COVID Hysteria Part 1

First things first, things are about to get real bad in the United States. Somehow an idiot socialist was elected to control the country. We had a trial of Socialism March through July 2020 and even the socialist didn’t like it. How soon idiots forget. Much of what I write about below takes time and Americans may not have it. Please don’t panic buy. http://the22man.com/2020/03/quit-panic-buying/

To all those that bought N95 masks and raised the price from $1 each to $10 each, those that bought all the TP. You are part of the problem with America and the World.

The problem is you are living second to second. If you are going to prepare for an emergency or disaster et al, you do it slowly, over time, not as a panic buy. You will pay too much and blame others for it.

If you keep only enough food, toilet paper or health and hygiene supplies for your immediate now, you are lazy.

I have heard more and more the last 8 months about “those hoarders” than ever before. Its’ not that simple. You are not a bad person to be prepared. Boy Scout motto is “Be Prepared”, the Girl Scout motto is exactly the same. If a person or group has been buying stuff a little at a time over an extended time, so they have a stockpile, that is not hoarding and you are not entitled to what they have.

“oh but…” shut up sit down and read on. You have two eyes and one mouth. Read this article.

First things first. You need to have money put aside. I don’t give a hoot about your excuses.

Note: The Socialist plan on causing massive inflation. This may not be applicable in the next 6 months; stuff may be better than cash.
I worked three jobs for years, ended up in the hospital for a week with double-pneumonia because I was working too much. This meant I had to work even harder to pay off the medical bills. You have to have an “emergency fund” of cash. I don’t care what you think of Dave Ramsey (I believe he is the one that originally coined that term). He is right, you are wrong, shut up and follow his plan.
And it must be cash or in a savings account, not an “investment” (i.e stocks, silver, gold…).

Start off with what ever you can. $5, $100 whatever. As quickly as you can get it to $1,000 and continue to built to 3 months expenses (which means you have to know what your expenses are), and built to 6 months expenses. How you get there is your decision, again, the Ramsey plan works (Sell your stuff).

I know it seems impossible. It took me 10 years to go from $1,000 to 3 months then to the 6 months. Then I blew it all on home maintenance and then a kitchen remodel (back to back). Then the COVID hit. So you know, it happens.

That is basic step 1 get some money put away.

Basic step #2. After your $1,000 start this. Continue to put into the emergency fund while doing this.

You need stuff, but only necessary stuff. You got to eat. You have your rent and mortgage and car payment (get rid of your car payments!!!!) with the emergency fund.

I have said it in other articles (http://the22man.com/category/preparing/), when at the store, buy a little extra each time. Instead of one can of green beans, buy two and put the 2nd one either in the back of your cupboard or someplace you won’t just grab it and use it instead of replacing the 1st can. Instead of one 8 pack of TP, buy 2 and put the 2nd under the bed. The same applies to all non-perishables like apple juice, canned tuna, peanut butter et al.

What happened is your gradually build up until you have food that you regularly eat. Don’t buy stuff you don’t eat. Thinking you will eat it in an emergency or you purchased it because it was cheap. You won’t eat it, and if you are forced to by circumstances, you will build a negative issue in your brain. Don’t buy from some prepper web site or because Joe Blow told you to get such and such dehydrated food because it last 20 years.

The point is to start off with what you can use. You will rotate it with your regular foods. For example, the green beans above, when you next need to buy a can, you buy two again. Take the one from under the bed that you bought last time and put it in the cabinet and the two new ones under the bed. Doing this once a month for a year, you have 12 extra cans of beans, 12 extra cans of corn, 5 packages of rice, 10 of spaghetti, 10 of spaghetti sauce, Tuna et al. You need to be rotating these items. Don’t stick kit under the bed and forget about it. Have a system for rotating.

I am just saying under the bed as an idea. Your cabinets are probably not deep enough to store 3 months of food so you have to be creative. You can store these where ever you like, behind the couch, in the coat closet. Make sure the area is temperature controlled. In the attic and under the house are not good places. Too much extreme of heat, cold and humidity.

Now you build up 3 months of food, minus “fresh” stuff. Foods that don’t store like fresh veggies, bread et al will not be part of this. HOWEVER, you can be buying frozen foods and breads and putting them in a freezer.

I know you are a vegan CrossFit whatever. Guess what, when there is no food and you can’t get your kale, you will survive. How many times has spinach and tomatoes been recalled? Almost annually. You have to have what can be stored for several months. We are not talking about a 25-year plan at this point. We will build up to that.
You will know that you have enough food when you have about 2,000 calories per person per day.

Now, buy gardening and composting books.Here is a composting book I learned a lot from.

Find out what grows in your area and get seeds. It is time to start a garden in your yard, house, apartment. The books will teach you how. This step must be practiced now. You will NOT grow a garden when all things fail. It will fail, you will starve.