I would call myself a semi-prepper, it is probably just a good reason for me to horde food which I have always done. Almost all the other stuff is stuff you have if you are a farmer, fisherman, hunter, camper.
In 2008 we were dead broke and I lived on my reserves for 6 months. No, I didn’t make national news and I didn’t get a medal but I survived one of the worst times of my life by being prepared. There was no hurricane or tornado or earthquake either, just a crisis in my own personal life. I didn’t have to ask friends or family for loans, I didn’t have to go to a food bank or get food stamps, I just took care of myself and didn’t put a burden on anyone and most people didn’t even know we were having a crisis.
I agree with you about reorganizing, repurposing, making do and people helping people, we are Americans and we know how to survive and will do fine but it won’t hurt that there are people out there who won’t need help.
My spouse and I went through a similar thing the beginning of this year. No income whatsoever.
But we had some savings, and lots of preps.
Sailed right through it.
ONLY because we were prepared.
As long as we/I am able bodied, I will never be without preps.
Some knowledge about cuts etc. is helpful. Stitches are not always needed.
Our ‘investments’ no longer goes to someone we don’t see as in 401k where wall streeters use it to gamble(why would we believe someone else would take better care of our money, than we would?)...it goes into preps.
I can't disagree with any of this. Being prepared is good when it's about being responsible for yourself and as part of being responsible for your community. It's bad when it's about hoping for doom and humiliation for everyone else.
That’s an excellent response, thank you. Prepping seems to be somewhere between surviving on your own for two years and getting by if the power is out for 72 hours. But it certainly doesn’t hurt anything to at least be ready for that 72 hour part.