# What is your biggest motivation for being Prepared?



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Weather related natural disasters?
Loss of a job or income?
Total Economic meltdown?
Martial Law?
General lawlessness/Without Rule of Law?
Or simply a sense of fulfillment? 

For me, its a journey without a destination; a challenge somewhat. Being prepared is, to me, a part of living life of enjoyment. Being able to handle whatever event, or catastrophe, that one encounters. 

Yes, weather is something that most of us have to deal with; storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, snow, ice, extreme heat etc. Loss of job or income is certainly another common thing, so having enough food, money, shelter and water to continue to survive is important.

What say you?


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Forgot to add one more thing;
Prepared because a "rich and vibrant" culture is full of animals;


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Don't have or need a reason. It's just how a reasonable person with even a little common sense should live.


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## Tango2X (Jul 7, 2016)

This ^^^^^^^


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Suffering and dying because you're not prepared usually hurts like hell until you finally die. If you have children, watching them suffer and die hurts worse than your own suffering. Preparedness is real life insurance.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

*biggest motivation for being Prepared*
...
Because I might have a flat tire - that is why I carry a spare
Because I might have to defend my family - that is why I carry a weapon
Because I want to be able to feed my family that is why I store food


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## CC Pereira (9 mo ago)

1. Being prepared for emergencies (such as natural or man made disasters).
2. Freedom (self-sufficiency = independence = freedom).


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## AndyFrank (Jul 20, 2018)




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## OrneryOldBat (Feb 10, 2017)

My desire to be prepared was formed as a kid listing to my great-aunt and grandmother talk about surviving the Great Depression on a Kansas wheat farm and Arkansas truck farm respectively. It was burned in by graduating into the "Savings & Loan" crisis and all of the recessions since then.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

(Post removed. Posting on behalf of banned members is a violation of Community Rule #4 and is clearly stated to come with a punishment of a ban for the offending member. 1 week in the ice box. - Kauboy)


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

OrneryOldBat said:


> My desire to be prepared was formed as a kid listing to my great-aunt and grandmother talk about surviving the Great Depression on a Kansas wheat farm and Arkansas truck farm respectively. It was burned in by graduating into the "Savings & Loan" crisis and all of the recessions since then.


Same here. I was raised by Preppers..its part of the DNA


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## trike lady (6 mo ago)

The up and coming food shortages. 
Things that make me wonder are the explosions, fires and airplanes that crash into food processing plants. Transportation issues such as cargo ships that cannot unload and passing stupid rules so truckers cannot move items across the country. Drought in areas of the country caused by geo-engineering making growing harder on farmers and ranchers losing their herds.
I ordered a hurricane lamp in addition to my oil lamp on the counter and more oil and wicks are in the plan.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

I grew up being prepared. I just didn't know that's what it was called.

Having power outages was common. During the winter, snowstorms could knock the power out for a week or more. And summer wasn't much better. We always had weeks of food in the house. And a genny to run the well if necessary. We weren't going to be hurt to whatever came down the road.


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## ItsJustMe (Dec 12, 2020)

My parents were always ready for whatever. I vividly remember Hurricane Carla. Bathtub, jugs, buckets filled with water (we had a well). A huge generator in the garage. Dad was the civil defense director in our town and had access to military equipment. We always had lots of food; Mom was a gardener extraordinaire. I never thought about it back then. It was just what we did.

I started seriously prepping when I moved to true winter country. Afraid I would be snowed in so stocked up on some canned goods. I laugh now; maybe a dozen cans of stuff, a couple of candles. I also started paying attention to what was happening in our world. I hit the ground running. I guess it was inspired by survival instinct? We were taught that you faced problems and did whatever it required to resolve them. No sissies allowed.

This is a good question. I hadn't really thought about it. Just did what I knew had to be done.


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## AndyFrank (Jul 20, 2018)

My grandparents were intact depression survivors and thats where i spent my weekends. They could do everything and saw things that they never forgot. My grandmother often cut stories off with "...and that was just too bad" because she didn't need to finish them. Both shoved food at everybody who came by and never wasted anything. Respect for lifes natural horrors makes really good people that never stop until God stops them.
What bothers me a lot about old world coming back and the isolation for safety. Getting on by because there isn't anything you can do and people going back to "if ya don't weaken" who were never strong or saw a reason to be. That's going to be hard to look away from and you get no other choice.


