Posted by: EastCentralMSMilitia Dec 17 2005, 02:50 AM
In my last post, I left you with a couple of things to do.....

"1) Analyze your personal situation.
2) Prepare a plan for how you will react.
3) Plan for where you will go if you have to leave.
4) Start listing the items you already have.
5) List items you need to get.
6) Prepare your "FAMILY" 72 hour kit."

Assuming you have done this, or are speedily getting it done, I'll go to the next step.

MINDSET
We all have a certain set of core beliefs and values. We have formed these over our lifetime, and will continue to strengthen these values as we live longer.
They might be altered somewhat as we grow older, but they will generally remain the same.

What does that have to do with survival/preparedness???
Everything.

You have to "set your mind" to becoming prepared. You must resist tepmptations to slack off and go back to where you started out.

You must embrace the empowering effect that being able to provide for you and yours without "outside" help will have on your psyche and use this "euphoria" to energize you to do more.

You must train your brain to reject years of socialist propaganda that has taught you to "go with the flock".

When you're friends make "snide" remarks about your preps, you have to see them for the sheeple they are and keep doing the right thing. And they're going to talk cause you're just gonna "have" to tell them.

You're going to have to trade a few of the "toys" of society for the "tools" of survival.
The joy and happiness I see in the women's forum at getting new cast iron or reaching a preparedness level is what I'm looking for here.

Not every wife will appreciate a new dutch oven or pistol more than diamond earrings, and not every man will choose a generator over that plasma screen TV, and you should have those things. In time.

Re-aligning our thinking can be tough. But the rewards make up for it. When everyone else is trudging off to the government provided shelters after a disaster, you and yours will be heading to a well stocked and comfortable retreat. And it might even have a plasma screen.

BAck to me.....
How did we achieve this?
Well, the first thing we did was get rid of our debt.
I posted the following info a while back and I'm including it here too. It worked for us on around $37,000 of credit debt. (no house included)

The following is for those of you who are struggling and barely making ends meet. If you aren't even getting the ends close, you might have to re-evaluate your entire situation or choose another carrer even.
Also, remember that if you aren't careful MURPHY will move in with you and he is the worlds worst houseguest.

I'll point you to a website that helps a whole bunch of folks. This guy has a Radio show also.
www.daveramsey.com
He knows his stuff and CAN help you if you're willing.
Here's the jist of the plan:

Step 1 - AFTER you have a two weeks, or 14 day, kit prepared, you can start on your bills.
Save an emergency fund of $1000.
Pay minimum on all debts until you get this in the bank.
If your job won't allow this, get another one. OR TWO. The extra hours you invest NOW will save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in interest as you pay off those debts early.

Step 2 - Stop using credit cards for anything. PAY CASH. And CUT UP YOUR CARDS so you won't give in to temptation.
Credit Cards are the #1 debt of Americans. If you are afraid of MURPHY, get a DEBIT CARD and keep your emergency fund in your checking account.

Get out of your dead end debts. Forego that big car note and get yourself a $1500 reliable used clunker for now. Remember, a car IS NOT an investment. They only depreciate in value.
If you are not married, and you possibly can, move back home with mom/dad.

Step 3 - Make a budget. List ALL your obligations and the amounts for the MONTH. Spend every dollar on paper BEFORE you do it for real. Make up several envelopes labeled RENT, CAR, GAS, POWER, WATER, FOOD, Credit #1, Credit #2, ECT... and put the money, IN CASH, into these envelopes. Use only what's in the envelope and use it only for what it's labeled for.
Eat out of your refridgerator and lay off the fast food. You can buy a loaf of bread, package of cheese, pack of lunch meat, sodas, and tater chips for a week of lunches with the same amount you spend on 3 meals at the drive thru.

At the end of the month, any excess can be applied to your preps.
If there is more money in say your water bill envelope, than the actual bill was for, use it on the "snowball" I'll get to in a minute.

Step 4 - Pay off your debts using the "snowball". This means you list your debts [EXCEPT THE HOUSE] by AMOUNT OWED and pay minimum on all but the LOWEST.
ATTACK the smallest with a vengeance. Pay as much as you can afford to pay on this one until it is paid off.
Then as you move to the next smallest, roll the amount you were paying on the aforementioned bill into the payment to this one.
Move upward through your debts in this fashion ATTACKING each one until it's blasted away.
(note - this is why you cut up your credit cards. you can't keep running the bill up if you don't use them)

Have a yard/garage sale and sell off all the junk you don't use and don't need. Use that money to pay for miscellaneous survival preps.

Step 5 - When you have gotten your debts paid off, increase your emergency fund. Go for a whole month's worth of your obligations/bills amount and graduate up to six months worth. This helps out a lot when those unemployment or MURPHY situations come up.

Step 6 - Now you can build your preps to a ONE YEAR supply of what you need. You have "X" amount of income freed up so it won't take long at all.
(I will go into what these preps consist of in a future post)

Step 7 - If you have a house, this is where you attack the house note. You have plenty of income to do this now. Get a breakdown of the INTEREST vs PRINCIPLE and pay your regular note PLUS the principle for the next note. Make sure your extra payment is put towards the principle. This is where you save the THOUSANDS of $$$ I mentioned earlier.

If you do not get caught up in credit cards again, or some type of auto "fleece" (lease), this is also the point at which you can easily buy your larger/more expensive gear and survival supplies.

DO NOT get depressed and "fall off the wagon". This plan takes time. Maybe even a couple of years depending on your debt. But I have met folks who paid off $15,000 in two years. It's up to you. Live in Financial peace and freedom, OR, as a slave to the debtor.
Your "mindset" will have EVERYTHING to do with whether you are successful in this.


Part 2 to follow......

Part 2.....

Your debts are paid. Let's assume you have no house and are renting or are thinking of building a retreat.

Choose what type of property you want. Where, (hopefully in the country) and how large.

Save the total amount you will need to purchase a piece of real estate this size, and pay fees.
Not easy, but entirely "doable" if you aren't giving most of your income to a credit shark.

Look for owner sale deals.

Offer 15% to 20% (or more) less than the asking price, IN CASH.
(this is where you will find out just how much 90 days is NOT the same as cash)

After you have your property paid for and deeded, use a portion of the money you saved by paying cash to have the septic system installed first.
Get one that's about 50% larger than you would normally need.

Second step is water. Run your lines to the county water and/or put down your well.

Next, have power lines run and a "service pole" installed so you can use power tools etc...

Then, Build a large storage shed on the property to keep some tools and things in.

Now you have some amenities and can comfortably stay/camp on the property if you needed to. Which we will....

You can pull in a "repo" (cheap) housetrailer. Pull in a camper. OR....
Build a "barn"/have a $5,000 30'x40' steel building erected on the property.
Put a $1,500 concrete foundation in it or frame in a wood floor.
Divide it into rooms, plumb it (you already have septic), and wire it for electrical.
(I like this idea because later it becomes my shop)

After you have turned your barn into a livable temporary home, or pulled in a camper/trailer, you can begin to prepare you site for the building of your home or retreat.
You might even stick to the barn-house if it's just going to be a retreat.

I'm not going to go into the building phase because if you have been waiting to build a house chances are you have it pretty well planned out.
I will advise LOTS of sweat equity. This means "do it yourself" stuff.
You can actually build a $150,000 home for $50,000 if you do the work yourself. (Mississippi prices)

That's about all I have for this subject.
I will return to Preps in my next post.