We would all like to leave for work in the morning press a button on the way out and return at the end of the day to find our homes clean and tidy. Until that day arrives, here are some tips that may help you clean smarter not harder. Due to those TV adverts, most of us over accessorize for the job We have gadgets for everything and most don’t really do what they say or not in my hands anyway, so lets keep it simple.

Pick up the clutter – always a big help. Keep your cleaning products to a minimum and this will help you carry them around with you as you move through your home. Let the cleaning products work for you by giving them the suggested time that is recommended on the label to do their job, don’t rush it. Divide your cleaning over the course of a few days, set certain days to do certain jobs. This way it’s not such a big deal. The following are room by room strategies.

Bathroom. Apply the products that take time first. Vacuum everything including dust vents or fans. Wipe down doors, corners, and towel racks with a damp cloth. Now scrub or wash down all those areas you applied the take-time products on. The toilet is the biggest trouble spot, so once a week pour a cup of white vinegar into the toilet, close the lid and leave overnight. It is very easy to overlook the medicine cabinet. Remove everything and wipe down the cabinet every couple of months. Throw out the expired items. There are a few secret weapons that will help you in your bathroom. For instance, automatic shower cleaners are a good investment and those self-cleaning toilet systems that turn the flushed water into a cleaning agent can be a big help too.

Bedroom. Put away clothes and straighten dresser and strip the bed so the blanket and sheets can be laundered. Move clockwise around the room, clean mirrors and blinds or windows. For blinds, use a damp rag and a mild cleaning solution. It is always easy to overlook cleaning under you bed, you should vacuum regularly and get all the way underneath the bed. For dusting, a secret weapon can be an Ostrich feather duster you can buy one online or at a hardware store. For your mattress and bedding you can use an allergen reducer spray. Vacuum, then put the clean sheets on the bed.

Kitchen. Clear the counters and empty the dishwashers and clean all the appliances like the toaster, grill and the coffee pot. Spray the counters with an all purpose cleaner. Clean the sink, sweep or vacuum, then mop the floor. The refrigerator and the stovetop would be the trouble spots in this area. For the fridge, use warm soapy water to clean the inside and outside or you can do it the real old fashion way and clean with water and baking soda. For the stove, you can use a strong bathroom cleaner. Spray, let it sit, and then wipe with a damp sponge, avoiding using harsh cleaners with ammonia. You can make a paste with a degreaser and baking soda. Scrub the dirt loose, rinse with vinegar and water. Turn on oven to 350 degrees to bake off fumes that may harm your food. A few secret weapons that will make life easier are a dissolver, a heavy duty cleaning pad, and believe it or not an enzyme cleaner (you can get some at a pet store).

Living Room. Again move clockwise then high to low. Work on the interior windows and mirrors. Vacuum the sofa and then the floors. Some of the trouble spots are carpet stains and furniture. For the carpet, use a stain remover to get rid of the grease, oil, and things of the like. On a paper towel, spray the solvent, dab it, and dab it again with a damp white cloth. For wooden furniture, use a lemon oil or a wood-care product that has a beeswax base. Cleaning behind the furniture often becomes a serious tasks so most people just overlook it. But for those hard to reach places, attach an athletic sock with a rubber band to the end of a yard stick. There are also some secret weapons for cleaning your living room. Window cloths because they clean windows really well and are durable and washable. Get rid of the broom or mop and get the Swifter, it is very multi-functional a good carpet cleaner that can work well on both synthetic and natural carpets.

Carl Hampton
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/how-to-clean-smarter-not-harder-60249.html

Just like humans, cats feel miserable when they are sick. As a pet owner, it is your primary responsibility to keep your feline friends healthy and happy. With proper care and nutrition you will have a friend for life in the form of your pet cat.

Here are some tips on how you can properly care for your cat’s health:

1. Feed them properly.

Every cat has a preference when it comes to food. There are several types of cat food available in the market. Try each one until you find out which variety your cat prefers.

However, you can still try to mix the variety of cat food you prepare so that your pet will have a nutritious and balanced diet.

Commercial cat foods have been well-researched so you do not need to worry about the nutritional value of what you are feeding your pet.

Also, supply your pet with a lot of clean water to drink. Having an ample supply of drinking water will lead to a healthier animal.

It does not matter if you serve dry, canned or moist cat food. Just make sure that you preserve the freshness of the food that they eat.

You would also want to opt for a healthy and natural cat food. Remember that it should be made of quality ingredients.

2. Remember that even domestic cats are natural hunters.

Mice can serve two purposes in your cat’s life: prey and dinner. Hunting for mice would preserve their natural abilities to hunt and seek prey.

If you decide that you do not like the idea of your cat regularly “hunting” for dinner, make sure that you provide them with a proper diet. This will result to your cat ending up just chasing and running after their prey for satisfying their natural hunting urges.

3. Watch out for unusual behavior.

If your pet is exhibiting unusual behavior, then the cat might not be at its best condition.

Try to look out for the following symptoms:

- being lethargic or less active than usual
- shedding of the fur or coat
- it has waxy ears
- looks poor and unhealthy

If you see these symptoms, you might want to change the food that you are serving your cat.

Better yet, consult a professional if you see your pet being less active than usual. Your pet might have a sickness or disease, and as a pet owner and cat lover, you would not want that to happen.

