To remove cat urine (and odor) from carpet using cheap ingredients: If fresh urine soak up as much as possible with paper towels first and if an older area, that is still odorous, do the following: 1. If you can replace the carpet pad under the affected area than cut away a square of the pad that is soaked and discard. Make sure you have a piece of new pad. If not, then clean the pad underneath as well, as follows: 2. Soak area completely with white vinegar (carpet and pad if not replacing pad). Let it sit for 20 minutes or so and then soak up as much as possible with paper towels. Allow to dry - use a fan to speed up the process if desired. 2. After this dries, apply a liberal amount of baking soda over the affected area and drizzle with a quarter cup of hydrogen peroxide mixed with a teaspoon of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Use as much of the mixture as necessary depending on the size of the cleanup. Work it in with a scrub brush or your fingers (wearing rubber gloves) to disolve the baking soda. Work it deep into the fibers and old pad (if keeping). Allow to dry and then vacuum it up. Repeat the process if a really old nasty stain with odor. Here's how it works: The acidic vinegar neutralizes the ammonia in the urine and hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidizer which kills the bacteria that causes the odor. Baking soda also absorbs odor and the Dawn cleans the area of dirt and more odors. Using water and rug shampoo to clean urine does not remove it and at first you think it is working but then it starts smelling again. That is because the bacteria is still working and the ammonia has not been neutralized. I've used this on cat urine stains in two places in my home (an older cat started going in these two spots) and it has worked very well at a fraction of the cost of those odor removal kits that cost $50 and up. I highly recommend you can buy some scrap carpet padding and cut away the old and replace with a new patch of padding (if feasible). It will greatly save time and work much better as the pad is harder to get all the fibers clean deep down unlike the carpet itself which has a more open weave.

I love the idea of using the hair conditioner for shaving legs. I need to try that one. My husband has used dryer sheets in his pockets when he is out camping and it does work to keep the mosquitoes away. Baby oil is great to remove the oil sludge from your skin that you sometimes get down at the beach (and most of us are avoiding many beaches along the Gulf for that very reason!) We found this out last summer when we were down by Corpus Christi and one of my boys had it on his legs. Brunettes - Use soy sauce as a rinse in your hair to enrich the natural color. Comb it through your hair and let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse. I need to add this list of helpful hints link to my favorites so I can pop back and refer to it later. Thanks everyone for posting these great ideas!

My grandmother used salt in another way. She was the dutiful wife of a sweet minister who, without consulting her, purchased and planted many various fruit trees in their back yard. Two were in the way of the wash line, or maybe the story was they were berry trees and the birds would stain the wash. Anyhow, she wanted them gone but did not have the heart to point out to her sweet husband the bad planning. So every time she went into the back yard, she put several handfuls of salt into her apron pocket and liberally sprinkeled the root zone of these two trees with salt. Before long, they died of some unexplainable blight, and grandma had her wash line to her liking.

A lot depends on for what events/contingencies you're preparing. Some of the list is humorous. "Big dogs"? Kind of goes with goats & chickens? Liquor for bribes! And seeds? Probably should include an alternate mate to repopulate the world! LOL Ease up folks, some of it clearly was for entertainment purposes. But there are basic items I can't excuse people for not having in stock. If you don't have a supply of batteries in your refrigerator drawer, purchased when free or cheap, you deserve to suffer during a power outage. Again I endorse the crank flashlights/radios (until analog radio is turned off of course). I would suggest going with propane for lantern and stove fuel rather than the white gas ("Coleman" type) fuels. That stuff is explosive. If you doubt it, take a tablespoon and throw it on a campfire sometime. But be back a ways when you do it. A 20# propane tank can have splitters on it to run multiple lanterns and a stove, even a heater, much more safely than the white gas. Heavy garbage bags make excellent makeshift raingear. And don't forget about firestarters. If you're talking emergency situations, I'd suggest waterproof matches. Make your own by dipping the wooden matches in paraffin wax. Firestarters are many different kinds. Save some dryer lint. Works great. Keep it in a coffee can. Dip some cotton string in paraffin wax. Some books of matches waterproofed (with? yes, paraffin) works too and even the end pieces from candles you use in the house at holidays. A hatchet is a good idea to keep handy too. Essentially, camping fans will do fine in a lot of emergencies. Other cooking sources are your propane grill, kettle grill if you have charcoal and starters. A good alternative to thermal underwear is sweatpants and shirts. Even southerners often have these. Depending on the clothes sizes you can put a pair under and over a pair of jeans. Or the flannel lounging pants under and sweats over them. A few cans of waterproofing spray like Scotchguard will help keep them and you dry. Another little camping tip. Oh, and instead of a dedicated toilet, a portable toilet is made easily from a 5 gal pail, seat if you want to get fancy or even a folding camp stool or a lawn chair! A camp shovel and squat will work too. And if truly an emergency, modesty goes out the window. Fasten the toilet seat to the 5 gal pail and you won't have to argue about who left the seat up! :) Wire clothes hangers can be versitile tools. Use them to make your own lantern hangers, repairs, tie things together, and you can even hang clothes! (To dry and more.) Can also be used as a weapon to beat off people trying to steal your rats, chickens, goats and big dogs! ;) Personally, I think I would use duct tape instead of stockpiling screen patching but the idea of all of these suggestions is to get you thinking. I really think that doing some research on camping tips and tricks would be of great benefit to a lot of people. I live a rather modest life, austere to the view of many. But when the power was out for a week here the last time, I survived quite well. Comfortably under the circumstances and even had some luxuries that many others didn't. I had tv, radio, light, food, water, telephone... Not a huge disaster compared to some, but being prepared not just with supplies, but also in a state of mind. My last suggestion. On these ideas, why not put together a 3 ring binder or something with lists of what to do in certain situations? For instance, power outage, turn off as many breakers as you can, the crank flashlights are located in the hall closet, 1st aid tips, important phone numbers, insurance info, etc. Even ideas for food, crackers & PB (sans-salmonella, eat first from the frig, etc.) and how about including notes like check on the handicapped neighbor, your elderly relatives, etc. Could be helpful. Even though I disagree with some of the ideas, I do like these lists minnie_tx. Keep 'em coming. I like going through them and see how they compare to my checklists and I get ideas from most all of them. I appreciate your efforts.