how far will you go to prepare

[manowar]

evryone has different personality types when it comes to learning. Me, i'm not very artistic or creative, but i am intelligent and can mimic anything i have seen.
So a few years ago when i started prepareing i purchased alot of books and videos, took classes and so on, we went and bought a homestead and i took a trappers course (mandatory in ontario) and some equipment for the farm along with livestock and all the food storage stuff.
I feel that we are at a good point in preperations except in the area of finance, in doing all this we have gone about 50,000 in debt, i am not worried about the mortgage as i have a good trade and the mill i work at is one of the few to survive the downturn in forrestry, we are one of the only pulp and paper mills left the only sketchy part is our lines of credit and credit cards.
My point is i would rather struggle with the payments and be prepared then not to have any of my preps and no debt.
I am curiuos on others line of thought on this
manowar

[Tofu]

Manowar: I agree that it is better to be with the stuff in a world that goes Tango Uniform in the blink of an eye. But what if its a slow decline into chaos, where unemployment reaches 75%, gas prices are $20 a gallon and the government gives credit card companies the right to garnish your wages and charge 40% intrest. Debt is a cancer, it eats at you, robs you of your happiness and your ability to protect your family. For us, we are prepping as we can and getting out of our debt as quickly as possible that way when we get to our future BOL we will be in a financial situation where they can raise the income tax as high as they want, we'll be making so little, because we won't need the income, that we'll look like poor paupers (with land, guns, ammo and food).

Its not about the stuff, its all about your lifestyle.

A Guy that I listen to on a daily podcast:
episode-643-modern-financial-survival

Start listening at 43:05, he makes some good points:
episode-649-listener-calls-4-22-11

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Coming from a guy who lost his place when his wife lost her job due to economic decline you have to be real careful there. I had no car payments, no credit cards, no luxury boats or 4 wheelers etc and hung on for a year depleting savings and borrowing on retirement. I "thought" I could make it, but didnt. I only made it longer than others did. Your preps dont mean squat if you dont keep a place to put them. Credit cards are a life ****** and I payed what few I had off years ago, get outta them asap IMHO. Just be careful how in debt you go to "be prepared".

[Megan]

I agree with what the others have said. I would say to "get prepared" without going into debt. Instead of using our credit cards, we turned off our satellite, netflix, downgraded our cell phones, downgraded our internet speed, stopped going out to eat and home prepared every single meal, we became more conscious of our spending, we paid off our suburban as quickly as we could, stopped giving our kids worthless presents they didn't need at birthdays and Christmas, re-modified our home mortgage, we started riding our bikes to destinations where that was possible, and the list goes on and on. After we did this, we went from from needing a minimum of $4,500/month to survive to being able to breeze by on $1600/month easily. And poof, there's our survival prep money. We've been living an extremely simple life for about 4 years now.

If the situation like Tofu described were to happen, you would lose everything you have "prepared" for since you used "fake money" to do it. That's one of the reason the economy is in such a crap hole --- people using fake money to buy everything they own.

[1Admin]

Very important to get out of debt IMO. I messed around for years with carrying some CC debt, occasionally some debt on a new vehicle, etc. Thankfully never got a mortgage on the houses and land.

Got completely out of debt April 2008.

What's interesting to see is how much you are getting juiced every year in fees, interest, etc. I have a file folder labeled "Debt is killing you!" wherein one year I totalled up all the fees, interest, charges for 1-2 day "late fees", etc. On all the cards I had, the auto debt and misc. other crap, it was over $1,000. IIRC

That's $1,000. you could prep more with, take the family on a debt free vacation, put towards your homestead, etc.

Frankly, I did MORE preparing in the first year after we got out of debt than the previous 3 years combined.

Also, debt is an anchor in more ways than just the common ones we think of.

It cuts off your freedom of movement.

