Reasons to Prepare Even if Doomsday Never Arrives
No matter the subject that’s up for debate, there’s always a handful of skeptics out there. This is certainly true when someone mentions prepping, or even more so if the word “Doomsday” comes up. Today, some think of it as something that you would only see in a sci-fi movie, and we stereotype the person who is actually preparing for such an event, as nothing more than crazy and delusional. There are actually many reasons to prepare even if doomsday never arrives!
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Reasons to Prepare
Maybe you wouldn’t consider yourself a skeptic, but you don’t see any real need to prepare for such an event? I’m here to share with you why you still need to plan for the worst, but hope for the best. This is a list of skills, along with other reasons why you should still prepare, even if Doomsday never arrives. In case you haven’t purchased my book, here it is, “Prepare Your Family For Survival”. If you have it, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for buying it.
#1. You’ll Be Ready for Any Type of Disaster
This reason alone should be more than enough incentive why you and your family should be prepared for anything. A natural disaster, such as a hurricane, tornado, floods, or wildfires, are all events that could very well happen to you depending on where you live in the country.
Having the tools and supplies for these situations could actually one day save you or another of your family member’s life, or help prevent them from a serious injury.
Droughts and famine are other scenarios that happen every day around the world, even in certain parts of our own country. That’s just one more reason why you should have enough drinking water and food stored away.
#2. Loss of a Job
A fully-stocked kitchen pantry is like an insurance policy that you may be thankful that you had someday. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. If you were to get laid off from work, or your workplace was to close its doors forever, it may be a while before you have the finances to put food on the table again. Situations like these should be more than enough reason for you to think about stockpiling food to take care of your family when times get hard.
#3. Self-Sufficiency
A genuine prepper is someone who doesn’t want to have to rely on others for assistance following an emergency situation, including any help from their own government. You may not fully realize it yet, but prepping is molding you into being a self-sufficient individual, an important trait that most people don’t have. In the long run, this will save you money. It will also help you and your family be ready for any kind of local disaster, which is far more likely to happen than any Doomsday scenario.
#4. First Aid
Even under normal everyday conditions, there’s always the real possibility that you or one of your family members will experience a serious cut, broken bone, or injury that needs to be tended to. This is why a first aid kit is something that you will need regardless, to help bandage or properly support the wounded area. In case you missed this post, First Aid Kits-What You Need To Survive
Learning CPR, among other first-aid courses, is also something that is beneficial to have under your belt, especially for those of you who have children. That way you’re not wasting precious moments waiting for the paramedics to arrive if you’re ever face-to-face with a deadly situation.
#5. Overall Fitness
You probably already know that you’re going to need to be in “above average” shape if “S” ever “HTF” That’s because some of the tasks that will be required of you may require extra strength and energy to perform than what many people are capable of.
Even if a Doomsday scenario never occurs in your lifetime, remaining physically active will improve your energy level, cognitive thinking skills, and help you feel better about yourself and how to help others.
#6. Survival Skills
While the chances of an Apocalyptic event actually ever happening is relatively low, there’s always the possibility you may encounter another type of emergency that requires certain outdoor survival skills.
We’ve all heard the dozens of stories of hikers who got lost and had to survive on their own for several days. Situations like this could happen to anyone, so now’s the time to brush up on some of those skills.
One way to pass this on to your spouse and children is to take them on a camping trip out in the wilderness. I’m talking about backcountry-style camping folks! This will be a fun way to teach your kids how to survive when they don’t have the luxuries of electricity and a flushing toilet.
#7. Leadership Skills
Being prepared for an emergency also helps you develop leadership skills. That’s because you’re knowledgeable on the subject, and people will more than gladly turn to you because you know what to do in an emergency situation. These are skills that you will have with you for life, that can be used in your workplace, home, sports venues, and other areas.
#8. Saves You Money
When you learn to do your own maintenance on your vehicle or plant a sustainable garden to put fresh veggies on the table, you’re becoming more and more self-reliant. In case you missed this post, How to Start a Garden
The same goes for learning basic house repair skills so that you don’t have to call a repairman to fix something that you could handle yourself. This could end up saving you thousands of dollars in just a few short years.
#9. Less to Worry About
Being caught completely off-guard when a local disaster strikes, is something that happens to a lot of people. About 90% of the population in fact! Not only are they in a position where they don’t have enough food, water, and supplies to see them through, but they don’t have a plan of action regarding what they should do next. In case you missed this post, 30 Items You Need To Survive A Pandemic
This can cause an insurmountable amount of stress, along with frantic and careless behavior. For those of you who have made the decision to be ready for anything, you’ll face fewer unknowns, which results in fewer things that you have to be worried about now, and in the future.
