Originally Posted by CobaltBlu

My neighbor made us all a half gallon of washing soap from a recipe on the internet, I will see if I can find out how she did it. You are doing a great job! Borax or boric acid powder in roach areas will help some. remembering to turn out the power bars is something I am working on. I have LED nightlights in some rooms so i dont have to turn on lights at night. I have some dimmable flourescents...they are not awesome, but they are OK when you get used to them in your dimmers.

The dimmable lights are great. If you can install lights with sensors, it will be good too. I've just had my place renovated so I don't have the opportunity to do that now.

I hope you manage to find out what your neighbour did!

Isn't borax toxic? I'm scared to have borax anywhere near my dogs. I also read that my husband's ezcema cream has borax content. Really confuses me. I'd need to google a bit on this.

I am very seriously thinking about composting. I have been doing some reading about it and recently got an email from BB&B that had composters advertised on it. Timing couldn't have been better.

I cannot tell if this type of composter takes worms or not (I'm a total newbie at this). I can't imagine this is the kind you use with worms.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.ca/Produ...summerseasonal

Originally Posted by bnjj

I am very seriously thinking about composting. I have been doing some reading about it and recently got an email from BB&B that had composters advertised on it. Timing couldn't have been better. I cannot tell if this type of composter takes worms or not (I'm a total newbie at this). I can't imagine this is the kind you use with worms. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.ca/Produ...summerseasonal

A compost pail like that is meant to contain your scraps in the house until you are able to shift them into your garden composter, bnjj.

the filter filters odors for 4 months, but this is not designed to actually compost your scraps. For that you need an aerated pile, with a mix of "greens and browns." You need something for outside too

You will be surprised how quickly this little can will fill up!

Once outside, you can get your composter organized in a few different ways, but worms will likely find their way in there, or you can focus on worms with one of those types of systems. I put some soil in the bottom of my composter before I started it, and it is full of worms on the bottom third. I dont even turn it any longer.

I got it from home depot, its along the lines of this

Thanks cobalt. I didn't think that little stainless steel container was what I needed and I figured it would be full in a week.

I can't have anything outside as it gets far too cold in the winter.

I did some reading a few weeks back about the kind of bins to use inside with worms and my city recently sent around a brochure about what is recyclable and what isn't and it had a section on composting. I will keep investigating.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by bnjj

Thanks cobalt. I didn't think that little stainless steel container was what I needed and I figured it would be full in a week. I can't have anything outside as it gets far too cold in the winter. I did some reading a few weeks back about the kind of bins to use inside with worms and my city recently sent around a brochure about what is recyclable and what isn't and it had a section on composting. I will keep investigating. Thanks!

Your outside. composter will go dormant in winter.....except for the warmest parts that may still keep "cooking." You can put sawdust in it to make sure it will come back to life in the spring....I am sure your ag extionsion will have some tips, and many cities give a free one away if you take a little class, buy a book, or go in person and read the literature.

There are indoor composters you can use during the winter months when you dont want to take your compost outside. Tip....I always put a couple of layers of paper towels in the kitchen bucket, they compost as well and it makes it easier to dump the goods...

good luck.

Things I do:
1. reuse items
2. then recycle them
3. compost
4. stopped buying all bottled water
5. got the kids stainless steel bottles for water for school lunch
6. seldom buy soda or other things in plastic bottles
7. turn off lights, most of which are the energy efficient ones
8. use environmentally friendly detergents
9. avoid antibacterial soaps
10. local meats year round
11. local veggies in summer
12. organic everything possible at grocery store
13. repair shoes instead of replace (when possible)
14. use laundry line in summer when not raining
15. shop thrift and resale shops
16. AVOID GMO's like the plague

I'm sure there's more. The curbside recycling is huge. I mostly recycle things, and use the garbage pick up very seldom. Our family of three fills a recycling bin each week, but I put out the "garbage" once a month. There is a neighbor with one person in his home, and he fills two garbage cans each week. My efforts must make a small difference to the landfills.

The best thing about going green is it saves you so much in $$ too <3

This was discussed in another thread but I dont use paper towels, I use rags for cleaning. The only time I use kleenex is when we're sick. I do a mixture of vinegar/water as windex, it is also streak free. :) I always, always bring my own bags shopping. I boil my water instead of purchasing it at the store. I wash/reuse any containers that I can for freezing and crafts, ect. I go through craft spurts so I salvage things like the cardboard from toilet paper rolls or packing from something Ive purchased. I try to use things from around the home for cleaning or making beauty products instead of purchasing such as using oil for shaving instead of shaving cream. I make my own baby wipes which are paper based of course. I buy almost everything used.

Originally Posted by CobaltBlu

Your outside. composter will go dormant in winter.....except for the warmest parts that may still keep "cooking." You can put sawdust in it to make sure it will come back to life in the spring....I am sure your ag extionsion will have some tips, and many cities give a free one away if you take a little class, buy a book, or go in person and read the literature. There are indoor composters you can use during the winter months when you dont want to take your compost outside. Tip....I always put a couple of layers of paper towels in the kitchen bucket, they compost as well and it makes it easier to dump the goods... good luck.

You can totally compost outside in the winter. Fall is actually a really good time to start since there are tons of leaves (brown) to start with, they break down pretty quickly and turn into a great compost.

If you want to do something inside, consider vermicomposting...its basically earthworms in a bin. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/verm/ I haven't tried it, just mentioning it.