The Lost Goat

Laundry Detergent, Baby Update

2012-01-27T21:48:00.000-08:00

I first made my own detergent in August 2009. In December, I did a cost analysis, and decided that I would continue using it. I've made my own detergent since then, and by last July I had my final recipe down. I used it successfully for two months on the diapers, with no smells and no stains.

However, my recipe uses Borax, and Thirsties recommends that you not use Borax on your diapers (in fact, having done so, I have voided their warranty). So I tried it without Borax, and it's just not the same.

I just whipped up a new batch of my old recipe. Perhaps it will cause my diapers to disintegrate and I'll have to buy new ones. Or perhaps Thirsties is just erring on the side of caution in the great "Borax on cloth diapers?" debate. I'll let you know.

The next test: real food. I'll give you an update (it will only be two or three months, as they are three months old now!)

Obamacare Picture Translation (political)

2012-01-24T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a political post, because I can't help myself. Just ignore it if you're not into the politics thingie.

This has been all over Facebook lately.

Apparently, this sob story is supposed to make you favor government-subsidized heath insurance. But this is what I see when I read this poster:

I am 34 years old and health insurance is so over-regulated that it is difficult and expensive to procure. Because my employer does not subsidize heath insurance, I made the decision to gamble that I would not need any. That gamble failed when I became really sick.

Because I am a good person, nothing really bad should ever happen to me, so I immediately tried to pawn my expensive problem off on someone else. Insurance, a regime in which many people pay a little money for the possibility that they may someday need a lot of money, turned me down because there was a 100% certainty that I would need a lot of money immediately.

Luckily for me, President Obama has set up a government handout scheme and called it insurance. Even though my premiums will never pay for my procedure (and I can stop paying them as soon as I am done with it, anyway), PCIP doesn't care because, unlike private insurers, they can always raise taxes to get more money.

Thank you, President Obama, for screwing over the people who actually paid for insurance and taxpayers everywhere by directing government money to me so that I don't have to pay for the consequences of my earlier bad decision.

(Photo from http://giveneyestosee.com/blog/)

Week in Review - 1/15 - 1/21

2012-01-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

Carla's Low Spend Challenge

I have spent 86% of our monthly budget, and we are 68% through the month. I'd be almost caught up, but I broke down and decided to buy a stroller for my house, because I love the BOB Revolution
at my parents' so much. I bought the slightly less complicated-looking (and expensive) L.L.Bean Schwinn Turismo Jogger Double. On the positive side, I got one refund from a doctor and one return of a deposit that will add 6% back to my budget as soon as they post to my account. I also got confirmation that I will be getting another $100 back from a different doctor, and I put in insurance reimbursement requests for five months of psychiatrist appointments. I don't expect this money to arrive during the challenge, but the motivation came from getting all my financial ducks in a row for the challenge.

I cleaned my pantry. It was pretty gross, and I gave the chickens anything that was not encased in hard plastic, but my pantry is now clean again. I also remembered why I stopped using my bread maker; it is on its last legs. Apparently Cuisnanrt never intended its Cuisinart CBK-200 2-Pound Convection Automatic Bread Maker to bake bread on a regular basis; the top is broken and the clips that hold the bread pan in place are going as well, and it is less than three years old. But it's still chugging (loudly) along, so I'm going to make bread in it until it dies completely. Here is loaf number one, as promised:

I used this recipe at allrecipes.com, except that I used oat flour instead of oat bran, and it was delicious; we ate it all Saturday night. Today, I experimented by substituting 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for 1/2 cup white flour, making it a 20% whole wheat bread, and I liked it even better. My goal is to get a 50% whole wheat bread that I like and can make in 5 mins or less via the machine, but this will do until I can find that recipe.

Now it is time to tackle the living room. It is an absolute disaster, so normally I would make it a two week project, but two of my best friends from college are coming into town this weekend, so I want to get my booty in gear and get it done this week.

10 Pound Challenge

I've only cheated a little on my nutrient-dense pledge this week, and I have been working out. I haven't weighed myself; I meant to this morning but I forgot. I'll see how I am doing next week.

2012 Goals

I am on Exodus chapter 29 this week in the The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (still free from Amazon). Reading about how the ark should be built and the priests should be dressed is so boring and doesn't seem relevant to my life at all. Today my pastor recommended that I read Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels by Bruce J. Malina in response to some questions I had about Jesus' admonition to turn the other cheek. I plan to request it from the library and will let you know if I find it helpful.

I made it to the gym 3 times this week! Also, I worked out 6 days. I start walking 5 days a week with my friend tomorrow, and I am planning to go to the gym MTWR and swim as well.

Money mostly remains on autopilot. As I said above, I got some refunds that will go toward my totals. I also need to put a few things in for FSA reimbursement, which will add about 3% of my budget back for the month. It will be tight, but I think I can come in barely under the wire for Carla's challenge if I can limit myself to one more grocery shop in the next ten days.

The one thing I did not do this week was shoot. I'm going to try to squeeze it in this week, but between the living room and extra gym time, it is kind of unlikely. I guess I need to schedule a weekly time and just make myself go. Because it is a fun thing, it keeps being placed on the back burner to other, less-fun things like cleaning the pantry. And, chances are, my shooting skill (or lack thereof) won't matter a jot my entire lifetime. However, if I ever need it, I want to be in good form and practice, and that's something that requires consistency.

How was your week? Is your budget getting tight as the end of the month approaches, or is it just me?

10 Pound Challenge from Newlyweds on a Budget (a bit late)

2012-01-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

As I have said before, I need to lose baby weight. A lot of baby weight. I've lost a lot of weight before, and the way to do it is one pound at a time. So, even though I knew I needed to lose way more than 10 pounds, I signed up for the 10 Pound Challenge from Newlyweds on a Budget. Erika, sweet pea that she is, has generously offered a $75 dollar cash prize to be randomly given to someone who has successfully lost 10 pounds by April 6th.

I figured that my starting weight would be 200 lbs +/- 5 lbs, and I was right; I weighed 205 lbs on January 16th. (Why is it that you never seem to hit the low end of your weight estimates unexpectedly?) The silver lining is, with this much excess weight, and starting from a fitness level of practically zero, 10 pounds should be a snap.

My plan for weight loss:

1) Continue to work out 6x a week. I've got a friend who also wants to walk, and she is in much better shape than I am, so she is going to kick my booty in gear. We are set to walk five mornings a week.

