White board recycling

I wasn't sure if it was possible, but I am now a believer that you really can salvage a white board!

This is how a white board started out which someone was going to throw away, so I had high hopes of salvaging it and scoring a nice white board for free. By the way, all the markings you see here (including the dark ones) were not able to erase at all!

After scouring the internet I came across some solutions that involved things I already had. First was toothpaste. I figured any flavor should be ok. I used some yucky cinnamon toothpaste that was really old and had been sitting around for emergencies when I ran out. I used a postpartum undie from the hospital that I never used...What?? It was clean!

Started gently scrubbing and praying

When I saw this, my eyes widened with wild excitement....IT'S GONNA WORK!!!

It didn't take long, and this was what I got. I realized, though, that there was old electric tape that I couldn't remove (Used to make a neat graph originally)

Again, the solution I found that involved something I already had was using cooking oil (I guess any kind, so I used canola)

I just poured a little on the tape...

And used the same cloth to scrub....aaaand it came off a little....not much...

At that point I was getting impatient, because I had gotten too far to be held back by some sticky tape! Yes, so I carefully pulled out the scrub sponge, understanding that I was taking a risk of scratching the surface and causing permanent damage.

BUT IT WORKED! Look how beautiful it is! A lovely feels-like-new white board. I was so excited that I looked on Craigslist to see if there were any bigger ones around that someone was giving away (thinking that it was ruined). Yep, now I feel like the white board restorer! It really was pretty easy!

I decided to try another easy solution I saw on the internet. I had red dry erase markings that would not erase. I heard you can just write over the original and THEN it will easily erase.

It worked!!! I would have done back flips if I physically could. (Have you ever wanted to do that even though you can't?)