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## stowlin (Apr 25, 2016)

Married, no kids, and did well financially the only reason to be prepared is to have when all have not. A lot of things I purchase now I honesty believe it’s for “others” that I’d want to help. Be it through church, sailing partners or clients I hope that I might be of some help to others.


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## KellyDude (11 mo ago)

I want to be able to yell, 'I told you so!'

Just ONE time......


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## WolfBrother (Mar 15, 2016)

My maternal grandparents. They didn’t get indoor plumbing nor bathroom until about a year and a half before JFK was assinated. He had a black lung pension and had a small truck farm. They would raise a pig and a calf for slaughter in the fall and a good portion of their produce was put up for later. When we visits my daily chore was dropping a bail into the well to fill the water containers in the kitchen. My grandfather emphasized to me just how important it was to live by the Scout Motto.


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## Genie (Aug 6, 2020)

All of the above reasons is why I prep..There is so much going on in the world right now. I just posted an article on my blog about all the farm land being bought up. Thousands of farm land has been purchased by the Chinese and Bill Gates. Whoever control the food controls the people.


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## charito (Oct 12, 2013)

Slippy said:


> Weather related natural disasters?
> Loss of a job or income?
> Total Economic meltdown?
> Martial Law?
> ...



It's the uncertainty. From economic breakdown to possibility of war, etc., It also helps stretch pension money should prices really go skyrocketing.
To know that at least there is something to see us through for a couple of years or so.


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## BamaDOC (Feb 5, 2020)

*What is your biggest motivation for being Prepared?*
learning a long time ago, that during an emergency, or bad times, the only one you can rely on to take care of yourself is yourself.
don't rely on the govt, or the kindness of strangers or family to save your butt.

times have been safe and plentiful for decades... the masses forget that for centuries it was a dog eat dog world..... they don't realize how quickly things can go bad for them if the S$^T hits the fan, and they are not prepared...

History tends to repeat itself and it seems alot of things are heading downhill.


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## Spenser (5 mo ago)

*What is your biggest motivation for being Prepared?* 

Well despite having a former Navy Officer Step father that was a prepper, ( i am a survivalist not a prepper) My motivation if that is what drives me, is a combination of life's natural disasters that I have been through and my very Jewish Grandmother (I am Christian)

My 1st natural disaster I was a young kid during the *Blizzard of '78* where 26 inches of snow had fallen and I was alone with the baby sitter with both of my parents separately stranded in their cars on 2 different highways.

Later in life I have been through blackouts, flooding, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, and survived riots after Rodney King in college ( interesting story actually as the riots stopped when a black fraternity that was going through dormitories beating up people ended up hitting the basement dorms where I was. These dorms housed the universities football team, 1 hockey player, a golden gloves champion, and myself that answered the dorm door wielding a Japanese Katana. Riot over)

But honestly it was my Jewish Grandmother. She didn't know it, but she was a prepper. Food, water, medication, you name it she always had what you needed. Whether at home or in the car she always pulled out a bag, tote, or box the item that you needed.

Me becoming a survivalist though is actually from the writers of the TV show MacGyver. Being able to fix anything, make anything just fascinated me. I ended up going to college to take the courses he took Engineering, Advanced Mathematics, Chemistry, & Advanced Physics. Later I took at occupational schools auto repair, electronic repair and computer tech and eventually small & large appliance.

Funny to think that a TV show, a grandmother, and all the [email protected]@#$ I have been through and seen shaped me into the person i am today... Thanks again Grandma RIP.


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Superstorm Sandy is what really kicked it into gear for me.


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## Spenser (5 mo ago)

This is for you Annie



Annie said:


> Superstorm Sandy is what really kicked it into gear for me.


*Sandy*

I actually went to school in Calif with the gal that played Annie in the Movie production. Ironically, unlike myself, she was a brunet not a redhead.... It was a magnet school (smart ie talented school, not special needs school, incase you are wondering.)


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## Buttoni (Jun 2, 2020)

Doing without after hurricane Alicia in Galveston is what started our prepping years ago. Didn't want to go through that ever again.


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## MrLemonade (5 mo ago)

OP's thread/question is "What is your biggest motivation for being Prepared?"

