Hey Everyone,

One of the things I struggle with, is how to "budget" my prepping. There always seems to be one (or several) more things I'd like to acquire in order to prepare for any eventuality. But, of course, I am a working man, and I only have so much disposable income. Finding a proper balance between paying my bills, saving money and preparing for things is very difficult.

On one hand, if TEOTWAWKI happens, then credit card bills, mortgages, car payments, money and the like will not mean anything. What you have on hand will mean everything when it comes to survival. However, if a less severe SHTF scenario happens, then the odds are good that the end of organized society will not be upon us. I despise debt, yet I've been trapped in the debt-consumerist way of life for some time. I'm working my way out of it, but it's so hard not to buy everything I can to prepare. I find deals everywhere, but spending money means you're not saving money or paying off debt.

I find it difficult to control my urge/obsession to spend on prepping. How do you find your balance?

You and me both brother! Not sure I've found my balance as I've run up some charges to purchase things that I just "have" to have. Truthfully though, I have come to use one credit card just for prepping. I had the credit card company put a credit line of $2500 on the card. I self impose my own limit of $1000 balance on that card. I keep the difference in case there was an emergency situation that I needed stuff right away. I pay what I can each month on the card but never allow myself to go over the $1000 limit. I haven't had a situation yet that I felt warranted going over that. It's allowed me to build my preps but within some financial control.

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Please don't take my avatar to seriously. I'm really not a bible thumping armageddon prophet.

I have had to rebuild my preps slowly due to a divorce. I still have most of the gear, my generator and stuff, but my food preps is where I took the big hit.

I always rotate my stock. When I have used a canned item or anything else that keeps, when I go get my groceries, I buy an extra can or container of whatever item I am replacing. This way my stocks slowly grow and I don't have to give up eating anything that I like.

I also do this to a point with foods that require freezing or refrigeration to keep, but normally only if I have money left in my food budget when I have everything else. I do like to keep these foods stocked as well, but they won't be much help if I have to BUG out.

If I have room in my food budget, I also buy canned meats and other dehydrated foods like milk, or extra rice and beans and add it to my stocks.

With my budget being pretty tight, I have been able to rebuild my stocks to where I have enough food for about 6 weeks comfortably, and can get along longer if I ration myself. I managed to get this far in 5 months with a very tight food budget.

As far as other gear goes. My budget is pretty tight right now, so I haven't been upgrading or trying too many new things lately. Occasionally, once the bills are paid I can squeeze a few bucks out and make a purchase. It's not often, but things are slowly progressing. Luckily I was able to keep my guns and other gear so I didn't take too much of a hit in this area.

I could probably get my food stocks where I want them faster if I gardened and canned. However, my job takes me out of town often enough to where I can't properly take care of a garden on a normal basis. Summer is my busiest season for work, so I am looking into ways that I may be able to garden on a small scale during the rest of the year. I also hunt, so this does help me in keeping meat stocked. This year I plan on learning how to can venison, squirrel, rabbit and turkey so I can keep it long term without freezing so I can have it if I need to bug out.

One thing I learned in the last few months is if you are careful with your money and your planning, you can still prep on a very limited budget without having to lower your standards of living.

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

We have a great commercially operated farm market in my area that stocks tons of produce at very good prices compared to the average supermarket. Although I usually don't make the trip there for weekly purchases, I have considered learning how to can my own food using their produce. It won't be as cheap as when I can grow my own, but certainly cheaper than trying to can supermarket produce.

Do you have any options like this around you?

We have several farm markets near us. Although we grow a lot of our own stuff, it's always nice to have a back-up source. This spring was very wet here. Between the rain and the birds, we lost most of our strawberries. One of the local markets has a 5 acre field of them and I took full advantage of it by buying about 30 qts. over a 4 week period and made about 5 qts. of preserves. Last summer was cool and wet. Our tomato harvest was pathetic. Because the market grows in large quantities, we we're able to supplement our harvest with theirs.
Something to keep in mind with farmers markets; as the growing season is coming to an end, you can get really good deals on a lot of stuff. They like to move the last of their produce before it goes bad. At the end of September, I could get a bushel of "blemished" tomatoes for $8.00. Great for making your own sauce.
As far as budgeting; we've been "preparing" for uncertain times for 3 years now. Because we've been at it so long, we've had the luxury of doing it in small steps. We put nothing on a credit card. If we don't have the money for something, we wait. While I know buying in bulk is cheaper in the long run, we rarely do it. We just pick up things a little at a time when extra money is available.

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And To The Republic For Which It Used To Stand

I do have farmers markets around me. Lots of them actually. I just never bought in quantities to try to can anything because of the work schedule. I could get a call on a day I thought I would be slow, and be gone the rest of the week. Then all opf my purchases would spoil while I was gone. That's why I have been thinking about some small scale gardening indoors during the slow months. Even if its not enough to can, I can use that to make my food costs cheaper and spend the money on my preps.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Prioritize. Written priorities that I look at every day. My thought patterns tend to wander in every direction at once and this helps me cope and stay focused.

A sudden social collapse is much less likely than a brutal economic period where you have no employment but people you owe debt to can send collection agents out to bring back an arm and a leg. NOT being in debt covers you in all kinds of economic problems and continues to pay you back month after month. You may chose to leverage some kinds of debt, like a very low interest mortgage, but the high interest debt is draining you dry and reducing your ability to prepare in the long run. It will also drain any savings you have in short order if it comes to that. Moral of the story? You probably don't need that 98th box of ammo more than one less credit card payment. Getting yourself out of debt also requires a long hard look at your spending patterns and may help you identify real trouble areas.

Disaster prep is not about the "stuff." The stuff is cool, and I certainly have the proverbial beans and rice stashed away, but the hardest part is not buying stuff, it's training and planning. Planning is free; training is free or cheap.

In your situation, I would make a personal disaster plan. Do the research for your area and identify the kinds of things you need to prepare for and make judgments about what you think are the most likely situations. Don't forget to include scenarios like 100% unemployment for 1 year+ in addition to flash floods and zombies. Then, devise a personal and family plan for what you would do, how you would cope and how you would communicate with each other in each of those scenarios for 3 days... 3 weeks... 3 months. That process will identify your real priorities for you. Maybe you are already prepped for some. Maybe many. And if not, at least you will have an idea where you really are.

One of the things I carry around is a "stock-up" list. They are things I am not "out" of, but am getting low on, plus some tools, etc. I want to get but don't have an immediate need for. This keeps me focused when I find a good bargain (or something by the side of the road) and also prevents me from buying stuff that isn't a priority. It has turned out to be a real money saver. Instead of impulse buying, I check prices and sometimes realize it's not a deal at all. (Or it's a smokin' deal and I get as much as I can!)