What if all of this is for nothing

[UncleJak]

I know there are many people who have spent a good portion of their time and money to making "preparations". Has anyone ever thought what happens if nothing bad ever happens and all the supplies and work was for nothing? These are some of the things I ponder....

sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[Motasyco]

Prepare for the worst.  Hope for the best.  I'd rather be prepared and not need it than the alternative.  I'm somewhere in the middle.  More prepared than most, less prepared than many.

[TMF]

I don't sweat it. Much of the stuff I will slowly rotate out in a few years and begin to replace with new stuff. The stuff I rotate out will go to the homeless shelter. I grew up in Florida and this is what we did with all our canned goods every few years.

[Caster]

For some people, it's not another chore that needs doing, it's a hobby and a lifestyle of choice. Therefore, it's much like a TRUE Christian. If its all for naught, then in the end, nothing is lost because the journey was enjoyable.

I actually USE a lot of what some call preps. I rotate food. I actually SHOOT my ammo instead of hoarding it up. I use the oldest and replace it with fresh goods.


If this is all for nothing, so what? When I die, I won't care anyway. Maybe after I'm gone, what I've put away may make the difference between life and death to a man and his wife and kids. If I don't use what I tuck away and after I'm gone, some random dude saves the life of his little girl because he happened upon my stash or stuff then my labor was WELL worth my time.

[Reaper]

Better to have and not need than need and not have.

[Guest USMC 2013]

If you take a common sense approach you'll be better off in life even if nothing happens.  Would I ever build an underground bunker, even if I was insane rich, hell no!  To me that is stupid.  Do I keep a certain amount of ammunition for each weapon I own so I always have it, yes.  It's not 10,000 rounds either, I'm not waiting to fight the Russians in the hills, but don't want to take the chance of the shelves being bare when deer season rolls around.

 

This guy Jack Spirko, The Survival Podcast, has a great lecture that he call the 12 tenets of Modern Survivalism.  Good stuff, very common sense and I recommend listening to it.  Most of what else he spouts is bullshit though.  He talks a big game and has done very little that can be substantiated.  The modern survivalism idea he coined is value added though.

 

I don't spend much to "prep".  (Oh by the way, I freaking hate that word because I believe it is tied to fear).  I garden for fresh vegtables, I raise rabbits for a cleaner protein source for my family, hunt, fish and gather what little I know how to.  I can, dehydrate or freeze what is extra during the different seasons so we have food to eat through out the year.  I don't consider this prepping, I consider this common sense, no different than the way my grandparents lived two generations ago.  Just my two cents,

 

Joe

[peejman]

Depends on the extent to which you do it.  If its a hobby and something you enjoy, it's not for nothing.  If you're obsessive about it and it has a significant impact on other areas of your life... probably not such a good thing. 

[Guest Razz]

I think the question assumes the "work" is not enjoyable. Being prepared fits nicely into all of the things I'm already interested in.

[Rightdefender]

My answer is this. I've put food away for a few yeares now, a little at a time, nothing fancy mostly canned and dry goods.   Now,  I find that my buisness is failing, my health went south and to top it off my wife lost her job of 13 years with Metro schools along with 80 other women. We will both be unimployed so  at least we'll have some food to fall back on untill they forclose on us.

[atlas3025]

You have car insurance...what if you never have a car wreck?

 

You have health insurance...what if you never get sick?  

 

You have life insurance...what if you never...NVM.

 

In all three of the above scenarios, consider yourself blessed.  

[Caster]

My answer is this. I've put food away for a few yeares now, a little at a time, nothing fancy mostly canned and dry goods.   Now,  I find that my buisness is failing, my health went south and to top it off my wife lost her job of 13 years with Metro schools along with 80 other women. We will both be unimployed so  at least we'll have some food to fall back on untill they forclose on us.

That's modern survivalism. That's the reason you put that food away. It'll be rough, but you'll make it.


Where this delusion of complete collapse comes from I don't know but surviving the near future will be just like what Rightdefender is going through right now. The rug got yanked out from under him and his foresight to put away a meal or two will keep him from starving and allow him to keep his pride. ....and by pride I mean not begging the system to get time at the government teet at tax payers expense.

You gotta know, things will get bad, really bad before they collapse altogether. The chances of an overnight cataclysm is close to zero.
Sans a foreign invasion it will take a bit of time for everything to look like a scene from "the road". We have to survive that too you know.

It's much more likely that you will have to endure unemployment, natural disaster, your house burning to the ground etc than Red Dawn.

I can't stress this enough. DO NOT PREPARE TO SURVIVE THE FUTURE, it's a waste of time. Prepare to survive NOW! Keep your mind on the here and now where it belongs. You have to train your mind to see that we are ALREADY in a survival situation. Greed is a destroyer but kept in check by helping others (that deserve help!); there's a healthy amount of greed that will keep you and yours alive to face tomorrow. It boils down to priorities.
If you wanna smoke weed and play video games, go for it. I'd rather have a full belly before I sleep and to know my wife can sleep without fear.

