Living Life in Rural Iowa

Being frugal souls, throwing away something that you can reuse again practically seems like a waste. However, sometimes those old clothes are worn so much that they cannot be passed down or donated to the thrift store. What are you to do then? In the spirit of "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without," you figure out a way to reuse or recycle the old clothing. With so much just being thrown away and filling up more of our landfills, we have a duty to use them until they are completely done. In times of crisis and SHTF events, you use everything until it can't be salvaged any longer. Nothing should go to waste if you can still repurpose the items.  With that thought, I will try to keep the ideas as practical as possible. You can make crafts from them and make things like dolls, doll clothes, purses, and whatnot. Those things are cute and easy to do while still recycling old clothes. However, when times get tough, cute becomes less of a priority.  20 Ways to Reuse

In any kind of SHTF situation, clothes are important. You may only need a few sets of clothing just to survive. However, in an economic downturn or inflation economy, you might want to think about clothing in a different way.  Stocking up on clothing will be important, especially if you are unsure if money will be tight or will need to be allocated to a different category in your budget. If you build up enough inventory for clothing, you may not need to worry about your wardrobe for 2-3 years. Even if you are inclined to purchase clothing in that time period, you would have the freedom to do so at your discretion. What will you need to stockpile: Shirts: short sleeve shirts and long sleeve shirts Undershirts: tank tops or undershirts (good for layering) Sweatshirts and Sweaters Flannel/Button-down Shirts Shorts/Skirts Jeans/Pants Underwear Bras/Camisoles  Socks Shoes/Boots Cold climate gear: Coats/Jackets Thermal Undergarments Wool Socks Hats/Gloves/Scarves/Balaclavas Snow Pants/Overal

  After nearly a year since the last "What This Prepper Buys" article, I am back. I wasn't doing anything crazy or fantastic in prepping, so I didn't know where to go with the next article in this series. However, an acquaintance of mine said something that struck me. They asked how to get started with food storage when food prices were going up at the stores. I immediately decided to help them and any new/experienced prepper out in the food storage department. That is not a dumb observation. I'm glad I started when I did with food storage, but you can always get started now. There is never a bad time to get started as long as you do so in the immediate future. However, you can still get food cheaply. In the next few months, I hope to help you out with ways and places to buy food cheaply to build up your food storage.  This food storage haul will attempt to be somewhat nutritious and filling. If you are looking for organic or nutritionally dense food, this is not

  This world has certainly thrown us some curveballs in the last couple of years. Pandemic, contentious elections, power-hungry elected leaders, meddling global elites, failed military operations, shutdowns, lockdowns, inflation, and more have caused their own kind of chaos that has rarely been seen before. At least, not usually at the same time. I have been a prepper for a long time. Never in my dreams would I have thought I would have seen all of this in such a short time span. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought the world would be thrown into chaos like it is now. As a student of history, I read about military coups, wars, political takeovers, and like events with awe and wonder. Being a citizen of a free country, I never dreamed that I would see these events happen on our soil. However, I have realized for a while now that we have been played. We have been manipulated and twisted into a country that could be easily turned into a socialist country. We are having a fear o

Back-to-school sales in August are some of the best sales all year to get prepared. The variety of things for sale and the low prices can be a budget-friendly way to get your home prepared for whatever could come in the next year. You don't usually see sales like this any other time of the year. This next school year, we could see more lockdowns , schooling at home, inflation, supply disruptions , and more. Any one of those things means you need to be ready for whatever this next year throws at you. You may be home again or more than usual. Your kids may be home full-time or have less to do outside of school. Even though it seems like we just went through this, we are facing this possibility again. Being prepared for the possibility just seems like the smart thing to do. The great thing about back-to-school sales is that they are geared towards kids, college students, and teachers. You are shopping across a wide age demographic that has specific needs for each demographic. This mea