Thursday, June 20, 2013

I've become one of *those* people!

Not really, but I've started to become a Prepper.  You know, that television show 'Doomsday Preppers' on National Geographic?  Where families and groups of families prepare for the Apocalypse?  And we all watch it, and make fun because of COURSE, that's NEVER going to happen.
Well, I'm not here to preach my religion at you, because well, that's not my business to do so.  So if you define apocalypse in the religious sense, then keep on walking, because that's not my bag.
But, if you define apocalypse in the government failing, food prices going through the roof, etc, then, welcome!  But, I'm still not a person who thinks that the government is going to fail.  However, I do believe that food prices are on the way up, and that we need to be prepared for the future, whatever happens.
I've been reading a lot about prepping, and what all needs to be done.  And I've come to a very basic conclusion that some people do not consider stockpiling as prepping, and prepping 'cray cray' and hoarding is acceptable, because you got it all free.
Hoarding, as seen on A&E's Hoarders, is not okay.  It's a mental disease, and definitely should be treated as such.  Hoarding as seen on TLC's Extreme Couponers is not acceptable.  It is not a mental disease, and should be treated as those people are greedy, clearing shelves of items they don't need, simply because it's a good deal. 
Prepping is not cray cray.  Prepping is quite simply, preparing yourself for what might happen in the future.  Look at the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma.  How many of those people wished they had a copy of something as simple as their insurance policy?  Or the phone numbers to their credit card companies, because the credit cards were lost/destroyed?
Stockpiling is prepping- think about it.  You purchase something at a low price/free, to save it 'for the future' when prices are not going to be as good.  I think it comes down to when people think prepping, they think clothes, medicine, prescriptions, money, etc.  But going forward, on this blog at least, I will use the two interchangeably.  Because they really are the same thing, in my eyes, one just encompasses more than the other. 
Most of us already have a very basic prep going on.  We (general)  have our marriage certificates, birth certificates, passports (if we have them!), Social Security cards, and assorted other important papers, in a lock box that we keep under our bed, or in our closet, usually with the key hanging out.  Because that's what we do.  But, do you have cash in there? Do you have copies of your driver's license and credit cards? (Front AND back?) Insurance paperwork? Copies of eyeglass prescriptions?  Copies of medical records? What about copies of medical prescriptions?
I will admit, starting to do research on this, and seeing the destruction in Oklahoma, I've come to the conclusion that we are woefully unprepared.  Talking to friends who are much further along on the prepper path than we are shows how much more we have to do, or not do, and decide what will work for us, and our lifestyle. 

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