Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Cost of Preparedness - Avoiding the Pitfalls

While there are certain costs involved with being prepared, it doesn’t have to wreck your budget. Using some plain old “common sense” will help you become better prepared without breaking the bank. It will make things a lot easier for you while giving you the security and peace of mind that comes with being prepared.

One of the first things you should realize is that the average person cannot realistically prepare for every contingency that may occur. Just when you think you’ve got all the bases covered, something will happen that will prove you wrong. This is usually the way life is in the real world.

Avoid some of the simple mistakes that happen quite often when people are trying to become better prepared and more self-reliant. Avoid drastically altering your lifestyle if you aren’t willing to make some serious sacrifices. Being able to live “off-grid” is a wonderful thing but it also has its disadvantages and may require some serious adjustments to your lifestyle. Having ten cases of MRE’s in storage is a good thing. But if you’ve never eaten one, you’d better eat a few first to find out if this type of food storage will work for you. Similarly, stocking up on survival seeds won’t do you very much good if you’ve never planted a garden to find out just how much work planting and being able to maintain a garden involves. That old hunting rifle or that .22 rifle or shotgun you use for varmint hunting or plinking will probably serve most of your basic needs when it comes to firearms.

If your preparedness efforts don’t fit into the normal routine of your daily life, you may wind up with a lot of “stuff” that you may not need or will never use. This can be extremely costly and unnecessary in most cases. Your preparedness efforts will be a lot more effective if they are slowly integrated into your present lifestyle and done so in a manner that allows these efforts to become a part of your regular routine. You’ll eventually become better prepared without destroying the “normal” part of your life if just use a little “common sense”.

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

6 comments:

357Chaos said...

good points. Start simple and cheap. example- save milk and juice jugs and when a hurricane is coming fill them up with tap water. Or keep them full and rotate out the water.

riverwalker said...

To: C

Even the simplest efforts will leave you better prepared than most. Don't risk your hard earned dollars on a lot of stuff you may never use.

Thanks C.

RW

Shy Wolf said...

Egads, RW- I think that bit of advice goes double when thinking of purchasing weapons if, as you advise, the regular use of them isn't part of your daily life.
KISS is more than Mayberry's ;)
Shy III

riverwalker said...

To: Shy Wolf

I consider firearms part of the tools for my survival.

Like any tool, if you don't take the time and effort to learn how to use them properly and safely, their use to you may be limited by your own actions.

Used for hunting and sport is probably the most common and everyday use by many people, I hope that they never have to be used for defensive purposes.

Having a firearm for defensive purposes is probably the exception. I hope that I never have use a firearm for defensive purposes.

Thanks Shy.

RW

HermitJim said...

Taking small steps will still get you where you want to go, and taking small steps is better than just standing there watching the parade pass you by!

Each journey begins with a single step!

riverwalker said...

Good advice Jim.

Thanks.

RW