Sold my first goats of the year.

I spent $100 on fencing, and put the rest in the animal fund.

Still waiting on payment for one of them. Once that goes through, I will have the cash to pay my parents back the rest of what I owe them. Whoot!

I check on the estimated value of my house from time to time on Zillow. Im not sure how close it really is although when we got our appraisal 2 years ago it was spot on.

Well checking today it said the value has went up close to $13,000 in the last month!

That puts the estimated value at just a little under double of what we bought it for! Wow!

That is amazing for an old farm house that was destined to be torn down before we saved it.

We do more work on it all the time, so the value will continue to go up. I feel we made a great financial move, even though at the time we were not sure if we were ready.

I finally sent my two state taxes. I may get one back, because it wouldnt let me submit it online, so Im guessing something is wrong with it.

Today was a good payday. I paid off my credit card, paid the $63 I owed for taxes, paid the $75 electric work, paid all our utilities, bought $40 worth of materials for our house improvement projects, and I still have $100 left to put back for my next car payment!

Speaking of house improvement. We finally built our first raised garden bed. We planted tomatoes and peppers. Hoping to build another one and plant several kinds of berries and some onions. Just waiting to save up another $30 to build it.

Too bad it is suppose to get down to 30s tonight. Now I will have to find a way to cover them.

We applied for the HELOC on Saturday. Should find out today if we got accepted.

I guess I forgot to post about the loan we are considering.

Getting a HELOC has been in the plan for a long time. We are going to get one to remodel our house hopefully next year. But we actually need some sort of loan right now, so I figure if we get the HELOC now we will use the same one for our remodel.

I have delayed getting a loan as long as possible, but I just dont see a way to go around it.

There are several big expenses that are needed asap. I thought I had talked about it before, but I guess not. lol.

The big expenses that need to be taken care of are:

1.) Put up goat fencing. $3,000 (By June)
2.) Pay for car repair. $1,500 (This month)
3.) Buy new computer. $1,500 (ASAP)
4.) Pay for goat trip. $1,00 (By June)

The fencing is a MUST have. It has to be put in before I go to pick up my new goats in June. I will have goats to sell that will cover the cost, but I wont get the money until Fall.

Cobalt needs fixed so I can sell it. Again I will get my money back from it, but I cant sell it until it is fixed. So need money to make money, as they say.

I need a new computer. Mine is dead. I have been doing my freelance jobs, at my computer at my work. But it does not have some of the programs I need to use, so it is very limited. Plus I cant do it at home. Im to the point now, where I cant really take anymore jobs until I get a new computer. And if I am going to buy a new computer for web design, I am getting a nice one that will work for a while. I have been putting it off for years and years, but it just isnt going to work anymore.

Goat trip is in June. I should have enough cash by then, but it is still a big expense that needs taken care of.

We are looking at getting some sort of loan for $5,000. All extra money would be cash flowed to pay it off, along with profit from goat sales, freelance jobs, and selling my Cobalt. I have no doubt we could pay it off in a couple months.

If anyone has ideas to cash flow these big expenses instead of taking out a loan I am all ears. Ive thought and thought, and I just dont know what else to do.

Finally getting somewhere with my debts.

Freelance check was bigger than I was expecting. Besides giving grandpa a car payment, I am able to pay back $250 to my parents and pay $100 to the mechanic for the work he has already done. Whoot.

Got the Electrical Work bill. $75. A little higher than I was expecting, but Im just glad to have it done. I should be able to cash flow that on Monday.

Tomorrow we may stop by the bank and see about the HELOC deal they are running. 2% for 6 months then 4% afterwards. We have to find out all the fees, and how often it goes up and all that fun stuff.

Even if it is a good deal I am not sure we will get accepted. That bank is pretty snobbish, and I dont really think our credit scores will qualify. But we can try I guess. Otherwise we will have to get a 10% personal loan from the other nicer bank.

Finally got paid for some of my freelance work.

Giving $300 to grandpa on tomorrow to bring my car loan down to $2,500.

Mortgage payment hit, new balance $50,592.64.

The mechanic said he would put in a new engine for $400-$500 counting the work he has already done. The couple we have found have been around $1,000 although we are still looking and hoping for the $700 range.

So it looks like if everything goes smoothly I can get the Cobalt in good shape for $1,500 or less. Whew.

