him blank and then the battery symbol shows that I need to recharge it.

I think the long-term solution and correct solution will be to change my battery. However my phone is four years old and I’m not sure I want to invest $50-$80 and a new battery. I thought about buying a battery kit online. However after reading the reviews it seems rather difficult and I could damage the phone so that it does not work.

In any case, I mean point in this blog post was to share my experience using the hairdryer technique. I am not recommending this technique to anybody. If you use this technique I would be very careful because the hair dry can get very hot and so can your phone. I do not know what damage it could cause your phone.

I am not recommending this method. You should do your own research and use your own good judgment. Whatever you do be very careful and be safe.

Removed stains from wood

I have old wood floors. I recently came upon a plastic bag full of bottles of lotion and shampoo which hAd leaked and left a hidden mess on the floor. Along with that came some darkening of the wood.

I cleaned off the wood with a paper towel and then put some hydrogen peroxide on a paper towel and dabbed. It over the stain. I then covered it with baking powder. This is a trick that helped me repair our floors when our cats urinated and pooped on the floor.

I vacuumed up the powder after about 10 minutes. I usually wait longer sometimes overnight but I was impatient. The floor had improved except some of it was too light.

Having read other articles about roving white stains on the floor, I put some olive oil on a paper towel and buffed it in. My floors turned out pretty well.

Here is a before the olive oil picture

Here are a couple photos after a quick treatment with olive oil

It is not perfect but I am amazed. I also used baking powder to remove water stains which had whitened the floor. It worked as well.

I then went to another area which was damaged by a bag of onions that I had bought at a fundraiser and left on the floor. It had whitened the floor about 8 years ago. I took some olive oil and wiped it on. Much improved for sure.

I have not perfected my technique, but my toolkit now includes vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, paper towels, vacuum, and olive oil. Searched the web and find out what may work for you. Use caution as even though these are household products they still can impact the surfaces they contact.

Here is the cat stain I was able to fix over a few days. This is a story for another day. Leave a comment if you want to see the after pictures. If no one is interested, I will leave this article as is. All I will say is I am absolutely amazed I removed the stain with dish soap, vinegar, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. I think I will touch it up with some olive oil one of these days and some of the floor was left lighter as they were more heavily impacted by the cats urine and poop.

Hair gel

I used to use hair gel to control my hair. I use it to keep my hair down as without it my hair sticks up.

I then got a small bottle of leave in conditioner/body lotion with tea tree oil which worked well without leaving my hair looking gelled. It also smelled good, although it is expensive.

Well, my big bottle ran out. I did not want to pay $30 for another one so I went to the store and bought a big bottle of lotion with minimal scent. Advanced therapy or something is on the label.

What I find is if I use a modest amount, a couple pumps, and rub it thoroughly in my hair it works really well. Probably better than any other product I have used before.

As for the cost, I bought the store brand so it was not much. I think it is good for my hair, too.

So instead of paying $30 or more a bottle, I am paying about $3. Also, the lotion is better than the gels I was using.

Natural rust remover

I found out lemon juice seems to be an effective rust remover. I had a very rusty pair of needle nosed pliers. They were completely rusted over and were difficult to open.

I took on juice from a bottle of reallemon and poured it into a gallon ziplock bag. I then put the pliers in it so the metal parts were covered in the juice a left it for a day.

Let me just say that most of the rust is gone and the pliers work again. When I opened the bag it had a metallic odor.

Check out the results.
Before, after and soaking in the juice.