Living Life in Rural Iowa

While everyone should be a frugal lifer, a lot of people struggle to do so. Life happens and you end up spending more money than you want to. You are busy and money just flies out the window. A good deal of living frugally is planning ahead and having goals. What do you want to accomplish financially? In what areas do you want to save money? How can you simplify your life to spend less money? Only you can answer those questions, but let me help you set some frugal living goals for the next year! 10 Frugal Living Goals You Should Be Making This Year 1. Learn new things to cook from scratch.  You can save so much money on your grocery bill by cooking from scratch. Processed food and eating out is so expensive even with a good deal or a special. Learn to make things from scratch and you will also improve your own health as well. 2. Find new ways to save money.  When you are a frugal lifer, this can be hard. You think you already know and have found all the ways to save money, but I

The new year is coming quickly. While I think goal setting can be done any time of year and should be, this seems to be the time of year for most people to set goals. If you are a prepper, winter is a good time to get your goals figured out, written down, and a game plan set to accomplish them. What goals should you be setting as a prepper? 1. Increase water storage and/or create a way to procure water without electricity. We often do not have enough drinking and non-drinking water in our stockpiles. While the experts say to have at least one gallon per person per day of water, most people use more than that for cooking and bathing. We also don't always remember to store water for pets and livestock. If you can, look for a way to install rain barrels or a cistern to procure and use water without electricity. 2. Increase or double your food storage. Many preppers only have a month or less of food storage. You should concentrate on doubling your food storage. If you have a

You have discovered prepping. You have awakened to the fact that the world isn't right. Everything could be gone tomorrow. Your job could be over with at the end of the month. A storm could take out the power for several days. You suddenly feel an urge to get your stuff together and be ready for the next disaster. You want to buy food and supplies to have stored in case of an emergency. You are excited to get started. You have been reading articles online. You are starting to decide what kind of food storage you want to get. You have been looking at generators and camping stoves. You have already bought some extra cases of water. Then you talk to your family and suddenly you find a lot of cold water thrown at you. They don't understand what you are so worried about. Nothing like that has ever happened (amazing how short people's memories are)! They don't think you should be worried about the future. They don't want to have to worry about things like disaste

L ong before thrift shopping was cool, I was doing it to stretch my budget and because I just couldn't afford new things. In fact, my parents did the same thing! I grew up on hand-me-downs until I outgrew my cousin's clothes. Almost all my books came from used bookstores and the library. We went to auctions and garage sales. My parents needed to stretch their pennies too! Now thrift shopping is cool. Thrift stores are gaining popularity as are the "for sale" or "garage sale" groups on Facebook. Craigslist is still going strong and eBay is still a great place to unload your used but still in great condition goods. Consignment shops are still a good place to buy and unload your good condition goods (and make a little extra money!). Garage sales are still fun places to shop! I have a lot of fun thrift shopping as long as I don't go overboard. I want you all to be thrift shoppers too. If you are but know someone who should be, show them this post!

The power has gone out! Now what? The power going out can be scary and discomforting especially if you have kids. You need to have some ways to light up whatever you are doing. You need to provide some light to give comfort and make the time go by faster.  Some lights have better uses than other lights. Some lights will be just for lighting up the room enough to walk around in. Some lights will help you see what you are doing or reading. All these options will be great for camping or being outside after dark. Every light listed below will have a purpose and a place in your preps. Here is the thing about having non-electric lights. You need to have a very good supply of batteries on hand at all times. Most of these options will probably take batteries. 9 Ways You Can Light Up Your Home When The Power Is Out 1. Flashlights. These are just handy to have all the time. You can buy some of the cheap ones and some expensive ones. We keep the cheap little ones in almost every roo