2) Make it to the gym 4x a week. This will be tough, what with the babies and all, but I think I can do it. I'm only able to swim 15 mins right now, but I plan to add 1 min a week, so by April 6th I 'll be swimming 26 min, which is getting toward respectable.

3) Get back into Judo. Not this month, but as soon as I have the rest of my workout routine down and am in decent enough shape that I feel confident I won't hurt myself. I'm thinking the beginning of February.

4) Eat only nutrient-dense foods. I ought to be doing that anyway; someone with hypothyroidism should not eat chocolate at times when she is tired, as it just exacerbates the problem with a massive sugar crash. I'm not planning to count calories or restrict my eating in any way, as I don't want to affect my milk production. An exception is homemade deserts; if someone offers me one, I will have a little piece, but I will not make any for the duration of the challenge.

I think this should easily put me past the 10 pound mark, but I plan to re-evaluate in week 4. If I haven't lost at least three pounds by then, I'll re-evaluate my plans.

Week in Review - 1/8 - 1/14

2012-01-15T22:02:00.000-08:00

Carla's Low Spend Challenge I have spent 65% of our monthly budget and we are 48% through the month. I filled my car with gas and had a big grocery shop because I filled my pizza with frozen pizzas. They were $4.50 each at Albertsons, so I bought eight of them. I also spent $35 on really warm clothing for the babies so that I can take them out in the stroller when it is chilly; I did buy them secondhand, which saved me $45 over buying these at LL Bean. They might not have been quite necessary, but our daily walk in the stroller is sometimes all that saves my sanity, and I did not want to interrupt it for the cold weather that we're expected to have between now and the end of the month.

The refrigerator (Confession, this post is so late because I spent the evening cleaning it in between tending babies so I would not have to post the before pic alone)

Before:

After:

Hopefully this will help with the challenge by allowing us to see the food we have before it spoils. (Although we were doing pretty good; aside from one meal I only threw away expired condiments.)

This week it is time to clean out the pantry. I've been afraid to even look in there, because I'm afraid I'll be so grossed out that I'll have to throw everything away. But it has my bread maker in it, and all my flour. So my goal for next week is to show you a picture of the loaf of bread I baked using the ingredients in my cleaned and organized pantry.

10 Pound Challenge
I joined the 10-pound Challenge hosted by Newlyweds on a Budget. Lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks, win $$$. Are you in?
Weigh in is tomorrow; I'm expecting to weigh 200 lbs +/- 5 lbs. It's a bit depressing; I haven't weighed this much since I graduated from law school in 2003. (Note: If you are a stress eater, law school is not a good place to lose weight). Mostly it depresses me because it is the visible sign of how out of shape I am. But I have been this overweight and out of shape before and gotten healthy, and I can do it again. I can't bring myself to feel too bad about the process of it; Monkey and Football are totally worth it.

2012 Goals

I am on Exodus Chapter 20 in the The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (still free, as of this writing). The Proverbs 31 emails have begun arriving, and they are pretty good; I have trouble really meditating on them, but they are providing a daily routine. I need to get a prayer routine going as well, and then I'll be golden. Also, I made it to church this morning! The sermon was on the miracle of overcoming lifelong prejudices (the text was John 1:43-51). Our pastor grew up in rural Oklahoma during the depression, so he had a lot to offer on the difficulties of overcoming your ingrained notions of how the world is.

I worked out 5 times this week again, and never made it to the gym. Mostly, I pushed the babies in their stroller around the farm. (My parents got a BOB Revolution Stroller for going around the farm and it is awesome.) I never seem to have the time to make it to the gym, though. This week I helped my Dad choose a fabric sample for his new house on Tuesday, I went to my friend's granddaughter's funeral on Friday, and I watched the Saints on Saturday. I am not sure what happened on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the gym is closed on Sunday. This week, I am going to make my three times, at least, though.

The money remains on autopilot. I need to sell some stuff, and put in for some insurance reimbursement for some doctor's visits, and then I think I can make it through the month. But I have to find the time to get stuff listed, and it hasn't happened for me yet. To be honest, I'd rather have a cleaner house than have a bit more money at the end of the month, since I can always sell stuff later if Mr. Goat's job ends abruptly.

No shooting for me this week either. But it is going to happen one afternoon this week. Maybe I'll post some pictures of my groups so that we can all have a good laugh; I think a lot of the reason I'm reluctant to do this is that I know how awful my shooting is going to be. I could have kept in practice by dry firing during pregnancy, but I didn't, and now I need to re-learn those skills all over again. Hopefully it's like a bicycle, and it won't take me too long to pick up where I left off.

I did not accomplish as much this week as I had hoped, and the death of my friend's granddaughter really threw me for a loop for a couple of days. This next week should be tough, but doable. What's on your to-do list this week?

Eating the Baking Chocolate with Random Thoughts

2012-01-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

Yep, I am. Unsweetened dark chocolate is surprisingly good when you dip it in honey. It's not doing anything for my weight loss goals, but I am so tired that I just can't bring myself to care.

Haven't gotten anything done this week, really. Fortunately, there is still the rest of the week to go. I am very blessed to have enough help that, despite Football's constant stomach troubles for the last three days, I've been able to get some sleep.

I am also blessed to have them at all; a good friend's 3 month old granddaughter died this week, and the doctors aren't even sure why. The funeral is on Friday so that they can do the autopsy today and tomorrow. My babies got a lot of extra hugs and kisses for the last couple of days.

I don't blog much about firearms because there are so many other people on the web who do it better than I ever could, but I've found that the range is generally a great place to meet incredibly nice people. A Girl and Her Gun talks a bit about her experiences with the firearms community this week, and, to give back, she is hosting a fantastic giveaway. Since I've been lucky enough to attend some solid training, so that what I need is constant practice, I'm not entering, but I encourage any lady who is interested in the shooting arts, particularly in their self-defense applications, to put in an entry (it's easy).

Four more days until I have to post my dirty fridge picture ... I gotta get on that fridge cleaning thing!

Week in Reivew - 1/1 - 1/7

2012-01-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

Carla's Low Spend Challenge - I have spent 49% of our monthly budget and we are 25% through the month. A cheque that I wrote last month and forgot about hit my account today. Ouch. Also, Mr. Goat went to town to get milk and came back with more groceries. $100 more groceries. I've decided that anything I sell can go toward the household budget for the month and still meet the challenge; now all I have to do is find the time to sell something.