Ann Kristin
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/tips-on-how-to-properly-care-for-you-cats-health-110517.html

A skunk’s spray is one of the most unpleasant odors there is to a human’s nose. Putting your dog outside in the yard, hearing a commotion and finding out a skunk has sprayed your pet is not only terrible but also very smelly. A skunk’s spray is yellowy oil, which they spray or mist from up to almost twenty feet away when they feel like they are in danger. Many dogs end up sprayed because they try to defend their property and the skunk usually wins.

The first words of advice are ‘do not bring your dog inside after it has been skunked’ as it will take forever to get the smell out of your house. The skunk odor will permeate anything porous such as beds, sofas, towels, untreated wood and plasterboard. Check your pet’s eyes to see if the skunk got spray in them. If it did your dog’s eyes will appear red. This sometimes causes temporary blindness that usually lasts from ten to fifteen minutes. Rinse your dog’s eyes with a saline solution or use eye-drops for a human or olive oil, to help relieve the eye irritation. Take your pet to the veterinarian if the dogs’ eyes continue to be red or irritated.

The treatment you use on your dog is far more effective if you do it before the skunks spray has had a chance to dry on your pet. The first order of business is putting on old clothes and rubber gloves, that you will not feel bad about, if you throw them away after. Do not shampoo the whole dog, just the area affected, as you do not want the odor spreading onto the rest of your pet. Before you grab the tomato juice, be aware that it will not remove the skunk odor, just mask it.

Here is a concoction that successfully works at eliminating that terrible skunk odor on your pet. In a large open bowl or container, pour in one quart of three percent hydrogen peroxide, one teaspoon of any type of liquid dishwashing soap and one-quarter cup of baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. When mixed together, the mixture foams and this is the best time to use it. Hydrogen peroxide is available in drug stores and some people feel that joy dishwashing detergent works the best. There are commercial skunk deodorizer removers available but they do not always do a good job.

While the mixture is still foaming, wet down the area of the dog that the skunk sprayed. After leaving the lather in the fur up to ten minutes, use tap water to rinse this area thoroughly. Repeat this if necessary. For dogs sprayed in the face by a skunk, very carefully apply the mixture with a cloth, making sure to keep it out of your pets’ eyes, nose and mouth. Make this solution only when you need it and always discard the unused solution, after you mix it together, as it will explode if covered or stored.

If the skunk sprayed your house or fence etc, there are commercial products available to remove the skunk odor. To keep skunks from wanting in your yard, make sure the garbage pails lids fit tightly, do not keep dog food outside and close any spaces that makes a comfortable place for skunks to live, such as under cement steps.

Kelly Marshall
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/eliminating-skunk-odor-from-your-dog-75760.html

In Europe over twenty-five percent of all pet owners carry a pet health insurance policy on their pets. Approximately half of Sweden’s pet owners carry insurance. A recent poll of pet owners in the United States predicted that only three percent had purchased a pet health care plan. Many veterinarians feel that three percent is a very generous estimate. One of the big reasons veterinarians believe so many Europeans carry pet health insurance is because of a bill passed in 1971 that stated if a dog was considered at fault for an accident, like a car wreck, then the pet’s owner would be held responsible. This prompted many dog owners to purchase something called Third Party Liability Insurance which would pay for any damages caused by the policy holder’s pet dog.

Chances are good that if you were to ask ten of your neighbors how they felt about pet health insurance you would probably get ten very different answers.      

Some pet owners are fanatical about their pets. They will except nothing but the best for their family pet, the best food, the best water, the best doggie bed, and of course the best medical treatments available. Every time it even looks like their cat or dog is about to cough or sneeze they rush the pet to the veterinarians clinic and start a fresh round of antibiotics. Because maintaining the absolute best health care available is quite expensive this type of owner is quick to purchase animal health insurance that promotes good pet medicine. At the slightest hint you are even considering purchasing pet health insurance for your pet and this over the top pet owner is shoving all sorts of flyers and brochures and applications in your hand, sometimes they even offer to call their pet health insurance rep. for you. This is fine and dandy but generally (not always) their monthly pet insurance bills are higher then you can afford.

Another owner might love their family pet just as much as the over the top owner. They might wish they could provide their pet with the very best but it simply isn’t economically possible. This pet owner’s advice about pet health insurance would be your own pet health insurance. Put the money you might have spent on a monthly insurance premium aside and use that to cover your pets medical needs. After all if you put aside thirty dollars a month then you’ll have enough money to cover the routine visits to the vet’s office plus have a little extra set aside if an emergency happens down the road. This type of insurance is called self insurance. While it sounds like a good idea there are a couple of problems. One if a medical emergency happens right away you might not have enough money on hand to cover the treatment and be forced to accept economic euthanasia for your pet. A second problem with self insurance is that its money that’s just laying around, its way to easy to see it as spare cash and use it on the family vacation or as a down payment on that laptop you’ve always wanted.       

If as a pet owner you decide that pet health insurance simply isn’t for you or your pet you will want to check and see if your homeowners insurance covers any potential accidents caused by your pet. If a dog or cat bites somebody the bitten person can sue you and in some cases demand that the pet be euthanized. If your homeowners insurance does not cover pet mishaps you should probably give a lot of thought to purchasing pet liability insurance.

Jason Richards
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/different-type-of-pet-insurance-in-the-states-669655.html