Having a cat is filled with all sorts of fun adventures: chasing hair tumbleweeds around the house, picking up all of the things the cat decided to knock on the floor, and relinquishing ownership of literally any box that is brought into the house. And of course, let us not forget, that wonderful treasure hunt of scooping out the litter box.
I am blessed with having only one monstrous furball, but one downside to this is figuring out how to optimize scooping so that it doesn’t start to smell, but I also am not using a plastic bag every day. The solution: the Litter Genie. This strange little contraction with especially a fancy box that you can store cat poop in without having to take the bag to the garbage every time you scoop. They even have super fancy bags, which only work if you are A) strong enough to tie the knot require to keep the fecal matter from dropping into the bottom of the container and B) willing to spend the $10 for a fancy roll of fancy bags.
I got the Litter Genie from my grandmother, because she was not strong enough to tie the required and found it easier to just use plastic bags. I used it for awhile, but then just couldn’t bring myself to buy a roll of bags when I get tons for free bags from food delivery services and the few times I forget to bring reuseable bags to the store.
I am not telling you to go out and buy a Litter Genie. They are a solution to the problem, but they aren’t a perfect solution. However, if you already have one and find A or B to be true for you, here is an easy hack that allows you the convenience of not taking out the bag every day while still reusing those pesky free plastic bags.
Supplies:
- Litter Genie and empty bag holder (weird black thing)
- Plastic bags
- Two cans (or other filler for the bottom of the holder)
- Four paper clips
- Container to hold the bottom of the bag (I used an empty salad container)
Note when gathering supplies:
- Essentially the two cans will hold up the plastic container, which will act as a place for the bottom of the bag to rest since a plastic bag is not big enough to reach the bottom of the Litter Genie. This will help prevent the bags from slipping when they start filling up. Look through your recycling bin for anything that will accomplish this goal (bottles, cans, jars). You will just need a flat base and something to hold up the base.