There
were three things that really helped to establish how I approached my
preparations. Budgeting, challenges and goal setting...
These
things help me stay very focused on what I am doing. It allows me to
be actually be doing stuff, working towards our goals every week. Not
haphazardly, doing things here and there.
Very
early on, I started working with a specific percentage of my income
to be dedicated to my prep's.
My budgeting started out something
like this, 10% for my tithe, then 10% for prepping & 10% for
savings. The savings would be cash on hand for big purchases (i.e.
Zaycon chicken or sales on canning jars, lids). Then I used the other
70% for everyday, monthly expenses. When that runs out, I am done. This extra 10% for saving quickly
added up. We also have worked towards having a least two months cash
on hand at all times in case there is some type of financial collapse
(either the government, banks or loss of our jobs).
NOTE: If you
have a belief system that doesn't believe in tithing, I still
encourage you to develop the habit of giving to others. It is my
opinion that whether it is tzedakah
or mitzvah
(I hope I am getting the terms correct, if not please forgive me), or
simply giving to charity; I think it changes your outlook in life.
Next,
I like challenging myself (and others). I once took a challenge where
I was only allowed to spend $250 for one month. It was a very eye
opening experience. After pre-paying the monthly bills (which we were
allowed to do),
What
I learned from this challenge, was that there was a lot of extraneous
spending in my life. For example, I ate out several times a week.
Since then, I may still get take out or delivery, but it is only
maybe once or twice a month max. What changed at that point, was I
decided I could truly budget 20% of my income for prepping. I have
learned something every time I take a challenge.
Next, I settled
in on setting monthly goals.
I
quickly decided to establish monthly goals. Each month there is a
goal of “Meat (canning) & Something else”. Here are some
examples from last year, when I was getting started.
November:
“Meats & Thanksgiving items”, this would be all the items I
use for our traditional Thanksgiving meal. Like right now, I am
buying (and storing) various items like, pineapple, mandarin oranges,
marshmallows, nuts, cranberry sauce, etc. Plus, this is my second
year doing this, so I will be testing out what I stored last year.
December:
“Meat & Christmas items”, this included our traditional
Christmas Eve party of special foods. On Christmas Eve we each get to
choose a couple items that we just don't get through out the year,
either because they are generally too expensive or they don't fit
into our lifestyle now.
January:
“Meat & Water (storage containers & filtration)”
February:
“Meat & canning butter”
March:
“Meat (corned beef and cabbage, Zaycon chicken breasts) and waxing
cheese”.
I
plan based on seasonal sales & what I want to learn next (I have
an ongoing list of things to learn).
It
has been very helpful for me to post my goals at the beginning of the
month & a review at the end of the month. Doing this keeps me
accountable. I focus on posting the things that I am actually doing
and don't post a lot cutesy stuff or re-posts of things I am not
doing.
I think one of the
biggest steps is actually deciding to make preparing a priority in
your life and then doing something about it.
I
am extremely dedicated to helping the newbie get started. Since we
are on this journey together, I will throw this challenge out there:
Are you ready to get dedicated to your preparations? How do you plan
on doing that?
Here are links to the
first three parts of how I got started:
