I am loving this Vegan Camping Box from Vegan Cuts!

If you have any outdoor adventures planned this summer, you should definitely consider getting your hands on this little box filled with vegan goodies (and vegan, natural bug repellent!) before you head out on the road or into the wilderness!

Humanely Stop your Cat from Clawing your Drapes and Scratching your Furniture, Walls or Carpet

Prevent Cat Clawing and Scratching: Why Cats Scratch

Scratching is part of every cat’s natural behavior and provides a number of necessary functions. The function that is likely most apparent to you as a cat caregiver is the visual marking of territory, which may not seem important in your home, but in the wild this provides important information to other animals in the area. Aside from visual marking, your cat’s paws contain scent glands that are used to mark their territory by depositing their scent where they scratch.

Scratching also removes the dead outer sheaths from the claws and is a therapeutic activity providing relaxation and stretching; therefore, aside from marking territory, scratching is necessary for your cat’s health and wellness.

Prevent Cat Clawing and Scratching: Why Declawing is not a Humane Option

Somewhere along the line declawing has become an acceptable means of altering a cat’s natural behavior among some animal caregivers. There are many reasons not to declaw your cat, but the two most relevant and obvious reasons are your cat’s necessary defenses and humane treatment of the animals in our care.

A cat without claws cannot efficiently defend themselves if they happen to get outside, nor can they climb a tree to escape from danger. Declawing your cat will effectively leave them defenseless all in the name of saving the arm of a sofa. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer that my cat shred the hell out of my favorite piece of furniture than to have him injured or killed because I chose my convenience and possessions over his ability to defend his life.  

However, even if you are absolutely certain that your cat will never slip out through a door or find some escape to the outside world, declawing is not okay. Although many people seem to believe this procedure is painless and does not affect function, declawing is the cat equivalent of cutting off your fingertips at the last joint closest to your fingernail. Sure, you could learn to live without your fingertips, but after your long and painful recovery, do you think the function of your hands would ever truly be the same?

Now imagine that your hands are your primary physical defense mechanism and are also integral to your balance, and take a second to think about the fact that all the pain and loss of function did not benefit you at all and was purely to prohibit you from partaking in natural behaviors for the convenience of someone else.

Declawing is an inhumane practice that has been banned in some areas and will hopefully continue to move out of the realm of an acceptable practice and into its rightful place as another form of animal cruelty.

Prevent Cat Clawing and Scratching: Prevention Basics

It is nearly impossible to prevent a cat from clawing and scratching completely. Cats don’t respond well to punishment, so going that route will likely just frustrate you and harm your relationship with your feline friend. Your best bet is to provide appropriate scratching opportunities, take steps to dissuade your cat from scratching where you don’t want her to and to encourage her to scratch her you-approved scratching post or mat.

The first step is to provide appropriate scratching opportunities that your cat will actually use. When selecting an appropriate scratching tool, keep in mind that the post or mat should be stationary and sturdy. If it moves (or falls over) when your cat attempts to scratch on it, it will likely be disregarded and your cat will go right back to scratching your favorite piece of furniture.

Also keep in mind that your cat will choose what she will and won’t scratch and it may take a few tries to find a scratching tool that suits her needs. For example, one of our cats will only scratch on a round mat of corrugated cardboard that fits inside his favorite toy, which is a round track with a ball for him to push around. They are becoming increasingly hard to find, so I purchased a rectangle cardboard mat for him and placed it next to his favorite toy, figuring that, since it was still cardboard, he would transition to it fairly easily. I even rubbed organic catnip on it to entice him, but he has completely ignored it and has only touched it to move it out of his way so he can lay down and lazily push his ball around the track.

When choosing you-approved scratching tools, consider where and what your cat is currently destroying with her clawing and scratching. Then select an item with a similar look and texture and place it near the object they currently love to scratch.

Once you have found a scratching tool that both you and your cat can live with, it’s time to work on discouraging inappropriate scratching and encouraging appropriate scratching. There are several tools available to help dissuade your cat from scratching your favorite furniture, drapes or carpet. Most of them can be purchased online or at your local pet store, or you can make your own. Some of the most popular tools for discouraging your cat from clawing and scratching include double-sided tape, bitter apple or citrus sprays, vinyl caps for their claws, aluminum foil and plastic rug protectors (which are also great for keeping kitty off your counters).

