Maybe it’s because I was raised by the neatest woman in North America, the kind of woman who had three extra cords spliced into her vacuum so that she could buzz through the house without switching outlets and a pair of rubber gloves stashed beneath every sink, or maybe it’s because I have five boys who take the horseshoe and hand grenade approach to toilet usage (i.e. close still counts) but I have to confess that I love the smell of bleach.

Can a girl who loved her Tang give up the chemicals and their powerful odors to green up house cleaning? I am a little skeptical about both the cost of green alternatives, and the ability of the nice stuff to really get the bathroom clean, but I’m willing to give it a try. Today I took the advice of Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish and bought an industrial sized box of baking powder and about a gallon of vinegar. I plan to try to use some rags (no shortage of those, thanks again to the 5 boys and their ever decomposing wardrobes) and maybe some newspaper to clean glass.

When my beloved Tide runs out, I’ll need something for the high efficiency washer we have just bought, so if anyone has any thoughts on that, please let me know….

After a long debate, we decided to hold our annual Christmas Open House. What with starting GreenPoma.com both money and time are tight, and the financial company severance package isn’t going to last forever. But, the way I figure it, the couple hundred dollars we’ll be spending on cocktails won’t push us over the brink into financial ruin, and this year especially, who doesn’t need an excuse to get out and share some holiday cheer? Besides, it will be the perfect opportunity to show off how beautiful our home looks, now that every single lamp and fixture has been converted to bulbs for sale at GreenPoma.com. We were about 75% of the way there through normal bulb replacement, and now I just have to figure out what to do with the 15 or so bulbs that we pulled out that are still usable. For now they are stuffed in a laundry basket in the cellar.

The first green change I made for this party was to buy about 40 metal forks for 3 bucks from the Salvation Army the other day. I’ve never been a big fan of plastic utensils anyway, and I can just throw these in a drawer and pull them out whenever we entertain. None of them match, but since they will be on the buffet, I’m not too concerned.

Today I am going to figure out if I have enough cloth napkins to avoid buying large napkins. I don’t think I can avoid cocktail sized napkins, but I have loads left over from last year, so at least there won’t be a new purchase of disposable paper ones.

Greetings from Concord, New Hampshire.

I’d be lying if I said that starting a company in this economy was not scaring my pants right off my ample bottom.

The purpose of this blog is to share the mix of dread and excitement that accompanies our every move as we launch GreenPoma.com.  We are trying to green our lifestyle and I want to share the struggles, and successes, as we move forward.