Reasons to Prepare Even if Doomsday Never Arrives
Final Word
Hopefully, a Doomsday situation is something that you and I will never have to encounter, but these are some of the key reasons why you should be prepared, no matter what. Being prepared helps you develop certain skills, saves you money, and has you ready for any situation that is thrown at you. What are some reasons you can think of to prepare even if doomsday never arrives? May God Bless this world, Linda.
Copyright Images: First Aid Deposit photos_113665516_s-2019, First Aid Kit Deposit photos_114713868_s-2019
I couldn’t agree more. Too many people aren’t prepared for life’s little emergencies. Thank you Linda!
Hi Tiffany, I worry about those people who are not prepared! Linda
I’m more worried about people who just lived through 2020 and still don’t see a need to prepare!
Hi Dmwalsh, I have to agree! We all saw the toilet paper shortage, thank goodness Costco wouldn’t let people return it! LOL! I pray people will keep prepping and not forget, but some people think it was a one time issue, nope, it was not. You and I will survive, Linda
We never know what or if something tragic will happen. It’s so much better to have what you need if you need it. I worry about family members who live pay check to pay check and have no reserves for no pay check. I’ve been there when I was a single mom of 3. Making minimum wage, there wasn’t enough left over to prep. Not with a house payment, utilities, and buying food. And sometimes, my mother would bring in food for us. That helped so much. We had a lot of meatless meals, but we survived. I never want to be like that again. So now, I have helped my children in their hard times. And now a granddaughter. I can now afford to buy on sale and buy extra. I still buy mostly on sale items. I do buy what we need, too. And sometimes what we want. It’s so much easier now. BTW, I wasn’t getting any child support at the time.
Hi Deborah, you are such a good example to any single mom, that you can and did survive even without any child support! I had a daughter that got divorced and her ex never contributed to the kids via money or emotional support. I saw first hand what happens, but my daughter rose above it like you. Where there is a will, there is a way. Your kids and grandkids will learn from your example even when we don’t realize it. Good job, my friend. Linda
My ex did see the children, but he was and isn’t a nice man and not a good father. He has molested all of his children. 4 girls and 1 boy. Those are the ones I know of. I didn’t find out about it until the statute of limitations had expired. My youngest told his 3rd wife and the mother of his twin daughters about it. When she saw the girls acting inappropriately, she asked them where they learned it and they told her from Daddy. He also molested his 2nd wife’s children. 2 boys and a girl. He needs to be in prison. None of his biological children have anything to do with him. I do feel guilty that I didn’t know, because I was also molested as a prepubescent child. Yes, I have survived and will continue to.
Hi Deborah, wow, that’s too bad the statute of limitations has expired. Once a molester always a molester, according to Dr. Phil. Life is crazy, he should be in prison. This is so sad. Linda
Yes. I agree that once a molester, always a molester. He does deserve to be in prison. He will pay for his sins either in this life or the next. I do know that he was also molested, but that is no excuse! It makes me ill to think that he is still out there. His family never said anything to me about it when we first married and still haven’t. I guess they are in denial. His niece told me that her mother, his sister, told her and her sisters to stay away from him. But never said a word to me. And she and I were friends, I thought.
HI Deborah, wow, that’s really so wrong no one told you. He should be listed as a sex offender, but no one took the steps I guess. It is very sad. Linda
I have helped a Native American family on a reservation in South Dakota for 4 years. I have taught the divorced mom how to budget, how to differentiate between wants and needs, and how to save on water and electricity by turning off the water heater when not in use and everyone showering every other night, how to make your detergent, Linda, instead of buying expensive liquids. The mom had a job and was getting commodities (they don’t get EBT cards, they go to a warehouse and pick up food). All this time, I was sending #10 cans of long-term food for a rainy day. Then COVID struck. She was furloughed from her job at the tribe’s homeless shelter, then they terminated everyone and shut down the shelter. She was not eligible for unemployment compensation. She got COVID too and was in the hospital for a week. I had to start paying her utilities. House is paid for and she has no car, has to pay cash for rides. I helped her get some assistance for the 2 children who were adopted from a drug addict relative. Then she could pay her own utilities. Next, COVID hit the workers at the commodities warehouse and they shut it down. No food for months. But, I had taken the summer months to send her a six month supply of regular food, not long term food, by shipping from Sam’s Club, Amazon, and Walmart. I was afraid food shortages would happen again when COVID got worse in winter. I also got them a subscription to Amazon for regular toilet tissue deliveries. Their family has survived the death of their car, the mom being in the hospital with COVID, the loss of her job and the loss of their commodities in the space of 8 months. But by stocking up between the spring and fall COVID peaks, they have lived 6 months out of their pantry, with a little bit of cash from me to buy milk, bread, eggs, butter, and produce locally. The mom fully understands now that stocking up is not just for the apocalypse. I have also lived out of my pantry for the last several months while my cash was flowing to South Dakota.
