Preparedness status - what has been your weak point through this?

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For me, it's probably been financial planning.
Too much in the stock market and it was too aggressively invested.
I don't need to pull anything out to pay bills or whatever. Just don't like my current balances.
Was hoping precious metals would be stronger as the market tanked but they' flat or down as well.
 
Nobody likes their current balances :( Our portfolio is a 60/40 mix of stocks/bonds, so in occasions such as this our money peeps use the bonds to fund our expenses and wait for the stocks to go back up. (We'll see if that works)

My weak point is reliance on the supply chain and JIT deliveries on things like cat food and other occasion purchases. Luckily, the shutdowns and shortages all happened when we were well stocked except for cat litter. Fixed that one, now to wait and see what the next failure point is.
 
I have all non-perishables stacked deep and add to them as we use them. The perishables are purchased in as large a quantity as we can use. Our canning is good for a couple of years but we still buy meats, milk, other perishables that require refrigeration or freezing. Fresh vegetables are used as wanted but the frozen and canned fruits and veggies are available too. I don't buy canned veggies - we can our own because they taste better than commercial stuff.
 
My weak point is having run out of food and now eating tree bark soup. No ammo, no guns, no toilet paper, HELL don't even have a toilet.

The good news is the tree bark soup has a lot of fiber, so not constipated.
 
Sourdough said:
My weak point is having run out of food and now eating tree bark soup. No ammo, no guns, no toilet paper, HELL don't even have a toilet.

The good news is the tree bark soup has a lot of fiber, so not constipated.
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You’re in a lot better shape then we are. Last snow storm we had to eat our last tree. Used up our last freeze dried water too.
 
I have yet to experience anything I would call a weak point, but we may well still be in the early days of all this too. Time will tell if that remains true.

I would have been nice to have a few more webcams attached to computers, but we have avoided them due to privacy concerns. Pretty sure I will have a few sitting in storage when they are in stock and not priced 5-10x normal.
 
The Lazy L said:
You’re in a lot better shape then we are. Last snow storm we had to eat our last tree. Used up our last freeze dried water too.
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Got any recipes for cooking trees?
I have never tried it, but needles from pine trees are supposed to have a good amount of vitamin c and can be used to make tea, with some honey added.
 
My weak point was not realizing that some disaster could keep me from visiting and caring for my mom at her senior living facility. I had cameras and various communications methods set up over there, but I never thought I'd end up barred from entering the premises (as are all families). This is independent living, not assisted living, so the residents are mostly on their own. I had to scramble at the last minute to hire 3rd party caregivers (they are still allowed access) to provide companionship for my mom, and help her with the tasks she needs help with (I used to do that). They gave families no warning to make last minute preparations. It was a notification, "Families are no longer allowed access, effective immediately". Too bad for you if you hadn't previously stocked your loved one with the things they would need to be on their own for months without help.
 
Weedygarden said:
Got any recipes for cooking trees?
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soup.jpg
 
dademoss said:
Nobody likes their current balances :( Our portfolio is a 60/40 mix of stocks/bonds, so in occasions such as this our money peeps use the bonds to fund our expenses and wait for the stocks to go back up. (We'll see if that works)
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My main weak point is not having enough stuff to keep the womenfolk busy.
Everything was setup to be low-maintence so we could enjoy retirement.
I'm perfectly content watching TV and playing online every day.
The womenfolk>
PullingHairOut.gif


I had been waiting patiently for sanity to return to stock prices with about 2/3rds of my 401k in cash equivalent. Told my advisor it was my 'bullets' in case a 'big buck' walked out (pun).
It also made a comfy security-blanket knowing I could make 13 years even if the economy went to hell.
Been nailing some big 'bucks' lately that will pay 10-13% in dividend income alone, for the rest of my life.
They are EVERYWHERE!!!
machine-gun.gif
 
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My biggest weakness is I still think I am 9' 6" and bulletproof. I have been blessed with remarkably good health, and I have difficulty with overly zealous cleanliness routine, and trying or being expected to live in a sterile core.
 
This whole thing is keeping me from spending time with my daughter. Her mom's whole family is at high risk with COPD, autoimmune disease, adrenal insufficiency, and athsma. My weakness is mental and emotional, not being able to see her for fear she could take the Rona back to them. As for the rest, I'm ok. Beans & bullets are accounted for...
 
