Does preparedness and stockpiling get old?

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Weedygarden

Weedygarden

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When it comes to preparedness and stockpiling, does it get old to you? Do you ever get over having your home and property jammed full of supplies?

I have had people tell me that they are not interested in preparedness, and some are just over it.

The full spaces and maintenance of all of the stuff gets to me. Anyone else?
 
Even though I don't have a huge stockpile (like many here do), I have enough to keep us sustained for far longer than most people do. Plus we have the ability to make our own should the need arise. I really can't stock a huge amount of food or it would go bad. We don't eat all that much. Still, when I clean out my pantry like I did last week, it really saddens me to have to pitch some things that we didn't use and is no longer good. I will never again stock canned tomato products! I used to use them all the time to make chili, but I changed my recipe and don't use the canned tomatoes much anymore.

I look at it the way I look at any other insurance. When I pay my premium and I don't have a claim, I'm still out my premium money. The same goes with stocking. If I stock it and then have to pitch it b/c I don't use it, I'm out some money. What I paid for is "security" in both circumstances. So, even though I may have some things I will never use, it does give me a sense of security. Thankfully I spend far less on my food stores (since I stock up during big sales) than I do on insurance. But, I waste FAR more money on insurance than on food. Heck, I could probably have a fully stocked bunker in the mountains for the amount of money I squandered away on insurance throughout my life!

But to your point Weedy. Yes, sometimes I get tired of having to put in so much work to organize my stuff. Every time I move it to a different space, I have to go through it all again and wonder if it's really necessary. Moving it around is not necessarily a bad thing as it forces me to check up on all of it and make sure it is still good. After I get on top of the organization issue, I feel much better about having it there. Most folks don't understand how much work is involved in stocking things, so I get what your saying. It can be exhausting at times, especially if you're a person who doesn't like clutter. Keeping it organized in your head, in totes, and on shelves is a chore. Because if you don't keep it organized, all you have is stuff that you won't utilize. So, I get it....and no, you're not alone.
 
it never gets old for me because it is a way of life that i grew up with. true i probably have more than my grandparents had. but i have also been helping my oldest daughter since she was on the road so much. now that she is home i find myself not buying so much of the sales as i was because she is doing it herself.
 
As for preparedness, I've read several books that I've saved for reference and I try to keep up with the news. I'm not perfectly fit but I still exercise by walking everyday and I'm always open for self improvement.

Once i have enough of one thing in my stockpile, i stop. I've been known to go months without going to a store but instead rely on what i have.

When i have company, no one knows there's years worth of xxxx hidden in my house. My stockpile is simple, basic and I don't buy things i won't use, like, I have no interest in MRE's.
 
Goodness no.
Never.
If anything my stockpiling has been stepped up quite a few notches.
I've gone through hungry times and that has stuck with me and if I feel my resolve waiver
a look at the inflation and currency index cures me.
I believe it's started already and the contagion has started to spread.
I only pray there'll be enough time between now and when the system
collapses.
 
@Weedygarden I agree our stockpile takes a lot of time and effort to organise and yes I think it is harder for us in such a small home to keep it that way. I am a bit of a tidy and organisation freak so we work on having things stacked on shelving which for us makes it easier.

I like others know that prepping gives us security as I have had times in my life with no food (due to circumstances beyond our control) and will never go back to those days again. We also know that our food storage and preps save us more than current bank interest as we purchase everything on special and or clearances. To us it is a lifestyle choice we are happy to live.

We just have to realise that it takes time and effort to organise it but I do have to say sometimes we do find it hard too.
 
It has to me. Been prepping for about 30 years. Sometimes I look at all my cool stuff and think how much money I have invested and what I could have done with that money. I do have times like this and then I will start reading something and pick up doing stuff again.
 
I am like @Amish Heart. I love to be able to walk into my stockroom and see all my pretty mason jars lining the shelves (along with all the extra luxury item of toilet paper :)). It just makes my heart happy to see all the bright colors. And I really don't mind having to rotate and move things around when having to organize. It's nice when you can just go down the hall to go shopping for what you need for dinner.
This is truly a way of life for me of raising and preserving. I have gone hungry when younger and I don't ever want to be put in that position again. You just never know when you will have a "storm" in your life, . . . Ice, hurricane, or just life in general.
Our well is invaluable. It's used everyday with running water out to the livestock. When we had the last hurricane, county and cities shut off water supply for weeks. Since water is number one for survival that was a big concern for a lot of people. Had we not had the well we would have been in big trouble trying to get enough water for the critters. We still boiled for our drinking water to be on the safe side, but I could still clean, bathe and do laundry. I just can't ever see myself giving up this kind of insurance.
 
yes.
I am lucky that I was raised in a way that was before my time or disappearing in my time.
Plowing a mule using a Ax to clear fields & make fire wood,using hand poles hole diggers.
Milking cows,gathering egg from the wild & making rabbit boxes.
Some so called homesteaders think 5 chickens,a small garden makes them a true homesteader.
In my day that was a city person with pets, who liked fresh vegetables in the Spring.
 
joel said:
yes.
I am lucky that I was raised in a way that was before my time or disappearing in my time.
Plowing a mule using a Ax to clear fields & make fire wood,using hand poles hole diggers.
Milking cows,gathering egg from the wild & making rabbit boxes.
Some so called homesteaders think 5 chickens,a small garden makes them a true homesteader.
In my day that was a city person with pets, who liked fresh vegetables in the Spring.
Click to expand...

