Living Life in Rural Iowa

This week has been interesting. We have been without internet for ten days now. We should have it back tomorrow when the technician comes and figures why the modem doesn't read the router and the router doesn't read the modem. I changed the cable three times with no luck. They think it is the outlet on the modem. We shall see. I had to buy a new router because of it so I hope that is not in vain. I wasn't thrilled about spending $77 for a new one.

Being without internet has been a learning experience for the family. No internet meant the girls could not do homework for school since many of their assignments are done/sent online. No internet meant no Netflix, YouTube, online games, and a lot of boredom for a little boy. Dane actually handled it pretty well until last Saturday, but he managed to stay busy or was kept busy.

No internet also meant a lot more productive house which I will keep in mind and use to my advantage in the future!

Although I was happy that I had data o…

Another long, but fun few weeks in the books! We are still adjusting to the new puppy and she to us. Honestly, I can't wait for her to be outside a lot more. I truly believe most dogs are meant to live outside and she is proving that to me over and over again. On the other side of this is that my house is very clean right now between picking up stuff so she doesn't chew on it and her little accidents here and there.

Having a meal plan these last few weeks has been a sanity saver! I stuck to what meals I was going to make and it made a huge difference at meal time. I was able to take advantage of the bone-in chicken breast sale (99 cents/pound) and got three whole breasts. I cooked them in the crockpot all day. We had one for supper that night with roasted vegetables. The rest I put in the fridge for future meals including chicken noodle soup for lunch yesterday. I put the bones back into the the slow cooker and added water and let that cook all night and most of the next day t…

With Spring coming in four days, I would like to start giving regular updates on the progress of the garden this year. I will also share my frustrations too, but I would like to be positive about gardening. Gardening is therapy for me and I want to be an encouragement to all of you!

I plan on sharing my progress through my goals and plans as well as what I have gotten accomplished. As of right now, that is not a lot due to snow, snow melting, and muddiness right now! 

2014 Garden Plans and Goals

1. Buy a rear-tined tiller. My ground gets very hard even with the additional soil conditioners. A tiller will be a gift from heaven. Especially if I can find one that I can start easily. 

Not yet, but soon! I am researching and patiently waiting for an used one. A new one costs $500-600 and that just makes me cringe to spend that kind of money!

2. Adding in more peat moss and compost to nourish the garden. 

3. Buying biodegradable plastic or material that will block the weeds in between rows. I wil…

If you are one of those lucky people who get a tax refund, consider yourself blessed. I do! I didn't get as much back as last year and I am perfectly okay with that. However, my tax refund goes towards stocking and restocking my house as well as the necessities and priorities that need to be taken care of.

New shelving! One of last year's purchases!
First of all, if you are in debt, please pay off your debts first. I know there can be some exceptions to this rule. One exception I would make is if you have a need to purchase a vehicle. I think it is far better to purchase a vehicle for cash instead of making payments. I think it is far better to pay cash for anything than to charge it or pay interest.

Second, if you do not have any savings, put $500-$1000 in savings for emergencies. If you need to, put it in a different bank or a difficult to assess area in your home. Emergencies arise all the time and that money may come in handy in September.

Third, make a priority list. What is …

(Preparedness on the Cheap is a series of articles for the prepper and everyone else that doesn't have a lot of money, but needs to take steps to be prepared. A good deal of prepping is learning, planning, and organizing. Prepping doesn't have to cost a lot of money, but does involve a lot of doing!)

One thing that most people fail to plan for is having to evacuate. Making evacuation plans and practicing them is a very frugal and cheap way to prepare. The whole family can be and should be involved in making them and practicing them.

Evacuation plans can have many levels/steps to them:
  1. Evacuating the home in case of fire or a natural disaster, but still staying on the property
  2. Evacuating the home due to a natural disaster or emergency and leaving the premises
  3. Evacuating the area due to a natural disaster or emergency
  4. Evacuating to another area altogether

Many of these plans are intertwined together and can have many steps.

For step #1, one of the first things I did …

This week has been a snowy, warm, rainy, windy, blizzarding, snowy two weeks. I was home for almost two days the first week because of the snow and wind so I saved some money on gas and, since I have vacation, I will still get paid for those days. We lost power for about nine hours on that Thursday night in addition to the flickering on power for four hours before that. I would like to think I saved money on electricity since I shut everything down when the power started flickering.

The second week was very slow here on the blog and at home. I fell on the ice, flat on my back, before playing volleyball. I went ahead and played volleyball anyway because I didn't really hurt that bad. I got home that night and by the time I went to bed, I was in a lot of pain. I have used the heating pad and sat in the recliner most nights since then and went to the chiropractor Saturday morning. I felt pretty good after that, but I starting having some pain again Monday night and a bit this morning…