Living Life in Rural Iowa

Are you tired of pinching pennies? Are you tired of beans and rice? Are you tired of wondering when the debt will be paid off? Are you tired of being frugal? Frugal burnout is a real thing, folks! Constantly watching your pennies and wondering when you can afford what you really need or want just gets to you after a while. I know, for me, that I just get tired of it all. I get tired of checking my bank account constantly. I get tired of keeping track of my spending. I get tired of not being able to buy whatever I want. I get tired of saying no to my kids. You get the idea.  Being that aware of your money all the time can wear a person out. Even though you should have an emergency fund, real life happens. Your car breaks down or an emergency room trip happens. It just makes you want to throw your hands up in the air and cry!  You are trying so hard to get ahead! You are being as frugal as you can and life is still tough. This is where frugal burnout comes in. Y

Homesteading is a really wonderful thing. You raise your own food. You have your livestock. You are well on your way to being self-sufficient. The homesteading blogs and books paint such a great picture of a rosy life. Sure it may be some hard work, but really how hard can it be? People just have no idea! Five Reasons Homesteaders Fail: 1. Disillusionment. You have read the books. You have followed for your favorite homesteading bloggers for months now. Sure, there might be a few hard times. But you are certain this is the life for you!  Then you start your first garden . And everything dies or doesn't produce well. You pick up your first batch of laying chicks. Nine out of fifteen chicks die in three days.  You buy a sow and she has piglets. So cute until the mama lays on half the litter. You get a dog to protect the property and the livestock. Which is great until she kills her first chicken. Slowly or suddenly, you realize that homesteading isn't all rai

Another week gone by in a blur... I have an observation to make though. I am sure you all probably know this, but there is nothing like having company or family coming over to make sure you get a lot of cleaning up to do in a very short amount of time! Mowing had to be done after getting some much needed rain. We trimmed around everything. We hauled a load of broken appliances and junk that didn't fit in the dumpster to the landfill. We even took a magnetic roller around the buildings to get the nails and screws that had been dropped. We tidied up a lot and got a lot of little piddly projects done. I weeded as much as possible, but that chore is never done.  I picked my first crop of peas of the year! Yeah!  Family came and we had a great time! We talked a lot. We ate a lot. We watched the dogs play. We shot off fireworks and had a big bonfire. Then Saturday night brought this: We got a fierce wind, two inches of rain, and a bit of hail. The ga

Whew! Another week gone! I swear I am going to figure out how to slow down time... The kids were a busy bunch this last week. They went to their dad's house for two days. Paige drove some more Driver's Ed and worked at the pool (she is a life guard). Dane went to his aunt and uncle's house on Saturday with his grandparents. On Sunday, the kids and I went to my parents' house to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! A lot has happened in forty years and I am sure more will happen in the future! This week, Dane has basketball camp from today to Thursday. Paige is on her second to last week of Driver's Ed. Both kids are frantically getting ready for county fair that is the first week in August! And we have family coming Friday to stay with us this weekend! Whew! So what happened last week? I weeded the garden. Amazingly, it needs weeding again. We got some much, much needed rain after being dry for almost three week

This last two weeks have really been a roller coaster. We have had a few ups and a few downs.  The garden is growing well. All except my peppers. They are not growing much at all. I think I am going to hit them with a shot of fertilizer . My carrots did not come up very well either. However, I hit up some end of the season sales. I planted more tomatoes, peppers, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. I will probably go back and get some more strawberry plants and see what else is left.  We need rain and soon. We are suppose to get a storm tonight so hopefully we get some significant rainfall with that. We are dry...as in do not light a fire anytime soon dry.  We lost our house cat, Lola last Friday. She hadn't been doing very well this last week and was scheduled to go back to the vet last Friday. She passed away on the way to the vet. She was 15 years old and had lived a long, good life. We buried her in the yard so the kids can visit. They were pretty attached