I've started on my refrigerator - all the obviously spoiled food is gone. Now I just need to clear it out, organize, wash it out, and put it all back. I did remember to take a before picture, and to motivate myself, I am going to post it next week whether I have the fridge finished or not (I do not want you to see this picture unless there's one of a clean refrigerator next to it.).

2012 Goals
I signed up for Proverb 31 Ministries' daily devotions, but they haven't hit my inbox yet. Not sure what is going on there. I decided that my bible to read this year is The Holy Bible, English Standard Version because it is free on Kindle right now. Aside from that, I haven't even made it to church - today I slept through my alarm again, which is crazy; before I had babies I never slept through alarms. I'm not sure what to do about this since Carla's challenge prevents me from buying Clocky.

I worked out five times this week, once less than my goal. Four days I pushed the twins in their stroller; one day I returned Christmas presents and walked around the mall. I never made it to the gym because I had no one to watch babies in the afternoon; the person who usually does' mother died last week and so she was not available. I will "make up" the visits over the rest of the month. Since I don't need a Weight Watcher's membership, it doesn't meet the terms of the challenge; I will start tracking food next month.

All the money is on autopilot. Mr. Goat's acting CEO told him they are planning to hire another programmer; hopefully that means we will continue to get paid. More on that as I know more.

I was getting together stuff to go out to the berm ... and then both babies woke up at once. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Broncos-Steelers game with a friend and feeding babies. After football season, Sunday afternoons should be a great time to shoot; until then I'd better plan for weekday afternoons. Aside from a bit of fridge cleaning, and keeping up with the dishes, no household work has been done.

All in all, a pretty good week, but next week I hope to do better. If you tend to sleep through your alarm clock, how do you make sure and get up on time in the morning?

Carla's Low Spend Challenge - Late to the Party

2012-01-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Carla is having a Low Spend Challenge this month. Since Mr. Goat has major job uncertainty right now (his CEO quit the week before Christmas and, before leaving, said that his company was out of money) it is a good month to be frugal. My goal is to save as much as possible this month while not neglecting any purchases that need to be made anyway. I'm late in posting my goals, but I've been trying to keep to them since the beginning of the month.

Carla's Rules (with my annotations):

1. Track purchases! Write down every single penny we spend!
2. ~~Continue with my “sealed pot challenge”. Any coins smaller than $1.00 go into my pot!~~ (I'm not participating in this challenge)
3. ~~Menu plan & shop from a list~~ Make the effort to eat all the meals I have stocked up in the freezer, rather than buying more groceries, as they won't last forever! This will probably be the best single way we’ll be able to stick to the budget!
4. Find free & cheap activities to have fun!
5. Focus on simplicity, organizing, & donating/tossing as much as is possible with 2 month old twins. Before my January challenge starts I’ll be posting a list of projects I’d like to accomplish during the month right below this.
6. Medicines/medical care doesn’t count. If something comes up & we need meds, I’m buying them.
7. ~~No “pre-stocking-up”. I won’t spend $800 on groceries the week before my challenge starts in order to “get by”. It’s business as usual this month.~~ (It is too late for me to restock anyway)

8. No purchasing anything unnecessary. If it would be nice, but not essential, to have, it can wait until I know if we have a paycheck coming in. This means that the toy budget for this month is $0. I have also cut the household budget (bills, gas, food, etc.) by 13% in the hopes of socking that away at the end of the month.

Projects to Accomplish:

(1) Clean out kitchen pantry. We had mice last month (ugh) and I am dreading cleaning this out. No more procrastinating; it needs to be clean and usable by the end of the month.

(2) Organize Dining Room. The dining room has become the "catch all" room and we are not making efficient use of the space at all. I'd like to get it set up in such a way that we could put a couple of rockers in there for babies, as well as eat dinner without shoving piles out of the way.

(3) Organize and Clean Fridge. Some of out food waste comes from the fact that our fridge has not been cleaned thoroughly in months. I need to find all the spoiled and expired food and throw it out so that we can see what we have easily.

I know it sounds like I have the nastiest house in the world, but the truth is that I've devoted my small amount of cleaning time and energy to keeping the babies' areas clean and organized, to the detriment of the adult areas. Some parts of my house are actually quite nice, I promise. The bathrooms and kitchen have been cleaned every week without fail. And once I get these projects done, my home will be almost acceptable again.

So far, I have spent 23% of the monthly budget and we are 19% of the way through the month. I'm a bit behind, but I shouldn't need to shop for groceries for another week, so I'll be on track if I can maintain the same spending pattern until then.

2012 Goals

2012-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Last year, my 2011 goals got derailed by babies. I debated whether it was even worthwhile to post goals this year, because, well, babies. Keeping babies in mind, I decided to make my goal this year to do consistently the things that I know work, rather than undertaking new projects.

1)Religious/Spiritual

I feel like I am progressing the best in this area. I still need a more active prayer life, but I attend church regularly (a 2010 goal) and have an off and on relationship with daily devotionals and prayer journals. So basically I plan to do what I did last year, with small improvements.

(a) Continue to Tithe - a no-brainer, but it can be hard on months when money is tight. I missed this goal in 2011 because I kept October's money back in case I needed it for cash flow (babies were born in October) and then it got spent in dribs and drabs until it was all gone. I need to catch up on last year (hopefully with the tax refund) and then keep going in this one.

(b) Read another edition of the Bible from cover to cover - I didn't actually make this happen last year, because paper books are too hard to keep track of. I did read The Message NT several times, though, because it was on my Kindle. Now that I know what works, I plan to buy another bible edition for my annual reading - anyone have a favorite that they can recommend?

(c) Find a daily devotional or prayer journal that I can stick with - Again, this probably needs to be electronic to work, although the Kindle ones look hard to annotate properly. Perhaps an app - any suggestions here?

2)Health

At the end of this year, I want to randori at 90% for 3 three minute rounds in a row and still have some energy left at the end of it. To get there, I need to:

(a) Lose 50 lbs - I gained 65 pounds when I was pregnant, and it does not appear to be melting away quickly. On the other hand, I am breastfeeding two babies, and I don't want to do anything to affect my milk supply. So my plan is to begin tracking what I eat, but not restrict calories until the babies start solid food. So I may not make the full 50 lbs this year, but I need to get started.

