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15 Feb ’12
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I think the word prepper takes on a negative meaning for a lot of people, they think armageddon, zombies, etc. Personally for me it means being to deal with hard times that will come our way throughout our lifetime.
Most of us either had parents or grandparents that were children of the depression, they knew what hard times were. That's why they saved, re-purposed everything, gardened, canned and made do with the bare minimum. Heck even companies back in the day were focused on self-sufficiency. Flour companies printed different colored and designed flour sacks because they knew that their customers were using the flour bags for clothing.
In just over a generation that level of self reliance has totally gone away in our consumer fuel economy and throw away based society. Here is a great article that focuses on appliances.
https://medium.com/@ryanfinlay/they-used-to-last-50-years-c3383ff28a8e#.2fbl2syc8
Now when someone tries to do what our parents or grandparents did they usually get a blank stare followed up by, you aint one of those doomsday preppers are you? This has happened to me.
Heck look at what is happening in Mexico right now, within 24 hours Hurricane Patricia went from a tropical storm to what most people are saying is a Hurricane level 7 storm if the scale went that high. Look at what happened in Katrina and Sandy when people waited for the govt to come help them.
Now we may never face something like Patricia in our life time but we will all have our personal shtf moment, whether it be loss of job, loss of spouse or child. Prepping isn't always about zombies and aliens, sometimes it's just about helping overcome the hardships that come along every now and then.
15 Feb ’12
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one of our members had posted this on his blog quite a few years ago, another perspective
The concept of retirement is a relatively new one. Not so long ago, when we were a more agrarian based society, few people ever retired. Their daily duties just changed. As we grew older, we would take over running the farm, and then we would maybe step back and let our kids do that. Maybe we would take over maintenance of the equipment or something a little less physically demanding, but that required our experience. Maybe we would help out more inside the home. But flat-out retirement to travel south or play golf all day was the domain of the ultra rich. Even then, most tycoons were still wheeling and dealing well into their 60’s and beyond.
Nowadays with retirement plans tanking and pension funds bleeding out, we may find ourselves without the ability to retire once again. However, this time, we won’t have the farm to feed us and the multi-generational home to keep us occupied and close to our loved ones. If we’re very fortunate, we may be able to find a spot in a retirement home and sell our current homes to pay for it.
Me, I have a different plan. My plan depends on me getting prepared to take care of myself and my wife for as long as we are physically able. If my plan works, we’ll also be able to ‘retire’ early. That plan is preparedness.
When you think about it, if you can provide most of your own food, utilities, and medicine and your shelter is bought and paid for, how much money do you really need? Enough to pay the property taxes, run your vehicle, and take care of emergencies. Maybe you need some money for a bit of travel as well. But not as much money as two people working for more than 40 hours a week each generate.
It’s not hard to imagine a household income of around $100,000 a year or about $73,000 after taxes. Now, we know a lot of people are going to have mortgage payments around $1400 a month, utilities of at least $400 a month, TV and Internet for another $200 a month, $500 for food, $400 for various insurances, $200 for gas for the vehicles…it goes on and on.
So just the cost of living consumes $3100 of your after-tax income. Yearly, that’s about half of your income. If you can pay off your home, produce half of your utilities, drop the fancy TV package and step down a notch on the Internet access (that’s a tough one for me) and produce half of your food, you cut that outlay to about $1100 dollars a month. At that point, one of you can effectively retire. Or, the two of you can work half as much.
So what do you do with the extra 20-30 hours a week? Do the soul-building things like work your garden, love your spouse, split some wood, read books, start a business, whatever! Now, you are working for you. And should everything go for a poop, you are completely prepared to live comfortably and well with little to no income.
I find the thought of retiring to my homestead around the age of 50 to be a much more motivating and positive thought, than think of prepping to cope with disaster or the “End of the World” like stereotypical survivalists talk about. Disaster may never come, but time always marches on, and sooner or later we all need to slow down.
6 Oct ’15
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KVR, Our thoughts and plan exactly.
Minimize housing expenses in terms of cost up front, no mortgage, design to minimize utilities and minimize maintenance expenses.
Save money for retirement a variety of ways: 401/403/Roth, cash, return to a municipal job that pays a lifetime pension and grantees health insurance when you retire, increase education/skill/credential that increases earning power where you can then work 2-3 days a week and make the same income you used to make for 5 days of work.
Always improve the functionality of the homestead, especially food production/storage, energy production, security.
Lottery is not working out for us and I don't see any inheritance windfall...up to us as a team.
15 Feb ’12
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surprised more people don't think that way to be honest especially after the economic crisis in 2008, sadly most people have short memories
6 Oct ’15
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Hey there KVR...Last week there was a water main break on my street...we saw the trucks, back hoe and flashing yellow lights head down the road.
We have water on hand, so not an issue.
Went to check nextdoor neighbor, elderly and frail and just got out of hospital...gave him some water to get him through hydration, brushing teeth and taking his pills.
Stopped by other neighbor to tell them, the first they said was 'you think we will have the water back on by bed time?'...who knows.
Should have gone back home.
Checked on a third neighbor...you already know where this is going...told them the news...' so that is why we can't flush the toilet and have no water, no problem, we have seltzer water' ... okay...there's your sign.
I walked down the hill to where the break was, water was rising in some guys front yard and was close to his foundation (glad we bought the ground) ... never met the guy...offered to lend him an ejection pump...he said thanks and that he was okay.
...water was fine by morning...I am now stocking up on seltzer.
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