Hi Angela, thank you for sharing your story. You were a blessing to her and to her family. Sometimes people need help, and you stepped up to help. You taught her by example and now hopefully she will learn from it and teach her kids and others around her. So many people are out of work, it will take years to recover from this COVID mess. Life will never be the same for those who lost their jobs, cars, and homes. Or were displaced from their rentals. God help us, we must pray for our country, it’s a mess. Linda
There are so many non-doomsday reasons to prepare. Having your car break down, and be in the shop for a week is one. I don’t have to worry, that there will be something to eat if I am snowed in. Personally, I think it is silly, not to prepare.
Janet, I agree, it there are people that can’t buy anything extra. It’s sad, but true.
I have even been there, when I was younger.
A lot of us have.
Hi Janet, I totally agree with you. It was so frustrating to see people in my neighborhood who did not have toilet paper last March. Who doesn’t stock toilet paper? Well, we learned last March!! LOL! I had one neighbor delivering rolls to families. Nothing surprises me anymore, I sure hope those families prepare better. I doubt it, but that’s how they live. You and I could be snowed in and not have to leave to go get anything! It’s a way of life for us, Janet! Stay safe, Linda
I don’t worry about getting snowed in here in East Texas, but we have been to where we couldn’t leave to get anything. The road where the culvert was broke and we had a small river instead of a road. The other road was also flooded. Luckily we were prepared. We had food, and electricity. And everything else we needed. I used to keep extra toilet tissue, but now, I keep a lot more. I was lucky in that I bought a large amount before Covid hit and the shelves were empty. I’m still stocking some. When I use one package up, I buy another. We probably have enough for 6 months or so. I also stock up on wipes. And disinfection wipes. That’s not counting food.
Like you have said we don’t prepare just for tornadoes, floods or others. Little things like a few
winters ago I had to have my water turned off for half a day. Do you know how many times you need the restroom when you have no water. I just went into my supply and was able to use what I had to flush
the stool. wash my hands and if need be for drinking. I also like the idea of if I am cooking and need a
item to walk into my pantry and pick it up not have to stop and go to the store and then finish when I get home. Like Deborah I usually buy most of my items on sale or if I can find a coupon or code. If I have to pay full price for a item then it doesn’t “hurt” as bad. We had a ice storm on New Years day and I was out of electric for 5 1/2 hours, it showed me where I was weak and needed more items. So we all need work on preparing for anything not just Tornadoes or floods. Now they are talking about
Domestic Terrorism so we need to be able to take care of ourselves without to much worrying. Linda like you said we can not rely on the goverment to help us, we need to take care of ourselves, and preparing or stocking up is the way to go.
Hi June, you know we take that darn water faucet handle for granted. Or the light switches, sometimes we need to be without electricity for 5-1/2 hours to remind us. Those ice storms are so scary!! I’m with you on being able to go to our pantry and know we can fix any meal. The restroom reminder is the best. Once I taught a class on how to make some emergency toilets. I instructed the class to tape a sticky to a toilet and to put a checkmark every time someone had to use the toilet. This way they could gauge approximately how many gallons they would have to have to “flush” the toilet manually if the water was turned off. Now, if we can convince the world that the government can not take care of us, we will be a better country. Stay safe, Linda
Hi Linda. The toilet paper stories will be one of the lasting memories of Covid-19. Luckily I had just bought in a new supply when the virus hit so had plenty to last for months, but many others didn’t. Last March our minister personally delivered 2 rolls to each of our church members instead of Easter eggs! It still makes me smile to think of it – and I still have my 2 rolls stashed away for emergencies!
