In the last few weeks I have gotten emails and comments about my lack of prepping posts. Trust me, prepping is never far from my mind. In fact, I have been thinking about it a lot. I have been thinking about how prepping covers almost every area of my life in some way.

Prepping showed up in my gardening goals and in my bucket list. The need to be self-sufficient as possible and learning those skills were part of both of those lists. While prepping involves being ready for anything (or any situation if you chose), preppers are also pretty frugal.

Really you say? Yes.

What good is it if, as a prepper, you have all these things to be prepared for anything and have no idea how to use them? What good is it if you have no skills to be able to survive without modern conveniences for however long? What good is it if you have things for projects, but do not get those projects done?

It is no good at all. You have completely wasted your money and time and that is not being very frugal.

Looking at one of my goals on my bucket list, I have down that I want to have curtains on every window in my house. I want to put pull-down shades on each window too, but I will be content with curtains.

Why curtains? Curtains provide security. With the curtains drawn on the windows, people cannot look into your house and see what you have. If I buy the heavy curtains or thermal backed curtains, they will also block light out. This would have three purposes: they would provide even more security if TSHTF happens, they will help cool the house in summer by blocking the heat, and they will provide privacy.

How does frugality play into this? I will not be playing full price for these. In fact I will be scouting garage sales, thrift shops, and discount stores for the curtains. Also, these curtains will serve many purposes for me. Part of frugality is getting many uses and finding many purposes for what you buy.

Another example I will use is one that I hear a lot.

“I have a camp stove that I will use to cook meals on in case of emergencies or if TSHTF.”

That is nice. Great idea actually. Then I find out that the person has no idea how to use it. I have asked if they are going to take the camp stove out of the box and try it out.

“Oh how hard could it be to run a camp stove? It has to be a lot like a grill.”

Umm, yeah, but I would want to know if it works or not. I would want to know how it works. And because I am who I am, I would be taking that baby for a test drive! I know also because of my job that you cannot hook a 20# LP cylinder to the camp stove which is a common misunderstanding. You either need a special hose with a regulator and fittings or you need the little cylinders they sell in the camping sections of stores.

The point is that you should know how your prepping equipment works or you have just wasted your money. And again, that is not frugal.

So get out your prepping equipment, food storage, and list of projects. Start tackling those items, learn how to use them, and get them done. Be wise with your money and be a frugal prepper.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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