I've been around, seen disasters, experienced hardships of being under or unprepared. It's not fun. I've been in emergencies from both sides of the coin, prepared and not, and it's much better to be prepared.

My question is, why would a person not want to be prepared? I suppose money, effort, time, and space limitations would be main reasons. 

Money: Being a prepper has almost certainly saved me significant resources/money. I eat out less, am more dialed into the world, cut off costly expenses (cable, frivolous nonsense expenditures, etc.).

Time/Effort: It's an enjoyable hobby, and not really significant effort beyond where I'd be spending time anyway. 

Space: I can appreciate space limitations but if you're creative prepping can be done in even small spaces.


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## the_sentinel (5 mo ago)

We got hit with a really bad storm and lost power for several days. There was widespread damage and a host of other issues. The neighborhood quickly came together to help each out...on the short term. But as time went on and resources were quickly used up, civil people stopped being so civil. I was more prepared than most and it made all the difference for me and my family. It also showed me that no matter how prepared I was, I wasn't as prepared as I could or should have been. So I am slowly but surely stepping up my game.


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## Spenser (5 mo ago)

MrLemonade said:


> Space: I can appreciate space limitations but if you're creative prepping can be done in even small spaces.


My problem isn't space , but heat. 2 story brick building, 1/2 of my place will be as high as 97 degrees F during a heat wave, such as my kitchen & pantry, so certain foods I just can't store long term. I actually bought a cucumber earlier this summer during a heatwave. The next day when I grabbed it, the cucumber exploded in my hand squirting rancid cucumber juice all over me.(It slow cooked in nearly 100 degree F temp for 22 hours).

I have a 220 Full home AC unit, and 2 other AC units one in home office and one in bedroom, but the 220 AC draws so much juice, that it is almost double the cost of the other 2 A.C. units combined. So doing the math, keeping the kitchen and dining room at under 70 for the summer would run an extra $1500 just to cool down my food storage area, so had to rethink what types of food to store, like dried beans n grains. 

TO give you an idea, I had a unopened container of Parmesan cheese that spoiled a year prior to expiration date due to the intense heat.


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## danben (Mar 23, 2020)

I learned from my father who escaped Czechoslovakia during WWII and joined the French army (was a condition of getting into France) before it surrendered. The corruption was so bad, that they had to constantly scrounge for food. He later escaped to England. When I was growing up, he was always telling me about being without food or supplies and how he would always keep a couple of weeks canned goods stored in the apartment just in case something bad happened. I learned the lesson. Even as an apartment dweller, I always made sure to have canned goods around and not to open the freezer for a few days if the power went out.
My wife and I were in Boston during the blizzard of 1978, we had no problems for the week or so there was no shopping whatever. Have not had problems during the short term outages and shortages. Had a generator in our old place, and solar in our current one.


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## Spenser (5 mo ago)

Danben, we were in the same blizzard of '78 but I was in Rhode Island at the time. Yea no shopping as 26 inches of snow even shut down the highway, which is where my parents were stuck for 12 hours, and another 2 days stuck at different shelters trying to get back to me.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

It was the blizzard of 78 that convinced me to move to Texas. I have never regretted that decision.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

inceptor said:


> It was the blizzard of 78 that convinced me to move to Texas. I have never regretted that decision.


It was snow in general that has kept me from considering leaving. 😆
I was born in Amarillo. That was cold enough, and I've been moving further south ever since.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

Kauboy said:


> It was snow in general that has kept me from considering leaving. 😆
> I was born in Amarillo. That was cold enough, and I've been moving further south ever since.


I've been here since 1980. Married a native Texan. Two of the best things I've ever done.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

The desire to be able to stay hydrated, not starve, stay warm, and take care of my family.......


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## Pir8fan (Nov 16, 2012)

I have an absolute distrust of our government and it's ability to do anything positive for this nation. That's all the motivation I need.


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## cryetter1 (Nov 1, 2021)

The saying, "I'm from the govt, and I'm here to help" is enough for me to know that I am my family's keeper. The whole FEMA camp thing hase a little worried.


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## cryetter1 (Nov 1, 2021)

cryetter1 said:


> The saying, "I'm from the govt, and I'm here to help" is enough for me to know that I am my family's keeper. The whole FEMA camp thing hase a little worried.


Also having read One Second After really made me kick my prepping into high gear.


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