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Life goes on. While the threads about burying gold in graveyards(that was fun, by the way) and bugging out to more socialist areas if Trump becomes president(he won, might wanna call the movers) might be entertaining, they offer little practical knowledge to those engaged in... living. The most likely scenario for a SHTF event is the one that affects YOU. A job loss, a sick kid or parent, the death of a spouse, major car troubles, a house fire, or a terminal illness are all more likely than a race war or foreign invasion. We have got to make sure we are ready for our own lives before we concern ourselves with preparing for future catastrophes of a national nature. All the guns in the world do not help you with an aging parent, or a seriously ill child. Or a layoff, unless you are batsh*t crazy, in which case, you have bigger issues. A remote retreat is merely an extra expense and possible vacation spot if you need to work a job in the city to make ends meet. A basement full of canned goods isn't a lot of help when the motor blows up in the car you drive to work and make payments on.
In the medical field, the ABC acronym stands for Airway, Breathing, Circulation. Then comes Drug/Medications/EKG/Fibrillation. Airway is first because if the airway is obstructed, the patient cannot breathe. If the airway is clear, check for breathing, because if the patient is not breathing, circulation is not carrying oxygen, so who cares about it? Once the patient is breathing, check for a pulse. If there is one, then we move on to other more exotic problems and treatments. The message here is, focus on the most important things first. You are not going to survive a supervolcano eruption near as well if you lose your house and job, have nowhere to put your pile of food and guns, and end up homeless. You won't care much about a meteor barrage if you have Stage 4 liver cancer. Or if your kid does. Entire generations have come and gone without an earthbusting catastrophe, so preparing for that at the expense of your current situation is madness defined. Am I saying to live like the grasshopper and not to worry about the future? Not at all. But, do not sacrifice the present, or the real future, worrying about a catastrophe that may or may not, with may not being more likely, occur. Have extra food. Have the means to defend it as necessary. Be independent of outside help for at least 3 months, more if you can. But make sure you live first for today.
Enjoy life and all it offers. Take your wife to dinner or a concert. Take the kid fishing or bike riding. Take dear old dad to breakfast once a month or once a week. Give the job that pays for the beans and bullets and everything else the attention it deserves. And work toward security in all things. A bunker mentality mixes up your priorities and causes you problems. Concern yourself with life, and prepare for the most likely events first, then the medium likelihood events, and then, if you have scads of money and nothing else to worry about(a rare instance), build the bunker or retreat that you want. Just don't sacrifice your real life for some possible dark future that is by no means assured. We are here for a while, and then we are gone. Don't waste it.
I just spent a great holiday week with my children and grandchildren at our TN place. It was in the 60s and 70s a couple of days. During that time, we got 4-1/2 feet of snow up in Maine, so I can't wait to get back there! The wife has relatives here (TN) so I will have to be patient. It's pretty boring.
I do go for breakfast at my favorite greasy spoon, where I order eggs and grits. Nothing like it, up north! Not the best thing for me, I'm sure, but I love it, and I love the folks at that restaurant.
It's all about the people in your life. Whether it's your grandkids squealing with joy on Christmas morning, the fella at the auto parts store to whom you bring a coffee and corn muffin the way he likes it, the waitress at the local shop who needs the tips for her kids' school uniforms, the barber who remembers not to cut my hair too short (what's left of it...), or my lovely wife who wants to catch up with family gossip with her cousins and neices, I try to grin and bear it. The snow will still be there in Maine when we get back, whenever that is!
But at times I look at everything in totality, and realize that we are slipping into economic depression (I am NOT talking about the stock market). My grandkids' lives will be very different than mine has been. They will live to see new prosperity, but I won't. I have to use my present assets to see that they make it there in one piece, and that's what I'm doing, pretty much!
Much better to be out of debt and have emergency funds before building abnormal SHTF supplies. Real life is more likely.
It was not the Dust Bowl that caused my paternal grandparents to lose their farm in Missouri.
Nor was it the Dust Bowl that caused my maternal grandparents to lose their farm in Oklahoma.
In both cases it was their mortgage.
Having their life savings in banks [who subsequently locked their doors] the same banks that held the mortgages on their farms, that was the ticket that turned the Dust Bowl into a crisis.
Prepping for SHTF IS getting yourself out of debt.
These are not ideas at opposite ends of reality, they go together.
Want more money in your pocket? Spend less.
Growing your own food, costs less money. It makes you independent of 'processed food' [which has questionable health/toxicity], and more self-sufficient.
And since this is the SS&P forum, we can be as prepared and self-sufficient as we wish to be. We won't forget to "live" normal lives, but going out and spending recklessly just to say, "you can't take it with you", so just eat, drink and be merry (for tomorrow we shall die), makes little sense.
Always remember the story of the seven fat years and the seven lean years....
It was not the Dust Bowl that caused my paternal grandparents to lose their farm in Missouri.
Nor was it the Dust Bowl that caused my maternal grandparents to lose their farm in Oklahoma.
In both cases it was their mortgage.
Having their life savings in banks [who subsequently locked their doors] the same banks that held the mortgages on their farms, that was the ticket that turned the Dust Bowl into a crisis.
Prepping for SHTF IS getting yourself out of debt.
These are not ideas at opposite ends of reality, they go together.
Want more money in your pocket? Spend less.
Growing your own food, costs less money. It makes you independent of 'processed food' [which has questionable health/toxicity], and more self-sufficient.
Prepping is a good lifestyle.
I've had a couple times in the last few years where my income stream got dry. In both cases, I had only my mortgage to be concerned with. I keep 3 months expenses in the bank and 3 months in the safe at home. Having car payments and no savings would have been a nightmare.
I've been out of debt(except mortgage) for many years and have had EF's. I also prioritized paying off my shop in order to have a paid for place to live if necessary. This has allowed me to additionally store food, equipment, guns and ammo etc...
I've had to sell my house once due to being in debt and having no savings. It is far more important to prepare for loss of income before some catastrophic event, IMO.
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