How about now?

I am so saddened by the aftermath of the big storm that hit the north east part of the USA. This is so apropos to what I have been writing about lately, namely prepping on a budget. I have to wonder how many people were really prepared for this storm, how many had food, water, fuel, batteries and such…

I told you so, it’s such an overused phrase and quite frankly can sound kind of rude, but sometimes there are situations that call for the phrase “I told you so” when it comes to being prepared, I certainly don’t want to sound cold and uncaring, quite the opposite, I want as many people as possible to be ready for whatever might come their way.  I see picture after picture of empty store shelves, water, food, batteries and candles, not to mention all the hardware stores being cleaned out of plywood and such. That tells me one thing, most of the people in that area were not prepared in any way, so at the last minute, they frantically drove to the stores and cleaned them out. Now I am hearing about fights over the dwindling supply of food and fuel.

Now many of these same people are sitting in darkened homes, watching their perishable foods going bad, with no way to cook the food they do have and no water reserves and no way to heat or light their homes. I pray that everyone affected comes out the other side in better shape. I sincerely hope that this becomes a major wake up call for everyone and for those who weren’t prepared will start, as soon as possible, to put up food, water, and other supplies for this sort of emergency, or even personal issues like losing a job or getting your hours cut, even down to having an unexpected bill. How nice would it be to not to have to choose between paying your rent/mortgage and buying food?

I will say that I am seeing people pulling together and helping one another, such as this person who still has electricity and is sharing their power with people who don’t have power, they can charge up their cell phones and such.

In the weeks and months before this natural disaster hit, how many people were just living their lives day to day, not worrying about what may come in the future, who had the opportunity to put aside food, water and the other things that are needed but not considered before hand?

You have a choice, right now, to be in the group who are prepared for unexpected disasters (big and small) or be in the group who are scrambling at the last minute only to see empty shelves. If you have started prepping, kudos to you, please continue and make your preps even better, if you haven’t even thought about it until now, then it’s time to get started, you can prep even on the tightest of budgets, please work on your preps now or you run the real risk of being left out in the cold, hungry and wishing you had done something before now. You may not live in an area that would be hit by a hurricane, but there are many other disasters, big and small that can hit you and hit you hard, wouldn’t it be nice to not have to go out in the craziness that happens in these sorts of disasters, not to have to quickly stock up on what food and water may be left in the stores? To not have to leave your home and family alone and unprotected in a time where looters may be taking advantage of bad situations?

Here are the links to the entire Prepping on a budget series
Prepping on a budget – part 1 – food
Prepping on a budget – part 2 – book review
Prepping on a budget – part 3 – food storage & security
Prepping on a budget – part 4 – water
Prepping on a budget – part 5 – first aid kit
Prepping on a budget – part 6 – sanitation
Prepping on a budget – part 7 – getting started