Financial Preparedness – Rogue’s 31 Days To Readiness [Day 2]

Have you checked out day 1 of Rogue’s 31 Days To Readiness?

Too many preppers bank (no pun intended) on the financial system going down the tubes so they never think about or worry about getting their finances in order.

The fact is, right now, nothing has collapsed. And even if it did, there have been many economic collapses throughout time that we would eventually recover. It wouldn’t be a mad max world of barter and trade for long. In fact, it probably wouldn’t be mad max at all. Not unless there were a permanent EMP or something. Even then, it would be very difficult times, make no mistake, but eventually, even if it took 20 years, there would be recovery.

What can I say, I’m an optimist.

Regardless of how you view finances, take a minute to view it like this:

You don’t want to ever have to owe anyone.

Being in debt to banks, government, a friend – it doesn’t matter – debt is debt. Your goal is to get out of and stay out of debt.

Take it from me, debt ruins your life. We were thousands upon thousands of dollars into debt and the deeper we fell, the deeper our hole became. It was a nightmare to get out of.

Also take it from me, now that we’re out of debt, the weight of the world has been lifted off our shoulders and we’re truly free.

• We have a few bills (that we can cut off at any time without worry).
• We don’t have to work as much or as hard.
• We can save a lot easier.

We are truly free to live life however we want without debt hanging over us.

We live within our means on a cash based system.

If we can’t afford it with cash, we don’t buy it.

My brother said that to me once when I was heavily in debt and at the time I just brushed it off, cause whatever, I was livin’ my life, I thought I was happy and everything was ok.

But when you sit down and really look at your finances and realize that $400 or more of your income is going towards paying off debt…that’s mind blowing!

That’s $400 I could have spent on food. Or gardening supplies. Or clothes for my children.

When you look at the amount of money going out, I want you to quantify like that. I want you to say, “what if I had that extra $50 to spend and didn’t have to spend it on my credit card?”

I understand times are tough for us all. However, there are other options rather than going into debt. If you’re not even able to afford food, there should be food banks in your area. This may be “demeaning” to some, but you gotta do what you gotta do. There’s nothing wrong with getting help when you need it.

Financial freedom is what we all should strive for. You can’t wait and hope that an EMP is going to strike all of our slates clean.

Live your best life NOW!

Get started with your budget. Write down every single expense that goes out and every dollar earned coming in.

Cut the fat by reducing the amount of times you eat out (or order in), cut your food budget by buying off brand, stop buying coffee and make it at home, use less gas by biking to work, etc.

See how much money you can start saving and save it in cash, not in the bank. Even if it’s “just” $5 a week or even month, that’s better than nothing!

Invest in precious metals, silver is a good and affordable place to start. “Junk” coins and jewelry are also valuable.

Nobody is saying you have to live like a monk (with little to nothing), you can still budget to go out and have fun, sometimes you’ll spend money, sometimes there are free activities.

Be sure to budget for preparedness gear and classes!

The whole point is to live based on a realistic budget. If you don’t have the money for something, then you’ll need to save for it, or pick up some extra side jobs to make the money.

We live in a society of having everything available to us at our finger tips, literally. Our instant gratification is through the roof. However, through practice, we can re-wire our brains to expect slower gratification. We can teach ourselves that we’ll get it…eventually. And that’s ok. We need to learn this lesson of delayed gratification if we’re going to be truly successful and happy in life and preparedness.

Trust me when I tell you that it’s far more satisfying to buy with cash outright and know that it’s YOURS and no one else’s. It’s empowering and should be a goal that we all strive for as a society.

Stay the course. Be prepared. Get out of debt. Pay everything with cash on hand. Live a free life.

See you in day 3!