I recently got a credit card offer from Discover. I use Capital One, but was seriously considering switching because of the free credit score they give you monthly. Well when I logged into Capital One today I was surprised to see that they offer this same service now!

My score is 721. Which is the same score Credit Karma gives me. But I do not think that is right, because I went to my bank and got my credit score pulled about 2 or 3 months ago and he told me it was only 690. So I am not sure it could have jumped that month. Gr. That means it really wont give me an accurate reading. But it will still help me see when my score goes up. I will just remember to subtract 20 to 30 points from it.

I got word back from the mechanic on my Cobalt. It is bad news. The timing chain did in fact fall off, and completely damaged everything in the engine. Which means, the car will not even start again until a new engine is put in. Ouch.

Now I need help deciding on what to do.

A.) Find a used engine and spend $1,500 - $2,000 replacing mine. Then sell the car for $3,000 - $3,500.

B.) Cut my losses and sell the car for scrap. Probably get about $200 from it. But I already owe the mechanic a couple hundred for the work he has already done.

Paid myself back the final $50 for the cabinet today.

I put $250 in my Roth today to complete my first 2014 goal!!! Whoot!

I paid myself back another $50 for the cabinet. $50 to go.

I paid down my credit card below $100 again.

I was finally paid a very small amount from one of my freelance jobs. Less than 10% of what I am owed, but I am just happy to see any money. Hopefully more will be on its way soon.

My car is sitting at a shop, still trying to figure out how/when it it going to get fixed, and how much it is going to cost me. Estimates are about $1,000 right now.

My parents talked to insurance. The barn was not covered under their insurance because it was too old. So they are stuck with all the bill. The fire call alone was several thousand dollars because they live outside of city limits.

The electrician came out and we finally finished the last bit of wiring in our house! It is so exciting to have light in a room that has been dark for two years! lol. Not looking forward to the bill though.

Outdoor clean up has begun, trying to get the yard and animal pens cleaned up and maintained for spring. Lots to do!

My family could use some prayers.

Yesterday morning one of my parent's barn burnt down.

It was a giant over 100 year old barn. It was gone in only a few minutes and all that is let now is about 8ft deep of ashes.

It was so windy that it caught the surrounding park's field on fire, traveled 1/2 mile to the neighbor, and nearly caught their house on fire. They called in 3 fire departments, and managed to put it out right at the neighbors fence line, praise the Lord.

Thankfully the wind of blowing the opposite direction than it usually does. So it blew it away from the other barns, and my parents house. The barn that burnt was where they kept all their hay, it had no animals in it, so my goats are safe.

They lost all their hay, their lawn mower, motorcycle, and smaller items like wagons, wheel barrels, and some old farm equipment.

The barn was not insured because it was too old. They are praying that the insurance will at least cover the fire call which will be a couple grand, and the replacement of the lawnmower and motorcycle.

They will also have to pay for the debris to be removed because there is no way to move all the ash by hand.

It could have been a lot worse, so they are counting their blessings. But it is still sad, and they are worried about financial problems.

This Payday I managed to pay $200 on my credit card. Bringing it down to $100 not due until May. Whew.

I got my EF back to where it was. I also paid myself $50 back that I owed from the cabinet I bought. Still owe myself $100.

Next Monday I HOPE to finish the IRA and put some money back for another car payment. It would be nice if the freelance clients would pay me. *grumble*

I was very bad.

Despite owing way too much money to too many people I bought something yesterday.



It popped up on my facebook feed on a sellers club and I had to have it. It matches my kitchen perfectly, and we were in desperate need of some cabinet space.

We have literately only 3ft of cabinets and counters...

When we go shopping we have to just stack our food on the table because it just wont fit.

We also had our silverware and our cups sitting on the table, because there was no drawers to put them in.

Our kitchen was a disaster with no organization and no storage.

The night before I bought this husband was ranting about how we HAD to have some more cabinets in our kitchen. Then the next morning I saw this and I took it as a sign.

I only paid $150 which I think is a steal! Its the exact color of my kitchen, it is made out of real wood, it is heavy and a very nice piece of furniture. Nothing cheapo. Plus it has nearly no scratches or anything on it. Perfect condition.

We had to do some rearranging in the kitchen, but I think it works out nicely. A little snug, but much more cozy looking. Now I have more than enough cabinet space, I wasnt even able to fill it up!

