And the Pets, Too. August 15, 2008

Keeping a pet, even in a small space on a small budget, is possible.  A small pet like a rat, mouse, hamster, or gerbil can live in a proper-sized cage for several hours a day comfortably.  Larger pets such as ferrets, rabbits, and guinea pigs need larger cages and while they also do well in small spaces, require more time out of the cage than a gerbil or mouse.  Please note that all animals need time out of their cages to roam and as a rule, the larger the animal, the more time they need.

Food wise, guys, you need to determine what their nutritional requirements are and how you plan for them to get it.  I feed my rats lab block as their primary food so I allocate a larger part of my budget to buying bags of it – I believe 15$ for 3 pounds from the local privately owned pet store – but try to stretch the bag by using a homemade mix twice a week.  For 10$/12$ a month, I purchase cereal, puffed rice and/or wheat, oats, dried fruits & nuts, and pasta which is then tossed together in a large container.  It is not nutritionally complete, so it’s more a treat than food, but it does help to lengthen the time between lab block purchases.

Treats for small animals can also be cheaper than the junk from pet stores.  Fresh fruits are often a good choice, especially animals that shouldn’t have a lot of sugar.  Gerbils and Hamster both can get diabetes if not given a proper diet, so sugary foods are to be given sparingly.  The rats enjoy sharing a banana with me and will actually push each other out of the way to get to it.  A banana from Trader Joes is 19 cents, which makes for a tasty, healthy snack for both pet and owner.  However, please find sites that list forbidden foods for your pet as some are known carcinogens or can cause fatal reactions.

Cage accessories… aside from the cage itself, a wheel if needed, and water bottles, there is nothing that can’t be made or purchased from the dollar store.  For instance, cat or dog bowls work for rats and other animals or ashtrays for gerbils.  Hammocks can be made from fabric placemats – cut a hole in each corner and add some shower rings.  Ziptie a basket to the side of the cage and you’ll get an additional level or a hideaway.  Cut a hole in a bin and you’ve got a house. This site will soon have a list of links for examples of cage additives and instructions, but hopefully those suggestions help out some poor soul.

I’m sure someone’s confused as to why I haven’t mentioned anything really about cages themselves.  That’s due to the issue that unless you find one on craigslist or have a pretty decent hand at making one, there are few options to find one cheap.  You can try freecycle in your area, a tag sale, or flea market.  Sometimes a pet store will have one marked down because it’s missing a piece or was damaged, so keep an eye out for that.  But be prepared to spend a sum of money on something good, especially if you work or am at school for most of the day.  I personally own a Ferret Nation for my rats, a homemade 3′ by 4′ cage for my guinea pigs, and a large tote (equivalent to 17 1/2 gallons) for my gerbils.  These cages, combined, have cost around 350$/400$ and are somewhat customizable.

This evening I’ll be setting up pages on the site with links, information, and other tidbits.  Please excuse the lack of posting yesterday, I was ill and unable to write.

Small Spaces August 12, 2008

Living in a small space be it at home with parents, a dorm room, or a first apartment, we all know that flat surfaces are a premium.  Any place that something can go, it generally does until it’s one thing on top of another and you’re looking around, wondering where to start because you’re living in clutter.

This is not a new story.  Everyone lives in a place extremely small at one time or another.  My best friend and her husband spent their first year in an apartment that is about the size of my living room.  It’s learning how to utilize space that some people never get.  After all, it’s easier to just toss things on a dresser or a desk and then deal with it later.  It’s taken me years to figure out how to make my life easier by not living in a mess of my own making.  Particularly in my bathroom.

In the last three days, I’ve made the concerted effort to actually put into practice what I preach because (I admit) I tended to tell others tips for organizing and then came home to an overfilled bathroom and a cluttered bedroom.  I said it was because I knew where everything was, but the reality?  I am chronically tired which makes me lazy.  I’m more likely to lay in bed for an entire day off than to get on my hands and knees and clean out under it.

Once going, I’ve gotten both places set up to look great, make finding things easier, and look fun at the same time.  The dollar store is heaven for me and for anyone living on a budget, it makes sense – a bin from there can be any color, any size.  I’m particularly fond of anything that looks kitchy like the jumbo-sized popcorn bins I use in my bedroom and the plastic “basket weave” bin in my bathroom.  (All can be seen on my flickr account in various pictures.)  Many of these were acquired throughout the last year with specific ideas for how they’d be used; amusingly enough, all of them are in different places.

In my marathon cleaning sessions, I was able to organize my totes to specific purposes.  One bin under my bed has all books, another all my craft supplies.  I can reach under there, and with minimal effort, extract either one for what I need.  I wish I’d thought of that in the dorm as it would have made move out so much easier than the last minute “I need boxes!” dash.  There’s open top bins on my dresser that have headbands, my straightener, and other products within reach.  Fabric collapsibles from Target (5.99$ a bin) live on my storage unit, holding pet supplies and other items.

Note I said storage unit – in my small room, I have two wall shelves.  That’s it.  By getting a unit from Target for 14.99$ (white with 3 shelves) in college, I was able to keep my closet in some semblance of order.  Getting a second one to attach as you can put two together safely, I expanded my usable surface space and with the shelves being adjustable, I can have it in as many combinations as I choose.

If you live at home or an apartment and can’t get a unit or something like that, think about your wall space.  3M makes hooks that attach to the wall strongly and remove cleanly.  I used them in the dorm all four years and they held up to filled backpacks, jackets, and bags.  Currently I have screw-in mug hooks in every wall and they’ve been great for putting up belts, necklaces, and clothing.

Parting with the Past August 10, 2008

I am a HUGE packrat.  Why?  A lot of it is the belief that I’ll be able to use something for something else: scrap paper for cards or writing, old cookware for fun storage bins, or old clothing that could be used in sewing.  Because of this, I’ve held onto a lot of things that I don’t need nor are momentos I want to keep.  They’re just there.

My attempts in the past to rid myself of this clutter have made for much frustration as the belief in the past was that my family was forcing me to get rid of beloved items.  These days, though, I have more than enough to my name and I have made the promise to live better (another reason for the inception of this blog) as such this means cleaning.

Which means letting go of some things I once treasured.

I think it’s the hardest thing in the world for packrats to donate or throw away something.  Whether it’s the beanie baby mom gave you for an Good Job! on your grade school book report or the book report itself, it’s the memory that really makes the decision hard.  How do you know you won’t forget that great feeling if you don’t have the thing that will remind you of it?  (If that makes sense!)  The answer: you won’t.  It’s in your mind and it can be drawn up easily enough.

If you still can’t bear to part, take a picture of the item and put it in an album online or tangible.  If it’s a paper, get a three ring binder, some paper protectors, and put the pages in the protector backwards.  I.E.: So you can’t see the words and are forced to pull it out to read it.  If after a year, the pages are still unread, let it go.

It’s really not the item that we cling to – it’s the emotion it evokes and damned if it doesn’t feel like someone has a gun to your head when contemplating getting rid of it.  Do yourself a favor, though, by saying goodbye to it and instead, write down the memory.  Get a journal, put it into words, and then when you need to, read the entries.  Clutter free and you’ve rewarded yourself with a bit of an endorphine rush from recalling great times.