With a little research this evening I found an even better fly trap. The website that shares the directions for this newfangled trap includes a label to be placed on fly traps that are made for sale. What a great idea for a fundraiser! Great re-use idea that improves the local environment, if there are lots of flies. I may have to share this with my favorite Boy Scout, and any 4H members I can find. If you work with feral cats or dogs that live outdoors, this would be a great gi
The very hot weather this summer, and perhaps the dry weather, brought FLIES to the cat enclosure. This morning I fought back by making a fly trap, of the 'old standard' variety. This fun upcycle project uses a liter bottle cut roughly in half, with the top part flipped upside down to fit snugly into the bottom half. I baited the trap with a little 'cat food soup' in a flavor the flies seemed to like. I expect the trap to catch lots of the icky creatures!
With a little research this evening I found an even better fly trap. The website that shares the directions for this newfangled trap includes a label to be placed on fly traps that are made for sale. What a great idea for a fundraiser! Great re-use idea that improves the local environment, if there are lots of flies. I may have to share this with my favorite Boy Scout, and any 4H members I can find. If you work with feral cats or dogs that live outdoors, this would be a great gi
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I can't believe I haven't mentioned my favorite frugal website yet....It's freecycle.com. Most medium to large metro areas have a local site. Freecycle aims to keep items out of the landfill by finding new homes for them. At the website, you'll find the rules posted for newcomers. Take time to learn them, and it will make your freecycle experience much happier.
Here in Wilmington, NC a fellow animal advocate is the site owner. No animal posts are allowed, but animal care items are welcome. Back when I was setting up the 'clubhouse' for Miss Annie the wonder dog in my garage, I got a twin mattress, small rug, TV and a radio tuner/CD player with nice speakers from my Freecycle friends. It's a shame that Annie wanted so badly to be a house dog, as her 'clubhouse' was just a super hangout. There are similar areas at Craigslist, but I still prefer Freecycle. I use it at least monthly to declutter and rehome unwanted household and pet items. I request items less often. Give it a try when you need something that could be 'pre-owned!' Think of all the helpful things a foster parent could request: towels, pillows, dog bowls, leashes, collars....the list goes on and on! Being an animal rescuer or foster parent means never having enough bedding. EVER! I started out using bath and hand towels, depending on the size of the kennel. Through normal wear-and-tear, towels became very precious in my house! So, I started looking for another source of bedding, and I have found it right in my neighborhood: the local laundromat where I do 'cat laundry' at least weekly. My laundromat has a bin of 'reject' laundry free for the taking, and about half of what is thrown into the basket is t-shirts. I've found t-shirts to be a comfortable, absorbent material for kennel bedding when folded to fit. Older or ill animals appreciate a cushion made of several t-shirts folded together, covered with another (you guessed it!) t-shirt!
In a non-frugal moment I usually throw away the shirts used by transport animals or feral cats. I am just too cautious about the germs that might be shared through reusing them. Still, they are at least mostly biodegradeable, I tell myself. Am I losing my grip? Please let me know if I have gone over the edge of frugal into 'freaky' with this one.....
I use a lot of puppy pads. No puppies here, but several cats that for one reason or another may miss the litter box on a given day. I find that puppy pads are just the ticket to keep the floor around the litter box clean and dry. But, they are price-y! So one day when Bob-the-cat had chosen the perfect spot right in the middle of a puppy pad to 'use,' I started thinking about all the perfectly good absorbent material I was throwing away. Then I said, 'Heck, no!' and got an old pair of dollar store scissors out. I cut across the middle of the pad, detouring around the wet spot----and throwing that part away. I was left with two smaller pads that got a lot more use. Another way to make puppy pads go farther is to layer newspaper on top of them. Change the paper frequently and you won't have to replace the puppy pads as often! I learn so much from visiting with other pet owners and rescue friends! My friend Sharon has a great room designed and built for her group of former-feral kitties. On a recent petsitting visit, I was introduced to her unique way of storing and using plastic grocery bags. Sharon uses a small (3-gallon) plastic wastebasket, and lines it with plastic bags, layering 10 or so in the trash can. They fit neatly, and the handles hold them in place. Her litter scooper stands ready inside the top bag. This setup is easy to carry from place to place, and the wastebasket keeps the plastic bags open and easy to scoop into. When finished scooping, the waste 'lumps & clumps' can be single or double-bagged and tossed in the trash. I am definitely going to 'borrow' this idea at home!
