Small scale SHTF scenarios

[Superman]

This is probably something most of you have thought of but I figured I'd post it anyway.

What about more of a personal SHTF situation? IE: you run short on money for the week/month etc.

I like to have doubles of the bigger household items such as laundry detergent, toilet paper, soap, diapers etc.

Why...my fiance wants to know.

What happens if next week we have no money. What happens if we have JUST enough money to buy food but are low or out of toilet paper of diapers? We try to have an emergency stash of cash on hand but anything can happen (hey it's a SHTF situation right). So each week while shopping I always try to toss in an extra pack of TP or detergent...not to keep my own grocery store but enough to last maybe a couple weeks should the need arise. This especially stands for non-perishable food items. I work for a trucking company and one of my drivers came in yesterday and was upset because he only had 1 can of chicken soup at home...his wife had not bought any more. And he needed/wanted it due to being sick (cold etc). It would have been simple to have purchased extra soup (even a little at a time) because when it came down to it...his house wasn't prepared...just an example of a small/personal SHTF scenario.

I know this is more small/personal scale than a national or world type of scenario...but it even can help in an event such as that.

I also pose a question. How do you get your friends/loved ones to think along the same lines? Obviously my own house isn't an issue whether or not my fiance agrees with me I will still have the extra 'stuff' and I k now she'll get it if/when a situation arrives... but what about other family or friends who may not have the same 'mentality' as I?

[MiamiARFan]

It's a great way to build up reserves. Doing it a little at a time takes longer, but has less financial impact. This is the way I go about doing it on a regular basis. I also look for the 2-fer sales at the grocery store. Gives me an excuse to buy more.

Having gone through several hurricanes has my wife and I on the same page from a food preps standpoint. Not sure we're exactly on the same plane when it comes to justifying me wanting to stock up to 10k rounds of rifle ammo :scratch:

[chicom]

Living in a fairly remote area with major stores 120 miles away, food and merchandise purchases happen at quarterly intervals. We have a small country store about twenty miles from here, but only has the bare minimum as far as food.

[slingshot]

Sounds like cash might be in short supply - try foraging all your food, wild plants, grocery store and fast food dumpsters, fishing, gardening, learning to eat road kill - great survival training & you can save some cash for what you might perceive as necessary for long range survival. Believe me though, after a few months of life like this you and your honey will be hard core survivalists, but I'll be honest, the women usually don't make it through a situation like this, but tend to B.O. You will certainly find out how much she really loves you this way! What you think?

[Gunfixr]

Superman, we have done just that. The little extras bought over time have pulled us out of a tight spot on several occaisions. Some bill would come in, or I would get sick and miss some work (I am the only income), and we'd be tight for a few weeks. We'd live off the extras and replenish them later. As far as convincing friends goes, it hasn't worked. You either have the survival mindset or you don't. Some don't get it even after something happens and they can see how benificial it is. I just don't say anything anymore.

[yugoshooter]

I got laid off in November with the promise that i would be called back in the spring. Well its spring and I called my work and they said that they didn't need me back. The A$$ hat waited until i have 4 weeks left of unemployment to tell me. :ticked: :bang: So now I need to find a job in 2 weeks or I will be in a mini SHTF :shock: Good thing I have 20 pounds of rice and beans put away. Time to hit the food banks :freedom:

[Uncle Screwtape]

Before I ever thought about prepping for shtf, I learned about stocking up from Aunt Screwtape. Every week she scans the adds looking for sales on things we useWhen she finds a good sales, she stocks up. We could probably go a year on TP, soap, detergent, toothpaste etc.
She clips cupons for everything imaginable. To this day I am still amazed when I shop with her. She regularly saves $25 per trip to the grocery store. She has saved us THOUSANDS over the years.

God bless her :love:

[DirtPirate]

What happens if next week we have no money. What happens if we have JUST enough money to buy food but are low or out of toilet paper of diapers?
I also pose a question. How do you get your friends/loved ones to think along the same lines? Obviously my own house isn't an issue whether or not my fiance agrees with me I will still have the extra 'stuff' and I k now she'll get it if/when a situation arrives... but what about other family or friends who may not have the same 'mentality' as I?

You see...I guess that that is my problem...we experience these small SHTF scenarios monthly...if not weekly...so whatever small stocks I have managed to smuggle in...get used up before I have the time/money to resupply.

On paper, these small SHTF scenarios should NOT happen....in reality, the wife (you know her...right Superman ;) ) agrees with the concept...even while sipping her $7 smoothie and complaining that she cannot afford her diabetes testing supplies... :roll:
These small SHTF scenarios for us are created artificially...because we have never (in 14 years of marriage) come to terms on how money and materials are to be managed. I've tried, but that's a whole other story for a different type of forum....
Suffice to say...the wife has a knack for shotgun spending....lots of small holes close up....and little long range effectiveness.

How do we influence our loved ones?.....obviously...I couldn't tell ya...since "in concept" we are in agreement....and yet our preps are (and remain) low.

Sometimes...I feel like marriage (mine anyway) is like walking into the middle of a tornado.....ON PURPOSE..... :shock: :scratch:

[Gunfixr]

Man, DirtPirate, I can relate. Me and my wife have been married a little over 14 years also, and we have some of the same problem. I put stuff away, and a few days later her and the kids are rummaging thru it, going "this looks good, let's have this" and it's gone. Shotgun spending..........I'm going to have to remember that one.