(b) Work out 15 mins 6x a week; make it to gym 3x a week - Babies also destroyed my ab muscles and my cardiovascular fitness, and I want it back. My parents gave me a gym membership for a year for my birthday, and I want to use it in a frugal manner. Also, I have a stroller to take the twins around the farm in when the weather is nice, or I can do crunches or whatever when the weather is nasty. By the end of the year I want to be back to swimming 45 mins easily.

3) Financial

For the first time in our marriage, Mr. Goat and I have a positive net worth! This is not to say we are debt -free; our money is mostly in retirement accounts and we still have a pile of debt. Our highest APR is 1.65% fixed, though, so our debt has felt far less pressing than in past years. Still , I've allowed myself to get distracted by fantasies of Namibia and such, when I should be focusing on debt before pleasure.

(a) Save in anticipation of loss of primary income - Once again, Mr. Goat's job is on the bubble. Baby-related expenses have put us in a more precarious short-term savings spot than we were last year. This month we are both going without toy budgets and non-essentials (I should see if I can join Carla's low-spend Challenge late). More on this as I know more.

(b) Fully fund 2 Roth IRAs - Mr. Goat and I are 100% in Roths because our employer IRAs are always shitty and have no match (125 basis points for an index fund? No, thanks.) and Roths are easy. Mr. Goat is actually eligible for an employer match if his job lasts until July, and I'll revisit this then if the job is still around, but otherwise it is Roths again for us this year.

(c) Save $1200 for each baby in a 529 - Louisiana has one of the best 529 programs in the country - no fees, and a match ranging from 2-14% depending on income. We'd be fools to pass this up. This won't come near to the amount they will need for college, of course, but it's all we can afford at this time, and surely higher education can't go up 8% a year every year for the next eighteen. I have them open and the auto-debit started, we just need to keep enough cash in the checking account to make this happen.

(d) Pay off debt to parents by the end of the year - About 1/5 of my total remaining debt is a loan from my parents. Right now, I am hoarding cash, but if I can get through the year without needing to draw it down, I can pay them off. They are not hurting for it or missing it, but I would like to get it off my ledger, because then all I would have left is student loan debt.

4) Household

My house is a wreck and our personal defense plans need a serious re-vamp because, well, babies. To ameliorate that, I need to:

(a) Begin again on Flylady Routines - They work if you do them. I can find 30 mins a day to keep my house clean. I can. Really.

(b) Set up firearm storage in anticipation of toddlers - I need to get a safe so that everything is neatly organized and put out of reach. Storing my shotgun unloaded in my closet isn't going to cut it anymore. I also need to get my touch safe set up so that I have something accessible if I need it at 3 am.

(c) Practice with my carry firearms once a week- They don't do you much good if you don't know how to use them. I have a berm now (yay!) so I have no excuse.

Not sure how I am going to track this yet - maybe a bunch of sidebars. I wish I were better at making my blog pretty, but that will have to be a 2013 goal because, well ...

Also, Geaux Saints!

Homemade Christmas Presents 2011 - Bath Salts

2011-12-17T03:09:00.000-08:00

Last year, I did crochet for my homemade presents, but this year I have babies and therefore no time. I still wanted to give homemade Christmas presents, though, as the thoughtfulness of homemade compensates for the lack of money spent. Minting Nickels has a post on gifts in a jar, which inspired me for this year. She likes food gifts, but I prefer not to give food, since most of the recipes seem really unhealthy, and because taste preferences and food allergies vary widely and I would hate to get them wrong. However, she included a link to Martha Stewart's bath fizzies, which I thought looked amazing. But then I found out that 5 pounds of citric acid cost $20. Since Martha was talking cups, and this was weight, I wasn't even sure that 5 pounds would be enough for the 7 people I wanted to gift.

So I decided to be less ambitious and make bath salts instead. I used Martha's recipe, but I substituted ice cream salt for sea salt. I figure that salt is salt and, as long as no one tries to eat the bath salts, there's no difference except for the massive price difference. I might try pickling salt if I did it again, since the rock salt was pretty large, and so the salts did not look homogenized because my Epson salt was fine. They came out really cute:

I especially liked the striped effect I got from layering colored salts and uncolored ones.

Cost: $4.16 each; $29.17 total
Rock Salt: 3.82
Epsom salt: 3.56
Baking Soda:1.06
Essential Oil: 7.89
Food coloring: 3.12
Cute Jars: 9.72

As you can see, the jars were a third of the cost; I could have saved even more by reusing jars. This was a rush project, though, and I didn't have time to come up with jars this year. Next year, I think I'll try the bath fizzies, and save up jars, and it will probably end up costing about the same, although, if I have some of the essential oil left, it will cost less. I've got nearly the whole bottle left, but I use a Fuzzi Bunz Diaper Bag, which has a place to put essential oils to cover the diaper smell, and I am planning to try it out. If it works, I expect that my essential oil will be depleted by next year.

Baby Spending - The Good, the Bad, and Ouch

2011-12-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

As I said earlier, I've spent more than $2K in the last two months on baby supplies. I've listed everything I bought below, and categorized them by usefulness to get an idea of how much value I really got. I didn't buy everything on Amazon, but I did buy most of it, which made it easy to keep track. I put down the price I paid, rather than the current price, which accounts for any discrepancies.

The Good
Super useful things that I use every day, or nearly

Crib and Changing Table - 200.00
I bought these used from a friend. The crib is a drop-down model, but she used it successfully with two babies so I am not too worried. Also, my back has enough trouble picking up babies as it is, I am glad that I don't have sides any higher than they are already. The changing table is great - I'd get one again. If you don't have a friend getting rid of theirs, though, it's a great piece of furniture to pick up at a secondhand store.

Pump in Style Breast Pump (Backpack) = 266.69
This has replaced the Lactina Select Hospital Grade Breast Pump I rented previously with no problems so far. It does get condensation in the tubes every time, though, which is kind of a pain. If I had it to do over I might have just rented, especially since the window of time I plan to spend nursing shrinks the longer I do it.
Simple Wishes Hands Free Breastpump Bra = 37.99
An essential accessory to anyone who pumps with an electric pump. Other websites have suggested cutting holes in a sports bra but at my current size (38G) that would be more expensive than this one is.
Medela Tender Care Lanolin x 2 = 17.08
Nipple Cream is also essential if you plan to pump. This is my favorite of the two I have tried.

The First Years BabyPro Bottle Warmer x2 = 31.08
Mr. Goat uses this every day (I seldom bottle feed the babies). But we only needed one.