You ring? :D.
I loved being a city person with pets. And got to enjoy living way out in the country too. if i wasn't running the streets downtown Atlanta I was running through the woods, building tree houses, chasing our donkeys and neighbors horses and cows in Stone Mountain.
We worked hard too but not for survival. Hubby had a life more like you did but he too had lots of fun boating, going to the beach and playing music,his whole family played music. They also did a lot of hunting and ate lots of wild game. :cool:
 
I grew up being raised by grandparents who survived the Great Depression. We butchered and cleaned chickens, gathered eggs, had a huge garden, fruit trees, canned, had a freezer full of meat, baked bread from scratch, cooked everything from scratch, sewed most of our own clothing, hung laundry on the line. The first time I went out to eat was when I was 16. We were away from home and had no choice then.

I grew up this way and have lived this way as well, except for the times when my education and work took me to the city. I have built up my preps especially in the past 10 years. My home is one of my challenges. Some homes are better laid out for storage and organization. There are aspects of my home that are not the best for storage and organization. My guess is that some of you have this challenge as well.
 
Weedygarden said:
I grew up being raised by grandparents who survived the Great Depression. We butchered and cleaned chickens, gathered eggs, had a huge garden, fruit trees, canned, had a freezer full of meat, baked bread from scratch, cooked everything from scratch, sewed most of our own clothing, hung laundry on the line. The first time I went out to eat was when I was 16. We were away from home and had no choice then.

I grew up this way and have lived this way as well, except for the times when my education and work took me to the city. I have built up my preps especially in the past 10 years. My home is one of my challenges. Some homes are better laid out for storage and organization. There are aspects of my home that are not the best for storage and organization. My guess is that some of you have this challenge as well.
Click to expand...

Hubbys parents were raised the same way. Only his grandfather was rumored to be a mean man, he would beat hubbys father with a tobacco stick if the roes him and the mule weren't straight.
They ate what they caught and grew. But it came in real handy for hubby to learn how to grow and hunt and dress all kinds of animals.
My granddaddy started off poor but got rich during Great Depression buying real estate. One of the few men who had a job and it was a bread company.
 
Stock piling food got better today.a neighbor gave me some dry foods this morning.including highbush dried blueberries. Elbow macaroni and spaghetti.then Did my food shopping for the month.stocked up on extra blue cheese salad dressing and steak sauce. Get home to find 2 frozen chicken breast in a freezer baggie, between screen door n front door.
 
MeerKat I do not, nor did I look down on city folks who Could not or would not go the whole route of country live.
What I was talking about or trying to say was, now that homestead is a coined phrase, people missed the whole thing.
They have no idea what to do, never been without anything for a day, forget weeks, months or years.
The olden days were bad for everyone, but if you are under 35 you missed most of it.
 
@Weedygarden I spent most of my childhood being raised by my great depression era grandmother and was brought up similarly minus the butchering as she had a residential block in the city. She taught me to cook from scratch, sew and make do with what we had. Although I lived with my parents I went to her home most of the time as my parents had both mental health and alcohol issues. My grandmother was a breath of fresh air and happiness in a violent upbringing as a child and I am so glad she was there and taught me so much.

I am more like my grandmother than any of my family with similar problems thank goodness, and do believe that preparedness is a big part of how each of us was brought up and what was the family dynamic or "not" in my case. Personally I chose to take the positive path in life following my grandmothers lead and lifestyle rather than the negative path my parents and family followed.
 
I was brought up by a single mom near San Francisco. She left the Amish community as a young adult. Latch key kid, mom never cooked. Usually she wasn't home. She worked in a cannery then later in a factory assembly line. Not traditional with holidays or much of anything. But I like the homesteading life. I thought it was great when I read a copy of The Mother Earth News at the library. Dreamed of starting an herb farm somewhere and having lots of kids.
 
joel said:
MeerKat I do not, nor did I look down on city folks who Could not or would not go the whole route of country live.
What I was talking about or trying to say was, now that homestead is a coined phrase, people missed the whole thing.
They have no idea what to do, never been without anything for a day, forget weeks, months or years.
The olden days were bad for everyone, but if you are under 35 you missed most of it.
Click to expand...

For sure Joel. I agree with you on that.:I agree::thumbs:
 
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