Survivalist have good intentions but many if not most need to restructure their way of thinking.

[broox]

No one ever says: "That guy was way too prepared."

[UncleJak]

For the record, I agree with every statement that has been made here. I just have these thoughts sometimes....makes for wonderful discussion....

sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[RobertNashville]

I don't have elaborate plans/preparations...how effective they will be depends on exactly what the emergency is.  Most of my plan is to survive in place (unless of course something happens that forces me to relocate such as a local natural disaster, etc.)

 

Nothing I have would not be useful to someone else, a shelter, other family, etc...eventually; it will get used by someone.

 

For the most part, what I have is what used to be "normal" for my parents/grandparents.

[JAB]

Growing up, my family never had a lot of money.  My mom and grandmother canned a lot of food - either things we had grown, jelly from wild berries we picked or things they bought at an inexpensive price from the farmer's market.  As an adult, I have still never had a lot of money.  If I find a good price on something I like/regularly use, I will often 'stock up' on that item or items.  Such things generally get used as a matter of course in my regular life, anyway, but would be 'onhand' if I needed them.  As such, there is no concern about those things 'never' being used.  I also like 'traditional' things (I said in another thread that I am an old soul) so things like canning, etc. simply appeal to me for some reason.  Canning is especially useful when I make chili, soup, etc. because it is often difficult to make a 'small' batch of such things.  So my mindset on canning is often as a good way to preserve leftovers that I'm not going to want to eat within a few days rather than preparing things specifically to can.  A bonus from that is I can have jars of MY chili, soup, etc. sitting in the pantry, ready to grab and take to work for lunch.

 

Now, I am definitely not prepared for a Mad Max world.  Thing is, there are things like prescription meds that I really can't build a huge supply of, anyhow, and in an apocalyptic world, once the meds I have on hand run out I have no idea how long I would survive, anyhow.  My goal (which I have not yet reached) is to have enough food, water, etc. on hand that I can last at least as long as my supplies of medicine hold out with enough extra to help my neighbors (my mom on one side and my sister and her family on the other) hold out, too.

 

A more short term goal, however, is to be well enough prepared that I can be more or less 'comfortable' for a week or two without having to leave the house.  See, where I now live is next door to the house we moved to when I was in middle school.  Back then, it wasn't unusual for the power to go out (often in the middle of Winter) for two or three days.  Outages of nearly a week were not unheard of.  During such times, there was often enough snow/ice on the ground that getting out to go to town was not really an option.  Luckily, we had a wood heater that mom could also use for cooking.  We conserved the cool air in the refrigerator by not opening it any more than necessary and would sometimes put the more perishable foodstuff out in the snow to stay cold.  We generally had battery-operated portable radios but would often just read by the light of one of mom's oil/kerosene lamps or play cards for entertainment.

 

A few decades later, power outages are not as frequent but there was a time last Summer when our power was out for about three days and that was just due to rain/thunderstorms and resultant fallen trees, etc.  Where we live is actually pretty much right on the Loudon/Roane County line but the nearest 'hub' or whatever you call it for our power company is in Decatur.  That is miles and miles of power lines, meaning a lot of outage potential.  It would not surprise me if a major snow event resulted in our power being out for a few days or even a week.  Those are the kinds of things that I really try and prepare for.  That said, since I am preparing, anyhow I figure that it wouldn't require too much more effort or change in mindset to prepare for events of somewhat longer duration.

 

As others have said, the lessons I didn't learn from the last ammo 'shortage' have been learned from this one.  By that, I mean I was already trying to maintain an on hand supply of at least some types of ammo that I shoot due to not being able to find some ammo types during the last 'shortage'.  I also got set up to reload a couple of revolver calibers.  Once the current shortage ends (when/if it ever really ends) I plan to increase the amount of ammo I keep on hand.  I won't run out and buy it by the caseload, however.  Instead, just like after the last 'shortage', I will buy a box or two at a time until I feel I have enough on hand and then will attempt to maintain the supply by replacing what I shoot.

 

 

Would I ever build an underground bunker, even if I was insane rich, hell no! 

 

If I were insane rich would I build an underground bunker?  You're damn right I would!  It would be the mac daddy daddy mac of all underground bunkers.  It would have its own generators (with redundant generators in case the first ones failed.)  It would also be set up for solar in case all of the generators failed or I ran out of fuel, etc.  It wouldn't be some dark, dank hole in the ground, though.  It would have clearly designated living areas, bedrooms, a game room complete with a pool table, pinball machine and a big screen television with surround sound and a video game console complete with a huge collection of games.  There would be guest quarters for friends/family.  I think it goes without saying that it would have a very modern, well lit and well ventilated indoor shooting range.  I'd have an awesome kitchen and a friggin' hydroponics room for growing plants for food.  I'd have a fully stocked, industrial, walk-in freezer stacked with vacuum sealed meats and other frozen goods, a pantry that would put some mom and pop grocery stores to shame and possibly even a (somewhat detached and well ventilated) room to keep a few chickens in - along with food stores for them - so I could have fresh eggs.  My walk-in beer-gerator would be the stuff of legend! 

