Looking Ahead

[MaryN]

I've been carefully trying to get my little household prepared and ready for any potential disasters - as best as I can - and I'm getting there. But I realise that my personal focus is more on keeping things on an even keel, whilst trying to increase our self-sufficiency. This doesn't seem to level with the "prepping for world disaster" mode that some people have, and I wonder, if that is your goal, what happens if there is no disaster to prove your point. Do you have a finite limit for how long you are going to prep? Thirty years on and sod it? Or has it now become a way lof living, in which case have you become one of the "live lightly on the earth" brigade?

It's difficult not to read the daily press and become depressed at all the bad news, and the potential lurking threats. But compared to some countries this is a fairly safe place to live, and barring acts of God or a massive increase in terrorist activity, I can't see any very imminent threats. This does not mean I am stopping my quest for self-sufficiency, but occasionally I do stop and recheck my supplies of towels and linen and wonder how much of it I'm going to need.......

[Sunna]

good points mary , when I first got interested in p / s it sort of took over my life for a long time , watching the news keeping a eye on world events 101 yt vids on n w o , economic meltdown , ect ect .
just seeing the worst in everything ,planning for all sorts , and slowly it dawned on me that shit happens the world over and they get by in their own way.
we brits have got over world wars , aids , 1930s bank crash / 207/8 bank crash and a load of other stuff , p & s has to move on and except this or it will die prep yes but for more realistic things.

tory cuts
no work
flood
weather
strikes
and to be able to sort out our own problems ...self reliance.


strikes

[Straight Shooter]

Yes i see where you are Mary...don,t worry its normal...in my case ..i will always be prepared its a way of life now....even worse than that we intend to be more self sufficient as time moves on ....not so much for what,s coming..its what we need to do....its what we want, a simple life ...a basic life filled with our needs....wifey knocking up some lovely nosh fresh out the garden, me tinkering about my shed making this and that ....enjoying what is left of a good life...i doubt it will not resemble this dream i have but i have no doubts i will die trying it....2012 came and went ...comets came and went ...you are right to point out Mary things going on all around the globe...but why fear it.....prepare for it ...this is within YOUR power ...under your control....and at your pace ....in the end Mary you will decide your fate ....even if others trigger it.....stay true Mary...you know it in your soul....you can do nothing less i,m afraid ....how could any of us go back to sleep.....not I .

[bigpaul]

I've always been a bit "live lightly on the earth" hence my vision of living a simple, rustic, basic lifestyle post SHTF. I will continue prepping for as long as there is breath in my body and I can get around, its now a "lifestyle" choice with me, I have always been a bit "alternative"(biker/hippy/prepper-survivalist) and have never been one to follow the norms of society, "straight" people-as I call them- worry me, or put it this way: "I tried to be normal once-worst 5 minutes of my life"

[Steve]

It's a long-term deal for me, when I'm old there will be no state pension or social security system - it will have been dismantled - the hundreds of thousands of pounds I've paid in tax will have been given away to the 1% richest who will have buggered off to Marthas Vineyard with it, so if I don't strive to be as self sufficient as possible I'll have a miserable, hand-to-mouth old age.

Millions of people are going to find themselves in this situation, but they will be sitting in an urban house with a 50ft garden, no food, fuel or money, waiting for God and still believing the Daily Mail stories about it all being the fault of immigrants. Not me - I've already bugged out of that future.

[Straight Shooter]

Smack on Steve....bug out now......beat the rush! .

[Mortblanc]

What's the matter, don't you Brits have your own little place where all the rich go to for solace and companionship?

Martha's Vineyard is our place! You guys do the Island of Mann or something!

Over here it has not bee the fall of any social system that threatens our retirements, it has been the destruction of privately held pension systems and the end of long term job loyalty that did us in.

We replaced our pensions with self controlled "investments" and practically no one had the ability to handle the money. Most took it out early to travel to Mexico, GB and Ireland on vacation and spent it all up.

Now they are screaming about the injustice of working until they drop from old age!

[Straight Shooter]

Yes we have got our own retreat MB ..........SCOTLAND !

[Midnitemo]

Channel islands dear boy...everyone is vetted before they can take up residence......sadly being a divorcee(twice) I am buying my crappy little 2 bed house brick by brick so not much hope of me getting out of the rat race.....overpaying madly at the mo but still six years away from a clean slate

[Scythe13]

Great question Mary.

This is similar to what I was asking a while back. What if nothing happens, but phrased in a more 'present' time period.

Personally, I have 90% of my life focused on nothing happening and there being no major SHTF scenario. Then there is the 10% that's geared towards SHTF. I am thinking of holding at 5 years worth of goods/gear/grub, and then going totally self-sufficient too. Well, I say totally, when really I just mean 'capable of being 100% self sufficient'. There's no point suffering for the now if there's not much change of a benefit tomorrow. Thankfully though, the stuff I love to do now, e.g. hunt, grow food, tracking, survival skills learning, woodworking, etc, are all helpful for if there was a SHTF scenario.