As seen at the RGBP site and at Set Free:

1. Housecleaners. If you know a little about my history, you can imagine the guilt that used to come from having people come to my house to clean it. I'm more or less over that now. It has taken a year, but I love it. I also have reduced the number of times a month the cleaners come by one-half. That helped me to justify the money issues. Walking into my house every other Thursday afternoon knowing that it is sparkling clean is sometimes the high point of my week.

2. Fair Trade Organic roasted-on-the-premises coffee. I got spoiled in California by having a coffee roaster within walking distance of both places that I lived. Now I have one about a mile from my house. If I'm at someone's home I will drink whatever they hand me, but in my own house, this is the only kind of coffee that will ever cross the threshhold. Yeah, I'm a coffe snob. I know other people don't get it.

3. Cloth napkins. I never saw a cloth napkin until I was about 20 years old. I didn't know that such a thing existed. Now, I have a no-paper-napkin rule in my house. Not even for picnics. Yes, they are a lot of work. They are one or two extra loads of laundry a week. I regularly iron the really pretty sateen ones that match precisely the jade green of my dining room walls. I've got cloth napkins to match every style, mood, and occassion. I've got seperate ones for the kitchen, for fireside dining in the living room, and for the dining room. I've even got ones that match the gazebo we put on the deck in the summer, so if we eat there I'm covered. I just like 'em.

4. Dry cleaning/shirt laundering. I've talked about this recently here. I just love it. The joy is tempered slightly when I stop to think about the possible effects on the environment, but overall, the joy outweighs the guilt. I have the best drycleaner ever. I made a conscious effort to find a place that does the cleaning on the premises instead of sending it to a central plant. It is also a family business. I told the women who owns it my name one time. Now she knows exactly who I am, and can remember exactly what I brought in five days earlier, without even bothering to look it up. I will never need to bring in a drycleaning claim ticket again! Sometimes she has it ready before I get in the door, if she sees my car pull up. She is a marvel to behold!

5. A kid-free house. I love my children. Really, I do. However, we had many, many years when it was the four of us here, all the damn time. We've never lived in a place where we could ship the kids off to their dad's ('cause, dad lives at home) or to grandma's, or to auntie's house for a night so we could be alone. Now, finally, eighteen years into the parenting gig, after having absolutely no privacy, we get to be alone in our house a few hours a month. You do the math.