Do-it-Yourself: Rust Removal

People living in amity or any place with hard/salty water for that matter, suffer with unwanted rust on their stainless steel utensils.

Even a good quality steel will start to rust, given proper conditions like exposure to hard water.

At the initial stages, it is only a surface rust and may not have done any visible damages to steel.
If left un-attended, it will go deep and create pits in the utensils.

The easiest way to remove surface rust is with baking soda (NaHCO2 - sodium bicarbonate). It is called as 'soda maavu' in tamil. Available in local provision stores.

Below is an example with a good quality steel knife that started to rust on exposure to our Amity water :-)

At this stage it is only surface rust.

Tools Required:    Baking Soda
Labour Intensity:  Very Mild

Risk of Injury:      Minor

Time Required:     5 minutes

Step 1: Apply baking soda

Apply a paste of baking soda and water on the rusted area.

Step 2: Scrub the rust

 

Scrub the rust with mild force. Use scotch brite or other hard scrub pad if the rust is deep seated.

You should not apply excessive force as the steel will get scratched.

Step 3: Wash the knife/utensil

 

Use plain water and wash the knife and see the rust disappear.

To protect the steel utensils from getting rust spots, wipe the utensils dry after washing it. It is an additional effort but atleast it will keep the rust away.

Do-it-Yourself: Income Tax E-Filing

Like most of us, I waited till the last few weeks to file my income tax returns. I had always relied on the guy at my office gate to file my returns for about Rs.100/-

I have filed my Taxes in Australia and in the US without any help. But have never attempted it with our very own income tax department. This year I wanted to try out filing the Indian Tax returns on my own.

I started by looking at the various options that I had. Some of them are given below.

• www.taxsmile.com/
• https://myitreturn.com/
• http://easyitfiling.com/

All the above charge you anywhere between Rs.149 and Rs.999.

But if you file directly with the income tax website, there is no charge. 

• https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

You only need your form-16, bank account number and MICR code.

Below is the process for filing directly with the income tax website.

1. You need to download an excel version of the ITR form. 
2. Fill all the details from form 16
3. Generate XML file from the excel. (there are macros in the excel to generate XML)
4. Upload the XML file in the income tax website.  https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
5. Your ITRV will be generated online. A copy will be sent to your email ID.
6. Print the ITRV form and send it to Bangalore IT office by normal post.
7. In a few weeks, you will receive the acknowledgement.

If you have a digital signature, you need not do step 6 above. Digital signatures cost from Rs.300 to Rs.1000.

The process is very simple with all the other websites.

1. Fill in the details of your income from form 16
2. Submit the returns online.
3. Print and mail the ITRV to Bangalore as in the earlier process.

I found that http://easyitfiling.com/ was the simplest and easiest as the name suggests. 

In this, you just need to upload your form 16 and it will extract data from your form 16 in PDF and fill the form automatically.

 BTW, I filed my Tax for free at our income tax department site. And so did my wife!

Do-it-Yourself: Fixing Photo Frames on Wall

There are times when we have a nice decorative wall-hanging gifted to us.
To fix it on the wall, we need to call the handy man to drill a hole and fix a nail.
All these hassles make us pack the decorative item and have it ready to be gifted it to someone else ;-)

Here is a method with which we can fix it on the wall without any screws or nails.
Best of all, it can be done by you in 10 minutes.

I learnt this method from Mr.Suresh in A block. He has fixed items that weigh as much as 500 gms.
This can be typically used for items that weigh less. Here in the example the wall-hanging weighs about 250 gms.

Tools Required:  Screw Driver, Scissors, 3M double sided Mirror Tape (available in most hardware stores)
Labor Intensity:  Very Mild

Risk of Injury:     Minor

Time Required:   10 minutes

Step 1: Remove the provision to hang on nails

Every photo frame/decorative wall-hanging comes with a provision behind it to hang it on a nail.
This needs to be removed.

Step 2: Fix the 3M tape

Fix the 3M tape behind the wall-hanging.

It is always better to stick multiple pieces of the tape instead of one long strip.

Apply pressure on all the pieces of the tape. This makes sure that the tape sticks firmly to the frame.

Step 3: Remove the sticker paper

Remove the sticker paper from the 3M tape.

Check for vertical and horizontal alignment and fix it to the wall.
Apply pressure after fixing.

Do-it-Yourself (DiY):

Most of the basic house hold repairs, maintenance and installations can be done with a basic knowledge of how things work and a decent amount of common sense. Using the right tools and taking sufficient precaution will ensure that you do not injure yourself in the process.

Calling the handyman is the easiest way; but I have always felt, if you want to get something done right, then Do-it-Yourself!