In order to discourage your cat from clawing and scratching in particular areas, you must make that area less appealing for scratching. You can accomplish this by changing the texture to one your cat will find unpleasant (double-sided tape, aluminum foil, the points on the bottom of carpet protectors) and by removing your cat’s scent and adding one that she won’t like. Sprays designed to remove pet odors will remove your cat’s marking scents, which should help make the area less appealing for future scratching. Once you have removed your cat’s scent, add a scent that your cat will not like, such as citrus, which can be purchased at pet stores. Alternatively, you can make your own using orange essential oil or orange zest. You can even just place orange peels in the area and this may work just as well to dissuade your cat from scratching.

You might also consider covering the furniture with a throw blanket that will hide the marks your cat has already made and discourage him from making more, or investing in vinyl caps (available online or at pet stores) that cover his claws to limit damage from scratching. Vinyl caps should only be used on indoor-only cats. They will inhibit your cat’s ability to climb or defend herself if she is in danger, so this is incredibly important to keep in mind.

Other tips to keep in mind include keeping your cat’s claws trimmed to limit damage, making sure your cat has a variety of toys to keep him entertained and maintaining your patience while you and your cat come to terms on exactly how to meet his needs without destroying your furniture, curtains or carpet.

Do you have a cat that scratches furniture, walls or other spots that don’t particularly please you?

The more tips we share, the less likely frustrated caregivers might be to declaw the cats in their care, so please share your tips for encouraging appropriate scratching in the comments below!

Some scratchers are ridiculously expensive, but I'm including some affordable options below to show that you don't have to spend a lot to find a humane solution!

In my opinion, commercial glass cleaners are one of the biggest schemes out there. Advertisements over the last 50 years seem to have convinced us that we need to put out our hard-earned dollars to buy chemical-laden cleaning products to get streak-free, sparkling, clean windows. Further, we seem to have collectively forgotten that our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and those who came before managed to keep their windows (and the rest of their homes) spotless with all-natural, DIY cleaning products that took seconds to make and cost only pennies.

I’ve been using DIY glass cleaner for years, and my windows look just as good as all of my neighbors that don’t use a homemade window cleaner recipe. Plus, when you use homemade DIY cleaning products that are all natural, you aren’t introducing additional toxic chemicals into your home.

Saving money and cleaning without chemicals are good enough reasons to start making your own DIY glass cleaner, right?

Here’s how easy it is…

DIY Glass Cleaner Recipe

What you need:
A spray bottle
Distilled white vinegar
Water

What you do:

1. Pour a ½ cup of distilled white vinegar into the spray bottle.
2. Fill the spray bottle with water.
3. Shake it up, and get to cleaning those windows!

If you have been using commercial glass cleaners up to this point, you will want to add a few drops of liquid dish soap or Dr. Bronner’s to this mix the first time you clean your windows with your DIY glass cleaner. Conventional window cleaners can leave a residue on the glass, so you will get a streaky finish if you switch to a vinegar-water mix without adding liquid soap to remove the residue.

Once you have cleaned your windows with the vinegar-water-liquid soap mix once or twice, you’ll get sparkling, clean windows with just the vinegar-water mix from there on out.

Do you have a favorite DIY glass cleaner recipe? If so, let us know in the comments!

In my opinion, commercial glass cleaners are one of the biggest schemes out there. Advertisements over the last 50 years seem to have convinced us that we need to put out our hard-earned dollars to buy chemical-laden cleaning products to get streak-free, sparkling, clean windows. Further, we seem to have collectively forgotten that our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and those who came before managed to keep their windows (and the rest of their homes) spotless with all-natural, DIY cleaning products that took seconds to make and cost only pennies.

I’ve been using DIY glass cleaner for years, and my windows look just as good as all of my neighbors that don’t use a homemade window cleaner recipe. Plus, when you use homemade DIY cleaning products that are all natural, you aren’t introducing additional toxic chemicals into your home.

Saving money and cleaning without chemicals are good enough reasons to start making your own DIY glass cleaner, right?

Here’s how easy it is…

DIY Glass Cleaner Recipe

What you need:

A spray bottle
Distilled white vinegar
Water

What you do:

1. Pour a ½ cup of distilled white vinegar into the spray bottle.
2. Fill the spray bottle with water.
3. Shake it up, and get to cleaning those windows!

