Living Life in Rural Iowa

I have lived in the Midwest all my life. Snow, snowstorms, ice storms, and blizzards are just a part of life. In fact, you can get a bit immune to them. You know almost exactly when the school is going to let out early or call it for the day. With the great advances in technology, you know when the storms are going to hit which gives us ample time to get ready.  Some storms are definitely worse than others. Some storms will only last a few hours and not really put any hitch into any plans. Some storms (aka blizzards) will interrupt your plans and life for a few days. It's pretty rare that any storm lasts for more than three days here, but I never rule out that possibility.  When a winter storm approaches and looks like it will be a bad one, I have checklists that I use as a plan of action. In Iowa, the weather can get nasty fairly quickly. With the technology we have, I can implement my lists quickly because I know when the winter storms are approaching. I do use these lists with t

When the coronavirus pandemic happened, one of the things people were not prepared for was to work from home. A fair amount of people did end up working from home. Many people are still working from home and companies are finding out this is a better solution for everyone. This is one area of preparedness that I think very few people give any thought to but needs to be addressed because in most situations you will be doing some kind of work from home.  As someone who works from home and away from home, I have always thought about what I would need to work at home completely. Since I work in a critical industry in my daytime job, I will probably never work completely from home. However, my writing/blogging job and my eBay business already require me to have certain equipment to work at home.  One of the first questions you need to ask yourself is what do you usually use at the office or your job. You should make a detailed list of everything you use every day and every week. For me, I w

One topic that keeps coming up on social media right now is that 2020 was the worst year and that 2021 has to be better. You also see memes and pictures that say that we need to go into 2021 quietly so it isn't a bad year.  This year has been different. As much as I hate all the memes and pictures on social media about 2020 being the worst year, it definitely has been a different year. In my personal experience though, I have survived much worse years than last year. That may be because I still have a job in an "essential" industry. That may be because, financially, this has been one of my best years. My family has pulled together and become closer. I have been very blessed in this last year.  I have no doubt that some of you were extremely challenged by the events of 2020. You had health issues come to the surface or had gotten ill from the coronavirus. You lost loved ones, your jobs, or your homes. You were isolated from family and friends. You had to learn to work from

Okay, you have a financial emergency happening. You may have lost your job or half your income. You may be working fewer hours at home. You may have overspent on the holidays. You may not be able to pay your bills. You may be facing a repossession or a foreclosure. You may be facing a divorce or other significant life change.  I have been faced with many of these scenarios. Life is not always easy even if you are prepared. Your finances may be good until something bad happens. You can have an emergency savings account and still have it wiped out faster than you can blink.  Life happens and some things are out of our control. However, with a good deal of financial situations, you may have had an inkling this was coming. Not to sound unsympathetic, but I usually knew I was making some wrong financial decisions when I made them. I wasn't strict enough with my budget. I wasn't making at least an attempt on the payments. I wasn't talking to my creditors. I have had some surprise

What do you have or eat that you possibly cannot live a day without?  Coffee? Tea? Wine/Beer/Alcohol? Cigar/Cigarettes/Chewing Tobacco? Chocolate? Video Games? Books? Online Streaming Services? Hobby Supplies? Cosmetics/Hair Dyes? Daily Showers? To me, creature comforts are items and services you don't want to live without but could live without if you had to in certain situations. Could you live without them? Sure. They aren't necessary to survival, but they make life much more enjoyable and they help you keep your sanity.  Some creature comforts have become a lifestyle for some people. They couldn't possibly imagine life without those things. For some, those creature comforts have become an addiction. Being without those things would be hard for the person relying on them and very difficult for others to deal with the addict.  A few of the hardcore preppers would just say that you learn to live without them. You just toughen up and tough it out. I do think that is what wo

In the last week, the media has been reporting the certainty of another lockdown occurring in the next 3-4 months. While we may want to call foul and stomp our feet, this is certainly not the time to be unprepared for the possibility. While news reports have been calling for at least 4-6 weeks of lockdown with a possibility of it lasting longer, we can start (if you haven't already) preparing for this possibility. We don't know how locked down we will be due to that information having not been released yet. However, we can look at other countries around the globe to know what could happen. While most states have undergone some sort of lockdown already, the rules were vastly different from one state to another. With the possibility of national lockdown, we can expect that the rules will be stricter with much different reasoning than a state would have for their rules.  (Yes, I realize some of you haven't come out of the first lockdown yet. Some of you have not experienced a

When a country or an area is going through major upheaval, supply disruptions become inevitable. Whether those supplies are coming from overseas or are produced in your area, you may still have trouble getting food and goods. Trucking companies will rarely haul items to areas they don't feel are safe. Barges may not be able to load or unload. Ships may not be able to leave port. Roads may be blocked and bridges may be destroyed preventing the shipment of goods.  Anything can happen. You should be ready for it or at least not be deluding yourself that it could happen. With the crazy times this country has had this year, you should be expecting it. You can figure out ways to beat it, however. If you are ready for supply disruptions, you can ride it out without any problems. 12 Ways To Beat Supply Disruptions 1. Anticipate them before they happen. If you know major world events are happening on your country's soil, then you know there will likely be supply disruptions. You can al