In the Greene House

Lot's of little changes in the Greene House over the past few weeks.
Here's a brief run down:

• Husband got rid of all of our old light bulbs and replaced them with fluorescents, an estimated annual savings of $50 per bulb! That's a lot of extra cash in the pocket for such a small change. It was such an easy project and was accomplished in less than an hour. This is a fabulous place to buy energy-efficient bulbs at a fraction of the price of Home Depot. The fluorescent flood lights were $12 at the hardware store and only $2.50 at 1000bulbs. I can't believe the savings! We put low watt ones in the lamps and I think it still gives off a lovely glow:

• I wisened up with the cloth diapers. Go figure considering we're just about to start potty training. To save time I started putting them together the night before, lining a day's supply up on top of Bean's dollhouse (which is the perfect size and height so she can't pull them down).

Since she was little we have primarily used flannel wipes, which I absolutely love.

 No diaper rashes or harsh chemicals! I wash them with the cloth diapers and put them back in our prince lionhart wipe warmer using an easy homemade solution. I bet you could also use an empty plastic wipes container.

 All the dirty stuff goes in this wet bag, and the contents are washed nightly on the smallest load setting and air dried. Easy peasy!

• We brought back the compost pail. Most of our scraps go to our chickens and pot belly pig, but the things they can't eat such as egg shells, coffee grounds and onion peels get tossed in here. If you don't want to go out and buy a compost pail, I think a coffee can covered in pretty contact paper would also be nice! If you use the lid just be sure to poke some holes in it for the gases to escape. I think the trick is to put it somewhere accessible and by where you chop veggies so it's easy to toss stuff inside.

Every couple of day's Bean and I go out to the garden to empty it. She just loves stomping on all the eggshells! This summer I really want to build a composter, but until then we're just tossing them into the garden and raking everything in.

• For Christmas husband gave me a coffee grinder (love my coffee!) and this:

If you own a Keurig you need to try these immediately; they are the absolute best invention ever! No more wasteful and outrageously expensive k-cups.

• There has been a drastic reduction in garbage. We have begun meticulously sorting through paper and recycling everything possible. It's interesting to see what actually remains in the can after this. It's mostly just unavoidable plastic packaging. When our burn can is full (which happens very quickly), husband uses it as fuel to heat up his homemade sauna and hot tub...more on that one later.

That's it for now!