One of the things you do not see addressed very often is the financial aspect of being prepared. I have been working on learning financial self sufficiency for years using debtproofliving.com. The truth is that credit and living in debt is taken for granted in our society and used as actual income by many people, and but our government as well (trillions in debt anyone?).
The fact related to this truth is that as long as you are in debt it is very hard to be prepared for emergencies, because if something bad happens you could very well lose everything to your creditors. Not to mention being in debt reduces the amount you can spend on preparedness supplies because you have to spend that money to pay back your creditors. Mary Hunt has become my financial preparedness mentor and I am using her books, newsletter and daily emails to become better at managing our money and get us out of debt and into the realm of real self sufficiency.
Growing up I learned a little bit about money management from my grandmother and my mother but for the most part I was influenced by the credit companies and loan givers and stores that told me I deserved everything I wanted right now. I fell slowly and continually into debt. I got married in debt, and he had debt too. Then I quit to stay home and left behind half of our income and we got into more debt. Then I got sick and the idea of me being able to go back to work suddenly disappeared and we needed to get serious about learning to manage our money. Back then this website was called Cheapskate monthly and had a mailed out newsletter of tips along with her books.
Time has gone by and we are finally living on our income and not credit and slowly climbing out of the debt hole we are in. We are teaching our kids about budgeting for what you want and not living off credit, and I read the newsletter every month and still learn something new about being prepared. Check it out - it might help you in your quest for preparedness as well.
www.debtproofliving.com
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