Grammys Viewpoints

Author: Nancy

  • How I save on cat litter

    I never imagined while I was still working how much money I was wasting on cat litter. I would just empty all of it and never even thought about the expense. Now that I have been retired for a few years I ask myself what was I thinking.

    I have a total of 6 cats. I have 4 litter boxes and change them out 2 or 3 times a week. My litter boxes are actually some totes that we bought and cut out the front for them to enter.

    When I change them out I use a sifter that my husband made and sift it into a cat litter box. This sifts out all the good litter to be reused again.

    I then clean out the bottoms of the totes to clean out any wet areas of litter. I use Arm & Hammer clumping cat litter sprinkled on the bottom of tote. It’s just enough to help the clean it out easier. I then put the old litter in and then top it off with new litter. I use Special Kitty non-clumping clay cat litter. I get it at Walmart. I then sprinkle some Arm & Hammer cat litter deodorizer on top of the litter to help with the smell.

    I do empty them out all the way a few times a month. This just helps with the cost especially if you have a few furry friends.

  • Retirement life

    I never imagined that at 66 years old that I would consider writing a blog. But here goes. You work all your life to be able to retire and relax. It is nice not having to get up at 3am and get ready for work. Not having to go out in bad weather and worry about who is going to show up for work. Believe me I worked in fast food for over 30 years and I always went to work no matter what. That’s not the case today. Maybe we’ll talk about this another time.

    Right now I want to discuss Medicare. When you turn 65 you are able to get on Medicare. There are a lot of options to what you can apply for. You can do just Medicare, or you can do the supplement insurance or you can do a Medicare advantage plan. It really depends on you. What do you prefer? Regardless of what plan you decide you still have to pay to have Medicare. Since I turned 65 I opted for a Medicare Advantage plan. I made sure it included dental, vision, drug plan and fitness. But then you have an HMO or PPO plan. While when I first got the Medicare Advantage plan I went with the HMO plan not realizing that I could only go to limited doctors because they had to be in network. For next year 2026 I am going with a PPO plan which means I can go in or out of network. Yes you have to pay more for out of network but at least you can go to who you like. Believe me I went over plan after plan to make sure I found the right one for me. Open enrollment ends on Dec 7. Make sure that you check out all plans. Don’t just stick with the one you’ve had because a lot of changes have been made and it might not still be the right one for you. Take your time. You don’t have to overthink it but just make sure you are happy with what you get because there is no changing it until the next year.

    Thanks for taking the time to listen.

    Grammy Nancy