Living Life in Rural Iowa

Paper goods can be a pretty decisive part of prepping. They are handy to have on hand when you have to reserve water, when someone gets sick on the carpet, and to escape the pressure of doing more laundry. I know a lot of people think you should keep paper goods in your prepping supplies because you might have to ration water and they will be easier to use and can be burned.  I know a lot of people disagree and think that you should keep non-paper goods in your preps because they can be reused. Using cloth napkins, rags, towels, and family cloths are undoubtedly better for the environment and less costly on the wallet and the trash bill.  I happen to agree with both sides. I keep both, but mainly use non-paper goods. However, just to state this now: I will give up toilet paper when I run out of toilet paper and not a day sooner. I am not sure you can have too much toilet paper on hand either. But I digress... There are pros and cons to using paper goods versus non-paper goods.

January can be a slow month in the prepping world. The weather is usually less than ideal to be outside. The desire to work on the New Year's resolutions is strong and you need to take advantage of that! Did you make any prepping goals for the year? I didn't, but I have a list of things that I want to accomplish. I thought I would share a monthly list of prepping things you can do in January to get the year kicked off right. Five Prepping Things To Accomplish In January: 1. Start working out. You want to be inside anyway so it is time to get moving. Join a gym, get out those exercise videos, find an exercise video on YouTube, and/or find a workout you enjoy. You can also go outside and get a brisk walk in. Just get moving! Prepping does involve your physical health and now is the time to take care of it! If you are afraid you can't stick with an exercise plan, set up an alarm in your phone to remind you. Also remember, it takes 21 days of practice to make a habit

Were you ready for the holiday chaos to be over? I was. I love the holidays, but I do not like the craziness of the season. I have scaled back a lot in my celebrating, but the struggle to make the season simple is real.  December was also Paige's birthday. She turned 16! Yikes! Where has the time gone?!?! She also got one of these:  Watch out world!  We are buried in snow and ice right now. That is the reality of living in the Midwest in winter . The wind has been crazy though! If the wind hasn't been crazy, the really cold temperatures have been! We are on our second "cold snap" of the winter. This morning we woke up to -7℉! Brrr.... As I mentioned before, I do not really have any goals or resolutions for the year. Okay, I take that back. I have five things I want to see happen, but they are fairly personal and not really relating to homesteading:  I want to get $1000 in a savings account for emergencies. I want to save $1000 for next Christmas .