It is way bigger than it looks in the picture. Its almost 7ft high, and over 4ft long.

I am super excited, and cant wait to finish decorating it, and organizing.

And yes if your wondering, if you squint hard you can see lots of pigs! My kitchen is green, with pink pig accents!

Well after lasts week craziness I hope starting this week it will settle back down.

With this payday I managed to pay all our bills as normal, and pay $300 on the credit card. So only leaving less than $300 not due until May. And I put back around $70 into my cushion/EF.

Grandpa finally gave in and took my lower offer for the Neon, so that is essentially $200 less I owe.

As for the Neon, I am getting used to driving it. It is not horrible, but I honestly really miss my Cobalt.

The Neon seems to have a tiny gas tank? Grandpa said it held 12.5 gallons, but I just was on the red mark and filled up and it only let me put in 7 gallons...

Which is only about 200 miles. So that means I will have to fill it up about twice a week. Gr.

This is the 3rd time I have filled up in the last week already.

Maybe the gas gauge is just messed up, and it actually had another 5 gallons in there, but I dont know if I want to risk it.

Husband had lots of overtime, and possibly more this week, so we should be able to pay down our debts and get back on track soon.

Some good news is the car parts only cost $75 instead of $100.

The bad news is, he fixed it yesterday, and it still died on me, and the rattle is worse than ever. It was so bad while I was driving to work, I dont think it is safe to drive at this point. He is leaving work and coming to take a look at it. Something is very wrong.

Probably needs the timing chain replaced now. Which is upwards of $500+.

I am not so sure I want to invest any more money in this piece of crap. I may be titling the Neon sooner than I thought.

ARG!

Now some good news. My two does had kids on Saturday while I was running an errand. 4 healthy babies. They had them at exactly the same time, so they are all confused and the mommas are just sharing the babies and they just eat off of both of them. They are so cute!



Here is the little boy I am keeping. The rest are girls and I will sell them for $250+ each. Hurray, hurray!

Putting the propane on my credit card today, and will pay it off next Monday. So glad that will be done.

Now I just have to rush to finish the Roth and continue paying down the Neon.

My freelance jobs need to send me a payment, that would help a lot.

So the Dodge Neon is officially parked in my driveway. Grandpas new car came in and he wanted the Neon out asap. I do not plan to get it licensed or drive it yet.

Still debating with him on price. I doubt I will be able to talk him down. But it was decided that I need the car either way. My Cobalt died on me again.

I am giving him a $500 down payment today. I am still sad that I have a car loan. My other two cars I paid for with cash. At least it is interest free I guess.

I am hoping to pay it off asap. I feel weird owing my grandpa.

We got a quote back to fix the rattle on the Cobalt. $500!!??

We said no way. Father-in-law is going to try to do it himself for the cost of parts. $100. So that at least is saving me some money. He is working on it tomorrow.

Money is going to be a little snug until my car is sold and I am out of this loan. I also still owe the propane company $272. Scrapping that together, and should have it by next Monday.

Still have to send $250 to ROTH before April 15th.

I am due some money for my side jobs, but havent heard anything. I pray they pay me soon. That will help a lot.

Mortgage payment hit. My new balance is $50,702.12! I do love seeing those numbers go down.

Another long night of listening to the baby monitor. I did get more sleep than before, but I am still exhausted. It is slowly warming up. We are in the 20s today, by Friday we are suppose to hit the 50s. The goats just need to hold off a couple more days and they will be fine with or without my help.

Husband works at a gun & ammunition warehouse. Everyday he gets to handle all types of guns. He has wanted one for a while, but didnt know which one. So for the last 8 months or so he has been saving his money and handling all the guns he can and asking questions to the gun smith.

Well he finally picked one out. A Smith & Wesson 9mm A&P. It retails for around $600 but he gets to buy them at whole sale price because of his job so that saved us $150.

Well when he ordered it yesterday, they gave him another 35% discount for being an employee, so he only had to pay less than $400 including tax and everything! I love his job!

Now he has extra cash on hand, that he can spend on ammo.

The funny thing is, he was out of checks so he had to use mine. Which are pink and have Pooh Bear on them...

