Tip of the Week!

For those of you that have cats, this tip is for you.

We have 2 cats. One we have had since right before we were married, so she is about 15 years old. The other one my husband decided to get for my oldest when she was about 3 or so. So she is about 7 years old.

Sadly, when these cats kick the bucket, we will retire our litter box for ever. While I adore kittens and cats, I do not like their bathroom arrangement. We of the four cats we have ever had, only one made the litter box every time.

Our cats are strictly indoor animals, so that mean they use a littler box. We have tried everything from multiple litter boxes, to brand new boxes, to all kinds of litter. But have yet to find out why occasionally they will pee on dirty laundry.

We have a laundry chute in our house that goes from the top floor to the basement. Occasionally (like on the day the girls have to clean their bedrooms) there is a large quantity of laundry that is sent down before I get to it and it will spill out of the tub onto the floor. Then, you guessed it, one of the cats will pee on it! Yuck. And we have yet to figure out who is the culprit.

I used to just pitch the item. When it was the occasional towel that was okay. But when it was my second daughters new jeans, I knew their had to be a better way to take care of it. And I happened to find it!

We have a front loader washer and dryer system and ours' has a "sanitize" setting. Which runs for about 2 hours, using super hot water and steam to clean the laundry. Yes, I know running the machine for two hours isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than throwing out laundry ever month or so.

 I put the stinky item in with like items (towels with towels, jeans with jeans, you get the idea) and put in my detergent like normal. I add about a 1/4 of a cub of Borax to the detergent. Then run it on the Sanitize setting.

For those of my friends that don't know, Borax is super cheap and is carried in most stores in the laundry aisle. I use it to make all sorts of homemade cleaners. It is much easier on my asthma than store bought cleaners. And nicer on the wallet as well. I have been making my own cleaners for years.

Voila! Out of the dryer comes clothes smelling fresh and clean and no hint at all that they had the horrible urine smell on them. And they are actually clean. Even better.

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.