These days I have been giving lots of thought to how Don and I will fund our retirement.  Obviously our portfolio has taken a hit, although not as much as some thanks to our financial adviser extraordinaire, Keith Chapman.  But the real problem is we can’t make it or save it fast enough to create more than a mac-and-cheese retirement life and I’m more of a sushi kind of gal.  So I’m trying to be creative and come up with additional income streams that will fund unlimited raw fish and a few cool vacations when I’m old and gray (wait…I’m already gray and getting older every day).

It seemed like all the good ideas have been taken, until I noticed yet another drift of dog hair floating across the kitchen floor.  Eureka!  Dog hair!!  Talk about a renewable resource that is not being tapped in to!  The uses for dog hair must be endless.  Someone has already cornered the market on crafts and Martha Stewart has a blog about spnning it!  So it is time to get creative and go for something really new…

  • Blow-in insulation.  Non-toxic, unless you are allergic, and then we could use Poodle hair (for a premium charge, of course).  Poodle’s don’t shed, but we could shave them like sheep and it would grow back.
  • Toupees (West Highland White Terriors for older balding men) and cancer wigs (Afghan hounds and Irish Setters).
  • Garden compost (it does decompose eventually, doesn’t it?).  Not really new but no one is doing it on a big scale.
  • Alternative fuel.  If the engineers can figure out how to make a car run on corn, surely they can do the same with dog hair and it won’t take food out of the mouths of starving children in China.
  • Flooring.  Compress dog hair into flexible, durable carpet squares.  Good for both indoor and outdoor use.  Available in a wide variety of colors and textures.  Match to your own pet and never see dog hair again!

Please add your own ideas and let’s see if we can get some legs on this thing!   Dreams of patents and residuals are dancing through my head…