Money Saving Tip: Freecycle

Freecycle is a series of Yahoo Groups with members who give away goods they no longer want and where others can request items they need. Go to Freecycle.org, search for a group near you, and subscribe. After that read the rules and start posting. The groups are moderated and I have found the Moderators to be very helpful in answering questions and making sure only legitimate requests go through. I have never received any spam.

Wife and I have been using it for years to clean out our house. We have given away lawn mowers, a guitar, a string trimmer, rollerblades, computer parts, really anything and everything. We have also picked up a Nordictrack ski machine, Gameboy games, books, magazines, and so much more.

Cleaning out items we no longer need is more important to us than reselling the items. Most of what we have offered would not have raised large sums of money and Freecycle is an easy and convenient way to part with them. It keeps those items we pass on going for a while longer and out of a landfill.

Bob's Braggot Beer Recipe

Ok, I know I haven't posted anything about home brewing. Yet. But I just got this recipe from an old friend of mine and wanted to share it. He was kind enough to bring a few bottles on his last visit and it was very good. The honey aroma and flavor were very prevalent.

Braggot is an old alcoholic beverage and started as a variation on mead, though modern interpretations place it more firmly as a beer flavored with honey. Several sources say that it is written about by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales, but I can neither confirm or deny it. Suffice to say it started as a drink made with honey and hops. Later is was brewed with honey, malt, and hops. Now it may or may not contain hops or malt.

The original version of this recipe was sent in a kind of brewers shorthand which I expanded a bit to make it easier to read. I would not recommend just reading this and trying to brew your first batch of beer. Instead, look for a local brewery supply shop near you in the yellow pages under "Beer" or "Brewing Supplies" and go talk to the folks. Look at reading Charlie Papazian's "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" [Amazon] . You can also find plenty of great articles on the web, but Charlie's book is an inexpensive purchase and a great place to start. You just cannot go wrong with it.

Bob's Braggot

Ingredients:

6lbs Wild Flwr Honey (approximately 2 qts by volume)
6lbs Amber Light Malt Extract
2lb Amber Candi Sugar (Homemade or store bought)
5 gallons of cold water

2 oz Amarillo Plug Hops
1 oz East Kent Golding Hops

Safale S04 yeast. (no fancy starter, just some water and sugar about 30 min prior to pitching to make sure are alive) [Mother: I don't worry about a starter when pitching yeast. I just add to the room temperature wort, shake it up, and then seal it up for primary fermentation]

Boil the Amber Light Malt Extract, 1oz of Amarillo Plug Hops, and 3 gallons of water for 30 minutes, then add the other ounce of Amarlio Plug Hops. After 10 more minutes add 1qt of honey. 10 minutes after that, add the East Kent Golding Hops and boil for 10 more minutes. Reduce the heat and let cool. Once the has dropped to about 170F add the other quart of honey. Stir well. Add to 2 cold gallons of water in your primary fermenter and pitch the yeast.

This is a brew that benefits from primary and secondary fermentation. Primary fermentation can take 10 days or longer and you will want an equal or longer amount of time in the secondary before bottling. Once bottled, allow to age for 6 week in a cool place before drinking.

OG: 1.095
FG: 1.022
ABV: ~ 9.5%

Bob also suggested leaving out the second addition of Amarillo Plug Hops and instead dry hopping with an ounce of Cascade Hops in the secondary fermenter to give a sharper bite of hops and to add to the floral aroma. Frankly, I really liked it as is.

Green Mountain Diapers

Wife and I have been ordering our cloth diaper supplies from Green Mountain Diapers and couldn't be happier. Karen's efforts developing such a comprehensive site is deeply appreciated. All of your basic diapering needs are met: Prefold and fitted diapers, diaper covers, cloth wipes, pins, snappis, wet bags, liners... A one stop shop for your needs.

And the information presented is beyond belief when it comes to understanding the sometimes daunting world of cloth diapers. There are plenty of brands and options at every step of the way and it takes time to sort out what exactly you will need. This site has all you could need to get started accompanied with plenty of pictures of each item, all on babies of various ages, shapes, and sizes. Before you spend anything you can be a well informed shopper making the right decision for you and your family.

If this is your first time looking at cloth diapers, her Package Deals are a great way to start. They provide a variety of products and allow you to see what works best for you. Wife and I used them to get an idea of what we would need to get started. Once we decided that yes, cloth diapers is what we will use, we then expanded on it, buying additional brands of covers and more fitted diapers. Not all products are equal and you will want to try different items.

And then there is the quick list of why GMD is a great company to work with: products are clearly marked if they are in stock, shipping is quick, communications are clear, and billing is accurate. And with your order you get a great how to on cloth diapering that rounds out the information available on the site.

So, if your family has decided go with cloth diapers, check out Green Mountain Diapers. You can't go wrong.

Our First Anniversary

Wife and I celebrated our first anniversary yesterday. Though limited with our schedule, Baby, and Sissy, it was a very nice experience and I could not have asked for more than the time we spent together with our budding family. I also received a very nice Rite in the Rain weather resistant journal, pen, and belt pouch.

Wife received a Circa notebook sampler from Levenger. She has been dreaming about this system since we met and I was happy to finally get it for her. It seemed expensive at first but once we got some online coupons and the $40 gift card included in the sample pack, it was quite a deal. Now all they need is a scrap booking system for all of our photos to go into.

Since we started with paper for the first year, we are planning to continue the "traditional" wedding gift list. Next year will be cotton.

What are your anniversary traditions?

Why did I become an at home Dad?

My staying home was a simple decision for my wife and I. From a strictly financial standpoint, she made substantially more money than I did. She is an analyst for a major company while I was the IT Manager for a very small one. Things became cut and dry when we started looking at other factors.

How many hours did each of us work?

Wife: 35-40 hours/week, plus occasional overnight travel.
Me: 50-55 hours/week, plus some weekends.

How long was our commute?

Wife: 45 min/day.
Me: 125 min/day.

Vacation?

Wife: 31 days/year.
Me: 10 days/year.

What were our clothing costs for the job?

This came out about the same. She bought more expensive items than I did, but I had to replace them more often as they got destroyed while doing field supervision.

We then started thinking about other costs:

• Infant childcare.

• Buying lunch instead of packing.
• Buying meals on the go because our schedules didn't always allow someone to be home in time to cook dinner.
• Vehicle maintenance because of my long commute.
• Insurance costs because of miles driven.
• Cost of fuel for the long drive.
  

In the end, once we ran these numbers I would effectively have a net income of less than $2/hr. Not a whole lot and easy to make up from an at home venture or by saving money in other places.

So far, things look good and are on track as we calculated, but it took some groundwork to get ready for it. I will get into that another time.