Advice I learned from an exterminator: Do not use Decon inside your house, mice will eat it then crawl into your walls to die. The best thing to do is to place bait traps outside your house - it will draw mice out. But only if you do not have nearby cats, because if they come across a poisoned mouse and eat it, they too will become poisoned. Also, if you have a crawl space with outside access, putting a king snake or rat snake in that area will help get rid of the mice and maybe even deter mice coming in. Eventually when there is no food left for the snake, he will leave to search for more food. ... View related article.
I own a dental lab and I am very knowledgeable and current on prices of gold. First- DO NOT send your gold to something like "cash for gold" or any other TV ad, your best bet would be to sell it at auction form on ebay. You can also do what I do when I have scrap gold in my lab- send it to a dental refining company. Rather than getting paid per piece, you will get paid per pennyweight or troy ounce minus whatever their assaying price is. Usually you get anywhere from 85%- 95% of the value of your gold. A couple places to try- Jensen Industries in CT, or The Argen Corp. in CA.
Another option is having it remelted into something nice like a ring or a pendant (which by the way I can do since it is the same process of making gold crowns). I use a website to buy the mold to make the piece, it is www.waxpatterns.com It has thousands and thousands of patterns to choose from. My fee to remelt your gold into something new is only $45 per piece. Way less than a jeweler! And I will send you back (or buy from you) whatever gold is left over. The best way to determine how much gold you have is using a plain and simple kitchen scale- or to be more accurate bring it to a jeweler and have them weigh it.
The website that sells the patterns has a number beside each pattern. That number indicates how much gold you will need for that specific piece. You must make sure there is a little left over for the button (this is the end of the mold where the gold is usually burnt). If you would like any other info, feel free to contact me. ... View related article.
If you are in any way crafty like me, one thing I started doing just as a hobby was making homemade soy candles and oatmeal soaps. Both processes are very simple, using a double boiler. For my candles, I shop yard sales, flea markets to find cheap candle jars, then fill them. For my soaps, I buy, melt, and pour oatmeal base on ebay and your choice of candy mold which can be found at any craft store. My initial cost was about $100 including the soy wax, and the soap base, and the fragrances etc. My profit was close to $300. It was a few hours of work and my house smelled wonderful. I am still doing this and I now sell my candles and soaps at several gift shops, and I also set up a very small corner in my den as a display for when friends, family, or neighbors stop by- and they always buy something. ... View related article.
In response to "Tame" , I have done a little research and found a couple things: the first is it can supposedly still be purchased at discounted stores like the dollar tree, however, this is from a source-not me; second, the ingredients in Tame are very similar to the make up of white rain conditioner- adding natural cinnamon oil (which you can buy in the baking aisle of a grocery store) is the key difference, and again, this is only from a source. But, I am definitely going to try it! ... View related article.
