What about the cost of preparedness? Well, what about the cost? I think of the costs of preparedness in a few different ways.

The monetary costs of preparedness can be a lot or a little, depending on what you are preparing for. You have to decide on what you can afford and what you can’t afford to live without. Most of what you buy and stockpile can be done cheaply and over time. You have to think about your priorities though: water, food, shelter, security, transportation, medical, and heat.

Only you can decide what you can afford to spend and how you will spend your money. I know for us, right now, having drinkable and usable water on hand is a top priority. If we lose power, we will not have any water because our well pump is electric. I don’t have a generator to keep the well pump running so I need to have an adequate supply of water on hand which is, at minimum, one gallon of drinkable water per person per day. I am aiming for at least a three to seven day storage on the water. I also need to have water on hand to help flush toliets, wash dishes if need be, wash clothes if need to, and general personal cleanliness. I am also considering a diesel powered generator in an attempt to divert this situation, but until then I need to do this. I will put a reasonable amount of money towards having water on hand and watch for sales to stock up on water.

Food storage can also be done cheaply if you shop smartly. You need to have an list of food you want to have in your storage, a list of the food basics, and methods of cooking the food depending on your power options. I have a list of foods that we have on hand that we normally use. I have a lot of “from scratch” items because we do not eat many convenience foods and make a lot of our own mixes. I keep those items on hand and in my food storage at all times. I also have a few convenience items such as canned chicken noodle soup, ramen noodles, canned vegetables and fruit, and Knorr noodle/rice packets that take little time to prepare and I can do on a camp stove or my grill burner. When you buy for your food storage, keep in mind that you might not have access to normal power sources when you cook and plan accordingly. I can not stress enough that having a non-electric can opener in your stockpile is extremely important!

Shelter, security, transportation, and heat are all areas that you have to decide on what you are willing to spend and how you will spend that money. We have shelter. I am always working on security. Transportation is a work-in-progress because I always want to have at least one well-running vehicle. Heat is an area I have to give more thought too. I have an all-electric house and, as I previously mentioned, a generator would be a good thing.

The cost of preparedness is not always involving money. The cost might involve your time, your willingness, and your circumstances/environment. The term, sweat equity, will come up many more times in this blog. I don’t like to pay for things when I can do them myself so I need to put some sweat equity into the equation. One part of preparedness is self-sufficiency and needing to learn the skills necessary to be self-sufficient. That has a cost attached to it. Your time in learning the skills and maintaining the skills is a cost. A willingness to learn those skills is another cost.

For example, this weekend Rob will be changing the brakes and front rotors on my van. I want to watch and learn how to change the brakes myself. I want to know what tools I need to change them as well as how to do this. If I ever have to have the brakes changed again, I will have an idea on how to do this. Even if I don’t change them myself and a mechanic does change the brakes, I will have an idea of cost and time involved in the changing of the brakes. I will not worry so much about the mechanic overcharging me because I will know what to look for on the bill.

Lastly, another cost of preparedness is what you can not afford to be without. If you have to leave in a hurry, you need to have a full tank of gas in your vehicle. If you have an injury, you will need to have a good first-aid kit on hand to deal with whatever injury has happened. If you take medication every day, you need to have that medication on hand every day. You can not afford to be without it. The cost/benefit outweigh the risk. You need to ask yourself when you are preparing: “Does the risk of not having this item outweigh the cost/benefit of having the item?” Only you will know the answer. Your preparedness goals and priorities will help you decide and give you focus, but only you will be able to answer the question.

Set your preparedness budget and decide what you can and are willing to put towards preparedness. The cost of being prepared will definitely outweigh the risk of not being prepared and not being able to care for your family in times of emergency and crisis.

Have a great day! Thanks for reading!

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