Hi Patricia, oh my gosh, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this comment! I can visualize your sweet minister delivering two rolls to his/her members! What a fantastic idea! What a blessing that was for those who were low on Toilet paper. Those were the best Easter Eggs ever!!! It makes me smile too! Love it, Linda
I didn’t start prepping for Doomsday or other really BIG emergencies but for those every so often emergency needs. I did want enough put away for those what ifs but really I just started so I would have a cushion. Especially when I got to the point where I was counting down the months until retirement! I knew I was going from $XX,XXX to $xx,xxx!! I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to do going from regular good sized paychecks to once a month paychecks. I have done well but…
I was like Deborah said – living paycheck to paycheck back in the days I was raising my daughter on my own with no support from her father. He was supposed to pay support but I didn’t have the money to fight it in court. I used a lot of credit cards to pay for necessities which just perpetuated the paycheck to paycheck insecurity! But, while I worked full time, after paying for housing, utilities and food, there was a short fall every month – just about the same amount my ex was supposed to pay me! Long story short, I got all the back support plus interest when his parents died. I was able to get out from under my load of debt and put money away for my daughter to go to college (at least a start). Then, I was able to start prepping a little at a time.
Fast forward several years – when I knew I was going to retire 5 years in the future, I started upping my prepping game. Not only was I putting as much money away for retirement as I could but I was also putting long term storage away as well as a pantry full of non-perishable foods in rotation. Wish now that I could have done even more. But, I am able to stay on top of the rotation of my non-long term storage just fine by watching for sales and being frugal with my money.
I also have my “cookie jar” full of small bills and change for the “just in case” situations. Back in the days that my grandmothers were alive, they always kept a jar or box or something to put money in for emergencies. I have my savings account with enough to tide me over for big things (6 months of living expenses) but I also have the change and dollar/five dollar bills saved for those what ifs.
For those who wonder, living paycheck to paycheck, how to save for emergencies, I started by not spending 5 dollar bills – at the end of the month I started, I have $75 and put that in savings. Now this was after my daughter grew up and was out of the house. I kept at it until I had a cushion of $500, then kept at it until I had $1000. There were times that I did end up having to spend some of it on things I would no longer consider “emergencies” but I was sure glad I had it socked away. Something that my sister and her husband started doing: on the first of January each year, they started the process of throwing ALL of their change into a locked box. Then, on Christmas day of that year, they dumped it all out and counted/rolled it. Then they took the change to the bank. The first year they were surprised to have over $800 in that box. He is gone now and she is alone but lives well on her retirement so she doesn’t do it anymore. I still do, however, but I don’t always turn it in at the end of the year unless there is something I want really bad! I didn’t turn it in at the end of last year so will continue to throw my change in the “cookie jar” this year! I do find that I don’t use cash as much as I used to and rarely have more than $10 in my wallet so the change is pretty sparse nowdays. I use my debit card for the most part.
Hi Leanne, you know I think over the years we learn what works and doesn’t work for us. I remember my mom had a small can with a lid. She also put coins in a tray for our lunch money. It’s all about starting with a little at a time. One can here, one can there. One dollar here, and one dollar there. Those coins add up big time. Life is good when we have a little back up no matter what size. We will make it work. Because we know how to do it. Great comment. Linda
So many comments on here remind me of years past and when I started following my mom’s advice to ‘hope for the best, prepare for the worst’. And, yes, this even means TP! A lot of joking about that now but I was shocked at the time how people panicked about this. The major TP makers have all said there was No shortage of normal production/delivery, just the initial stockpiling which then spurred hoarding. I think this was true for most items that suddenly were low in supply. Good grief, I hope people have learned in the meantime to have extra on hand.
Hi Wendy, I always love your comments! I actually felt a little guilty (not a lot) that I had so much toilet paper stocked. I shared where I could but come on my friends, who only would only have one extra roll in their house??? LOL! I sure hope the same people stocked up after that wake-up call! Life is good if we plan ahead and stock up. Linda
One of the most important lessons I learned from this Pandemic is NOT to procrastinate. Not just stocking up on food and other needs, but to stay current on doctors appointments, blood tests, dentist visits. We were fortunate enough to be up to date when Covid struck. It relieved us of unnecessary stress and worry.
Hi Chris, I’m glad you brought this up. I needed my annual prescriptions renewed and Covid hit. I was leary about going in to get the annual blood tests so they could be refilled. Luckily they extended the blood tests for 90 days. But even then after 90 days, COVID was worse. I went in anyway to get the blood tests. Our dentist closed for two months but then reopened, so we were lucky to get our 6-month cleaning done. We really do take those doctor, eye exams, and dentist appointments for granted! Great comment! Thank you, Linda