 

I'd build it in a remote location in the hills in East Tennessee in an area that would only be accessible by pack mules, really kick-ass 4 wheel drive vehicles or a helicopter (with the tree cover allowing only the smallest of choppers to get through.)  There would be a fully stocked pond on the grounds and I would work to cultivate a population of tasty wild animals.  I would also likely try and start a small, private peach orchard, apple orchard and vineyard.  Being insanely rich, meaning I didn't have to hold down a 'normal' job, working on wildlife management for the property as well as the orchards and vineyard would be my main 'employment' - although I would also do volunteer work (probably some kind of animal rescue/assistance.)  The grounds would be completely surrounded by a ten-foot-tall chain link fence topped with razor wire, cameras - the whole nine yards - and I would commission quite possibly the world's largest 'NO SOLICITING' sign to be posted at the front gate.

 

Thing is, though, that wouldn't just be a place to run and hide when/if things got bad.  That would be my residence.  Supplies would have a pretty good rate of turnover due to the kickass get togethers I would periodically throw for my friends and family.

 

*SIGH*  I am not insanely rich, however.  Not even close.  That means I will just have to try and shelter in place, eat the food I manage to store and hope a deer with a death wish periodically wanders through the back yard.

Edited July 18, 2013 by JAB

[Chris]

I used to worry that nothing would happen. Then I saw New Orleans a few days after Katrina.  After that, I never looked back about prepping. Seeing a major American city wiped out and depopulated that quickly... well, I now know deep in my bones that "it" can happen anytime anywhere.

 

Besides, it keeps me out of the pool hall.

[Dennis1209]

Better to have and not need than need and not have.

 

<Dennis1209, chapter 9, verse 11>

[Dennis1209]

War, pestilence, plague, disaster, earthquake, drought, economic disaster, greed, dictatorship, enslavement, volcano's, tsunamis, dust bowls have occurred frequently through out all of history and about every century. What makes anyone think this generation is exempt ? Disease can be transported everywhere in the world in just hours. Missiles can hit in just minutes. When in history have these threats been so great?

 

Add to the above mix todays advanced potential chemical, biological and nuclear threats from terrorists, Muslim's, and hostile countries, and you have a 100% certainty of calamity in this generation.

 

Things never stay the same, just ask previous civilizations. Only difference today is we have the ability to release our own destruction and faster than anytime in recorded history.

 

When worthless paper is your money and the printing press's are running 24/7, look out.

 

When our country is trying to unite and globalize under the auspice of the U.N. into a one world government, and give up our sovereignty, double look out.

 

Better have a couple can's of beans and a few bullets just in case.

[gunwhatgun]

All I know is if I have done all this and the damn zombies don't come, I am going to be pissed. Just in case though I have prepped for just such a emergency, I have included in my preps several box type fans and a case of laxatives.

[Raoul]

What a glorious existential question. 

 

What if all of this is for nothing.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

There will always be something happening that would
justify saving ahead. It may not affect you or I, but don't
bank on nothing happening playing what if.

Life doesn't work that way.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

There will always be something happening that would
justify saving ahead. It may not affect you or I, but don't
bank on nothing happening playing what if.

Life doesn't work that way.

[DaveTN]

What if you are a good Christian that tries to lead a good life and there is no God? Nothing lost.

What if you are not a good Christian and lead a hate filled life and there is a God? You are hosed.

[Guest Wildogre]

I am prepped not as well as some but better than most. I grew up with at least a months worth of food in the house and I have that and more now. I still have a few more things to take care of.

 

I am better prepped this year than last. I have a ways to go until I am where I want to be. But by the end of this year I will be better than last year.

 

I am not prepping for the end of the world just a major disruption. If all the bridges across the Mississippi fall I want to be ok until they are back up. If Yellowstone goes, well that may be different story.

 

If nothing happens then a food bank will be very happy.

[RobertNashville]

I used to worry that nothing would happen. Then I saw New Orleans a few days after Katrina.  After that, I never looked back about prepping. Seeing a major American city wiped out and depopulated that quickly... well, I now know deep in my bones that "it" can happen anytime anywhere.

 

Besides, it keeps me out of the pool hall.

Katrina was a game changer for me as was participating in a couple of mock disaster events with TEMA/FEMA...I've no love for FEMA but bottom line is that being prepared for emergencies is some of the best and most useful the Federal govt actually puts out.