Carters Keep Me Dry Flannel Bassinet Pad x4 = 27.96
Convenient for changing babies on when you don't want leakage (on beds, etc.) As with the bottle warmer, though, we didn't need 4, 2 would have done.

Changing Pad Cover x 2 = 35.98
Keeps urine and feces off the changing table. The pad under these can be wiped clean, but it's much nicer to just toss this in the washer, and the babies can't kick it away like they do receiving blankets.

Cloth Diapers - 537.03
Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers, 160 count x3 = 143.94
I thought Cloth Diapers were really expensive - until I looked at paper. We mostly use cloth, but paper comes in handy for excursions and those nights when all the cloth diapers are in the wash. They go through them like mad; I can't imagine what we'd spend a month if paper diapers were all we used. Plus, paper diapers are an environmental disaster. So we try to minimize their use, and most nights we are even successful.

Tweezerman's Children's Nail Care Kit = 24.51

Maybe I didn't need to buy the premium kit, but babies' nails are finally short.

Bravodo! The Bliss Nursing Bra = 48.60

Medela Nursing Bra = 25.00

Motherhood Maternity Sports Nursing Bra x4 = 81.50

Before I got pregnant, I was a 36C or D, depending on the brand. Now I'm a 38G. Finding an inexpensive, confortable nursing bra has been a real challenge. The Bliss is comfortable but expensive. The Medela is comfortable and cheap but not lined, so every tiny leak shows through my clothing. I'm hoping the Motherhood Maternity bra will work, as it is a lot cheaper but still lined. I tried the XL and it was a bit small but looked like it might be comfortable. Hopefully the 1X will fit and not be too wide in the band. If it doesn't, I plan to buy one more each of the Bliss and Medela, do a lot of laundry, and hope the leaking clears up soon.

Boppy Pillow x 2 = 59.48

Highly useful for bottle feeding two babies at the same time, per Mr. Goat.

Philips Avent Soothie Pacifier, 0-6 Months, 2 Pack x 3 = 14.38

The babies love these, especially Football, and we love them too when they stop the screaming for even a minute.

Philips AVENT Standard Nipple Protector x 4 = 31.08

Allows both babies to nurse on my flat nipple easily. Monkey has figured out how to nurse it without if absolutely necessary, but they both prefer the prosthetic. Not necessary if you don't have nipple issues.

Philips AVENT 4 Ounce BPA Free Bottles x3 = 15.67

The bottles we are using now. Per Mr.Goat, far superior to the bottles we were using before.

Fisher-Price Rainforest Open-Top Cradle Swing = 85.36

Has been known to soothe the babies, especially Monkey, to sleep on occasion. On those nights, worth weight in gold. I bought this one specifically because I wanted a plug-in, as I expected it to run constantly and didn't wan't to have to buy batteries. I'd have bought a swing secondhand if a plug-in had been available, but it wasn't.

Champion Blue Disposable Underpads (Chux), Large Size 23 x 36, Pk/25 x3 = 30.75

Mr. Goat likes to use these in the crib to reduce sheet changes. Monkey soaks his back regularly, so they come in handy nearly every week.

The Bad
Things that I no longer use

Platex Drop-Ins Newborn Starter Set x 2 = $29.03
This looked like a good idea, but wasn't a time save over other bottles. I'm washing all my breast pumping equipment 3-5x a day anyway, so these don't save me any time and continue to cost money for the plastic liners. Not to mention they are bad for the environment.
NUK Orthodontic Latex Nipples = 2.37
Playtex Baby Drop-Ins Orthodontic Nipple = 5.20
Accessories to the above.

Playtex One-Step Breast Milk Storage Kit = 30.00

Also an accessory to the above, but worth a mention because the breast pump adapter is for one side only. So if you really wanted to pump directly into the bags, you'd need to buy this twice. Basically it's $30 for a few caps and one breast pump adapter - can we say rip-off?

Lansinoh Breast Cream x 5 = 52.43

I bought a ton of this and then liked the Medela cream better. It is so expensive, though, that I'm using it until it runs out, I just won't buy more.

NUK 2 Pack Classic Silicone BPA Free Fashion Pacifier, Size 1 = 4.59

The babies never liked these as well as the Soothies. Football will take these instead sometimes; Monkey never.

Ouch
Things that were never useful, or that I haven't managed to use

Baby K'Tan Sling x 2 = $109.98
These would probably be great - if I ever had time to figure out the manual. I should have bought a more intuitive sling, as I have not ever found the time to figure out how to use these complicated babies. Hopefully I'll be able to wear them a couple of times before the babies get too big, when I have enough sleep to read the instructions.

Graco Pack 'N Play Twin Bassinet Sheet x2 = 21.98
The actual Pack 'N Play is super useful; I got the kind with the twin bassinets and keep the babies in them at my Mom's house. But these sheets are crap - ill-fitting and cheap feeling.

Safety 1st Prograde Gentle Vibes Nail Filer = 10.99

Bought because you are not supposed to trim babies' nails before two weeks of age and they were drawing blood. Made absolutely no difference in nail sharpness...

green sprouts 2 Pack Organic Cotton Mitts, 0-6 Months x2 = 13.98

So we tried this. They hated them and refused to nurse with them on, unless they were absolutely starving.

Baby Sign Language Basics = 13.57
We haven't used this yet, but they are a bit young still.

Medela Pump & Save Breastmilk Bags with easy-connect adapter 20-pack = 12.99

Medela Breastmilk Freezing & Storage 12 Pack of 80ml Bottles = 14.50

Had complicated directions for use; just haven't managed to figure out yet. Also, I tend to pump a bit more than 5oz per breast, so I am not sure if these will even work for me.

Total = 2035.69, of which 315.13 (17%) was unnecessary or wasted.

Not where I hoped to be at this point, but expenses going forward should be low for the next couple of months. I need a few more cloth diapers, and we might buy a second swing, but hopefully all the big purchases are out of the way until we need to buy a food processor at 5-6 months.

I have 718.28 left over in my new baby account (I had a little less than 3K saved for new baby expenses), and I plan to toss that back into general EF and have the babies integrated into the household budget going forward. We'll see how that works.

SmartyPig Interest Rates Fall Again

2011-12-07T00:55:00.000-08:00

As I have said before, you lose purchasing power if you put money into savings accounts at the current interest rates. SmartyPig has decided to exacerbate this by cutting its interest rate to .7%. Apparently, SmartyPig was designed to make money off the optional gift card redemptions, and the high interest rates were too tempting to savers like myself who never redeemed any of my cash for gift cards. So now they have a new bank, and are cutting rates.

