I moved into my house last year. So have making a pile of boxes, as we slowly unpack and get settled. The recycle bin is always full so I couldn't figure out how to get rid of them. In addition we have 6 people, 4 dogs, and 2 cats living here so the waste bin is also always full, and with a ever growing pile next to it. This year the spring rain hit, and within 2 days we had weeds up to our knees. To say the least the green waste bin couldn't handle the load, so last week we started our first compost heap. Until yesterday it was only a pile of green weeds and roots, and I turned it every time I added more. I didn't know about the brown waste, and thought I still had to put the cardboard in the recycle. :) Well now that I know its 2 brown : 1 green, I'm glad I have so much card board, and junk mail. ;) Yesterday I didn't know about layering, so I turned the brown with the green. I don't have a shredder so this was difficult. In 24 hours I've learned so much about it. Now I have a 3'x3'x2' heap with the original green waste on the bottom, and lots of brown on top, I also just been throwing my kitchen waste in it, no meat or bones, but just about everything else. I also found a bag of rotting chicken feed, a stack of soaked egg crates and a bin of mealworms and beetles from a failed project to raise mealworms and crickets from last year. lol. In storage I had an old thick and really heavy area rug that my mother once loved, but is now so stained that I had no trepidations on using it to cover my pile. We still have 2/3 of the weeds to go, and at least 2x that mass of boxes from the move. So by the end of this week my heap will probably be about 4'x4'x'4, if not larger, luckily the area I have for it is 7'x7'. The funny thing is our yard is very small, so I only have room for the one pile, and I'm planning on going hot, mostly because I understand and trust the bacterial process better for it than the cold. So I mostly expect to turn it whenever it gets cold. Even better though and maybe even a little saddening is that I'm actually excited to have a way to dispose of all of our waste, that the city's bins just couldn't handle. Ok done with my book.

Whenever... - I'm in the mood. - There's a smell which is not nice and composty. - A peek reveals more water is needed. - There's a need to make another pile so pile #1 becomes pile #2 by turning into another spot. - I want to experience some personal satisfaction by watching steam rise, hundreds of worms wiggle, and determining that whatever I've placed in there is no longer discernible. At this time of year, once a week. At turning, 250+lbs of used coffee grounds are added along with shredded leaves and seaweed. If the compost is left to cool down too much right now, it may go dormant which is not my intent. So to keep it going, I add new stuff to some of the old to introduce the microherd to new additions. In the summer, I will let the compost cool off to 90F, then turn. It will usually go back to 130+F a couple of times, but if it doesn't, then it's left to be dealt with by the worms and the cooler microherd population. Just my way of doing things....

I don't keep much cleaning stuff. I use vinegar, nature' s miracle (for pets), bleach occassionally and baking soda. I don't have too many rags etc. Everything fits into one caddy under my kitchen sink. I just carry it to the bathroom. Our bathroom was renovated with no perminent cabinetry, so I bought an old 50's kitchen larder with three shelves on top, one drawer and three shelves below. We make everything fit in here or we get rid of it. Daily use items sit on a small set of shelves beside the sink. My hubby has more stuff to clean his car with than I have to clean a house (or two) with!!! How do we keep organized, I just get rid of "stuff". Now, we are stuff people! Collectors...but we built in shelves and display areas and what I don't have room for I make decisions and edit. I grew up with parents who had closed in built in shelving in the basement and you could hide a lot of usless stuff in there. I decided I wasn't going to do that. One of my best girlfriends is a professional organizer. She is very helpful with my hubby and gives him hints to try and get into the mindset of editing out uselsess stuff in life. I still haven't gotten him to edit paper clutter (he will hide piles, and doesn't even know he's doing it)...although now the "offical" paper clutter must be kept in a portable file or two working photo storage boxes and nowhere else. They get full, he must take the time to edit. Fear of random tossing of piles gets action :) GGG

I type all the printed recipes I tear out of disposable periodicals, as well as anything given to me and ones from my books which I want to use a lot. I store them in my computer. Most are in Word. Some in Notepad (basic text editor). I also copy over and save ones I find online. I have a Recipes file on the computer with a whole bunch of categories that make it easier to find what I'm looking for because the titles are totally ad hoc and can start with the name of whose recipe it is. I also have subfolders in many categories for Traditional Home, which are for family recipes. I also have a couple of binders, one for cooking and one for baking, where I put recipes I've printed out and expect to use again. They're in page protectors, and easy to pop out and set on the counter when I want to use one. If it gets too messy, I recycle and print a new one when I need it. If someone wants the recipe, I hand it off and print a new one when I need it, so as not to kill a party by going to sit at the computer. It's great being able to adjust the arrangement and print in an easy to read way. Having the recipes in the computer also makes it a lot easier to make shopping lists, especially while entertaining. The first time I make a recipe from a book, unless it's hard to read, I just use the book. Same if I'm making a lot of recipes out of the same book, like Local Breads. The other great thing about having them in the computer is that I can customize them for friends who don't really know how to cook and put in all the little directions and tips that it's assumed you know. I don't do brevity well enough for cards. :) My recipes don't fit!