Everyone who works there is a red neck complete with camo and a beard... They call him pretty boy because he is good looking and most definitely not a hick, which I think is hilarious. He was complaining all day that they will never let him live this down.

Needless to say we are going to get more checks on Saturday.

Haha.

After losing the goat kids yesterday I am paranoid.

I tried to get my dog kennel back from my mother so I could lock the last two pregnant does in the big barn. She was using it and wouldnt give it back, so we went to the farm store and she bought me another one.

I got the goats locked in the hay barn and they are having the time of their life eating all they want.

I hooked up the baby monitor and took it to bed. But all night all I could think about was them having babies in the night and them freezing to death. So I stayed awake all night just staring at the baby monitor.

They were so quiet (they were sleeping, duh) that a few times I was paranoid that it was not working, so I got up and put on my coveralls and walked out to the barn to find them sleeping.

Ugh. One of them is due on Monday (husbands birthday) the other I dont have an exact date, so it could be any time.

I can tell I am not going to get any sleep until these babies are born. I think I need a nap.

I lost two more baby goats this morning.

It has been in the 50-60s for a while now. But suddenly we got a cold snap and a bad ice storm. Temps below zero or single digits. Figures it is the week babies are due.

Found two this morning, they froze to death.

I feel like such a failure. I have never lost babies goats until this year. I am so upset, and feel so guilty for the little ones. I have already bawled my eyes out.

Of course the babies were sold. So another $600 down the crapper.

I only have 2 more does left to kid. I am going to the farm store today and buying a dog pen that I can set up inside my big barn, hopefully they will be warmer in there and the babies will have a chance of survival. I also am hooking up a baby monitor so I can tell if they kid over night.

It is suppose to warm up within a week. Pray the last two can hold their babies in until then.



I set another $100 to my IRA.

So while I was leaning towards keeping my Cobalt instead of buying the Neon.

My mind has been changed again.

Father-in-Law inspected my car last night while trying to clean the throttle body. He found a cracked hose, and a couple other problems including needing to replace the thermostat. *sigh*

This on top of the new recall on Cobalt has pushed me just about over the edge.

Grandpa told me he was firm in price... then he said he might negotiate. The Neon is a 2004 not a 2002. I checked Kelly Blue Book, and it is listed as worth $3,800. He also just had the timing belt changed, which costs about $600-$800 so that is nice. I took it for a test drive, and had Father-in-Law look at the insides and drive it as well.

I like it okay. It is smaller than my car, which I do NOT like. But I can deal with it for a couple years.

We found the original receipt for it. He paid over $17,000! I am thinking I can talk him down to $3,300.

The problem with my car is that it is going to need several repairs before selling. New windshield, cleaning, new thermostat, a timing belt tensioner, and various smaller ticket ideas.

We are looking anywhere from $200 - $500 before I can put it up for sale. Even with the repairs I highly doubt I would even get $3,000 for it.

So getting the new car will cost me around $1,000 I am guessing.

Right now my car is in my moms name, and on her policy. If I changed it to my own my insurance I would be paying about double.

It is suppose to go down in August, which is also when my plates expire.

So the current plan is to get the Neon and park it in the garage, and continue driving my Cobalt until August. During this time I would get the necessary repairs. Then as soon as my insurance price drops, I will license and insure the Neon in my name and sell the Cobalt.

I will make some payments to Grandpa until I sell the car, then he said I can square up the rest then. He is loaded, so no big rush for the money.

Part of me is still clinging to my Cobalt. I love that car. But we just keep finding new bad news on it.

I sent another $100 to my Roth IRA today. Not much, but every little bit helps.

Despite us raising our grocery & home budget from $200 to $300 this month, we still went over by about $20. Sigh. The week is just starting too. Hoping I don't have to get anymore. I think we will be okay.

We don't eat really expensive, but food is expensive in general, so we have trouble staying in our grocery budget. We have problems when we go to the store and OJ is on sale so we buy it, or our favorite chips, etc.

I think I need to start sitting down, and using my meal plan to make a very precise grocery list. Maybe allowing us each to pick one snack or splurge item a week. And then ONLY buying off the list.

We do make a list now, but we often see stuff we want or that is on sale and we get it.

How do you stay in budget?

My credit card limit has been bothering me. Because we always paid in cash, we had pretty non existent credit scores. We both got a student card with a low limit last year to start working on establishing more credit.

