Twenty-eight benefits to prepping even if TEOTWAWKI doesn’t come

While most preppers do take the threat of a financial crisis, a solar flare, or even a zombie apocalypse very seriously, there are many benefits to prepping even if these TEOTWAWKI situations never come about in our lifetimes. (Story by Elise Xavier, republished from MoreThanJustSurviving.com)

Many of the criticisms non-preppers make of preppers have to do with the fact that preppers seem “paranoid” about the future and apocalyptic, end of the world situations that probably won’t even come about in their lifetimes. What these people fail to see is that prepping has a phenomenal number of benefits for preppers even if these apocalyptic situations don’t end up taking place. The vast majority of preps will help in difficult situations that commonly arise in life.

Here are 28 reasons why, even if the end of the world doesn’t come, preppers will still benefit from prepping.

Reasons to Prep Even if You Don’t Think TEOTWAWKI is Coming

1. Prepping saves money

If you believe in being frugal in any way, and see it wise to save money for your future or the future of your children, prepping is taking those savings one huge step further.^[1] Having a stockpile at home ensure you won’t have to pay full price again for items that go on sale — you’ll be fine holding off until the next time you see a discount. And if you’re into being completely off the grid, you’ll be saving money on groceries, electricity, water bills, and all the rest of your utilities for years to come!

2. Prepping prevents waste

Hate to see things thrown away just because they’re a little old? Don’t like throwing out items that may be useful in the future, even though you’ll never go so far as to be a hoarder? You’re probably already a prepper at heart. If it’s useful and you might need it, save it!

3. Prepping can help you stay fit

While not every prepper will get fit working on their preps, if you’re working on specific preps, like gardening, chopping wood, and hunting, you’re much more likely to stay in shape, especially if you work on them on a regular basis.

4. Hedges against inflation

Whether or not you like it, prices for everyday goods — food, household supplies, toiletries, etc. — will go up over time due to inflation. A stockpile will provide a hedge against this economic inflation.

5. Economic depressions

Sure, there may not be a worldwide or even national financial crisis that wipes out the economy as we know it in one fell swoop, but that doesn’t mean that another depression won’t do some serious damage to your network of friends and family. Keep the ones you love safe by preparing before things start getting bad.

6. Natural disasters

From floods to earthquakes to terrible snow storms and more — natural disasters happen and you absolutely cannot do anything to prevent them from taking place. The best thing you can do for yourself and for your family is to prepare for the worst: have a plan and some preps ready in case a natural disaster comes your way.

7. House fires

It’s a terrible thing to think about, but it certainly could happen. If you’ve prepared in advance, you’ll have copies of your important documents in other locations, and while the loss will still be significant, it won’t be devastating.

8. Power outages

These are especially bad if you happen to live in a city or town that gets very cold in the winter, and if that’s when the electrical grid happens to go down. This was our situation last year, when the Toronto power grid went down^[2] leaving us with no electricity (or heat!) for 5 nights and 4 days. Not pleasant, and any additional preparations go very far in situations like these.

9. Evacuation

There are times where a town or city needs to be completely evacuated. What happens to you then? Do you have a bug out bag in your car ready in case of an emergency like this? If not, what will you do for food and water?

10. Vehicle problems

Cars break down. Trucks do, too. What happens if you’re stranded on the side of a pretty deserted highway with no phone reception and no snacks or extra water bottles in the trunk. You’re going to really wish you had some extra food and water packed. And if you live someplace cold and there just happens to be a winter storm, well you’re straight out of luck if you didn’t bring some extra blankets as well.

11. Survival situations

That car scenario could go from being bad (waiting a number of hours) to worse (waiting a number of days) if no one shows up looking for you because they don’t realize you’re missing, and no cars drive by any time soon. Survival situations don’t just happen to wayward campers who got lost wandering off, away from their base: they can happen to city-dwellers, too. And bug out bag in your vehicle along with some emergency food and water supplies could really go a long way to making sure you stay alive until you’re rescued.

12. Dealing with minor financial emergencies becomes a breeze

Roof leaking? Got a flat tire? No problem. That emergency cash stockpile will help you get by without even breaking a sweat.

