Winter Budgeting in Rural Iowa

In January, I budget. It's a good month for it since I'm flooded with all those Christmas bills and the cold weather of the midwest causes me to pine for some elaborate warm weather vacation. In any midwestern home, January budgets rise because of heating costs. Even in a mild winter, you can count on the heating bill being more than it is in, say, March or October. Sometimes, the heating bill can even be double or triple its usual amount in January and February.

Well, this year has been a challenge in rural eastern Iowa. We've had LOTS of snow. And ice. Naturally, my heating bill is high. AND, so is my towing bill!

Novice rural drivers that we are, we've managed to dump each of our vehicles into dirt-road ditcches piled high with snow. As if budgeting isn't hard enough, now we have this new "rural factor" to account for.

For sure, this winter's rural experience has taught us to slow down. be patient. and smile at the guy driving by in a 4X4 and pray he has a chain and a hitch to pull you out. It helps with the budget.