Recommended - Dave Ramsey

Being prepared for emergencies can be costly. Which makes money an item we need to discuss. If you have money it is easier to deal with situations. Car breaks down, get it fixed. Lose your job, live off of your savings until you find a new one. Money takes some of the worry out of life. I've used some of these guys ideas and have seen them work for others. If you need to get your money squared away I highly recommend Dave Ramsey's idea of how to do it.

Having listened to his radio show for awhile I really like the way the way the guy explains things in words everyone can understand. He does not try to "wow" the audience with his use of big words and seems to really try and help folks when they call in. He will call people out on their BS when they call in to the show and try to say they can't get a handle on things. I also have a couple of his books and the ideas of his I have put into use work!!! No I do not do everything he says........

Here's a link to his website
http://www.daveramsey.com/store/index.ep
I also found his books at Barnes and Noble if you prefer to shop in a store.

Having your finances in order is a big step in helping yourself to prepare for a bad day. having money also helps with the day to day of living!!! You do not think of having to choose between paying the rent and buying a needed jacket for the little one once you have things in order. You can do both!

 When we are talking about food storage or other items you should build up you can go from a box of top ramen noodles to filling a pantry. 

Heck if you really get your act together you might be able to do things you never thought possible. Maybe you can decrease the amount and types of emergencies you need to think about all together? You might be able to go from living in some really bad area, where you have to think of dealing with all of the crime, lack of opportunities, etc etc etc. 

To living somewhere your kids can play outside, you rarely hear a siren and you wondering if your plants are getting enough water.......................

Or you can reach whatever your perfect living condition could be. Seems as if a lot of this ability starts with making a budget, living within your means and planning for the future instead of living for today. 

If you have time, take a look at some of Dave Ramsey's stuff. Maybe an idea or two could help you out and better your position. Something we all should be trying to do everyday..........

As Always,

Stay Safe.

Thoughts on Black Friday

“Is Black Friday an emergency?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why are you writing about it?”

Because this yearly event is a “teachable moment” which just seems to pass by each year with everyone chuckling at the event and the behavior of people. If we take our observation of the event a little further, people are giving us a glimpse into the way they will or do react during an emergency. We also get a reminder of why we should plan ahead for incidents and not find ourselves in a situation where we have to interact with people when the “crazy” comes out.

Think about it; think about all the people tussling, arguing and out right fighting for sale items! Most of these items they do not really need. No one is standing in line for two days to buy bread or milk for their family. Nobody is fighting in the store for the last bag of rice or flour. Nothing they are going crazy over is need by them to survive………….. No really you do not need a flat screen TV or the latest pair of shoes to make it through the night!!

If we were to ask some of the people we see doing bizarre things for sale items why they are acting as if they have lost their minds they could come up with a justification for their actions. They could justify slapping another person in front of their children over a handbag. They could justify taking items from a child. They could justify rushing headlong through a doorway, while others are being trampled. Each of these people in the heat of the moment could find reasons they believe are valid for their actions.

Now you take that same person, a nice person, with three kids and a decent job. Who wants her children to have better life than she has had, as all of us do, and ask her this;

“Do you teach your children hitting others is a good thing? Do you teach your children to be selfish? Do you teach your children to show love toward their fellow man? Do you teach your children to use violence to get what they want?” Of course her answers will be “No. No. Yes. OF COURSE I DO NOT TEACH MY CHILDREN TO USE VIOLANCE TO GET THINGS THEY WANT!”

“But ma’am you just did the opposite of everything you said to get the TV in your basket?”

“WELL THAT IS DIFFERENT! I DID THAT BECAUSE (fill in a reason)”

The point is people will justify their actions. If they will justify these types of actions during a freaking sale what will they justify if their world was turned upside down by an emergency? What would that mother do if she was running into a store to buy food for her children who have not eaten in four days? What would she justify to give her children water, food and shelter? Now think of ten parents trying to feed their children? Maybe now think of a hundred people trying to feed their children? Black Friday is a lesson for us into the way the mind works. This yearly ritual allows us to catch a glimpse into the mind of our fellow man in a way which should be a bit frightening to you!

Some of us understand the idea. Some of us have seen the “crazy” come out of our fellow man. This behavior has to be taken into account any time we are planning for an emergency especially if the emergency is of a large nature. Losing a tire on the freeway, power going out for a few hours, odds are the situation will not sink to a level where people start making up reasons for their actions. Hurricane Katrina, L.A. riots, large natural disaster or a manmade disaster are times when people will start finding reasons.

The option to avoid a situation is a great option to have. A natural disaster happens and you are at the store to pick a few things up. People begin pushing, shoving and the situation deteriorates from there. People quickly find reasons to justify their actions. Actions they would not have taken or professed they would never take just a day or two ago. With some planning on your part you can walk away from the scene.

