by kpeavey » Wed 29 Dec 2004, 17:33:02
Does it make sense to plan for the future if you don't have your current situation under control
Do you take a loan to buy a boat when you don't yet have a honda generator in case the power goes out?
Do you go out to dinner because you have earned a night out, when your home food storage is inadequate to last a month?
I once had a woman ask me what I would charge to build her a wishing well for her front yard. I look around at her 3 kids and asked if she has a college fund for any of them?
People have misplaced their priorities.
They are trying to keep up with the Jones's by buying a new SUV, big screen TV, or inground pool when they have not yet covered the basics.
Air
This is not an item I really worry about. If a problem occurs where I don't have it, I likely would not survive anyway.
Water
2 gallons per day per person for 2 weeks =14 gallons/person is the absolute minimum requirement to have on hand in your house right now. If the water supply goes down, you have 2 weeks to find a replacement source. Having a 2 week supply puts you ahead of just about everyone you know, work with, or live within a mile of. In event of disaster, this may be the single factor which saves your life. Estimated cost if you bleach your empty milk jugs and store them full of water under the porch=$0.00.
Food
Food is cheap, easily accessible, easy to store. Canned goods, dry goods, frozen foods. The minimum to have on hand is a years supply of food for each person in your home. Store the foods you eat. Buy in bulk, save a lot of money. Food production ability is also necessary. You have a years supply, this is the time limit you have to develop your lands to produce enough food to get you by after the storage runs out. This means you also need seed, know how to grow them, know how to save seeds from the planting for the next crop. After crops, knowing how and being able to raise your own livestock gives you the ability to raise your own food.
Clothing
Sufficient clothing to last a year for all seasons, and the ability to mend them. It may also be wise to get some clothing that is larger than your normal size, so at least you can look like everyone else when they are starving.
Shelter
A home, not an apartment or rental property, in a good state of repair.
Power
An independent source of electricity, be it a generator, solar, wind. Depending on the grid for your power is to place faith in a system which will undeniably fail within your lifetime.
Security
A means of self defense. Dogs are a good start. Smith and Wesson is also an avenue to pursue. Firearms are safe IF YOU ALSO KNOW HOW TO USE THEM. Spend the money, go to gun class, practice with it, learn and practice gun safety.
Education
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.
Retirement
If you have all of the above, and the money to pay for property taxes, you can retire anytime you like. The need for money will be mostly gone already. This makes you independent of an economic collapse, and removes the fear of it.
Once you can guarantee all of this, then you can go for the luxuries and fancy stuff. Work until you drop dead if thats what floats your boat.
I see people I know spending their hard earned money on things they don't need. A cover to a kleenex box that looks like a cow. Shiny wheels for their car so they can look cool. The right label on a shirt. The latest movie on DVD.
If you cut out all the frills, junk food, entertainment, decorations, and direct your attention at your needs, you can cover your arse. Do people really need to be entertained with a giant TV with surround sound for 6 hours a day?
Most people have their priorities screwed up. It is not necessarily their fault, consumerism teaches people to get what they want and to get it now. You can pay for it later. If you get the big screen TV, then lose your job and can't afford to heat your house, exactly how did you pay later for that TV?
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984
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twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, and what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-George Yeats