I decided I needed a whiteboard for a new concept I'm developing (details to be disclosed later). Not everything can be typed, and wasting paper just seems like a...waste.. Hand-writing facilitates the creative process in the same way that white boards force you, literally, into a box. That anyone feels that purchasing an ugly picture frame with a picture of PVC inside is acceptable, amazes me.

But, rather than do something stupid like buy one, I decided to try the materials laying around. A whiteboard is basically any non-porous material with a smooth, untextured surface to scrawl with non-dying markers. I'll keep a list of my attempts below, and I'd love to hear from anyone who has experimented with these or other materials. So far, inexpensive contact paper like this stuff seems to be the best thing going.

Contact Paper
Usability: 5/5
It's like adhesive saran wrap...I bought a roll for pocket change; it's about 3' by 45' and was meant to cover school books. I've got one wall of my bedroom covered in it now, it wipes off without cleaner and is transparent, so you don't even lose a wall. I can even point a projector at it. Test your markers first -- some wipe off better than others.

Wall Paint
Usability: 1/5
No matter how high-gloss and latex it claims to be, it just won't work. It just annoys your cohabitators and leaves a permanent "TESTING" in your kitchen.

Whiteboards
Usability: 4/5
Yeah, they work, as long as you want an overpriced, undersized piece of plastic in a picture frame.

Optiroll and "Whiteboard on a roll" Products
Usability: 3/5
Step 1: buy contact paper. Step 2: rebrand for a specific use. Step 3: Profit.

PVC
Usability: 4/5
If you're looking for a "unique" solution, the material generally works. A stack of food-grade one gallon containers in a corner could give you a rounded, corner-whiteboard, and food storage. Once, when living in an Intentional Community, we purchased food in bulk and kept notes and contents in dry-erase, reusing the containers many times.

Cling Wrap Products
Usability: 1/5
What happens is, you acknowledge that, on some level, leftover Saran Wrap is non-porous. Then it attacks you when you attempt to write on it. You'll get frustrated, and feel a complete fool when you realize you're angry at microthin, sticky plastic. Just say no.