Living Life in Rural Iowa

(Writer's note: I'm talking to me as well as all of you. I realized about four months ago I had a serious problem with laziness. I wouldn't call myself lazy, but it was easier to be lazy than to admit that I had a problem with my phone. I have been making small changes since then to get better. However, this advice is not coming from a perfect hustler either.)

In this day and age, laziness has become the norm. We love reading about people who hustle and work hard to succeed, but we also hail the keyboard warriors too. The ones who do nothing but sit on a computer all day and claim themselves to be an expert on whatever they so choose.

With the progress of social media, the internet, and the increasing control technology has on our lives, laziness has become a real problem. We are distracted by everything. Attention spans have become shorter and shorter. Our heads are looking down and we do not interact with the world on a physical level anymore.

In addition to technology, peo…

Once you discover prepping, you discover your life changes in ways you never imagined. Once you thought preppers were a little crazy and then you discover that while they are a little crazy at times, they also are ready for almost anything.

You figure that being a prepper is a good thing, but your mind begins to think differently. In a good way, of course, but differently. You began to think of your unprepared friends and family as the crazy ones. Why wouldn't anyone be prepared? You are taking care of yourself and your family! How can that not be a good thing?!?!

While some of the ways being a prepper changes your life listed below are a bit tongue-in-cheek, they all have a thread of truth to them. You truly do these things and think this way. If you say you don't, don't worry. You will.
35 Ways Being A Prepper Changes Your Life1. If you can't make it to the grocery store this week, no problem. You could probably skip grocery shopping for a month and no one would notice…

Sometimes we feel like we are invincible. We have an attitude that nothing will happen to us. We don't think about getting into an accident, becoming ill, becoming injured, and worse. We don't think anyone would want to harm us in any way. Sometimes, we just don't think at all.

On top of that, in this day and age, we have become less connected with our family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. We think that social media has become the new normal. Why should we check on our loved ones and friends when social media lets us know when they post and we spill everything on social media.

We have lost that connection and, in turn, we have lost touch with those people we interact with on a regular basis. Now you hear stories about people dying in their homes due to illness or injury because no one checked on them for over a week. Someone has a car accident and no one knows why they were where they were.

Worse yet, we assume everyone has a cell phone glued to their hand now. We have …

We all know that skills are critical to survival and more. As preppers, we know that skills will make or break us. As homesteaders, without skills, you will fail on your homestead. Many preppers dream of being self-reliant and becoming homesteaders in order to survive and thrive whatever life may throw at them.

Knowing what skills to learn to be self-reliant is another matter. You need to make a plan for your homestead and discuss what you can reasonably handle. Do you just want to garden and make your own products? Do you want to raise some livestock? What do you want to do? This is your homestead and your vision. You can make it however you like.

No matter what, you need to learn skills. Skills are what keep us alive. They help us save money. They help us to reuse items and recycle other things into useful objects. They keep animals alive and productive. They keep us being productive.

How do you learn skills? You learn skills by reading about what you want to learn and then putting tha…

Christmas is coming around the corner. To say that I find Christmas shopping painful would be an understatement. However, I have a few tips and tricks to buy presents that fit into my values and beliefs without sacrificing my pocketbook. I have a budget for everyone on my list and they are well aware of it.

I almost never buy toys that are electric, take batteries, or need electricity to operate them. My kids figured this out years ago and started asking their grandparents for those items. I am just not a fan of those toys and find them quite disposable. I honestly wanted to buy presents that would keep them busy whether or not we had power or the internet.

I have a tendency to do the same thing for adults. I would rather give an edible or useful gift instead of something that relies on electricity or a computer to operate. Otherwise, I like to give something that would give them something to do like go to a movie or a restaurant versus something they might just discard in a few months.

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Social media can be seen as boon or bane for most people. For the most part, social media, as well as the internet as a whole, can be seen as beneficial. It allows you to gather a large amount of information that is good for your prepping. It also gives you a sounding board for any questions you may have as well as a large group of people supporting you in your efforts.

You can talk to a lot of people about what prepping problems you have or how you should do something. You can get a lot of great ideas for prepping and projects. You can follow a lot of bloggers, vloggers, and writers for more information and ideas.

All-in-all, social media is not a bad thing. That is if you use it well and wisely. The problem with social media can be a problem for anything in your life that distracts you from getting your work done or away from your loved ones. Social media can be very addicting. You can spend hours online mindlessly scrolling through social media sites hoping to find something to pique…