13. Dealing with major financial emergencies is much easier

Car completely broke down and you need a new one to be able to get to work and pay the bills? Dropping all that cash unexpectedly will likely be a little rough, but it certainly won’t be as bad as if you hadn’t prepared for a financial emergency at all. You can use the emergency funds saved up and live off your food stockpile for a while to cut down on grocery bills.

14. Security against job loss

Sure your job seems quite stable today, but who knows what could happen down the line? What happens to you if a year or two from now, your company needs to downsize or goes out of business? Prepping allows you to be secure even if you lose that job you’ve held for years.

15. Security against underemployment

Similarly, just in case you temporarily can’t get enough work hours to be able to put food on the table anymore, those garden and food stockpile preps will really come in handy.

16. Health problems

If the main earner in the family begins suffering from health issues and can no longer work, your preps will easily be able to hold you over until you can figure out what to do next.

17. Death of a family member

No one wants to think about it, but if for some absolutely terrible reason, the main earner in your family passes away, what will happen to your family? Prepping can protect you from having an awful situation get even worse.

18. Never need to go to bed hungry

Grocery store closed early? Left work very late and can’t afford expensive take out? Your food preps will make sure you never go to bed hungry.

19. Never run out of household supplies

Similarly, if you’ve got a huge stockpile of household supplies ready, you’ll never run out of toilet paper, tissue paper, hygiene products, etc. — not even if there’s a severe snow storm that could last for days. You’ve got it all at home already, so you’re set.

20. Helps you become independent

You won’t need government support and you certainly won’t need to run to your family or friends for help if you’re prepping. Hell, if you’ve got your garden and livestock preps set, you won’t even care if the grocery store closes. If the worst happens, you can handle it.

21. Allows you to help family and friends (without going broke)

Just because you won’t need help, doesn’t mean others won’t. Sometimes family and friends will have emergencies that you’ll really want to aid them with. If you’re on solid footing yourself, it will be no problem for you to lend them a hand, whether that’s financially or with some support via gifting them some of your stockpiled supplies and food.

22. Retirement can be easier to come by

Retirement is something you have to plan ahead for. If you weren’t thinking about it until a few years before you turned 65, chances are, you really aren’t going to get the chance to retire at 65 after all. If you’ve been preparing for retirement for a long time, you’ll get that chance, and maybe even much earlier than you expected. Depends on how self-sufficient you can get yourself to be.

23. Builds self-confidence

Think about it. Even if the worst happens, you and your family will still be okay. What’s not to be confident about!

24. Gives you peace of mind

Similarly, if you’re confident you’re able to withstand nearly anything that life can throw your way, you’ll sleep much better at night.

25. Sense of accomplishment

You’re not wasting your days in front of the TV after work hours. You’re using it to plan ahead and prepare for the future. You’re using your extra time to provide an enormous safety net both for yourself and your family. That’s nothing to take lightly — it’s serious accomplishment.

26. Helps bring families closer together

It’s a pretty obvious observation — families that prep together seem to be a lot more connected than those that do not. And why wouldn’t they be? More time spent together prepping is valuable bonding time, on top of being valuable education for the kids.

27. Passing on the prepper mindset helps generations to come

Along similar lines, since you’ve benefited so much from prepping, if you’re passing on your skills and knowledge to your children, you’re also helping them benefit from prepping in the very same way. Since they’ll likely teach their children how to prep as well, what you’re doing is essentially helping to assure that your children’s children’s children will have the security brought about by the prepper lifestyle. Quite a gift to give your descendants.

28. Ultimately, prepping brings freedom

With enough preps under your belt, your independence will translate into a great deal of freedom. Hell, with an adequate garden and some livestock, a stockpile of household supplies, as well as a financial emergency fund prepped, you can even quit your day job if you want to.

Can you think of any more?

Experienced benefits to prepping that aren’t listed here? Know a few more perks to being a prepper that happen regardless of the fact that TEOTWAWKI has not yet come around? Let us know in the comments.

You can read more here: MoreThanJustSurviving.com.

Sources:

[1] http://morethanjustsurviving.com

[2] http://morethanjustsurviving.com