I really wish I'd picked up an O2 concentrator when they were available. Home security has been on the list for too long. New security doors and windows are on the list as well.
 
A cow. There are plenty on the farm. Just not here. We have everything we need except fresh milk. Our son went to the little store in our village for some beer, so he grabbed a couple gallons of milk. One expired the next day. The second one expires today and already smells and tastes sour. These were $6 a gallon. We are not short of anything, really. Fresh salad greens and collards everyday, too.
 
Our weak point is our cramped quarters. We were fine in our house but when I suspected things would get bad I took our money out of the bank as cash. Now we have so much cash stacked everywhere in the house that it looks like a hoarder lives here. Oh woe-is-me.
 
Amish Heart said:
A cow. There are plenty on the farm. Just not here. We have everything we need except fresh milk. Our son went to the little store in our village for some beer, so he grabbed a couple gallons of milk. One expired the next day. The second one expires today and already smells and tastes sour. These were $6 a gallon. We are not short of anything, really. Fresh salad greens and collards everyday, too.
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A pinch of salt will keep your milk fresh longer. I lived in places where milk took a long time to get there and it was not always refrigerated the entire time. The salt trick works. Put it in as soon as you open the jug. If you've got multiple jugs it might pay to open them when you get home and put your pinch of salt in then but I never buy more tha one gallon at a time so I have never tried that.
 
Mostly I feel good about where we are with things. Probably the thing we are shortest on is meat. We have enough for now, but not an abundance. We' are still calling in orders and picking them up, trying to continue to add to stock as we can. But mainly meat and fresh produce.
My biggest failure is by far having been sick for 3 months leading into this event and not being able to prepare my gardens for planting this spring, starting seed for planting (cabbage, lettuce, other greens, tomatos and peppers. I also had planned to build a small aquaponic sytem to try and start learning the in and outs for that this winter. None of those happened, so I am late to the game for several projects and just pushing hard to trya nd at least catch up on getting the garden planted.
 
Caribou said:
Too bad you were never a husband, you'd have learned patience.😍
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I have an ex husband.
Unfortunately he like to play the field while we still married.
I can share alot of things, but my husband isn't one them.
I took my vows seriously.
He didn't.
I was wife #1, he's been married 8 times after me.
But never his fault when the marriages fell apart.
He never has gotten caught up on back child support either.
 
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I was wife #1, he's been married 8 times after me.
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Married 9 times is insane, but not as insane as wife 3-9. Did they really expect him to change?

As for weaknesses, ours is prescriptions. It seems like I have to go to Walmart at least twice a week for Rx.
There is very little we can do to stock up. We get Rx 3 months at a time already.
None of them are for me, they are all for my wife and brother. I only take 1 pill a day and I get that in the mail from the VA. I am working on getting off that 1 pill.
If this continues for a long time I am sure there will be glaring deficiencies in our preps but so far we are doing OK. As long as I can go grocery shopping we have not started using what we have stored because there isn't really a need too.
 
For me it's been dealing with people on the outside. I don't go out much as it is but this has brought out the worst in people. A week or so back it witnessed a woman at a Dollar General buying EVERY SINGLE box of diapers and baby formula. When she was paying, she opened her wallet and brought out about twenty Visa gift cards. You KNOW those things were stolen or at least shadily procured and it was obvious her plan was to eventually sell the stuff to mothers in need. I had to leave.
 
backlash said:
Married 9 times is insane, but not as insane as wife 3-9. Did they really expect him to change?

As for weaknesses, ours is prescriptions. It seems like I have to go to Walmart at least twice a week for Rx.
There is very little we can do to stock up. We get Rx 3 months at a time already.
None of them are for me, they are all for my wife and brother. I only take 1 pill a day and I get that in the mail from the VA. I am working on getting off that 1 pill.
If this continues for a long time I am sure there will be glaring deficiencies in our preps but so far we are doing OK. As long as I can go grocery shopping we have not started using what we have stored because there isn't really a need too.
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Why yes they did think they could change him.
Two of them married him twice.
Now he's single and says he's staying that way. Right.
I got the best things out of our marriage.
I got full custody of our sons.
Worked 2 or more jobs to support our sons.
Went to school full time to prepare for the next promotion.
Was there when I could be. When I couldn't be their my parents were filling in for me when I was deployed.
I'm no hero or super woman.
I'm just a mom trying to raise her sons right. Make sure their needs were met to best of my ability.
 
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