Be Prepared

Now that I've thrown a successful pity party for myself, I guess I'm ready to post something else. Seriously, thanks for not hating me for complaining.

I have lots of opinions. Surprise! Okay, not really a surprise to anyone who knows me. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about preparedness... physical preparedness.

Food Storage

I had to laugh when a lady I work with found out I was Mormon and her first question to me involved food storage. Not about Temples, not about polygamy, not about any of the things most LDS people are frequently questioned over, but food storage. Growing up, we always had a food storage. When my dad lost his job, I watched my mom creatively feed our family, and anyone who happened to be at our house, stuff she'd prepared almost completely (if not completely) from our food storage. I knew our basic needs would be met because my mother had taken the time to prepare. This experience helped me realize we might not ever use our food storage in the event of a major catastrophe, but that's not the only time you might need it.

Fast forward to life now. Not long ago, we had very little money (as in almost none) for groceries. Between my favorite spec home depleting our savings, one of our FIXED RATE mortgages increasing nearly $300 a month and Jason's income being cut 40%, we had a few pretty tough months. However, I knew that we would be able to provide for one of our most basic physical needs. I knew we would be able to put food on the table. I certainly didn't have a year supply of food, but I had a reserve because I'd bought a little here and there when things weren't so exciting. Furthermore, we weren't starved for nutrients. We still had lots of fruits and vegetables and plenty of grains. The fruits and vegetables weren't fresh, but frozen and canned is better than none at all. There were many days I felt so grateful that I had my food storage. My stomach was very grateful too.

Financially

You might find it laughable that I'm offering my financial opinion considering the predicament we're currently in. But, I'm still going to do it. Another thing I learned growing up is the importance of avoiding debt. Building a spec home was to be an investment (which is how I justified the debt) and with the information I had, I never thought I'd still own that property three years later. At the time we chose to do it, the only debt we had was the mortgage on our house here. Our cars were paid off, we had no credit card balances and no student loans. Because of this, we were able to cut our expenses quite a bit, which allowed us the ability to continue making the mortgage payment. If we had other debt obligations, that might not have been the case and I was often grateful we had avoided debt minus two mortgages... Kind of ironic, I know, maybe hypocritical, but hopefully you get my point.

The counsel we always hear in the church to avoid debt, have a financial reserve and have a food storage seems common sense to me. Through various experiences, my testimony of the importance of following this counsel has been strengthened. But on top of that, it really just seems like a no-brainer. What's funny is I've been hearing people on TV and the radio talk about how we should be storing a little extra food and money. Maybe we'll never need to use the reserves, but the peace of mind it gives us is worth a lot. (Trust me, it's much easier to put on your happy face for a little one when you know they have plenty of food to eat). And if you ever do have to rely on your reserves, you will be very, very grateful you have it.
Don't everyone come rob me at once, now.