Why I prepare?

[Von Helman]

I don't stock food or water, that way I wont get hungry or thirsty ...

[theboonedockssaint]

I don't stock food or water, that way I wont get hungry or thirsty ...

Good for you....LOL.... That is thinking head!

[LongRider]

My mom grew up in Nazi Europe so we grew up with a prepping mindset. Have credit but never buy anything you have to make payments on. As an example I have paid cash for every car, motorcycle and boat I have ever owned. We paid cash for our homestead. If I could not pay for it in cash I could not afford it. We have credit cards we pay off completely every month, never buy more than what I have in the bank at that moment. Whenever I use the credit card the cash is in the bank before I do. If I can afford it on Friday after I get paid. I wait until Friday to use the credit card to but it.

Keep money in the bank but always have cash on hand.

Save and invest, but always have liquid assets like gold and jewelry on hand.

Always keep the larders and pantry full you never know when you will have guests or run up on hard times.

In 1973 I put down my first caches in case I needed to disappear. As I grew older my trust in our government and its control over our economic system and freedom diminished. After 11 years running my business I got fed up with our consumer way of life. The more I made the more we spent, it was never enough. Black Monday took a big chunk. A few years later I sold the business and retired. Spent a few years putting around the country on my bike getting back to my scooter tramp roots completing aspiring bum apprenticeship. After a few years we found a place that fit our criteria and began work on our homestead.

On a hunch. early 08 when Bear Stearns merged with JP Morgan, we pulled our investments in the market, to fund more tangible investments. Had we not done that my entire life savings would have been the crapper. My life's work lost. Because within months the sub prime mortgage scam would have made our investments worth pennies on the dollar. That was the final wake up call.

To this day I do not think people really understand that we came to within hours a world wide economic collapse. For us it finally sank in. The result has been a complete change in our life. We have enough to comfortably enjoy our lives. We are slaves to no one , We owe nothing to anyone. We have no sense of preparing for impending doom. Instead what we have is, the knowledge that no matter what happens in the world around us we are safe and secure. That we have the ability to provide ourselves with what ever we need or want. That is gives us unparallelled freedom and security

[Kiwi Bowhunter]

I don't like credit cards, only for the potential purpose of a last minute, go-to-town buy up of gear just before a SHTF situation if you cannot liquify enough assets quickly, but I have little will power and would probably rack up a big bill buying a new rifle or something
I prepare because I hate relying on others and feeling helpless, same reason I hate flying is I feel a lack of ability to control the situation.

Compared to some of you guys who have been in the game for a while, I'd only been into it for a few years(2-3?) when we had our earthquakes. To me that seemed like a pretty good return on investments
I didn't use much of what I had stored, as I decided to keep as much of what I had intact, and try beat the rush every few days to get additional groceries, in the event the situation deteriorated further and it really HTF.
Since then I've managed to convince a few of my friends to get at least minimal survival kits set up(Keep in mind we're all 21, so prepping ain't 'cool' haha), which is better than nothing. Immediately after I'd located all my close family and friends following the February 22nd earthquake, I assessed my property, told some dodgy looking people down my street to **** off(Potential looters, it was quite a problem for a while), I headed up the road to a different suburb where I work, and quite a lot of my friends lived, he had suffered some bad liquefaction on his property, breaking the foundations of his house and having it spout up in the hallway, bathroom, and 2 bedrooms, as well as COMPLETELY filling his lawn and garden. Shovel came out of the boot and I got stuck in helping him, after that went to my friends house(literally just around the corner) and his mother cooked us some dinner(this friend had been right in town when the earthquake had happened, his building in what was later deemed 'the fall zone' of the largest building in the CBD, the Hotel Grand Chancellor). After that I went home and settled in for the night, braving all the aftershocks continuing on, along with no power or running water, or functioning sewage system.
The following day was spent digging a latrine in the backyard, gathering some water from a nearby freshwater spring I had located previously, organising preps, getting all my stuff ready to leave in a hurry if I had to, and driving around checking on friends, family, neighbours, and helping them clean up.
That's the only real time I was greatful for having extra fuel in my preps. Luckily I'd filled my car up the night before, as well as having 40L(10 gallons?), which was an entire full tank worth of fuel in the garage. Giving me in my car about a 1200km range on the open road. Using it to cruise around the city doing my own thing, the fuel lasted quite a while.
Some of my friends who own larger 4x4s where having trouble acquiring fuel as they were also taking part in the recovery work in the city, my mate's V8 Range Rover was chewing through fuel, and some fuel stations were trying to limit the amount people were taking(Which was ridiculous, as he was emergency services), but there ya go.

After seeing all that carry-on, you need to supplement your long-term preps with preps able to be effective and keep you fed, mobile, and sheltered properly in the mean time.
I didn't have any huge problems, my house was still standing, although a little damaged, but I got off easy compared to some, especially in the eastern suburbs due to their sandy soils.
Earthquakes bring a whole new mindset into account. I can't walk near tall buildings now without looking for what way I might have to run, I don't stack any cans/bottles/jars within atleast 4 inches of the edge of a shelf if I can help it, I stack heavy things on the ground/low shelves, lighter things up top, etc etc.

Anyone else lived through any similar disasters??

Pro-tip: If you don't have a chemical toilet and you live somewhere urban, definitely look into getting one, with extra chemicals, bags, etc. Since the Quake 22nd Feb 2011(Yep, more than a year ago!) some people STILL don't have functioning sewage and water, I would have not been too happy if I didn't have a big backyard lol.

Cheers,
Sean.

[Von Helman]

To this day I do not think people really understand that we came to within hours a world wide economic collapse.

I agree 1000% and the sad part is that it should have been a real wake up call to many but it wasn't. I think the economy almost went off the cliff and it was saved but there is no doubt in my mind that the economy won't be as lucky next time around and when it crashes the implications will be greater than most people can ever fathom. I am working overtime trying to get my affairs in order so that when it does happen I will be better prepared to weather the long hard "greatest Depression" .

[theboonedockssaint]

Great stuff. I agree!

[Te Hopo]

I have prepared for more than half my 26 years, grew up a boy Scout with the whole "be prepared" motto and seeing as I liked camping with all the tents, knives, boots and so on I kept it up.

Later on I have saw how hard people do it when they aren't and I made the decision to never end up like that.
Hence a more comprehensive prepping list covering more of a wide range of situations.

The past few years I have been fortunate enough to be the one helping instead of looking for a handout which is just how I want it.