what are your prepping goals for the next year (or two)?

[Brent S]

I've definitely been sold on the value of propane in a crisis.

Good news, the price of propane has gone down! I've shopped around and can get it for 1.79 a gallon. The 500gal. Tank is only filled at 80%, so it's 800.00 to fill it. Still free delivery with about fifty bucks a year rental fee. I'm getting the tank set within a couple weeks! I don't even have anything ready for it but will before long. So far I have a regular gas grill to convert, I have a gas cooktop that I got a deal on, but it needs an outdoor kitchen built for it first, and I have the bobcat welder generator that needs a carboureator conversion kit still. I will start looking for a deal on an aux. propane wall heater to install too. I really don't need to start any other projects, but am going to go ahead and get the tank and fill while the gas is cheaper than normal.

 

[Gazrok]

Awesome.
It will be a while (about a year or so) until I can go the propane tank rental route. But it is in the plan, along with a propane powered generator.

The pool/deck/outdoor kitchen area is planned for next summer, if finances permit it. I may have to talk the wife out of our normal fall trip to Atlanta (for DragonCon), as I don't see how we could do both the same year....but we'll see. I'd much rather skip a year and have a pool we could use all the time.

 

[Brent S]

Awesome.
It will be a while (about a year or so) until I can go the propane tank rental route. But it is in the plan, along with a propane powered generator.

The pool/deck/outdoor kitchen area is planned for next summer, if finances permit it. I may have to talk the wife out of our normal fall trip to Atlanta (for DragonCon), as I don't see how we could do both the same year....but we'll see. I'd much rather skip a year and have a pool we could use all the time.

I should probably wait on the propane tank as well, financially, but something in my gut tells me to move fowards with some of the preps. The propane has multi uses, heat, cooking, and power generation, and is stable over time, so it's going to the head of my list.
I listen to a guy named Dave Ramsey sometimes. He preaches about getting debt free, build an emergency fund, and save everything you can for retirement. I agree with most of what he talks about, but think he puts too much faith in the U.S. Dollar being secure. I'm not real sure of the long term ability of the dollar to hold its value. I do think living credit free is wise, and having an emergency fund is just plain smart, as Transmissions have a way of dying every now and then. Much above that, I'm thinking tangible things are a pretty good investment. Meaning things that can help you eat, stay safe and warm, etc.

 

[Gazrok]

The propane has multi uses, heat, cooking, and power generation, and is stable over time, so it's going to the head of my list

Same thinking here.
Mostly, the stability is what did it for me.

Our only debt is pretty much the house, and our student loans.
Vehicles are all paid off.
We don't use credit cards. We pay cash, or we don't have it.

I agree with most of what he talks about, but think he puts too much faith in the U.S. Dollar being secure. I'm not real sure of the long term ability of the dollar to hold its value

I'm with you there. That's why I want to work towards being at least somewhat self sufficient, so that if we aren't able to have the same earning capacity at some point, we'll at least be better prepared for it. And able to stretch what income we do make.

We have some old necro debt issues from when we were younger, that we're in the process of clearing out, but that's about it. Just really time consuming, and a pain, but has to be done.

Unfortunately, a long period of us both looking for jobs pretty much killed our emergency fund. We're slowly working towards that again.

 

[Brent S]

Same thinking here.
Mostly, the stability is what did it for me.

Our only debt is pretty much the house, and our student loans.
Vehicles are all paid off.
We don't use credit cards. We pay cash, or we don't have it.



I'm with you there. That's why I want to work towards being at least somewhat self sufficient, so that if we aren't able to have the same earning capacity at some point, we'll at least be better prepared for it. And able to stretch what income we do make.

We have some old necro debt issues from when we were younger, that we're in the process of clearing out, but that's about it. Just really time consuming, and a pain, but has to be done.

Unfortunately, a long period of us both looking for jobs pretty much killed our emergency fund. We're slowly working towards that again.

Even putting away ten dollars at a time can slowly build up. That's a really hard thing to teach young people. My son makes pretty good money, but is broke all the time. I got him to think about what he buys at the gas stations daily. He said a couple energy drinks, cigarettes, a snack or biscuit. This is every day. It all adds up. Even if he just cut it in half he could have a few thousand a year saved. I don't think anyone should live like a monk or anything, but just being thoughtful of how you spend can add up.
Along this line of thought, I came to a bad conclusion today. I hate Walmart. Lousy customer service, and putting mom and pops out of buisness just plain old sucks. (I've preached on this before). I needed tires again, and shopped on line and locally. Well, Walmart won again. They didn't just beat all by a few dollars, but we're almost half of what a local guy wanted, with a quality to quality match. Oh well, feeling guilty or not, I have a few more dollars left to go to the propane tank now.

 

[Gazrok]

Yeah, I have a small, family owned local hardware store I'd love to patronize, but a) he doesn't have a good variety, b) most of the stuff is not great quality, and c) I can find more (and cheaper) at Lowes or WalMart, or Tractor Supply. If he specialized in quality tools, at least he'd niche it, but as is, I simply can't shop there.

On a similar vein, I want to get out of the Tack business as we just can't compete with online sources, or the larger feed stores. The shop is 600 square feet of space that I can find a much more productive use for.

 

[Graynomad]

I always use the local one-man-band service station for fuel, propane and bird feed and occasionally the hardware store for...well hardware. But mostly I go further into the big town to the chain stores.