If you have been using commercial glass cleaners up to this point, you will want to add a few drops of liquid dish soap or Dr. Bronner’s to this mix the first time you clean your windows with your DIY glass cleaner. Conventional window cleaners can leave a residue on the glass, so you will get a streaky finish if you switch to a vinegar-water mix without adding liquid soap to remove the residue.

Once you have cleaned your windows with the vinegar-water-liquid soap mix once or twice, you’ll get sparkling, clean windows with just the vinegar-water mix from there on out.

Do you have a favorite DIY glass cleaner recipe? If so, let us know in the comments!

Now…I know most of you probably don’t spend your afternoons lovingly crafting homemade jam and canning the abundance of leftover vegetables from your backyard garden (although that does sound like a great way to spend an afternoon!), but you don’t have to be a canner to have dozens of uses for mason jars.

Seriously, canning jars are amazingly versatile, and we can thank the likes of John L. Mason, Henry William Putnam, the Ball brothers, Alexander H. Kerr and a list of other recognizable last names for their contributions to the advancement of glass jar technology. But I know you didn’t come here for a canning jar history lesson, so let’s move right along to the purpose of this post.

Actually, I do have one more quick thing I want to say before we delve into the many uses of the common canning jar: Many of the metal lid options have a lining that contains Bisphenol A (BPA), which is an endocrine disruptor. Keep an eye out for BPA-free options, and if you do end up with lids that contain BPA, I would recommend either swapping them out with BPA-free canning jar lids or using those jars for non-food purposes. If you can’t get around it and have to use the ones with BPA, leave space between the contents and the lid, and make sure you keep the jars upright, to avoid contact.

Tattler Reusable Wide Mouth Canning Lids with rubber rings are one BPA-free option; however, they do contain POM, which has trace amounts of formaldehyde that can be released at high temperatures. While this temperature is nearly twice as hot as a home pressure canner’s maximum temperature, it is still something to consider. Alternatively, you can use all-glass jars with metal clamp closures and gaskets (like these Le Parfait French Glass Canning Jars or these Bormioli Rocco Fido Round Clear Jars). These jars are perfect for food storage and non-food uses, but not all jars of this type are suitable for canning, so check the specs.

Okay, back to the awesomeness of mason jars…

Canning and fruit jars are inexpensive, reusable, easy to clean, way better than plastic food containers and lend themselves well to a variety of uses. They come in an array of shapes and sizes, making them even more versatile, and have a nostalgic side that increases their appeal for use around the house. Basically, they rock.

To show just how much they rock and provide a bit of inspiration for creative ways to use cheap, plastic-free mason jars, here are XXXXX ways to use jars for storage, organization, craft projects, gift giving and more. Keep in mind that you don’t have to start out by purchasing a case of new jars; you can find used jars at garage sales and thrift shops, or you can start out by using the glass jars in which store-bought products like salsa, pasta sauce and jam often come.

23 Uses for Canning Jars in the Kitchen & Dining Room

1. Use for making homemade jams and canning produce.
2. Use as everyday drinking glasses.
3. Serve chilled desserts, such as vegan chocolate pudding or vegan chocolate mousse.
4. Use as travel mugs with these cool, BPA-free, to-go drinking lids for mason jars from Cuppow.
5. Store leftovers (or send some home with your quests).
6. Take soup to a sick friend.
   
7. Make and store vegan vanilla sugar.
8. Make DIY vegan vanilla extract.
9. Keep ground coffee fresh after grinding a few days’ worth of beans.
10. Store dry goods, such as flours, spices, dried herbs, beans, rice, lentils, grains and nutritional yeast.
11. Store other bulk food items, such as pasta, popcorn, cookies, granola, nuts, cereals, dried foods and all the other goodness you can find in the bulk food section.
12. Store your sourdough starter.
13. Store homemade almond, rice or soy milk.
14. Use as a cookie jar for vegan treats.
15. Organize and hold cooking utensils.
16. Use as a spoon rest while cooking.
17. Store homemade salad dressings, gravies and sauces.
18. Use as a sugar bowl.
19. Create a simple centerpiece using canning jars and wild flowers, lemons, pine cones, rocks or other natural elements.
20. Use a large mason jar to make sun tea.
21. Avoid plastic containers by using small glass jars for packing lunches. (I use small jars to send oatmeal, cookies, applesauce and more in my partner’s lunch.)
22. Use larger glass jars to take a salad to work. (Check out this Healthy.Happy.Life. blog post for inspiration and great pictures.)
23. Store time-saving homemade mixes, such as pancake mix, bread mix, bean soup mix or brownie mix.