[MOlivo]

You bring up a good point. Crisis can come big or small. What you stock up for a major travesty will come in handy during times of hardship as well. Don't ever feel bad about diving into your emergency supplies if your in a bad financial spot. I would warn aginst diving into it out of convience. Get off your butt and go shopping if your just being lazy :)

[happach]

Superman,

Forget about trying to influence people on stocking for hard times. I talked until I was blue..... All I got out of it was that guy is a "Looney Toon" :bang: . BUT, when a hurricane was close to Texas. I was saddled with relatives wanting the free food bin to eat out of. Had to turn away five more that I had no room for. You need to stock for you and your family. Silence is Golden.....

[yugoshooter]

So here I am 6 months from my last post on this thread and I have been living on $1000 a month. Rent is $400 electric $65, cable,phone and Internet $100 car insurance $30 a month,food about $300 a month, Medication $100 a month but I still manage to keep about a 1 month supply of food in storage. I was going to post this statement in "What shft have you added this week" but I think it fits here better. Each week that goes by I add another week of survival with out going hungry, homeless or with out the few little extras I have like Internet and phone. You know what though? I'm happy and alive so thats the most important thing. Does it get to me being so poor. Sometimes it drags me down but then I look at my wife, my cat and dog, and I realize I am the richest man I know! :)

[Gunfixr]

That's cool to hear, yugoshooter. I'm not doing as bad, but am managing to support wife, and teenage son and daughter on just my salary as a machinist. We do without a lot of nice things also, but like you, we are alive and have enough plus some for a rainy day.

[DirtPirate]

I hear ya Yugo....

I thought of making a new bumpersticker that says something like...

Regular paychecks are overrated...

Lately...I've been feeling some "pangs" of missing my old regular paychecks...and it may soon come down to me being forced to pursue them again...but I also realize that regular paychecks (for me at least) also lead to "the wants". The want of THINGS...things not needed....and too often...after the purchase...buyers remorse.

No money...no remorse... ;)

Maybe I'm just burned out...which is VERY possible...but I spent 11 years with a "regular" job...which was supposed to be a "career" position....and I always felt (after the first 5 years) that I was wasting my time. Looking back from the perspective I have now...I can say with certainty that I was wasting my time...and THAT irritates me.

I have a saying that goes: Better to be a FREE pauper...than a RICH slave!
...and to me....if you are stuck in a job that you don't LOVE...one that controls your time...that keeps you away from family and LIFE in general far too much...(especially) for just enough money to maintain the "status quo"...then you are a slave. You may not get beaten with a whip like Kunta Kente...but you are a slave nonetheless....

Being without a "job" and now getting low on funds in savings...I feel like I should be more worried...but the thought of having to voluntarily submit to slavery scares me more than being homeless and hungry....

Don't get me wrong...I earn money here and there...I have been hauling cars for a friend of my sisters all this week...and two days next week too...and so we have a little influx...but much like some of the "homeless" guys I knew in downtown Orlando that waited at the day labor place to see if the could get work (and therefore food) for the day...I don't know today where next months mortgage payment is coming from...and in a way....that's OK with me.

It's a potential SHTF...but then...when I had a regular paycheck...I never knew form one day to the next if I would continue to have a job anyway...so it's not all that different.

[alpmco]

First time I read this thread.
I know how you feel Dirtpirate! When I was laid off at Martin Marietta no one wanted to hire me because of Martins history. I had two interviewers tell me they wouldn't hire me because if Martin called me back I would go. That was the reputation up until the late '80s. Soon after we were married I was laid off again when the company I worked for went belly up. Times were tough then. Clinton had just come into office. I tried to start my own computer business (along whit every other person out there) and worked odd jobs for two years before finding this job. Regular paychecks are nice. Hang in there, you'll be in the game and better off soon.

I had to laugh reading the first post. Ok, keep in mind my parents remembered the not so great depression. Growing up it was normal for me to open the hall closet and see forty plus rolls of Scott toilet paper and fifty bars of yellow Dial soap. Laundry detergent was in the cupboard over the washer and dryer. We always had an extra case of motor oil in the garage. Canned goods and canned ham out the wazoo. Do you know the shelf life of a canned ham???? :shock:

[jb999]

Another unemployed member here! The buzzword in the trucking industry is "downsize" and I was one of the first to go (about 6 weeks ago).

Cost of diesel fuel has screwed up the whole transportation industry.
The recession/depression is already here.

[Idaho Corsair]

JB, sorry to hear about the layoff. Hope you're back soon!

Do you have any idea as to why the layoffs? Is it literally just fuel prices? So Alberstons or Wal-Mart isn't willing to pay to get goods to their stores? That's almost funny... see how they like it when their stores are empty!
I mean if the trucks stop rolling... uh, doesn't the country practically depend on trucking? I can see the truckers demanding more pay to cover cost and thus goods go up, but to stop trucking means the logistical supply lines get seriously weakened.

[mr slow]

Many of my friends are in the trades and are union members. some of the union halls are packed with guys waiting to get there number called. My buddy usually is working by now. He called his boss and he said 800 guys are in the hall.It is kind of weird seeing all these immigrants working doing road construction and other city jobs. I think the city has out sources many labor jobs.I see all Mexican crews out there. I just don't get it.