Coins to save

and improve the fortunes of our cat filled households: half dollars minted before 1971. Most have been removed from the currency by now, but if you are going to find a coin with any actual silver content in the American coinage, in circulation, it is probably a half dollar, minted between 1965 and 1970. That quarters before 1965 have some silver content is common knowledge, so the best chance of finding silver is to scrutinize the halves. The quarters are almost certainly absent from your change.

The perfect litter box

The perfect litter box is free, the perfect litter box is disposable. The perfect litter box is available just not as prevalent as one could wish. Here is what you are looking for: those cardboard boxes encased in plastic and used to store and transport bottles. You find them with the plastic ripped and the box empty, tossed perhaps in a pile of rubbish. Grab them---they are the perfect litter box, no cleanup, just toss them out when they are dirty. You can put litter in them and have the smoothest litter box operation around.

Drying silver

This is cool, you can re-use those cardboard egg cartons, NOT the styrofoam ones, but the gray cardboard cartons and instead of throwing the carton out, open it flat and use it to drain the silver or silverplate you just hand washed. It will save you some polishing time to let it drain briefly and the cardboard soak up the moisture very quickly, -- that is, before water spots can form.

Park close to the road

At the grocery store, you can score a big green hit by parking near the road you are using, and away from the store. You save by not crusing around to get a good parking spot, you get an extra walk, helpful especially during the holiday season, and you get even more exercise walking the cart filled with kitty litter BACK to the car.

Teabags without staples

are ideal for reheating tea in a microwave. Celestial Seasoning tea bags have no metal staples and so are ideal in this regard.

The best pet rugs

are nothing you can buy in a pet store. The very best---long lasting, soft, cleanable, -- pet bed rugs are bath mats, the small ones you put around the toilet. But not just any bath mat, and this kind is getting harder to find, but the kind of bath mat you want has fabric, cotton or a cotton blend on the bottom. This bottom is really important because if you get the kind with a rubberized bottom it will get flaky in the wash, and not be fun to touch. I get this straight from the cats--find the kind of bath mat with a cottony reverse side and they will be happy. Really I only am sure you can find them in thrift stores, but even there, observe carefully before you buy.

chicken soup for the poultry's soul

NOT.
You are not supposed to put a tv dinner in a toaster oven, nowadays they are designed to be microwaved. But should this suit you, try it this way: I have not tested pudding okay, but this definitely works for turkey. The trick is to remove it from the packaging AND remove it from the microwaving container and place the bird in an aluminum toaster oven container, then use the directions for cooking in a conventional oven.
The cats of course will not mind how you cook it as long as you share it.

Getting rich to keep your cats in luxury

Of course us cat lovers shop at thrift stores, that is because we are sensible people who do not like to waste money. We need lots of money to spend on our cats so we live thriftily. So we will enjoy tips about junking it, as I call a tour of thrift stores. Todays tip is the alert, despite the previous sentence, that thrift stores overprice some items---I am thinking of costume jewelry. A brooch with missing stones could not be sold on ebay for anything like the two to three dollars a thrift store typically charge. (Of course I am referring to an unmarked piece). Prices have risen this year in thrift stores in Atlanta Georgia at least. I suspect this is a general trend. But you have to be careful, especially if you are collecting stuff to sell online.

Upcoming topics for our cat lovers blog

cat safe ribbon-- a how to on making your own (or wait til I market it) ribbon which is safe for cat toys. Anything except cat food a cat might swallow could produce a crisis in the digestive system. This ribbon is safe for kitties, to use, for example as a string for helium filled balloons. That's another tip: cats love to chase balloons, and the string attached to such a balloon is irresistible. Assuming it is made of the cat safe ribbon I will tell you how to make.

furnishings that are best for cat full households, eg, forget a sofa.

Collecting and marketing cat figurines.
(eg--write a collectibles book, how to)

How to shop well at thrift stores.

How to make your own homemade glueboxes (this totally original project saves a bunch of money and is necessary for every housekeeper because even if you have no bugs you can check the integrity of your barrier by carefully distributed glue traps.-- but more details soon.)

Backup cat litter

Getting a dog-- (essential for the true cat lover btw)

washing pet blankets-- how to, with eco aware principles.

how to have more cats than the neighbors notice.

Litter box tips

To encourage and make neatness more likely, I like to put litterboxes inside litterboxes. Here is what I mean. I use a plastic storage container, the long flat kind you buy to put under the bed, as a start. Then I put two plastic dishpans with litter inside the long flat plastic container. This way the cats throw the litter out into an acceptable container. If you are running low on cat litter you can scrounge another day by scooping up the litter the cats kicked outside their box (and into the larger container) and putting into their dishpan litter boxes. This works because the litter outside the regular litter box but inside the surrounding plastic container is probably clean. Oh I have lots of tips like this, I can hardly wait to share them.