Living Life in Rural Iowa

When I think about my finances, I absolutely dislike June. I think June is worse than December for my finances and budgeting. I love that my kids like to play softball and t-ball. Being gone, using more gas, and having to eat convenience food all month just kills my budget. I know ways to make this better and every year we get a bit better. At the end of the month though, I just get sick thinking about it. Adding to my stress, child support appears to be drying up again. Although I am hoping for the best for child support! I read another blog called Learning the Frugal Life  and I have been inspired by her no spend months. I am thinking we, as a family, need to try this for July and August. I will need to modify this no spend idea. In July I want to take the kids to a few places for day trips and tractor pulls. Those will cost money. So this is how I think we will cut down on expenses for the next few months: 1. All purchases will require at least a three day waiting period unless

I came back!!! I do have mixed feelings about this, but seriously I can only handle three days of tractor pulling. Then my ears need to re-adjust. I love tractor pulling and meeting new people as well as seeing old acquaintances from last year! I also love the sound of the tractors and engines. So powerful! Courtesy of The Young Blood Pulling Team Facebook Page (BTW They won Sunday!!!) Seriously though, I do not like to be gone any longer than four days at any one time because: 1. I do actually start to miss my kiddos. To be honest, this might take me a day or two to start missing them, but I love them too much to be gone for too long. 2. I have too much going on in my life with my kids' lives and schedules. Being gone too long is not good. I miss them too much and am very lost when I get home. The number two reason hit me upside the head today. I have been gone since Wednesday night and I feel lost and very, very behind on what I need to do. Like the garden which won'

As some of you know, I am a huge fan of my slow cooker. I even have two - a small 3 quart size and a bigger 6 quart size. I use my slow cookers year round. Besides being more energy efficient than cooking in the oven all day, slow cookers should not heat up your home in the summer. I love coming home to a meal already prepared besides just fussing with some easy side dishes. This is the perfect recipe! Roast Chicken - Slow Cooker Style 1 - 3-4 lb. whole chicken, raw and thawed if frozen salt and pepper to taste any other seasonings that suit your fancy aluminum foil Rinse and pat your chicken dry. You can remove the neck and giblets if you would like. You may want to put some seasonings inside or some garlic, onions, apples, oranges and/or lemons inside. Tear off four large pieces of aluminum foil and crumple each piece into a somewhat loose ball roughly about three inches across. Put the foil balls into the crockpot in a square formation. Set the chicken on top of the

Well, I have to make an admission. I didn't get much cleaning done last weekend. I spent part of Saturday watching this:  Shali batting a very excellent hit! Then we spent time with family Saturday afternoon. Friday night, a little of Saturday afternoon/night, and Sunday afternoon and night was spent outside. The weather and temps were gorgeous if not a little (or a lot) humid. Dane and I planted the rose square in the yard. The middle of the bed is a wild rose bush (I think? I know it is a rose of some kind!). In the corners we planted mums that are suppose to be very hardy since they were developed in Minnesota. In between the mums we planted columbines. I wasn't planning on planting or buying more plants, but the Hy-Vee greenhouse had a lot left and looked so nice. In other words, I have no willpower and bought them anyway. Oh well. They will be pretty! This is the rose square: Sorry the roses got cut off from the top picture. Here is a close up of the pretty posie

Do you ever have trouble with trying to figure out what to do with your weekend? I don't mean making plans and with whom to hang out with. I mean the "cleaning the house" and "what projects to do this weekend" list. I am very good at making lists for projects, but not for house cleaning. Probably because I detest house cleaning, but I enjoy a clean, organized house! So I cheat...on my "cleaning house" list. I already know I need to do laundry, mow lawn, put in some new plants, and weed the garden. I rely on FlyLady emails and Home Sanctuary blog site to give me some direction on cleaning the house. These are usually daily tasks that I attempt to do daily. This week, though, has been horrible for keeping up with those! So I try to finish them up on Saturday.  My weekend "Cleaning House Amidst A Softball Tournament Saturday" list looks like this: From FlyLady: Your mission for today in the bathroom is to wipe down around the base a

Laundry can be so expensive! The cost of laundry detergent, the cost of electricity to run the washer/dryer, and the cost of the water used can add up quickly. The costs go up even further when you add in the extras like fabric softener, dryer sheets, and laundry boosters.  I don't know about you, but I don't like wasting my money this way. Laundry doesn't have to be so expensive!  I have several ways that I save money on doing laundry. Many of these ideas are not original and I give credit to those that I have taken them from. I just don't remember who you are! Thanks for the ideas though! How can you save on your laundry? Let me count the ways... 1. Make your own laundry detergent ! I have two recipes for homemade detergent: original and revamped ! Both work very well and are very cheap! 2. Make your own washing machine cleaner! How? Fill your washer full of HOT water. Add one gallon of vinegar and 1/2 cup of baking soda. Let the washer go throug