Thanks, Sharon! PS--When looking for a photo to illustrate this, I found a website that shared the same tip.....and other things to do with the ever-present plastic bag: http://reuseitcrafts.com/ReUsePlasticBags.aspx Enjoy! Necessity is a MOTHER! I was deep into petsitting over Thanksgiving, and found myself in need of a new tool. Specifically a tiny shovel to lift out the used, nonclumping cat litter from a litter box. Frugally speaking, nonclumping litter is excellent, and it may also be safer for kittens and cats than the clumping kind. In the past I might have dumped the whole box and replaced all the litter, but this kitty 'uses' only one end of the box. Brainstorming as quickly as I was able considering the turkey I had eaten, I looked around and found a small, flat, circular metal 'scoop' with a tiny ring for a handle. Yep, a lid from a 6-ounce cat food can! It worked wonderfully to lift out the wet litter from one end of the litterbox. It even got into the rounded corners of the box perfectly. Serendipity, for sure! Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving, too!
My Dad used to say, 'If you want something done the easy way, ask a lazy person!' (He meant himself, even though he was the least lazy person I've ever known. Now I try to live up to his example by thinking my way out of some tedious tasks....
So, today I took a carful of kennels and crates (two of each) and one litter box to the 'spray it yourself' car wash. (Funny that my car gets washed a lot less than the pet equipment!) I took a detergent 'squeeze' bottle full of soapy water and a spray bottle full of 1:32 bleach solution. Pulling into the bay of the spray-and-wash lane, almost all the way out of the building, I unloaded the dirty kennels and crates. I think of any cleaning job as three parts: clean, rinse and sanitize. So, that's what I did at the car wash, too. First, I pre-washed by squirting soapy water onto any dirty surfaces. Then, putting my quarters in the slot, I washed and rinsed the kennels thoroughly. After shaking the excess water off, I sprayed bleach solution over all the surfaces. A quick shake and partial sun-drying and I was done. Kennels back in the car, back home and unloaded in a half hour. For all my transport friends especially, trust me, it's the best $1.25 you'll spend this week. And, the water is recycled instead of going into the ground or the storm drain. All RIGHT! Bazillion bunnies!!! That's what my friend and petsitting client Sarah has in her beautiful backyard screen house. I enjoy visiting with the rabbits very much, especially watching them savor their morning and evening meals of 'pellets and hay.' In the middle of each day they rush to select one or more different types of leafy greens from a bundle we give them.
I began to wonder about free sources for the kale, cabbage and lettuce that the bunnies eat, and stopped to talk with the store manager of our local Harris Teeter grocery. He encouraged me to call the 1-800 number printed on the frequent shopper card to talk with someone in Public Relations. There is a brief form to fill out stating that any donations received will not be re-sold or served to humans (!) then my friend's bunny crew will be eligible to receive the castoff outer leaves of all sorts of green produce. I estimate Sarah's savings will be over $700 a year (if she spends $2 a day for greens now). I'll keep you posted as we look into the application process.... Frugal living fans have long looked up to Amy Daczyn....(pronounced 'da-cision'....hope I'm spelling it right!) and I remember one of her essays from The Tightwad Gazette on reusing bath towels. I absolutely understand her idea, as I grew up using the same towel after baths for 'days and days.' If you are clean, as you should be getting out of the bath or shower, your towel will still be clean (but damp) when you are finished drying off. If you hang your towel up to dry right away, it will be dry and still clean when you need it again.
I got to thinking about this during the recent hot weather. The paper towels I use are the 'select-a-size' type, which allow me to use just the amount needed. I have been washing my hands and face a lot and would walk into the office to log on to email still holding a small, damp paper towel. Those have ended up next to the computer; there are three here right now! Cats sitting next to the computer sometimes play with the crumpled paper towels. I've started rounding up the handful of used paper towels that accumulate each day and putting them into a plastic container in the kitchen. Then, when there is 'something'--usually icky-- on the floor, I just grab a few of the (dry, clean, crumpled) paper towels to use to wipe the floor. I am noticing a difference in my paper towel usage already. If you need a reminder, or would like to remind others to reuse their paper towels, here is a great sticker to place on the paper towel holder or rack. Maybe order a few at about 20 cents each. It's a small cost to save 100 pounds of paper, which the stickers have been shown to do! |