Living Life in Rural Iowa

Lately I have been doing a lot of decluttering at home. As I alluded to in Monday's post, I have been noticing things. The more cluttered I am in mind, the worse the stress seems. If my house is really messy and very disorganized, I feel disorganized and sort of lost with what I need to do.

If I go through a pile of papers and deal with them, I feel better. If I clean, tidy, and organize a shelf, I feel better. I feel less stressed when I accomplish something. Going through a pile of papers is an accomplishment. Cleaning off a shelf is an accomplishment. Fixing the broken lampshade is an accomplishment.

I like feeling accomplished. It's good for my self.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have a clean house. More times than not, I think we can be hard on ourselves about having a clean house and we unintentionally cause more stress. I can't have any more stress in my life. So having a perfectly clean house is not going to happen.

However, I like knowing where everything i…

Hello everyone again! This week is a new week. At least, that is what I keep telling myself. I am tired and I did not sleep so well last night. Sometimes I think sleep and I could be better friends, but we both have different agendas so what is the point?

Saving money has been an unusual experience these last few weeks. I guess my tax refund was in my account on the 8th. I didn't realize that fact until the 19th. Note to self: check bank account more often. I think I went a little crazy, but I have this idea. Would it be possible to buy almost everything we need for a whole year? I would be more than happy to hear your opinions of that!

We have been doing a little catch up though. The bills are paid off that I had been making payments on. Both girls' prom dresses are bought and paid for except the altering. Paige NEEDED clothes and undergarments. She is growing like a weed and has a slightly different style than her sisters. She also has an upcoming trip that she needs nice cl…

Before the weekend truly gets started for me, I wanted to get some posts written! This day is proving to be fairly busy already and it is only 8:00!

I wanted to start something for the weekends and I couldn't really decide what. I have a lot of interests and I read about a lot of different things. I always want to share that information with you and I couldn't decide on the best way for a long time. I always want to sound like the expert and share this information with you after I tried it, but you know I just don't have the time to try everything I want to.

Every weekend I will share with you 5-8 articles, blog posts, or books that I think you should check out. I will be posting where they came from and what the article is with a link for you to go see them yourself. This truly is the best way because I do not want to take credit where credit is not due.

So, without further ado...

Weekend Links

What U.S. Parents Can Learn From Finnish Educators by Jesse Knadler (Rurally Scr…

How many packages do you get? What do you do with all the packing materials that comes with those packages? I hope you don't throw it away!

I ship a lot of items from selling on Amazon and eBay. I am constantly looking for ways to reduce my costs without giving the appearance of being cheap on the packaging materials. One of those ways is to reuse the packaging materials that come with my online purchases. 

Unless the shipper has used a ton of tape, the bubble wrap can be reused. Carefully unwrap the bubble wrap from the package, fold it up neatly, and put it away for the next time you need to ship or carefully wrap something. I would not recommend trying to tear the tape off the bubble wrap because it will tear. Just gently cut the tape so it will lay flat.

I also reuse the packing peanuts and plastic "pillows" that come with packages. These are usually in great condition after I have received the package. Find a tote or use the box they came in and find a spot on the …

What a last week (or two? I have no idea anymore.) this has been! I logged more miles in five days than I have in a long time. Some of those miles were happy miles, sad miles, and contemplative miles. I would not trade them for anything, but this girl did not know what end was up for a few days after.

I started out on the 1st of February driving to Dubuque for the state speech contest courtesy of one of my sweet friends. She wanted her son to go and I offered to drive him over. She did not think we should get up at 5:00 am Saturday morning to go so she booked a hotel room for us to go. I really did not think this was necessary, but in hindsight this became a terrific idea due to the weather. On Saturday we watched Shali and her friends perform in the state speech contest and received a I for their efforts!

From Dubuque, I went to Rob's house in Minnesota on Saturday after state speech. Another 3 hour drive, but with beautiful scenery. We had a great time together watching the Supe…

This week's frugal tip is an off-shoot of yesterday's post about Corn Casserole. In the tips and suggestions, I have listed one about using up the ends of pasta that are in boxes. I don't let these gems go to waste! This is still food and money spent. I have actually helped people clean out their food pantries and kitchens and they will throw these away. What?!?!

Don't do that! Let me help you!

Invest in one of these:



I use these containers a lot! They are so handy!  I don't use them for cereal either although I should. I use them for leftover pasta and chocolate chips. If I have a little bit left in the bottom of a box or bag of pasta, I will dump them into the container. Then I will use the pasta in dishes such as Corn Casserole and Cavatini where I don't care what the pasta in them looks like. Besides, the kids think it is fun to see all the different shapes!

If you don't want to pay full price for one of these cereal containers, you don't have to. …