[manowar]

rhe funny thing( or sad thing) is that we do not live an extravagent lifestyle, i drive a 20 yr old truck, which is an absolute neccesity on the property for haul wood and hay and such no toys at all, the wife has a new crv but with a 100km drive to work for her i needed something good and safe and reliable.
its funny when i see folks come on these sites and want to "get out of the rat race" and live a "simple lifestyle", well thats what we are trying to do but it is very expensive to live out in the country, gas is a 1.40 a litre which is like 5.00 a gallon food is way more expensive, electricity has a ridicoulous 45% delivery charge cuz we are so far out and livestock aint cheap to feed. but that being said it sure beats city life.
as has been pointed out debt is a cancer i see the cc at 19.99% interest so i am looking at consolidating all my debt to help save on that interest, but still keep my payments high to pay them all off in 5 yrs.
my biggest fear is a finacial collapse of the united states, that and the enviromental disasters that effect the food crops that keep drivivng up the prices, along with gas and heat and electrcity, some days i wish it was back like when i used to rodeo just me my truck and slide in camper and my dog.
like my dear ol pappy used to say before he left this crappy world " you saddled this bronc, now lets see if you can ride it"
all i can say is bear down and cowboy up, and hopefully this bronc won't bust me up too bad.
manowar

[BeckyinTX]

My point is i would rather struggle with the payments and be prepared then not to have any of my preps and no debt. I am curiuos on others line of thought on this manowar

You present this as if the only two options are huge debt/preps or no debt/no preps. Those are not the only options, as many here would attest. Debt is very hard on a marriage & fights over money are the #1 cause of divorce. Personally, my marriage & keeping my family intact means way more to me than any preps. I would get on a budget, cut the lifestyle down to near 3rd world conditions, sell stuff, & work overtime to get that debt paid off ASAP. JMHO

[Tofu]

I feel ya bro because I'm in the same position regarding CC's. We have been on the Dave Ramsey debt reduction plan. The biggest thing is to get a plan, gotta start with a budget and see where ya stand. You sound like a guy that is already living very lean, so if that is the case you might start looking at ways to start brining in some extra money or what you can sell to help pay off the CC monster. I'm personally wanting to look at what this garden can produce and sell the extra stuff for cash once we can what we need to survive the winter. Just get creative and you'll be happy you made the sacrafice once you are out of the hole.

[TyrannyUnleashed]

Wow this is something my wife and I was talking about a couple of months ago. I have now brainwashed (joking) her into understanding we need to be ready for something and as soon as possible.
So we had to decide where to start. Our decision has been to pay as much as possible to our debt and fast. And we have plenty, since she has been in school for so very long. She is now being rewarded for her efforts, but now comes the pain of student loans. But we are still doing prep work (mainly home/self defense) at the same time.
Since we just started, we have a long ways to go. But We have to start somewhere.

No matter what route you choose, there is plenty of pain. Good luck to all.

[manowar]

i agree there are other ways, taking 20 bucks a week to the grocery store will give ya extra in about a yr. i saw the collapse coming a few yrs ago along with a big upcoming strike at a mining giant was going to cause problems, so we made a decision based on what we saw coming and decided to incur the debt but have what we needed handy, probably not the best way, but it is the way we chose, no sense in second guessing now.
I am fortunate to have married my best freind we both have a very easy calm way about each other which makes stress vey tolerable, as i say i am very lucky man.
what kills me more than anything is vet bills and food for the critters, cost me probably a grand a month, we have talked and she is very attached to her critters and does not want to get rid of them, a few of them are old and that is where the cost is, in a few years they will be gone and hopefully the debt soon after. i just hope everyday that there is no collapse before then.
as i always tell folks, it was my choice to move way out here and i will not complain about my lifestyle same if the collapse happens and i am left holding all the cards, i saddled this bronc, i'll ride it.
just wondered others plights or benefits, as the tilte suggests just wondering how far ya'll will go
thanks
manowar

[barfife]

Wow this is something my wife and I was talking about a couple of months ago. I have now brainwashed (joking) her into understanding we need to be ready for something and as soon as possible.
So we had to decide where to start. Our decision has been to pay as much as possible to our debt and fast. And we have plenty, since she has been in school for so very long. She is now being rewarded for her efforts, but now comes the pain of student loans. But we are still doing prep work (mainly home/self defense) at the same time.
Since we just started, we have a long ways to go. But We have to start somewhere.

No matter what route you choose, there is plenty of pain. Good luck to all.

If your school loans are low interest ((3% range), consider making minimum payments on them and pay off other things first in order of debt from smallest to largest. You may have an interest in viewing or listening to DaveRamsey.com to the archived and/or live shows. System really works and you can do it on your own for free. It worked for me and mine. All we now owe is our mortgage and we are on a time line to have it payed off 9 yrs early. (Not affiliated with DaveRamsey.com....I just know it worked for me. YMMV.)