Help Yourself Help Others

Around here we tend to stick to a very tight budget.  It’s the only way to keep the freezer filled and the lights on.  Racey was talking to a friend of ours at the market recently, and he made the comment that our little house of cards is dependent on all the little tips and tricks we currently use and if we stopped doing just one thing the house would fall.  To some people that would be too scary and they would chose a different path.  For us it’s the only way of living we've found that makes us happy and still keeps things going.  Now, if anyone reading this feels so inclined to give us a million dollars, we would be glad to change a few things.  But, left to ourselves, this is the plan that gives us the most successful results.

Like all plans, ours needs to be re-evaluated and adjusted from time to time when life circumstances change.  Case in point, we have just acquired two additional mouths to feed with a 3^rd on the way and due here in early January.  One is working full-time and the other lost their job so things are tight all the way around and getting tighter. 


Our little house of cards was built to feed, clothe, and shelter three people, not six!  So what are we going to do?  Well since we are ‘preppers’, we have a surplus of canned food and dry goods that will ease the added food budget crunch.  We converted our bulk storage pantry (which was our loft) into a bedroom and we're in the process of finding a new home for all our supplies.  The shelves in the picture below were put up this summer to hold all the fruit and veg we canned.  Now they hold pictures.... this was not in the plan but I'm glad they are here and can be used in this time of need.

We will be stretching the meat order that much further, and the fresh produce we get from the market has become even more valuable to the household budget. 

 I already coupon all our toiletries, personal care items, and  food products that I can’t make myself, but I'll need to be a little more aggressive at it.  We've built up such a surplus in the last year I was starting to get a little lazy.

This is a good example of why Racey and I go to all the trouble to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.  We are not doom & gloom, apocalyptic, anti-government type people.  We're ordinary folks, just like you, that have other people who, in times of crisis, turn to us for help.  Life’s unexpected changes can happen to anyone at anytime.  We need to be prepared to weather the storm and come out on top. This is not easy for any of us, but it is doable. If something similar happened in your household would you be able to help? 


I encourage you to assess your situation and see if there are areas you could build up in order to be better able to assist family or others in times of trouble.