Preparedness

Let's talk about then versus now.

For many years, people prepared for the lean times.  They knew times would come where they didn't have everything on hand that they would need, specifically food and fuel.  Usually the lean time was winter, so families would prepare for that time by canning and preserving food at harvest and setting aside what they knew they would need later.


Why do we not still do this?

Really think about it.  Salary or not, many people live from check to check.  They wait until they have money in hand and they spend it.  This is not just about saving money, but also food and basic essentials.

If I shopped just whenever I had cash with no bigger plan for my family, not only would I be spending far too much, but I would be putting myself in significant financial danger.  Why?  Because on commission there are weeks that my husband makes lots and weeks that he makes absolutely nothing.  I can't just spend his check to nothing in the fat times, I have to set aside money for the lean times.   I also set aside food.

Yes food.

My husband's fatter season is summer.  We set aside money for winter bills but we also buy extra food.  When meats go on loss leader we work on filling our freezer and when nonperishables are on sale we stock up those items.  We try to have a 2 to 3 month supply of food by winter.  This allows us to buy food only when it is on sale.  That alone saves us thousands of dollars a year, but it also acts as a safety net if necessary.

Real life example of how this works: I cooked a turkey this past Sunday dinner.  I bought this turkey after the holidays on blow out.  I got it for about $10.  The turkey fed us that evening, and it will feed us for all of our other dinners for a week.  It will be in turkey tacos, turkey pot pie, turkey and rice, and other manifestations.   Because I am using the protein from this turkey as the main staple in our dinners, all of the remaining dinners will cost my family between $3 and $5 each.  For less than the cost of a value meal for just myself at McDonald's I am feeding my entire family of 6 dinner each night.

It isn't about how big your family is, or how much you make that determines your cost of living, it is how  well you plan and pay attention.  If you plan accordingly, your basic needs are very inexpensive.  If you do everything on impulse, then you will not be able to do nearly as much.  These principles don't just get us through lean times, they allow us to save for things we enjoy like our computer, television, movies tablets etc.