Cat Door and Other Little Things



This particular cat flap isn't very big but
our large kitty has no problem using it;
it also has a locking feature which is a nice feature



We all know that sometimes little changes make a big difference in how we live, right? Well, this year we've made a few and their impact has been mighty indeed. 

This past fall we acquired a feral kitten found by my parents. Having a cat again was nice but we had no good place to put a litter box. We had it in our kitchen and our cat would track litter all over the floor so it was gross and unsanitary.  Also, our kitty didn't like scented litter so there was a continual unpleasant smell hanging in the air.  We needed to come up with a plan. 

For less than $15 I was able to get a cat door from Amazon.com. I wasn't nervous about cutting into the door leading from the kitchen to our basement because the previous owners' dog had scratched it up pretty good.   The cat flap was easy to install and it took only one day for the cat to start using it on his own. Now instead of having a smelly cat litter box under foot it's tucked away downstairs.


Before I organized our supplies, it was just in a big pile
in the cabinet and we couldn't find anything
without making a mess

Another small change that has really helped was finally organizing our bathrooms. I bought a different colored set of washcloths for each family member and cleared out any old personal hygiene products. I grouped the remaining supplies and put them in various see-through containers with labels.

Wal-mart sells sets of multi-sized clear plastic containers for a few bucks so we used those and those $1 shoe boxes for most of the stuff.  Our most expensive container was maybe $5 (not including a lovely pot I bought from a pottery studio which currently holds my hair bands). 

I also found small pots and vases at Goodwill that work great for holding toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair brushes, hairbands, etc. 

I figure it took a couple of days of shopping and scavenging to gather my containers and a day to clear out and group our supplies.  Doing this has really helped streamline getting people out of the house each day. It's also cut down on us buying duplicate products because now we can see what we have (for example I found 10 tubes of antihistamine lotion and 13 little tubes of toothpaste that you get at the dentist).

Teddy Bear helping me file

I was so pumped about organizing our bathroom vanities that I decided to tackle our office too.  We had filled up our existing file cabinet and were just cramming additional files wherever I could find a spot. I found a large heavy-duty file cabinet on Craig's List for $10 (they are several hundred dollars new) and have been filing and tossing papers like a mad woman ever since. I've also cleared out our office supplies the same way I did the bathrooms-tossing out as much as I could and putting the rest in labeled clear-plastic containers. I was shocked at how many binders and half-filled notebooks we had lying around the house.  This was a bigger project so I broke it down into several couple-hour sessions.  I didn't want to get overwhelmed and give up.

For years we've been living in confusion and clutter.  With these few small changes, which didn't take much time or money, I feel a bit more carefree and our house isn't as crazy as it used to be.