Here are some other ideas for compost ingredients & it won't take too long for a pile to build either in place in the garden lasagna style or an out of the way place. Once covered with a uniform damp mulch of leaves or wood chips it will look good all winter with an occasional raking if desired. -place a want ad on Craigslist for manures &/or spoiled hay OR borrow a friend's truck or larger vehicle (I use a Suburban with garbage bags inside garbage cans, so can load up a lot & still keep the vehicle clean.) -want ad for sawdust, spent hops, used coffee grounds, coffee chaff (from a roaster), herbicide free grass clippings, food bank gleanings (I'm sure they toss spoiled produce), etc. I've found a coffee shop with an outside spot where they dump their coffee grounds or over roasted beans & you bring your own containers/shovel to haul away any time of the day. -hay sweepings from a feed store where they sell grass hay, alfalfa hay & straw (once covered the occasional sprouts aren't a problem & just add to the mix) -offer to pick up manure from your county or state fair as they have to pay to dispose of it there & may be wiling for you to come load up during a show or afterward (llama & rabbit can be used right away and are easy to scoop pellets) Perhaps, a rabbit club in your area will be having a show or you could find someone who raises rabbits for show or 4-H. Chicken & sheep manures are also smaller volumes & easy to mix with browns to reduce the odor. Once covered up with other materials there is no manure smell. -animal rescues with livestock or small anaimals such as guinea pigs use pelleted bedding (sawdust) that composts well with manures & has a uniform appearance. As long as the sawdust is mixed with something it doesn't compact & become a problem. I've mixed it with manure, used coffee grounds, or grass clippings for mixed borders and in my edible gardening beds (out of the growing season) with great results. -people who can or juice vegetables & fruits have scraps. That was a good idea to ask co-workers & the fall fruit harvest is almost here with apples, pears, & plums, which when processed always have waste especially apples. -restaurant or local cafe for food scraps -farmer's market might be a good place to find a regular supply -browns: household paper scraps, used tissues & napkins, paper towel & toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, etc. It may take awhile to make connections, but you never know what might appear. I've had llama walk past my driveway with the owner of course & she brought buckets of llama poo + coarse sand from their arena. Another gal I met on freecycle raises goats for milk & instead of taking a trailer full of spoiled goat hay bedding + manure & paying $10 to dump it at a recycler for him to compost she brings it to me about every 6 weeks to dump free. When you make your contacts about the manures you could ask for their phone number or email to check back with them about when they would have more available for pick up. I have 2 places within 2 miles of me that I've used for several years now. I don't agree to take it all, but do say to contact me anytime they need to reduce the pile and that I'll contact them when I'm ready for more. Hope that helps!

Ok ... just when I thought I couldn't feel any more pathetic the iron thing happens :) I did mention I'm OCD and I have a "strange" love of laundry right? I did say it was a HUGE splurge. I iron a lot. I too own a Rowenta Steam that I love (also own a cheapie and it does not compare). Nothing presses as nice as lots of steam. My tea towels are mostly from Williams Sonoma although I have a collection of ones from Ulster Weavers (most bought in Bermuda at the Irish Linen Shop). They are just the best ever http://www.ulsterweavers.com/tea_towels_11/. I don't iron them because they necessarily need to be ironed ... I can't stand if they are not perfectly pressed folded just so in my drawer (OCD right?). I think of it as Martha Stewart like and not crazy like (LOL). I have a friend who begs me to stop ironing them. She says life is too short. I press bed sheets (pillow cases and top sheets) - how easy would that be with the rotary iron (bliss). I press table clothes and napkins - again hate doing this with a regular iron - so difficult. I actually iron most of my kids' shirts not because they are wrinkled I just like a perfectly smooth finish. I definitely press their collared shirts like polos, rugbys and button downs. The one thing I won't iron is my husband's dress shirts - we made that deal when we got married. I'll launder the shirts but I won't iron them. I'm too much of a perfectionist that one shirt takes me forever! My husband owns roughly 25 custom made dress shirts ... forget it :) We launder them as they cost a fortune and he wants to take good care of them - the dry cleaner would destroy them too quickly. Apparently you can use the rotary iron for shirts but I think it would take a lot of practice to master. Here is a review for it attached. I don't believe Miele has that return policy here. I've never heard of it and their website says nothing about it. I did read Larsi's adventure - what I took from what he wrote was that he loved the way the Electrolux worked he just liked the build quality of the Miele better. I never read where he said the Electrolux did a bad job. He even raved about the space in the dryer. He'd have to clarify if I'm wrong. I actually ruled out the Electrolux as I can't stand the doors (push to open is so stupid). I thank you all so much for listening to my torment but I'll pick - I'll have to eventually. I've thought about it much too hard and read way too much. My husband said we didn't think this hard about having children ... scary :) Here is a link that might be useful: Miele Rotary Iron review

Hi ML, I think you're getting unfairly beat up. Your guy did the same thing that a lot of people did- they bought at the top of the market, thinking it was a good investment. Right now you have a "paper loss", but there is also the real cost of paying a mortgage for $200k+ vs a mortgage of That said. Truly, this is a "good" problem to have. When you and your DH look back on this years from now, you will think about how you had to deal with a place that is less than perfect and sold some land instead and you'll smile about your youth. You will be thankful that you could afford the mistake and that you weren't bankrupted or foreclosed upon. This is still a problem, but it's a problem that is livable. You aren't facing cancer, injury, etc. In a few years it might make more sense to rent because rents generally are rising now. In fact, this might eventually turn into a cash cow if you ended up renting it. You might end up making much more money on it then you would have if you could short sell it now- plus there will be costs associated with a short sell, even if it were possible (it sounds like it really isn't.) This is just the start of the story for you and your DH. Don't let this come between the two of you. There are all kinds of ways to have fun with it and make it a positive. My FIL is a contractor- when the crash started, he reno'd his kitchen and bathroom and took a lot of before/after pics. He started a website for his business with the pics. His wife was delighted to have a new kitchen and bathroom, and he picked up business. Look for the win-win. You're smart and young, it gets better!

MtRdRedux is right on with the into on Too Much Available Credit", which is a myth for actual FICO Scores, which are used by almost all lenders. There are a few, very few, lenders that have issues with too much available other credit. This mostly applies to marginal borrowers and lenders that specialize in risky loans where the lender knows their prospect is already marginal and making them cancel the other credit will help to ensure that they are the one getting the money before they finally descend into the abyss. Perfect Credit Score is also a myth. The algorithms break down on extremely high scores and are effectively useless in differentiating risk. Classic FICO Scores have a theoretical range up to 850 but all versions of those scores including the '04 versions used for Mortgage apps max out well below that, one of them at 818. NOBODY can get 850 as there is NO path through the algorithm that makes 850 possible. If you are really curious about this, you can follow her link to MyFico.com where you will find my name attached to much of the mythbusting on credit scoring. I haven't posted in years as it eventually became more about selling stuff than information. Still the best credit site around in spite of big flaws. One piece of info is that it always a bad idea to close any credit card from a scoring standpoint. It can make sense from saving money if it has a fee and worth the small hit it has for a person with good credit, particularly if your accounts are mostly older. It affects Average Age of Accounts.