It’s been a rough couple of weeks with work. In fact, work has become increasingly busy. It was the end of the quarter and a race to get customer contracts closed up, signatures, etc. For those that don’t know, I work for a software company in sales. It can be very high stress, even more so now that the economy is the way it is. It has really hindered my ability to write. It has also afforded a little time to reflect on my prepping, my true preparedness, etc. During this reflecting period, I’ve started to feel like I am spending, spending, spending. I feel like a crazy consumer who has to have all this stuff. The word stuff by the way, is relative. By stuff I mean, anything from clothing, to a new CB, to continuing to purchase food (I am getting better at rotating), to the need for all these little things. And it seems the money keeps wanting to go out the door. Now, I do not feel that the items that are in need of purchase are frivolous purchases. They are a result of the recent hurricane and experiences to make life and the shift into survival mode easier. Are they necessities? Well, that is the quandary. When not in use, they are not really necessities. When the road is flooded out, trees are blocking highways, there is an accident ahead, etc., it would be good to be informed; in the case of the CB, of course, as an example.
I feel… I feel like I am just consuming and spending at the moment. “The more I learn, the more stuff I need,” keeps running through my mind. More food, more gear, more skills that might require more gear. I feel like I am starting to be wheel going round and round with no destination. To that end, the economy is not helping me, and not from a lack of resources perspective either. No, it is not helping because I feel the urge to accelerate preps, purchases, etc. I live in an apartment. It is starting to get full of (pardon the expression), shit. I am donating a ton of stuff (mostly clothes) to the Salvation Army this week. That is going to create a “little” additional space, but it is mostly clearing out some space in a couple closets. Hell, I have more rucks and backpacks than I think I will ever need. Some of them are going to the Salvation Army… I even recently looked at replacing my coffee table and end tables with storage type tables. Do you know hard they are to locate, at least good quality one’s anyway, not to mention how expensive good ones are. I am probably just ranting, but these are thoughts that have gone through my head for the past several days, and they are not going away… What’s a prepper to do?
I’ have thought about this long and hard. My conclusions are few. Slow down the purchase of nonessential preps? Some of them, I have been putting off some of these purchases for a year or more. In fact I cursed myself when I didn’t have better communications during/after Hurricane Irene. Part of that was my own doing, I was out and about the day after, and traveling back home from PA, but still cursed myself…
What are your thoughts? Have you ever felt you needed to keep consuming preps, etc, and feeling like it was just too much, even if the money was available?
I feel the same way. Too much regular income going to daily expenses these days. Much much more so than 2–3 years ago. I must be doing something wrong. There’s no inflation, right? 😉
I think it is all relevant really. If you are in a hurricane zone then a bit of extra food is ideal. However, that is when community comes together too. If you are in a highrise, leadership is better than prepping. Bringing all the people towards a common goal will surface more supplies than you could possibly afford or have room to store. I spent a lot of time looking at what it takes (materially and physically) to be a prepper and I came down to realizing that most of my outdoors survival skills can be used in an urban environment as well. The best thing you can learn is how to use your gear, and how you can use it to do things its not designed to. That being said, a pocket full of supplies could lead to a month or two of survival. If your concern is natural disaster, someone will surely find you within that period of time.
Good Point @Evan…
Hub and I have only recently seen the need for prepping and are new to it. Other than my usual hurricane preps for 3 days, we had nothing else. I have slowly increased our food preps. I feel though that we are prepping at a snail’s pace for what I see as a definite economic crisis ahead. Like you, the more I read and learned about prepping, the more I felt we needed. So hub and I had to sit back and take a look at what we felt were the most likely scenarios to be prepping for. That’s what our prep focus is now. Unfortunately living in a city there are some things we don’t have room for and some things that could become problematic. For example, a long term water crisis. We have no where to store large amounts of water. We do keep about 3 days worth of potable water and have 3–55 gallon rainbarrels for bathing or clothes washing. We are thinking of a well but I’m not sure if we will be able to get a permit since our lot is so small. Another possible problem is for long term power outage. We have no alternate heat source. Although we have a gas furnace it is electric fan forced. Hub is planning to purchase a generator. Whether gas or electric with solar charger we haven’t decided. It is hard to prep when groceries are costing twice as much as two years ago. I still buy a few things extra each time but the grocery bill is outrageous.
Our retirement home will be in the mountains. We are looking into some solar items for it and will have a well with both electric pump and hand pump. We will also have an alternate heat source. Unfortunately that is still 9 years away and I’m fairly certain the economy will take a nosedive before then.
I’ve felt that way too, but I’m getting better. Not having the $ to buy everything one thinks they need forces some choices.
I try to look at ‘most likely’ things, and take it from there. I’m almost 41. In those years, I’ve NEVER been forced out of my home(s) for even a night. I’ve never experienced a plague, a riot, the collapse of society, an ebola outbreak or the need to dig up guns. Not saying it won’t/can’t happen, just that for me, it hasn’t. Its not likely.
OTOH, most people, myself included, have experienced car wrecks, unemployment, illness, unexpected deaths of family and/friends, things like that.
What I try to keep in perspective in my prepping, is to keep in mind what the more likely, but more boring things that will ruin my day.
Exercise can be free. It improves my health. Healthy me = happy me who can better cope with whatever.
Saving where I can. Some $ to deal with life’s issues = less stressed me so I can better cope with whatever.
Self educating can be very low cost. Improve the software, my mind and my thinking and decision-making skills. Sites like this one are great for that sort of thing!
Sorry for the ramble! Carry on!
Feel the same way, overloaded with stuff, running out of room, but still need more prep supplies. Having to store buckets in the dining room then moving them out of the way when anyone comes over. Part of the problem was some mistakes made in the beginning when we bought the wrong things from lack of experience. Donated a bunch to make room; that helped somewhat. Hang in there, buy what you need that makes you feel more prepared and secure.
I am about to donate a bunch of stuff this weekend, including some food that I made the mistake of buying, such as “brown rice.” It has been in storage for about a year, and is still good, but all research indicate(s) that brown rice goes bad faster than white or parboiled…
Sorry I do not have time to make a more thoughtful comment. Might I enquire if you have been listening to the Survival Podcast recently. This theme is currently in style.
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/common-sense-vs-consumerism
I have not… The past several weeks, I have been pre-occupied with work. We have been very busy, fortunately, and have not had the time to write or pay attention to much other than 12 — 15 hour days… I will take a look.… Thanks, @prepperjim
Brings to mind a couple of phrases my parents used to say, My mom said “learning experience” a lot, damned annoying at times, too. lol. But there you go, if you can eat it anyway or donate it, and vow never to buy it again, then you’ve learned something. But at least you had it if something had happened at the time. My dad believed strongly in his right to “upgrade”. In his younger, financially leaner days he couldn’t afford to buy the quality he would have wanted, but now that he can afford better, he buys better.
You not a prepper unless you ALWAYS feel like you NEED more stuff. So long as you’re filling in the holes you’re missing in your supplies and gear–such as the CB radio for communications–then you’re on the right track.
I would suggest making a list of what you would need to survive most disasters. Use headings such as Water, Food, Lighting, Communications, Hygiene, First Aid, etc. Simply start listing everything you have that fit those categories. When you’re done you may find categories that you’ve neglected or could bolster. I know this strategy has helped me pin-point what I’m lacking so I don’t feel like I’m spending frivolously.
@millenniumfly, you are right… I need to get a bit more organized, I know that. In fact, I am purging items I no longer use as we speak to make some additional room for the items I will be procuring in the near future…