impatience

[KalPrep]

An interesting subject indeed. I only started in January but though the house is better stocked now than it has ever been, mostly through hunting own brands and bargains and not by throwing huge amounts of cash around as i am on a very limited budget, I am struggling to relax. On one hand a few tins each week will help build up stocks but on the other hand something may happen next week and I am too late. I'm sure there is a balance to be found somewhere.

Don't worry, we've all been there!!

As pseudo says, just look at how far you come each day and week. When I got my tin storage sorted it looked SO empty!! But resist the temptation, I stuck to a list of 'prep' items each week and it soon adds up.

[tacticalprepper]

I always wanted to do everything at once. I would spend hours making arrangements for all potential situations. But I quickly came to realize that not only can this be expensive (all the items you buy in one hit) but its not as enjoyable. If you say to yourself that once or twice a week you'll spend 'x' amount of time making preps and plans then you've not only got something to look forward to, but a structure to stick to. I believe discipline is a key element

[Chrysallis]

Hello all

I'm new to prepping too, and trying to restrain myself from buying stuff all at once!

Would really like to up my stores, first aid kits, camping gear, get a BOV and kit it out, eventually a caravan too or camper van.

Although we are both working now, don't want to get into debt doing this, as I feel I can easily get carried away:

Me: But a Landrover would be a great BOV!

OH: Yes, but you couldn't drive it...

Me: What about a kitted out caravan/camper?

OH: Well, you can't have both, we can't afford it....

Me: Something smaller?

OH: Well we could get a tandem and a trailer.....

Me: !!!!!!!!!

[tacticalprepper]

Hello all

I'm new to prepping too, and trying to restrain myself from buying stuff all at once!

Would really like to up my stores, first aid kits, camping gear, get a BOV and kit it out, eventually a caravan too or camper van.

Although we are both working now, don't want to get into debt doing this, as I feel I can easily get carried away:

Me: But a Landrover would be a great BOV!

OH: Yes, but you couldn't drive it...

Me: What about a kitted out caravan/camper?

OH: Well, you can't have both, we can't afford it....

Me: Something smaller?

OH: Well we could get a tandem and a trailer.....

Me: !!!!!!!!!

In all honesty, I wanted to do the same thing. I was looking at a Land Rover Defender (which I can't afford) with this extra on it, that extra in it, the works.
Its fine to think like that, the enthusiasm is at its peak when you first start out but honestly, if you have done what I did and buy truck-loads of gear, you quickly realize what its cost you and that a lot of it you probably don't need anyway. I've still got a tent lying around (my first thought was to head for the woods) and a Hunting Knife (which I can't actually keep in my 72 hour kit because it would be illegal to take in the car) so with just those two items I've wasted over £100 which could have been spent in other places.

I think the best bet would be to decide what your planning on prepping for. For example, I'm what you might call an 'every-day prepper'. I try to prep for likely scenarios that may happen in day-to-day life. The car breaking down in the middle of no where is much more of a reality then perhaps a nuclear war? I've got things like that covered with 72 hours worth of food and water. From there you can expand and say "what if....." and plan for that to.

Take a look at what other peoples plans are, and what their kit consists of. Hopefully this way you can save a bit of money. Here's a link to my kit as it stands at the moment, hope it comes in useful
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=6676

[PreppingPingu]

Aye its very easy to get carried away with it all. I guess most of us would love a decent vehicle we could call a BOV but as with it all - start off small. Make a minor improvement if you haven't got the funds. I up graded my 10 yr old Clio to a 10 year old ford focus. ( At no cost as I even sold the clio for an extra hundred or so that I paid for the Focus! Why - well The Focus is larger both boot wise and inside, slightly bigger engine, and Fords are concidered more reliable. As I couldn't afford to get myself a wonderful new car with 4x4 etc etc, I just went for a small step by looking around and ended up with an improvement that hasn't cost me anything. So now I have more storage space in my car, a larger fuel tank, and a tiny bit more oomph in the engine. Its enough to make me feel better about my main vehicle I use day to day and that it will stand up better if I need it to. One day I will find something even better for waht ever spare pennies I have at the time.

[Chrysallis]

Thank you, Tactical Prepper and Prepping Pingu.

I have given in to the urge and bought more stuff, but, as it will be useful for camping I don't feel guilty about it.

Checking my stores I realise buying tins of 4 or 6 means they all need eating around the same time; so, I am already pulling back on that, there's only so many tinned beans you want to eat. We are already ploughing through tinned spaghetti this week and getting fed up of it. Single tins and variety are definitely key.

The BOV I am hoping to sort this year, saving hard to get something now we are both working, as our 14 year old car is making a lot of noise, cracked cylinder head, slipping fan belt and OH thinks the clutch is going... It's not worth much, and would probably cost more to repair than its actual value.

Hoping to get a cheap 4 X 4 but don't know if we can afford it....

Thanks for the advice

C