5 Uses for Canning Jars in the Office, Workshop or Garage

1. Use small mason jars as snack containers to keep in your desk drawer at work or in your home office.
2. Attach the lids to the bottom of shelves in your garage or office (so that you can screw on the jar for under-shelf storage) and use them to store screws, nuts, bolts or office supplies.
3. Use a canning jar as a pen and pencil holder on your desk.
4. Grab some small glass jars to organize paperclips, binder clips and other small office supplies.
5. Use a short, wide-mouth jar as a business card holder.

8 Uses for Canning Jars in the Craft Room and for Gift Giving

1. Make a canning jar lamp with these instructions.
2. Use them for kids craft projects, such as snow globes or sand art.
3. Use them for DIY projects, like candles, potpourri or holiday decorations.
4. Decorate them as gift containers for bath salts, recipe kits or other gift ideas.
   
5. Create a home spa gift basket with DIY pampering products stored in mason jars.
6. Make awesome hostess gifts, like a vegan recipe with all of the ingredients layered inside a canning jar.
   
7. Use them to store jewelry findings or sewing notions, such as buttons, beads and thread.
8. Use a jar for cleaning or storing paint brushes.

If you are not familiar with bambeco, you really must run over to their site and check out the eco awesomeness that graces every page. If you are looking for any type of home goods or decor (or gifts), bambeco is a great place to peruse eco-friendly options.

The picture above shows the promo code to get free shipping on orders over $75 (MEM75), but you can save even more by using the following promo code to save 20% off your entire order!

This is only good through May 31, so head over there soon if you want to take advantage of this month's 20% discount.

Here is the promo code for 20% off your bambeco order during the month of May: TAKE20

Shop the site, fill your basket, and then use the promo code during checkout.

(This sale has expired.)

Have you headed over to check out Bambeco yet? Specializing in eco-friendly gifts, home decor, pet products, kitchenware and organic bedding, Bambeco is committed to helping people live by their values without having to sacrifice quality or style. Their products are made from materials that are organic, all natural, recycled, biodegradable, renewable, repurposed, nontoxic or recycled, and they make sure they work with artisans and vendors that share their commitment to limiting environmental impact.

Aside from their efforts to use renewable or repurposed resources, they are also all about fair wages, ensuring an energy-efficient distribution process and partnering with shippers that actively work to reduce their carbon footprints.

The Bambeco website is a great place to find gifts, as well as items for your home. This Cinco de Mayo sale for 20% off eco-friendly barware and drinkware makes it even more worth it to head over there and check them out!

You can click on the picture above or below to get to their website -- don't forget to use the coupon code FIESTA when you check out.

Well, apparently lots of folks. Just not me. For years I dried my clothes with dryer sheets without once giving a thought to animal products being in them. Of course, I was naturally concerned about the company producing them and whether or not they tested on animals, but it never even occurred to me that I was drying my clothes with animal tallow. Dis-gust-ing.

Obviously, as soon as I realized that even my eco-friendly dryer sheets were not-so-animal-friendly, I immediately set out to find a solution to my laundry dilemma. Fortunately, there are a number of vegan dryer sheets on the market now -- thanks to increased awareness and demand -- but you can also make your own or just not use them at all. At first I switched to using distilled white vinegar as a fabric softener and I was pretty happy with it. It seems to get the soap out better and left our clothes and linens soft and fluffy, but my partner didn't like how the house smelled like vinegar every time I did laundry, or the little bit of vinegar smell still on the clothes after they came out of the dryer (although I swear I can't smell it). So, now I'm using nothing in the washer and just dryer balls that fluff the clothes up in the dryer.

We haven't had any problems with static cling and this seems to be a good solution for us. You can check out some other options for vegan, eco-friendly fabric softeners and dryer sheets (store bought and DIY) here.

(This was originally posted on my old blog in September 2008.)