I am hoping that this is not a sign of things to come. SmartyPig has been a consistent canary in a coal mine. Since I complained about SmartyPig's savings accounts rates in June, Discover's rate has gone from 1.25% to 1.05% as well.

I'm contemplating putting more of my medium-term savings into divided paying stocks with low beta. Unfortunately, so is everyone else in the entire universe, which means that my chances of principal loss are pretty good in the medium term when something else comes into fashion.

Fortunately, since the babies have drained our savings a bit, there's less short and medium term money in the Goat household for me to worry about:) Where are you stashing your medium-term savings now? Any good suggestions?

Whatever Works is Good - an update on breastfeeding schedules

2011-12-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Sticking to a strict schedule wasn't much better than letting them set the feeding schedule. So now we're on a modified schedule, where we try go at least 3 hours, but don't wake the babies up at night to eat. So it doesn't always work out to 8 times a day, but I figure that, if they are hungry, they will cry. If they are hungry and cuing for 15 mins, we feed them in between feedings, but that has only happened a few times over the last five days, and usually they fall back asleep after an ounce or two, or 10 minutes or so. (They are 100% breast milk, but I do express milk so that I can take breaks sometimes.)

Since yesterday, however, the babies have slept more than ever before in their life ... in their car seats. I don't know why, but our house has looked like this most of the time for the last 24 hours:

I'll take it. Back to sleep for me!

Need a Good Story?

2011-11-30T17:37:00.000-08:00

Check out Maya's story of the guy she met at the bus stop, who had a complete stranger give him 11K. It made my day.

Scheduling Breastfeeding

2011-11-29T23:54:00.000-08:00

I've been doing baby-led nursing for the last month, but I've had to give it up. I think it's a great idea, and it would totally work if I had only one, but two babies seem to want to nurse at two different times 75% of the time. Add hour long nursing sessions to that, and pretty soon all I am doing is nursing and sleeping (and not much of that). I don't even have time to shower or eat anything that requires two hands. So I've decided to put them on a schedule, in the hopes of salvaging a few hours of non-baby time a day.

I talked to my pediatrician, and she said that the babies need to eat every three hours at this stage. Twinspiration, which I got from my mother-in-law, suggests 15 minutes of feeding every three hours. I'm not convinced that my babies can get enough nutrition in that time, though, so I'm doing a modified version of the scheduling plan I found in Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. Basically it's up to 45 minutes every three hours; I anticipate that I can get about 10 hours of sleep in 1.5-2 hour chunks and about 4 hours of non-baby time if I can get them to sleep on the schedule.

Secrets of the Baby Whisperer is a bit old (2005), but scheduling is really out of fashion right now. Google scheduling breastfeeding and you will get pages of results on how putting your babies on a schedule will ruin their lives forever. Of course, ten years ago, failing to put your baby on a schedule would have done the same thing. I had a good laugh with my monther and my cousin over thanksgiving on a similar topic. When I was a baby, you put babies on their back for SIDS and that's the recommendation now. However, in the eighties, when his children were babies, you slept them on their stomachs. At the end of the day, I'm going to do what works for me and figure that babies just aren't that fragile. I think everyone would agree that scheduled breastfeeding is better than baby-led formula feeding, and I refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

However, I don't think that Monkey and Football will just fall right into the scheduling thing - I imagine that I'll be soothing hungry and confused babies for the next few days as we all try to figure this out. Wish me luck!

What I really, really want ... Financial Bucket List

2011-11-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks Carla, for pointing me to Krystal's $500 Give Me Back My Five Bucks competition, sponsored by Life Insurance Finder, the life insurance experts.

The contest rules require that you post your financial bucket list as part of your blog post entry. I'm not sure what that is, exactly, since I understand that a bucket list is a list of things to do before you die. Quite honestly, if I die and my last student loan debt isn't paid off, I could care less. (I wouldn't be sticking my family with it either - my life insurance would more than cover it). So I think for a bucket list, I should talk about something I'm saving for that I really want to have or do before I die.

Namib Desert

My really, really big want is a safari to Namibia. The second least populated country in the world, after Mongolia, Namibia has unspoiled, beautiful desert vistas full of exotic animals, pretty much all of which can be hunted. I think this would be a wonderful 13th birthday / 45th birthday present for myself and the twins. I'm thinking they can get some smaller game and I can take my once-in-a-lifetime African trophy hunt.

To be completely honest, I've never hunted in my life. But I'd like to, and I really want my children to as well. I live in a rural area and hunting is part of the ethnic heritage that I want them to appreciate. So part of the appeal of Namibia is the requirement that I become a reasonably proficient hunter over the next thirteen years, and pass along the conservationist values that hunting entails to my children.

Great Southern Kudu

I've looked into it a bit, and I think the trip would cost $15-20K today. So I'm probably looking at $22-30K in 13 years, assuming 3% inflation and no other changes (I know this isn't realistic, but I have to start somewhere). If I save $2K a year for the next 13 years, I'll have around 30K assuming a 2% annual rate of return after taxes.

I haven't actually started saving for this yet - I'm waiting for my finances to stabilize a bit first (my post about how I've spent >2K in the last month on baby stuff is coming soon, really). Maybe this post will be the kick in the butt I need to keep myself accountable, since my safari dreams will only become a reality if I start working on them now.

Mint = Fail

2011-11-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

Before this year, I kept my monthly budget on a whiteboard, writing in expenses as they came up, and keeping a running total on the wall, where it was easy to see. The downside of this system was that it was difficult to track expenses over time. Lots of PF bloggers had nice things to say about Mint.com, and so I've been using it for the last six months or so. On the whole, I've been underwhelmed.

Mint tries to auto-categorize your spending for you. I can't decide which is more annoying, having my utilities auto-categorized as my toy budget, or having literally every Amazon purchase categorized as shopping, a category that isn't anywhere in my budget. Their trends section is woefully inadequate to track spending over time. And it's annoying as all get out to get spam email that "my Paypal balance is low" or "my interest rate has dropped, why don't I change to a bank with an even lower interest rate." Finally, if I do overdraw a budget, there's no way to zero it out by bringing in money from my EF and reconciling my accounts - I have to use torturous and unsound accounting methodology to make my budgets look right again.