Those other people were at the store because they have nothing to fall back on. Now you are at home with your family, they are dealing with Law Enforcement, tending to their injuries or their family is wondering why they have not come home yet. You had the option to walk away where others did not.

Being able to be self-sufficient for a few days is a goal all of us should have. This is a good goal so we never find ourselves in a position where we must come up with ‘reasons’ to justify our actions. We do not have to steal, beg or use violence to get what we need. We do not need to worry about Law Enforcement showing up at our door after the emergency and we can lay our heads down at night with a clear conscious.

Take a moment and think about what Black Friday shows you about your neighbors. Then take a moment and plan towards giving yourself the option of standing in line or “NEEDING TO STAND IN LINE” to get items for your family during an emergency.

As Always,

Stay Safe!

Financial planning - Cover as much as you can

This post will have different meaning to different people. Depending on what you already have or where you are at in life. Some of us might have a lot of money, some of us might not have any. Most of us are somewhere in between. When we talk about preparedness remember we are not talking about one subject here. We are not focused on the Zombie apocalypse or a meteor slamming into the planet. We are talking about covering your bases and making sure you and yours make it through whatever life throws at you! While we can talk about making fire, sawing through cement with dental floss and ajax, this has little use for most of us! Most of us are going to be faced with the loss of a job, broke down car, sick dog, localized natural disaster or an accident which puts us in a situation we need to make it through.

When we think about financial considerations and emergency preparedness we need to stick to "Keep It Simple Stupid". there is no way most of us can go out and buy everything we would need. Instead we need to focus on what we can do with what we got. All of us can improve our situation with whatever resources we have access to. Focus and self discipline are needed here to do this. Instead of buying a new pair of shoes or a third keg of beer put the resources you would use for these things towards your planning. In a simplistic model we need the following things;

Cash - to purchase what we need
Consumables - to keep from having to use the cash
Shelter - to store our cash, consumables and to keep us out of the elements

We need to make sure we have enough of each of these things. What is enough? Depends on where you are in your planning. For most of us having enough cash to pay our bills at the end of the week is all we have. If this is the case we need to work toward saving enough to pay our bills for a week even if the check does not come in as planned for some reason. Ideally we need to cut or spending down and live within our means! There is a strange sense of freedom when you have paid your bills off and owe no one! For this post let's say we save enough to cover our bills for a week.

Once we have money for week and have become used to saving, we can focus some of these resources toward the next item. Having the latest night vision/thermal/x-ray vision scope means nothing if you can not wipe your back side! Take the money you are saving by living within your means and focus this on buying extra amounts of things you use every week. Be it pasta, toothpaste, toilet paper or laundry soap. Focus toward having a weeks worth of these items in the home. Some of these might be simple, buying a large pack of toilet paper takes care of that item for a week... hopefully! Buy what you use and give yourself the cushion of a week's worth. This might get done faster than you think!

When you have a week's worth of items focus the resources toward providing cover or shelter for your family for a week. How much is your rent or mortgage payment for a week? Set aside this amount separate from the money you have set aside under the cash category. (yes the money can be in the same bank account! One earning you interest hopefully!) Once you have weeks worth of rent set aside you also have an emergency shelter fund if your family had to leave! The amount of a hotel room is hopefully less than what you pay for a weeks rent and now you have the money to afford a hotel room if you had to.

Now that weeks have passed with you focusing your resources, not spending needlessly and saving everywhere you can...... go out to eat or watch a movie or something your family enjoys! Do not go all crazy and spend everything you have saved!!! Just make sure you go out and do something to celebrate your accomplishment. You now have enough to help your family for week and odds are they, along with you, had to change spending habits to make this happen.

After the celebration start the process over again. Save cash to now give you two weeks. Buy consumables for two weeks. Save money to pay for shelter for two weeks.

Repeat this process until you have a month's worth of resources. Just think of all the issues you could deal with if you had a month's worth of money, food and rent! Once you have a months worth keep utilizing your resources to better your position. Put money away in a savings account, let it start making money you do not need to work for.

Of course there is more to making your money work for instead of you working just to make money. The subject is to much to cover here on this post. The point here being to utilize your financial resources to better your family's ability to deal with emergencies which will come up in life. Remember the new dress or UFC fight you do not buy gives you resources which you can utilize for other purposes.

As Always,

Stay Safe.

Preparedness Not Paranoid.....

Having a conversation the other day I told a fella

"It's not about being paranoid, it's about squaring things away so you do not have to be!"