Well I only had a $500 limit, and husband only had a $300 limit.

I use my card for as much as I can. Because I like the reward points. I always pay it in full every month. But it annoyed me that if I even just put groceries on it I would already be above the 30% utilization on the statement.

So I was hoping since I have been using it for some time now that they would raise my credit score. I decided to call them at the beginning of February. And lo and behold, the day I pulled up my account to find their number they had raised my limit to $1,500 on their own. Sweet!

I will never use that much, but I'm glad my utilization is lower now. Now I can also put bigger items on it that I am going to pay anyway, like the propane bill.

Husband got his card a month or two after me, so I'm hoping his will go up soon as well. Although he rarely uses his.

I find myself in an unexpected dilemma.

My grandpa informed me yesterday that he is selling his Dodge Neon.

While I am not in the car buying business per say, the last couple months, especially this month husband and I have been beating around the idea that my car is going to need replaced soon.

My car was bought new in 2006. It is a Chevy Cobalt. Both my mother and I used it to drive to school 2-4 hours daily for several years. We used it to haul goats, we used to to hold farm tools.

Basically it has had a rough life. The outside still looks new, but the inside is very very stained and dirty, and it has 170k miles on it.

It has had countless problems. The electric circuits in it were bad and all needed replaced, the steering wheel had a recall on it, the airbags had a recall, the fuel pump had a recall. The blinker switch had to be replaced.... etc.

A couple years ago it started rattling at start up for a while then it would settle down. They think it is a timing belt problem which is going to cost me $800 to fix...

It also started smelling like gas, and dying when it idled. So I spent hundreds getting it checked out and they could not find anything. Turns out the fuel pump had a recall, and I got it replaced for free.

That made it work great for a couple months. But here lately it has been dying on me again, like when I pull up to stop signs, or I am slowing down in the driveway. Sigh. I do not think they would replace the fuel pump again for free.

I am emotionally attached to this car, I really love it. I think it is so cute, and it has been a great work vehicle. It is starting to make me nervous though because I go to school at 10pm an hour away. And on some of the cold nights I had trouble starting it. It is also embarrassing to die at a red light and people are honking at you.

It drives great though when it is going...

I had just decided to continue to ride it hard, and just use it until it crapped out on me. (Which seems like it will be sooner than I thought.) Hoping I could get a few more years out of it.

But now this great deal has come along, and I am really torn about what I should do.

The Neon is a 2002. So older than my car. But it only had 75k miles on it. A hundred less than mine. It is in PERFECT condition. It has had an oil change every 3 months, he just took it in and got a $900 check up on it. It has never been driven over 50 mph... No joke.

No one takes care of their cars like my grandpa. He has 4... and he enjoys buying new ones every couple years. This is the longest time he has kept a car. I asked him why he was selling it and he said it had too many miles on it.... haha.

It is not as beautiful as my car. But I feel like it would last me a lot longer, and be cheaper in the long run.

He is asking $3,500 for it.

I could realistically sell my car for $2,500. So essentially it will cost me $1,000.

He said I can make interest free payments to him, which I think is more than generous.

Part of me loves my car and wants to keep it. The logical side of me thinks this is a great opportunity to get rid of my lemon car and get something more reliable while I can still sell it for a decent amount.

My car get 3-5 more mpg, which is also a factor. The Neon is also a little smaller, which scares me about snow, and future kiddos.

My parents are urging me to go for the Neon. My father in law thinks he can fix my cobalt and that I should keep it. But even if he does, I feel like 100k less miles would get me a lot further.

I dont think I will find another car at this price that has been so well taken care of. I worry that if I pass it up my car will die on me in 6 months and I will be kicking myself.

At the same time, Id prefer to keep my car, if it will last me another 5 years.

What to do, what to do?

If you have not read part one, see it here.

http://klarose.savingadvice.com/2014/02/19/the-story-of-goat...

Goatie could open doors and gates, and would often get into our sheds, or let the other goats out, so every door had to have double latches.



She LOVED riding in the car. When people would come over, she would try to jump in their vehicles when they opened the door. Often times I would just take her for a ride to town. She would jump in and lay down on my lap and just sleep the entire way. Once she got big she could not fit on my lap anymore, so she would put her front feet on me and her head and just get as close as she could.