But this week has taken the cake - according to Mint, my toy budget is overdrawn by $2264. Usually, this means that Mint has again misallocated a credit card payment to my toy budget. In this case, however, I can't find the source of the two thousand dollar plus overdraft, and I've looked over all my transactions for the last six months. So, basically, I have to either wait for Mint to fix the error, or put in fake numbers and hope that Mint never fixes the error so that my numbers continue to look correct.

I'm done with this. I'm going back to my trusty whiteboard next month. I still want a way to track expenses well over time, and I'm sure I'll try another budgeting service when it becomes available, but, for me, using Mint has been a gigantic fail.

Lactation Update - Football Nurses!

2011-11-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

Apparently Football was just waiting for me to gripe about her on the internet before she nursed, because she decided that nursing was OK again the day after my last post. And it really was just like flipping a switch - one feeding she was totally uninterested in the breast, and the next feeding she was rooting on my husband's chest while he gave her the bottle, so we tried her on the breast and she nursed like she had never stopped.

So it looks like I can get the Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump Backpack, which is very nice, since it turns out that my FSA does not cover breastfeeding equipment after all. I keep procrastinating, though, in part because I worry that she will backslide again, and in part because the baby fund is getting pretty low (more on that in another post) and I hate to deplete it. The second reason is completely irrational, as I need a breast pump, and it's not as though one is going to fall out of the sky and land on me for free if I procrastinate long enough.

I'm not sure what's "stylish" about this, actually.

I've also managed to get both babies nursing both breasts by using AVENT Nipple Shields on the less favored breast. They aren't wild about it, and it's messy as all get out, but we're slowly getting the hang of this nursing thing over here.

Now if I could just get my breasts under control. They have a tendency to ache all the time, and I leak like there is no tomorrow. When I get up in the morning, I leak so much that my breast milk literally splashes on my feet. Hopefully my hormones will get this stuff regulated out soon.

My mom thinks the problem may be over-pumping and over-feeding; I generally pump 10-12 oz a 15 min session, 3-5 times a day, in addition to nursing when I am awake. However, it's not as though this gives me a stash - Monkey and Football eat it ALL. They will sometimes eat as much as 8 oz each in one bottle session, and they usually nurse for at least 30 mins each. I am lucky if I have 20 oz in the fridge at any one time. We've never had breast milk last even 24 hours in the fridge at this point.

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding says that you should let your babies nurse whenever they like, for as long as they like. My mother says that I should think about putting them on a schedule so that (a) they won't make me totally crazy and (b) they won't overeat. They're my first babies so I haven't any real clue. Anyone have any experience with this?

Lactation Problems and the Breast Pump Dilemma

2011-11-09T00:43:00.000-08:00

I've always intended to breastfeed my babies. On the farm, we never use supplementation of any sort for our babies; if it is medically necessary for them, they are culls from our program and we don't sell them to our customers. If I won't feed formula to baby goats, I'm certainly not going to feed it to my babies.

We're in the middle of week 2, though, and I have one baby that will nurse from one breast. Monkey will nurse one breast; Football won't nurse either. In fact, last week, she would scream hysterically if put on a breast and, if her mouth was forced over the nipple, she bit it. Since she had nursed fine for the first couple of days, I didn't worry about it for a while, but at a week my pediatrician said that she needed nutrition, so I've been pumping and bottle feeding her.

Naturally, I hope this is going to be a temporary solution. I try to offer her the breast as often as I can, and she's gotten better - she no longer screams, and will occasionally give a desultory suck or two. I'm actively looking for a lactation consultant in the hopes that one can suggest something that I haven't tried, but, at the end of the day, it just depends on whether she'll flip the switch and breast feed or not.

Which leads to the problems of breast pumps. I had an Ameda Elite at the hospital, and I rented one for a week. It was OK, although the case on my rental was broken, which caused an annoying squeak, so it had to be returned. It was a $60 / month rental, though, so by the time I used it for a year, I might as well have bought a new one. (New ones are $800, resale value on ebay is about $450)

In the interim, however, a friend who had to pump exclusively for her twins recommended the Medela Symphony. I tried to rent one, but there aren't any available in my area, so I ended up with a Medela Lactina Select instead, which is basically the older model of the Symphony. At $30 / month, it is very affordable, but it does not have nearly the functionality of the symphony. In particular, it lacks Medela's 2 phase pumping. The Symphony costs $1200 and has a resale value on ebay of about $700-800, and rents for $80/month, when it is available. I prefer the pumping feel of the Lactina Select to the Elite, so I am thinking that I should probably buy a Medela product.

My other option is to buy a high end consumer grade pump. The Medela Pump In Style Advanced also has the 2 phase pumping option, if not quite as many settings as the Symphony. It costs $260 and has an ebay resale value of around $50. But it's not really intended for pumping 8x a day for a year, and I may have to buy two of them if one burns out (Although the motor is warrantied for a year, the rest of it only has a 90 day warranty.)

My insurance won't pay for a pump, but it looks as though the cost will be covered by my FSA, so I won't need to come up with the cash for any of these out of pocket. Still, even though it is paid for in pre-tax dollars, $1200 is a lot of money, and there is no guarantee that the current resale value will hold after I have used it for a year.

If I knew that Football was never going to nurse, I'd buy the Symphony or maybe the Elite; conversely, if I knew she was going to nurse, I would buy the Pump in Style. But, since the future is uncertain, I have to choose. Theoretically, I have until my pump rental expires in early December to decide, but since I'm planning to get a better pump, I plan to make the decision reasonably soon.

Does anyone have any experience with these pumps? Even if you don't, would you consider a hospital grade pump a want or a need, in light of my situation?

Introducing Monkey and Football

2011-11-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Football and Monkey

Since this blog is semi-anonymous, I'm giving them pseudonyms. Maybe when I'm not in a daze of hormones and generic Percocet, these nicknames won't seem as cute, but since me in millions has Mr. Cupcake, then I'm not the only person on the web who likes silly nicknames. Football is the girl on the left and Monkey is the boy on the right.

I wanted to write a nice long post about their birth and the hospital experience, but Monkey is cueing so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Now a Mommy Blog

2011-11-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

I gave birth to my twins by cesarean section on Friday. So I expect this will turn into a mommy blog simply because that's where my attention is going to be focused. But I'm still cheap, so I don't think it will be much about how cute my babies look in their matching designer onsies.

My first big issue - to 529 or not to 529? On the one hand, it's tax deferred. On the other hand, what are the chances it won't be counted toward financial aid packages in 18 years?

