What it's all about... or Why prep in the first place

So just what is all this about prepping anyways?  If I were to describe it to most folks, the images it would conjure up would be very reminiscent of those you would get if you were to use the word survivalist, or Y2Ker.  There is generally more and less to it that. 

Why?
There are a few reasons I think people should be prepared. 

The Government says we should. 
I give you: Ready.gov  There, nuff said.  Roll Credits. 

Alright, they are not perfect, but they do make some good points. We'll relabel this point:

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS. 
It's hard to not trust the Government and the almost mystical ease with which they handled the Superdome.  What?  You mean that wasn't supposed to happen that way?  Oh.  Ready.gov says you should have around 72 hours worth of food and water stashed because you could wait that long to receive help from the government while they establish emergency shelters where it's easier to help large numbers of people in ONE PLACE.  Incidentally, that'll be their first priority.  Think about THAT.  What's easier?  Saying, "Hey come to Safeco Field and get water and food." Or making house calls?  At it's most basic, being prepared allows you to live with relative freedom and not NEED to rely on the government for a short term.  (I"ll go into the what's and how longs another time.)

The Unemployment line
Enough doom and gloom for a second.  What happens if you lose your job.  What's that?  That's doomy and gloomy?  Oh, I guess I lied.  Here's more doom and gloom to ponder then.  The unemployment line.  I hope that most of you have not had to see that it's not actually a line.  At least I didn't see one.  There was a line of people, but I  was looking for paint.  Financial stability is the ultimate Prep.  If you have a bit of cash stashed then you are insulated from emergencies, such as not being able to stash more cash away.  Financial stability is important, just ask anyone that has been to a Dave Ramsey class (His Home Page).  He has good info, and I'll get into the basics of financially preparing in a while, as I learn more about it myself.  Basics though:  Debt: Bad.  Planning: Good.

Cash Money
Ok, for real, no more doom and gloom this time.  Money.  We all like it.  Some more than others, but by and large, we all need it.  It's all about commodities this time.  If you put food away, it's an investment in the future.  Not a matter of if you will be hungry, just a matter of when.  I just found THIS webpage (Foodtimeline.org) that tells an interesting story.   A story about corn flakes.  That oh so yummy food dreamed up by Dr Kellog that according to Wikipedia "...would have an anaphrodisiac property and lower the sex drive."  Mmm breakfast of celibacy.  Anyways... If you look at the table on that other page for a second... Ok, back?  Good.  In the year of my birth, 1975, a 12 oz box of corn flakes cost $0.45 or $0.04 per ounce.  By 1985 the price per ounce had jumped by 50% to $.06.  When I graduated High School in 1994, Corn Flakes were $.09.  Supposedly today, the price per 12 oz box is #3.70, or $0.31 per ounce.  So imagine if you will that Corn flakes have a shelf life of over 35 years and what if you put 1000 ounces of corn flakes away in 1975, costing you $40 bucks.  You would today have $310 in crunchy gold libido crushing breakfast goodness.  This is just one example.  With gas prices being what they are and what they will be, I can imagine seeing the prices of a lot of stuff becoming more expensive.  Those near insane creatures, the extreme cuponers don't sound so insane do they.  We could learn a lot from them really.  You may not need 4800 tooth brushes, but if the sh-tuff hits the fan, someone may need a tooth brush more than they need a few dozen tomatoes or 400 pounds of zucchini.  Barter will be alive and well.  Long and short of it:  Stash food that will store for a long time at cheap prices now and avoid getting the screws put to ya when Diesel is at $8.50 and that roll of Charmin costs $12.  (incidentally, think about all the jokes about Russian toilet paper during the cold war.  Tell someone used to it that Toilet paper is not a commodity.  Hank Hardass may tell you to go to hell when you offer to trade him a roll of toilet paper for a few chicks, but Harriet Hardass will change his mind.)

Why I prepare:
 I imagine if I sat down on a leather couch some where next to a guy with a suit jacket, yellow legal pad, and $50 pen I'd likely point to my youth as being the starting point.  We grew up surrounded by love and thinking that mac and cheese made from powdered milk and Government cheese was the best thing on earth;  add some Vienna sausages and it's heaven on a plate.  Then things got good, as they sometimes do, and we were living the typical middle class lifestyle.  Then things got bad again, as they sometimes do,  just as I graduated and my family had some financial troubles.  They moved out of state, meanwhile I eeked out a living by my self for a while.  Then thanks to friends and great bosses, I was given some great opportunities.  I flourished, and made the most of it.  Then my wife blessed me with a son, and things in my mind started to change a bit.  Then a daughter, and they changed a bit more.  I saw what my folks went through and was determined to not have that happen again.  It has become somewhat of a fixation for me.  It wasn't global destabilization of the dollar, Peak Oil, Y2K (though I did walk around that night with a pistol on my hip going from party to party), the avian flu, or the war on terror that made me look at prepping.  It was a need to provide for my family no matter what.  I never want to look at my hungry son and daughter and say, "Sorry kids, nothing today".  Just typing that is hard. 
Now, don't misunderstand, we never went without as kids.  In fact we never knew that we were poor.  I just can't imagine the stress my folks were under.  Deep down I know that my preps are but a small insulation from the bitter cold of reality, but it's something.  And like my folks I want for my kids to never know what being without is.

 Brass Tacks:
Here's something you will hear me say with some regularity:  Being prepared is all about you being able to maintain independence from the very infrastructures in place that you have come to rely on when things are bad for any number of reasons.  I just came up with that, and it sounds pretty good I think.  But that's what's it's all about.  You being able to be the head of the household, instead of the Nanny state getting to you whenever they can get to you. 
One of my biggest influences, Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast, says a couple things that I would like to quote.  First, "Tenet one is simple, everything you do should improve your lifestyle even if nothing ever goes wrong, while ensuring your sustainability if something does go wrong."  The second one should make die-hard Dave Ramsey-er's smile: "Debt is Cancer."  Simple and straight to the point. 
Being prepared means having that which you need, even if you don't need it yet.  Everyone will have their own version of how much is enough, what to prepare for, how to prepare, even whether to prepare at all.  We'll go over that in the future.   Until then, work on that debt, and try to think about what it is that makes you want to prepare.  Our Grandparents did it.  It got them through the great depression and a couple of wars.  What will we have to prepare for?

-jim