She loved me so much. Every time she had babies she would wait until I got there, I witnessed every single one of her 11 births. She would cry for me when I went inside. Or if I sat outside she would lay down beside me, and rest her head on my lap.

After a couple years Goatie grew too fat. We tried to put her on a diet, but since she ran free she pretty much just ate what she wanted. If we locked her up she would cry and cry.

Fat can cause problems when goats kid (have babies) and one time she had a stillborn. She mourned that baby like no animal I have ever witnessed. It was winter so we could not bury it. So we wrapped it in a towel and hid it on the other side of the house. Overnight she actually found it and was standing over it the next morning protecting her baby.

After we buried it it literately screamed and cried for two weeks. She wandered around looking everywhere and under everything for her baby. Because I raised her and made goat sounds to her when she was young, her voice did not sound like the other goats, it sounded like my voice when I try to make a goat sound. It is weird. But her cries were eerily human sounding. It was so sad, that no one wanted to go outside during this time because her mourning was just so depressing.

Eventually she got over it, but we decided not to breed her again because of her weight. She loved babies and was determined and she managed to get in with the boys. So we waited and prayed that everything would go smoothly.

The time came and she had 4 kids. Everything went great, and I was so relieved. She was happy again. Then two days later, she went back into labor.

We have no idea why, there were no more babies in there. The vets could not / would not do anything. They thought her uterus had ruptured and that she was bleeding internally. So I sat watching my beloved Goatie get weaker and weaker everyday.

Goatie was so strong, I thought nothing would ever bring her down. She was still eating, drinking, and walking up until the last day. That is rare.

One night she was doing about the same. I sat down with her and snuggled her, and stroked her head. I wanted to stay with her, but the vet told me that I was probably stressing her out by being with her all the time and that I needed to just let her rest. So I talked for a while, then I kissed her head and went to bed.

In the middle of the night my dad went to go check on her. He found her passed away in the yard, half way to the house. She was trying to get closer to us.

That is my biggest regret in life, was leaving that goat. I should have stayed with her when she was scared and hurting. I should have known better.

I miss her more than anything. She died a year ago, and even now I am sitting here bawling like a baby. Words can not describe how much I loved that crazy animal.

The only thing I have to cherish is that she gave me one last gift, her 4 babies. I kept two of her babies, and gave the other two to my goat mentor who helped me save her all that time ago.



One looks just like her, and they both act just like her. They follow me around, and enjoy riding in the car. I find it so amazing that even though they were not raised by their mother, there is such a resemblance. I look at Tippy (the one who looks just like her) and it makes me smile because I think of her. I had to bottle raise them too, so they have her same voice. They have her eyes. I love them so much.

I also have 2 other babies of hers from previous years.

And that is the long story of Goatie. Eventually I will post about my other goats, but I think I have said enough for today.

A lot of people have been asking about my goats, so I figured it was about time to post about them. I can not talk about my goats without first introducing you to Goatie. My first goat.

Beware this is going to be long, so I am going to break it up into sections.

Years ago we were at an animal fair walking around one day, and we heard a little baby goat crying.



Somehow I talked my mother into letting me take it home. We lived in a subdivision, and had no experience. She was only 3 days old, and had to be bottle fed. No matter what we tried she would not eat and we nearly lost her, but luckily we found a nice family with goats that helped us and taught us how to care for her. (They are still my goat mentors)

She slept inside the garage in a dog bed, and we left the door open and she ran around freely. She stayed in the yard, and played with our poodle. She also came inside the house, and was potty trained. She never had an accident.

About 6 months later we bought a farm, and we moved. She did not like the change at all when we put her outside. We still let her run free, and she slept on the front porch. She would greet people when they drove up, and followed me obediently when I was outside.

This was not a normal old goat. She was different. She knew just as many tricks as any dog I have ever seen. She could shake hands, rear up, twirl in a circle, moon walk, speak, bow, lay down, and I even made subtle hand signals and I could ask her a question and depending on my hands she would shake her head yes or no. So Id ask her, Goatie you are not a bad girl are you? And she would say no.



Every person who came to the farm was delighted with her. And she would willingly demonstrate her tricks. I even taught her how to pull a cart, and she would pull my sled in the winter with me on it.

I took her to parades, I took her treat or treating, I took her to nursing homes, I took her on walks to the park. She was my best friend. We shared a special connection.