Taking time to figure out a few things, pack a few things and think about a few things is about being prepared to handle as many issues which might come up in your life, as you are able to. The first step we should take is to get our finances in order. If you do not owe money then you can save money and saved money can solve most issues which come up. Car breaks down, get it fixed. Need bail money, you got some! The vast majority of issue we are going to face in life are financial related and not zombie related!!!

If you do not know who the photos is of........ For those of us coming from humble beginnings The Jeffersons should be role models! We all should strive to be "Moving On Up!"! Be it financially or otherwise, having your finances in order makes other things easier! Work to get a raise, work to get a better job, pay your bills, save your money and invest what you can! For a lot of us money is the driving force of our issues..... utilizing your financial tools properly takes away your stress and allows you to deal with other situations. Just as picking up a fire extinguisher allows you to not worry about minor house fires and instead focus on other issues.

If you take the time to learn about starting a fire with two pieces of ice but know nothing about the stock market? This is just another tool and you should at least learn the basics. Just as we learn the basics of fishing, first aid and a host of other topics. Never know you start investing early enough in life you could be set by the time comes to kick back on the porch and yell at kids trying to play on your grass. Besides it is always a good idea to step out of your comfort zone and learn something new!!!

Point of this post....... do not spend all day worrying about what might happen! Cover what issues you can. Be realistic in what you plan and spend! If you have to chose between paying the bills and buying a solar generator, pay your bills! Throw some extra clothes in a bag, this covers all sorts of situations. Figure out what thing you can do next to cover as many issues as you can..... buy some water at the dollar store. If you find yourself in a position where your bills are paid, you have money set aside, you have money invested for old age and you have covered the basics of preparedness.................

Then you can think about other things!!!! Remember live life!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Greece Crisis - On $66.00 a day

This morning the news was filled with stories of the Greece Financial crisis, of course every talking head had a different idea of what the situation meant. For this post I will stay away from the politics (for the most part) of the situation, instead let us talk about what we should do to help ourselves and our family if we are caught up in a situation like this.

The news stories pointed out banks in Greece were only letting people withdraw the equivalent of $66.00 USD. Not real sure what the prices of food, gas and other items are there but take a minute and see if you could live on $66.00 a day…….. Quick math….. $462.00 a week?...... $1,848.00 a month?..... $22,176 a year?!?!?! Reports are already stating the banks cannot guarantee how long the paper money can be found to keep “letting” everyone withdraw $66.00 a day. If the banks can keep paper money flowing into and out of the ATM machines? This means even if you have a hundred thousand in the bank you only get $66.00 a day, welcome to the other side of life!

Yes for some of us this is a bizarre thought; you go to the ATM and the only amount you are “allowed” to withdraw of your own money is $66.00. To all of us living in the USA, yes this can happen here also! YES IT CAN!!! That means you have to work with $66.00 a day or you have to work with what you have on hand and the $66.00. No your credit cards will not get you through this one as Greeks are finding out.

When we are discussing planning for emergencies we are not focused only on the end of the world zombie attack or an asteroid showing us how it felt to be T-Rex seeing the big fire ball coming down from the sky. We plan for everything we can by having a solid foundation. If we have some money put away the money could really help out if the car breaks down, one of the kids gets thrown in jail or the financial system you live under collapses! Having extra in the fridge and pantry would really make a difference for people in Greece right now. I watched and read reports of hoarding already taking place this morning.

“Some of us are barely making it check to check and cannot put any money away?” Yes you can, we all can. Fixing your financial situation at home should be a priority, before you spend any money ask yourself “Is this a WANT or a NEED?” but that concept is for another day. For right now think about all the change you have around the house, collect the change, the money you find in a pair of jeans after they are washed. Toss all of it into a jar. Then put the jar somewhere you cannot see it, if you can see it you will spend it. In most cases the money you collect is already been budgeted in and ‘spent’ so you should not miss this money.

If your budget allows $6.00 a day for a pack of cigarettes, they cost $5.50, you now have $0.50 to put in the jar. The next day you toss in the $0.50 for that day and now you have $1.00! You get the idea. We add the $1.00 to the $66.00, when the crisis hits, for $67.00 and just maybe this is enough for your family to make it through the day? Over time you will be surprised by how much money you can collect this way. SIDE NOTE: no judging here, some of us still smoke and you are not allowed to judge!

We all know at some point the crisis will lead to violence if the powers that be cannot come to some sort of agreement. With hoarding already taking place, people will not be able to find what they need; this will also lead to violence. If you have planned ahead your ‘NEED’ to go out and expose yourself to the situation will be decreased.

Having planned ahead will give you more to work with. You will have more options when the options start to be limited. $66.00 a day will go further if you do not ‘need’ to go to the store every day for the days meals. Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!