Prepping?!?!

Well if the end of the world is coming. What can I do? You look at thoose movies and everyone dies but the rich who can afford to build some tank to live in for 3 years till the air is of quality. Well who knows I might fall down a pothole that opened up and look at all the time I wasted.

If they didn't dramatize it - would you watch it? That's the point of the media - shock and awe or scare tactics...

We don't have gas masks in our emergency kit.

We teach our children NOT TO PANIC and to be prepared.....

You can do a lot to prepare for disaster on a small budget...you need to make a list of items that you will need...and you don't need to purchase it all at once...

Flashlight
batteries
water
radio (the crank kind is the best)
food
CAN OPENER
mess kit (has a pan to cook with etc.)
pet food (do you want to be like some people and LEAVE YOUR PET BEHIND?)

There is a lot more - but you get the drift. We have MRE's in our emergency kit - enough for a family of 4 for 7 days, 3 meals a day.

Seriously - all it takes is COMMON SENSE...you don't have to be obsessed. Think in reason...don't go to extremes..

If you are on top of it - put all medications that one would need and cycle them out. We have a backpack for each family member in the emergency kit should the need arise to "leave the house"...so it's not a stationary kit.

I agree. They do need to show us how to do it on a budget. Like you said, not all of us can afford safe rooms, etc. I think we need to be prepared but not paranoid. It's a fine line to walk. We shouldn't scare our kids or ourselves for the what if's. Scaring them or ourselves could paralize us from living. We need to be aware of it and be deligent but we do not need to obssess about it. It's always a good idea to keep can goods, other non perishables, water, flashlights, etc on hand but finding the budget, the space for it all can be difficult. So yes there needs to be some sort of plan set for those of us who can't afford to go all out. Agree completely.

My husband is a big believer in being prepared. At first I laughed it off, but over the years I have come to agree with him. I would rather be prepared and nothing go wrong, than unprepared and something serious happen.

I do not think that children should be scared or upset though, but I do think it makes sense to help prepare them. Since my son was very young we've practiced fire drills. We have always practiced different routes to get out of the house and to get to the meeting location outside. I think that preparing for any other disaster is the same as preparing for a fire. The kids don't have to be scared, just instructed on what to do for their safety.

And stocking up on a budget is really simple. Start small, adding one or two items at a time. When we started all we could do was $5 extra every grocery shopping trip. I bought a can or two of food each shopping trip and put it with our emergency supplies rather than with the regular groceries. Or I bought an extra flashlight, toilet paper, soap, or whatever was on the list. I just bought extra when they were on sale and used coupons. I bought blankets from the Goodwill, some clothing too, and a good sturdy pair of shoes for everyone. We also have "go bags" with a few essentials in them for each person.

We don't think it is a waste of money. On some show I watched a man said that when he was unemployed nearly a year all the things they had stockpiled were a life saver. They had intended the supplies to be for a natural disaster, but used them to survive unemployment instead. They used savings for bills like electric and mortgage instead of on food and such. They were able to survive almost a year of unemployment until he was able to find another job. What a blessing they had spent money in the past to prepare for the future!

I can't remember the exact date but years ago some idiot said St Louis would be destroyed by an earthquake. We are still here. :) You would not believe the things people bought and did because of it. I just laughed. Kinda easy knowing that when thousands of scientists say you can't predict an earthquake chances are one cannot.

Not to get all holy but I figure God will give me what he will give. He made me the way I am and I do not prepare for such things.

I feel so sorry for those kids :(

We've talked about buy dry beans in bulk. Good protein, long shelf life and we use them anyway. But that's about it.

They all said they try to keep their kids prepared without scaring them. I think it was the second family they showed--the ones who went to the Honeywell store--that woman actually has a website: www.thesurvivalmom.com. She talks about preparedness from a mother's perspective. She also talks about prepping on a budget. If you're good with coupons and store sales, you can do a lot of prepping with not much money. That's how I've stocked up on OTC meds, soap and shampoo, toilet paper, etc. You can stock some foods for cheap that way, too, and you can also stock up on food the old fashioned way with canning or dehydrating, etc. You're right, everyone can't afford an underground bomb shelter or a retreat on a lot of land like that family in South Carolina on the show. You can only do what you can, and trust God for the rest, I guess. Also it depends on what your reasons are for prepping anyway. Some of those people were scared of nuclear attacks or solar flares. I'm more scared of the economy collapsing. I'm basically prepping for inflation.