After another year we decided she could probably use another goat for a friend. So we went out and bought another. When we brought it home, she HATED it. She took one smell then began spitting like it was the worst thing she ever smelt.

Since she had never been around them, she did not like goats. She would head butt them every time one got close to her.

Eventually we bred her and she found her new calling. She loved her babies. She took such good care of them, and every one she had acted just like her. (Goats pass down their personalities.)



To be continued...

I have several sources of money coming in at this time, and I thought it would be a good idea to write it down so I can keep track of where it should be going when it gets here.

First I will be getting a refund on school tuition. It should be here next week.

Total: $238

I am wrapping up a freelance job, that has a balance still owed. Should be paid within the next 30 days.

Total: $462

I got a signed contract back for another job yesterday. First payment should arrive by next week.

Total: $750

Church Website will be started asap. My payment is sitting in an envelope. I am not going to claim it until the project is well under way.

Total: $500

With a grand total of $1,950!!!

That is pretty dang good for side income in about 6 weeks. Probably the most I have ever had. And that is not counting the tax refund we just got back.


1. $150 to tithes
2. $700 to finish my 2013 Roth IRA
3. $700 to goat money
4. $400 to animal fund

Things are subject to change but this is my current plan.

I am excited to knock out the IRA goal so quickly, and also put back money for the goats I purchased.

I finally had to do it. I had to buy propane.

Our tank had dwindled down to 16%.

The price of propane was still at $3.39 a gallon and no matter what they would not let me only get 100 gallons even though they offered me that deal in the past. Gr. I did not know it was a limited time offer, or I would have accepted it back then.

Total cost was $722.29. That will raise our tank to around 65% I believe.

I just can not get over how I could fill my entire tank for $450 last year...

They let me pay $450 today, which is how much I had in my propane fund. And I will owe the rest by the end of March.

Poop poop poop.

Yesterday I opened my first Roth IRA!!!

The money is not in the account yet, because they have to verify my bank account, but sometime in the next few days I will have $1,300 in there!! Hurray! This is our first retirement savings, and it feels good to get started on that.

I claimed the savers credit, so I have to put $2,000 in the Roth before April. That should be no problem.

I also added $125 to my EF.

There are lots of pending incomes right now, and I wont know my complete total until at least Monday. But it is looking pretty good right now. Finally I feel like we are getting somewhere with our fiances.

Hoping to knock out the animal fund and Roth IRA in the next couple months.

I have a question.

I work for a church. We give 10% of everything we make, our tithe.

Well the church wants me to redo their website, and my fee for that is usually $750.

They are going through a rough patch financially right now, and I can not in good conscious charge them.

I thought maybe I could just take the amount out of my tithes. I would only take out $500. Because I do not mind giving them a deal, but we are talking up to 100 hours of work. As busy as I am, and especially since I have other freelance jobs, I just can not see doing it for free.

Especially since they want it done asap. Which means I will have to devote more of my precious time to the project instead of paying jobs.

Do you think subtracting it from my tithes is fair? Or would you just do it for free?

I am at a loss, and I certainly dont want to short change my church, but at the same time I feel like I would resent doing that much free labor.

Someone just emailed me about a freelance job that we had discussed back in November. I had not heard anything back from them so I assumed it to be a lost cause. Well they are still very interested and apologized for taking so long.

I am currently still working on the other one I got randomly this month. It is about to wrap up though.

So as long as they do not mind waiting until March it looks like I will have another job!

My employer has also asked me to redo their website, so that means 2 more!

After I finish these offers that will bring my portfolio total to 5! Before I even graduate!

I am super excited. Originally 5 completed was my goal before I would start considering dropping my day job and getting a part time work and focusing on my Website Design. Now I do not think I am quite ready for that, but I am a lot closer than I was before! How exciting!

The extra cash flow will help so much too!

Things are not getting any better around here.

It is still snowing almost daily. The temps are still in the single digits, the news said up to -45 with windchill.

It seems like this stupid winter is never going to end. I got my car stuck, we had to deal with a neighbor, our pipes busted, the propane is outrageous. And now...

I went to feed my animals this morning and there were two dead baby goats that were born in the night. They were several weeks premature, and barely even had grown their hair yet. So I am not sure if I was out there when they were born if they would have lived or not.

