Prepping....have you heard of it?

This past November...the day after Thanksgiving to be exact...I got very sick. Of course, being the shopper and seeker of deals that I am, I tried to tough it out and go on the ritual Black Friday Shopping Trip with my Mom. I was home and in bed by 9 am. After thrahing around in the bed wondering if I would live, then rolling around begging to die....my husband took me to the Dr. to find that I had a pretty severe case of Swine Flu. The bout was particularly nasty and I can honestly say I have NEVER been so sick. Swine Flu turned to Pneumonia and before I knew it school would be letting out for Christmas Break and I had missed all but 3 days between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break.

So here's what I'm slowly inching towards.....how did everybody stay on track here? Husband was swamped trying to work and take care of all three kids. One thing he did not have to worry with was groceries and "supplies".

I have always had this little "thing" inside me that motivated me to always be prepared for anything. Weather, Current Events....any scenario and since I was young I have even imagined different scenarios in my head and how I would respond. A couple of years ago I had an urge to get my ducks in a row. This "urge" was very strong and urgent. Luckily I listened to that small voice.

It wasn't long after I started experiencing this urge that we started having some financially difficult times. These financially difficult times were our own doings....trying to keep up with the Joneses...trying to give our kids everything they wanted and even things they hadn't thought of yet. I can say that my view and priorities have changed drastically. With our crumbling economy and doomsday daily news you would have to have your head stuck in the sand to not know something is coming down the pike. I know some people who say..."Well, I don't want to know what is going on...there's nothing I can do about it." or "It's out of our control...no point in worrying about it." This is so far from the truth.

There are a lot of things that are out of our hands, but taking care of our families are not. Now before you get the wrong idea....a "prepper" is not always the fanatic that thinks we will be nuked tommorrow and builds a bomb shelter in the backyard. A "prepper" is someone who wants to be prepared to care for his/her family in any given situation which could be a weather event (think about Katrina), a financial hardship, or a total breakdown or society. I, personally, do not care to trust the Government to provide for my family in the event of any trouble.

There are small things that you can do to prep. When you go to the grocery store and you catch a really good sale...pick up a couple of extra items. Organize your medicine cabinets and see what you have. Do you have some OTC items if you had to deal with the flu? There is nothing worst than having to go out in the night for meds. If your power was to go out for a day or more what would you do?

With things the way that they are today we would have to be crazy to not think about some of these things. Of course, some of them are not pleasant. Of course, some scenarios may not ever happen, but what does it hurt to be prepared just in case? I'd rather have extra supplies on hand and nothing happen than nothing on hand and all hell break loose. I'm not loosing anything by doing so and nothing is going to waste.

Oh...when I got sick...I went to the grocery store that week before Thanksgiving to stock up on sale items with my coupons. I did not make another real grocery run again until January. It was one less thing my husband had to worry about. He didn't even have to worry about the juice or sprite for me because I knew flu season was coming so I put some up....just in case.