For the record, if you are having twins, the first week is every bit as difficult as the baby books said that it would be. Be sure to have the help lined up beforehand, because you'll be too exhausted to do it afterwards.

Exhaustion

2011-07-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

I guess this is nesting - Mr. Goat was out of town on business last week and so my mother and cousin came over and helped me organize the house. Literally, all I did was sit on a chair and tell them where to put stuff. I usually took a nap every afternoon. But it feels like I ran a marathon every day for the last week.

It does not help that my hip pain, which I had finally gotten under control, has resumed with a vengeance. They take you off all drugs when you get pregnant, so I am off Nortriptyline (a tricyclic antidepressant also used effectively for migraine treatment). Instead, I have codeine (an opiate analgesic), which I am "not supposed to take too much of," according to my doctor. As my last round of pain problems was compounded by taking hydrocodone and acetaminophen constantly, until they messed up my body's pain system, I'm not wild to start taking another round of opiates. I have turned to massage, which helps, but blows the budget out of the water. Each massage is $110 each, not covered by insurance or reimbursable. I'm just hoping that the Nortriptyline still works when I get back on it; my nightmare is that I'll have to do another year and a half round of trying medications until one works for me again. But for now, I'm in constant low-grade pain with occasional spikes of high-grade pain, which is not conducive to rest.

I can't believe anyone does this pregnancy thing twice! Maybe I'll feel differently when I have babies on the ground, but right now I am pretty sure that these babies are the Alpha and Omega for me.

Binge Weekend and The Chicken Test

2011-07-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy eating is weird. For one thing, I now adore bacon. I realize that this isn't huge to the 99.9% of the world out there that normally loves bacon, but I despise bacon and have since I was a child. And now I can happily eat it for my only food at a meal (I don't, of course, because I'd like to be able to get through doors, but really). For another, my craving for sweets (always a bête noir for me) has mostly subsided.

I say mostly because it hit with a vengeance yesterday. All I could think about was getting a chocolate chip cookie cake and eating it all. Finally, I cracked, drove to Winn-Dixie, spent $9.75 on a premade one, and proceeded to eat until I was sick (I also drank a quarter gallon of milk). Then I went to sleep with it still on the kitchen counter, with the result that I ate more of it this morning. There was about a third left when I came to my senses and threw it to the chickens. So I ate about 3K worth of totally empty calories, gave myself a stomachache, and wasted money all at once. Pretty much the definition of a binge.

To add insult to injury, I'm not sure the cake is going to pass the chicken test. I have a rule that I never eat anything sweet that the chickens reject. Basically, if the chickens won't eat it in a day (or refuse to eat it at all) it's not really food. Chickens will eat anything and they love sweet things; anything they reject is serious frankenfood. They were pretty unenthusiastic about it this morning; I plan to go check again after I write this, but I am not hopeful. So far, the only things to fail the chicken test are store-bought cotton candy and Target brand licorice, so it's a pretty low bar. Next time I need a better plan for when sugar cravings strike; I'd gotten out of the habit of resisting them and it shows.

My Solution to the Dearth of Good Coupons

2011-07-06T03:14:00.000-07:00

I've been a reasonably avid coupon user for the last three years. I'm not extreme by any stretch of the imagination, but I go through all the free weekly circulars that come in the mail and I take the coupons from my parents' Sunday paper nearly every week. Because I don't buy a lot of processed food, my savings mostly come on household products - cleaners, bath tissue, etc. Lately, though, I've noticed a distinct downward trend in usable coupons. In fact, I haven't found a single usable manufacturer's coupon in the last two weeks.

Since I try to be a frugal shopper, I looked around on the internet to see if there is a better way - and had another look at Amazon's Subscribe and Save feature. Basically, you get a 15% discount if you sign up to have household items delivered to you on a regular schedule, which can be as frequently as every month or as infrequently as every six months. What I like is that you are not locked in - you can cancel your subscription at any time, even after just one purchase, or you can temporarily halt delivery for one or more delivery cycles.

Prices are comparable to my local Family Dollar and Dollar General (the cheapest source for household goods in my area) for Charmin Toilet Paper, Bounty Paper Towels, Cascade Complete Gel Dishwasher Detergent (although you have to buy a lot of it at once), and Mr. Goat's favorite local coffee blend, Community Coffee Private Reserve Whole Bean Coffee, Kona Blend (we can't afford his all-time favorite coffees for everyday). They don't carry generic, but they do have cheaper brands like Quilted Northern and Sparkle. (I buy the premium brands because, over time, I have found little savings in buying the cheaper brands as they are less effective at their respective tasks.)

In addition to the time and gas savings of direct home delivery, I also save because Amazon does not have a physical location in my state, and so is not required to charge me sales tax. Sales tax in the closet town is currently 9.5%, of which only 2% is state sales tax. Plus, I get 3% cash back on everything I purchase from Amazon, versus 1% on everything I buy at discount stores.

Once I started thinking outside the coupon box, I realized that the savings from switching to Amazon really add up. I'll continue to keep my eye out for coupon/sales combination bargains, but it will have to be a pretty sweet deal before it cancels out the benefits I get from Amazon.

Blogoversary #2

2011-07-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 years since I started this blog. I was hoping I'd be inspired with some valuable insights gained over the past three years, but valuable insights seem to be in short supply over at the Goat house today. I never started this blog to be anything other than a "day in the life of" and my blog metrics reflect that. According to Blogger, my top five posts by number of views are:

Why the First Year of Marriage is the Hardest

Ebay Epic Fail - hot 13 year old girls

Progressive's My Rate Program

Long Time No Post

Scotttrade and Bank of America Wouldn't Give Me My Money! Grrrr!

Which just goes to show that Google search metrics determine the impression people get of your site.

Looking back, a few of my favorite posts are:

Orkin and The Samuel Vimes "Boots" Theory of Socieoeconomic Unfairness - Discworld + PF = Win

Credit Card Rebates and My Rules - still just as true two years later

Food Budgeting - this is still a problem for me in 2011, but I've gotten much better at finding local veggies, and the local food movement has gained more traction in my area.

One interesting thing about taking a trip down memory lane is how few of the bloggers I used to communicate with are still around. For instance, the food budgeting post (April 2009) has 5 comments, of which only Bridgid and jpkittie seem to still be around. Whatever happened to DogAteMyFinances? Google shows that she was threatened with outing last year and went private and somehow I never noticed. Funny how the internet is both permanent and ephemeral at the same time.