Of course it was from my best doe (female goat) so that is $600 that I was counting on that is now gone.

The mama goat was acting completely normal before bed, and this morning she was acting completely normal too, as if she did not even realize that she had babies. I had no indication that she would go last night, as she was not due until March.

Now I am worried that the other 3 pregnant does are going to miscarry. They all look horrible because they have been in the barn with no sunlight for weeks and weeks. Goats hate snow and cold, so they refuse to come out at all. I am worried for their health if the weather does not break soon.

I am extremely upset about the babies, especially the what if I had been there. The poor things froze.

Just so upset.

I added $75 to my EF.

Tuesday we got another blizzard. At 2:30pm it was coming down so hard I thought I better leave early from work and get home before it got worse. Bad idea!

It was nearly a white out, and the roads had not been plowed for some reason. The snow was coming down so hard you could only see a couple feet in front of the car.

Then... my wipers started freezing up. They were not wiping the snow and ice off my windshield. Within seconds my entire windshield was pure ice, and I couldn't see a thing. Then it would wipe off for a second, then go right back to ice.

I had to pull over 3 times and scrap the ice off in just a couple miles. By this point I'm starting to panic. You can't see where the road ends or begins, and my window was randomly completely freezing, I mean I could not see anything. I was driving about 10 miles an hour, and looking out my side window to try to judge the distance from where I thought the other side of the road was.

It was the scariest driving I have ever done. The last time I pulled over I started crying, and didn't know what to do. I had also forgotten all my winter clothes at home. I had on yoga pants and a light jacket, with tennis shoes. I was driving blindly, and dear Lord what if a car came. I passed a few people, but luckily my window was not frozen at those exact times.

At this point I was only a couple miles from home, I thought I could make it, I scrapped my window again and started slowly.

Then it froze again. I felt my tires hitting grass... my left tires. I realize that I was driving on the wrong side of the road, with 0 vision. I made the decision to pull farther off, I could nott tell where I was or how far to the side I was, but I did not want to get hit.

My car slid down a ditch and I got out. (In my light clothes, which were now soaked up to the knees from the snow.) My back right tire was off the ground, because I was so tilted in the ditch. I was so afraid no one would see me and I would get hit.

I called my dad, who lives just a mile away. By this time I'm uncontrollably sobbing. He came and got me, but my car was stuck tight and we had to abandoned it.

Later in the evening my dad and father in law got a big truck with a wench and managed to drag my car back on the road and got it home. I am so thankful that I did not get hit, my car was not damaged, and that they got it out without a tow truck.

Today I called the propane company again, I am down to the low 20s%. The price has went back up 40cents since last week, and now they refuse to just bring me 100 gallons, I have to get 200. I wish they would have told me that last week, when they talked me into waiting! I have no idea what I am going to do. I can not afford over $750 for a half of a tank of propane!

I finally upgraded my phone to a smart phone! I am on the share everything plan, so it only cost $10 extra a month. We have no internet at home, and being a Secretary & a Web Designer, it makes it really hard. Internet will cost us $75+ so I figured this was a good compromise to hold me over longer. I really love my new phone. I got a GREAT deal on it.

It was suppose to be $100 but it was on sale for $50. Verizon charges a $30 upgrade fee, so that would be a total of $80. But I checked out Target and they had the phone on sale even lower for $20! If you bought it online they would also take off the upgrade fee! So I ended up getting a $130 phone for $20. Hurray for deals.

I still had not heard back from the plumber so I went ahead and just send him the darn check. It has been a month, and I just want to be done with it.

I paid an extra $80 to my mortgage. That covers the rest of my escrow due, and pays down a little principle. I am glad to have that small debt gone. That brought my mortgage down to $50,853.55.
Hurray! We are down to 50k. Cant wait to see it in the 40s.

Husband and I decided to finally make a trip to New Mexico like we have been wanting to for a couple years now. We are going to pick up some goats to add to my herd. But husband has never been out West so we will site see and use it as a mini vacation too. Best of all is that I will be able to find other people that want goats too, so they will all chip in on gas money. So we should be able to go there for very low cost or for free! It is an 18 hour trip one way though… so boo. I paid a deposit today to hold my goats. Now I will have to come up with another $700 at least before June. Yuck. Just when I thought I was getting ahead.