Big Brood

Gander and I received this for Christmas:

For some the idea of making yogurt at home seems quite daunting and strange.  Even as crazy as I am about making everything from scratch I didn’t think this would be something I would dive into.  I like the idea of feeding my goslings something fairly healthy and wholesome that has “curdled” on my own counter top, so I decided to give it a try. I guess curdled wouldn’t be the correct term among yogurt gourmets, but close enough at our pond. The price is right too. I have been buying the quart sized yogurts at my favorite mega buy-anything-you-could-possibly-need-or-want store for about $2.25 per quart (for the name brand that had the better bacteria in it, I am told). I figured with non-hormone added milk at $2.94 a gallon I am spending approximatly 75cents per quart of homemade yogurt. Not bad for just a little bit of work.

To be honest there isn’t much work at all involved in making yogurt. Most of it is just a waiting game.

1.I measure out 4 cups of milk (usually 2%) into a saucepan and bring it up to about 185 degrees (just before boiling). This is to kill all the bad stuff, to get technical.

2. Then you have to wait and wait and wait until it comes to room temp.

3. Whisk in 2 Tablespoons of plain yogurt.

4. Pour into the yogurt maker cups, make sure said yogurt maker is turned on (oops!) and then wait 8-10 hours.

I usually do this before bed and then we wake to nice warm yogurt for breakfast.  Gosling 1 likes to add a little honey (or a lot, depending on whom you ask) and it makes a great breakfast with a little bread or toast.

Sadly, I haven’t been able to test out my success since I am on a dairy and gluten free diet to help out gosling 6’s allergies (more on that later).

I would really like to try making kefir which is similar to drinkable yogurt (at least in the goslings opinion).  Kefir is supposed to be even better for you than yogurt, containing so called probiotics.   I am certainly no expert but this sounds good to me.  I haven’t decided if I will try this kefir starter or give a cheaper option a try, possibly purchasing some of this  plain kefir at the grocery store and using it as a starter. If you want more info about kefir than you ever thought you needed or wanted to know, check out this site.

Well, my Goosey mentioned our 10 year old car for which we still have a loan. She didn’t want to go into an explanation, but I will. This car was our first foray into mini vans. It served well enough for its time but is starting to really give out on us at an accelerating rate. Here’s how we did. Don’t try this at home.

1. Buy new Jeep Cherokee that you love and you think will grow with you well. When you do buy it, pay too much and don’t negotiate with the dealer.
2. Have a second child and discover that it is getting really packed inside the backseat. Discover that you can’t haul nearly as much stuff as you’d like.
3. Trade in your nice Jeep Cherokee for a 2 year old fancy minivan. Again, don’t really negotiate except to ask for slightly lower monthly payments. Make sure to get the 5 year loan. Oh yea, since you’re a little upside down on the Jeep, just add that amount on top of the loan. Boy, that dealer sure is helpful!
4. Run the minivan for a couple of years, then decide you’d like even lower monthly payments. Refinance it at a much lower monthly payment, fully intending to make extra payments. Oh yea, get another 5 year loan. Then your required payments are REALLY low.
5. Don’t make the extra payments.
6. Fast-forward 4 more years. You’re still paying for that car. You hate that car. That car is falling apart, but you’re so upside down on that car that you can’t get rid of it without losing your shirt. Hate car. Hate it! We hates it! It burns! It burns……!

Then….

1. Get tired of paying for the car and finally accelerate payments.
2. Save a whopping $0.03 in interest by paying it off early.

Many of these decisions we made thinking that we were doing the right thing. We really DID need to lower our payments because of lower income. But, I’m still in that car!

Here are some things that someone who doesn’t love servitude to rust buckets might do:

1. Buy used! Most of the depreciation for a car happens in the first year or two (think 20-40% of the original value).
2. Negotiate! I plan to post on this more later, but negotiation is great to save you money.
3. Pay cash! Yes, it can be done. We’ll discuss that in later posts.
4. Make your extra payments automatic. Some companies will make this difficult but you should be able to do it in some way. Call them up and ask. Also be sure to ask if there are any prepayment penalties.