 

[Brent S]

I always use the local one-man-band service station for fuel, propane and bird feed and occasionally the hardware store for...well hardware. But mostly I go further into the big town to the chain stores.

It's hard not to be loyal to your wallet. Walmart had tires that were Rated for higher mileage, and were less than half of what the local place that I used to use. Oh well, guess I've sold out!

 

[Maverick]

My standard farming and ranching needs I strictly use local, my prepping needs and wants I use who ever has it at the best price with a good service except batteries. Batteries D, AA, AAA I try to get locally since I want to make sure I am getting the USA Energizer batteries and not the china Energizers so be careful of the local and online battery sales, both Duracell and Energizer batteries are either USA or china I find most of these two brands that go on sale are the chinese version, Walgreen's is famous for the chinese version, so look The chinese made big brand batteries is a hit and miss on leakage Duracell being the worst of the two with the chinese version.

 

[Silent Bob]

It's hard not to be loyal to your wallet. Walmart had tires that were Rated for higher mileage, and were less than half of what the local place that I used to use. Oh well, guess I've sold out!

Brent,

Last month, just replaced all four tires on my Denali XL with the new Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure. I love them, not only do they have a Kevlar lining, but when on open road, they make my old tires seem quiet. Great off-road capability since I've been hauling material up into the woods the last two weeks. I even think Sam sells them. I got mine at Discount Tire.

Local or the Box Stores, or even the internet...I am always looking for a good deal and typically if I have a few extra dollars will take advantage and buy some more. Lol...this A.M. ran to Wallyworld and got a gallon of milk on sale for $1.20, needless to say, we will be drinking cow all this week and both friges are full.

 

[Brent S]

Brent,

Last month, just replaced all four tires on my Denali XL with the new Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure. I love them, not only do they have a Kevlar lining, but when on open road, they make my old tires seem quiet. Great off-road capability since I've been hauling material up into the woods the last two weeks. I even think Sam sells them. I got mine at Discount Tire.

Local or the Box Stores, or even the internet...I am always looking for a good deal and typically if I have a few extra dollars will take advantage and buy some more. Lol...this A.M. ran to Wallyworld and got a gallon of milk on sale for $1.20, needless to say, we will be drinking cow all this week and both friges are full.

That's one thing I wish I had, off road capability. My CRV is only two wheel dr. I put a mixed use tire on it, and can go fishing down most dirt roads, but wish it was 4 wheel. I'll drive this for another year or two, as it makes financial sense. But will upgrade on my next vehicle. As a matter of fact, speaking of fishing, I'm going in a few minutes. There's a 10 acre pond just down the road that has loads of 1 to 2lb bass in it. I just catch and release, but it's a good way to spend an hour or two. I have plenty of projects to work on, but it's just too nice outside .

 

[Gazrok]

One thing I miss, used tires. I used to get them for like $30 (and that's putting them on too). With my current truck, can never find used, and new, pretty much always $150 each.

 

[Brent S]

One thing I miss, used tires. I used to get them for like $30 (and that's putting them on too). With my current truck, can never find used, and new, pretty much always $150 each.

I remember ny first car, a 66 ply valiant. New tires were 30.00 installed! It was simple, and really cheap to keep up, boy are those days gone!

 

[psalm 7]

By the time someone takes tires off now there is not much left of them .

 

[Brent S]

By the time someone takes tires off now there is not much left of them .

Without a doubt, everyone is feeling the dollar stretch now. I certainly have noticed that food and material costs have gone up. I got a dollar an hour raise, but it hasn't kept up with inflation. I even took the spare tire on my car, which was new, and used it to only buy three other tires. It made sense anyways as it was from 2006, and would start to dry rot in a couple more years. At least this way I'm getting use out of it.

 

[bigpaul]

I use local filling station about half a mile away, I don't use filling stations at supermarkets as I reckon their fuel is lower grade for a quick turnover. local garage does all my servicing, annual testing and new tyres. apart from food shopping..supermarket for cans, outdoor market for fresh food and farm shop for meat, all our other buying is done online either Ebay or Amazon, so much easier and being out in the countryside its simpler and delivered to the door and it keeps the local "postie"(mail man....in our case its a female) in work!!

 

[Arcticdude]

Without a doubt, everyone is feeling the dollar stretch now. I certainly have noticed that food and material costs have gone up. I got a dollar an hour raise, but it hasn't kept up with inflation. I even took the spare tire on my car, which was new, and used it to only buy three other tires. It made sense anyways as it was from 2006, and would start to dry rot in a couple more years. At least this way I'm getting use out of it.

I'm still running the same tires on my F250 4x4 truck that I bought new in 1997. I don't put a lot of miles on it and I also have a set of studded tires for winter use, which I bought in '98. Figured I'll have to buy new tires sometime before next Spring. I'll put the studded tires back on this November and get rid of the old summer tires then. Not looking forward to buying 4 new truck tires. Bought new studded tires for my wife's Grand Cherokee and my Wrangler 2 years ago; $250 each! Prices on everything keeps going up and up.

 

[bigpaul]

I don't do that much mileage(about 10-12000 per year) but I change my tires annually, costs about £200 for a set of 4.

 

[jimLE]

tires for our van are $96.59 each..for a total of,$386.36.pluss tax..$482.95 pluss tax when spare is included..

 

[Brent S]

tires for our van are $96.59 each..for a total of,$386.36.pluss tax..$482.95 pluss tax when spare is included..

Ain't nothin cheap anymore!