Being prepared isn't always Beans Bullets and Band aids!

Ah the joys of home ownership...

 

Well last week we made a wonderful discovery... our furnace is on it's deathbed (note the sarcasm).  Then you might also consider that this past summer, fortunately two weeks before our home owners warranty expired, our air conditioner went dead.  Combine those two events into a single point in time and you have what many people would call a disaster!

Beans Bullets and Band Aids

When people on the TV or mainstream media talk about "preppers" and "survivalists", they often picture somebody stockpiling food and medical supplies with a small arsenal on their back.  But I'd like to shake that rotten apple from the tree and consider our own little personal disaster here.


Having been laid off a few times in my short career I am probably one who would be considered slightly more conservative with my money and it doesn't bother me to hear good old Abe Lincoln cry uncle when I rub my two pennies together.  But one thing we have learned, and has been reinforced when we attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University was that it's a good idea to have a financial emergency plan in place!

Sure its easy for some people to romanticize different end of the world scenarios... zombies, Red Dawn, things like that.  But the problem is with those scenarios is that you can't prepare enough!  If an asteroid hits the earth, I don't think it matters if you live under a mountain in the Rockies, we're all dead!  This one has a huge impact on millions of people, but very little chance of ever happening.  The other end of the spectrum is a disaster that impacts you and your lonesome.  Whether it be stubbing your toe (a lady at work had to have surgery for that recently!), coming down with the flu or getting laid off.  Now those things don't impact a whole lot of people, but the chances of it happening are sure a lot higher!

So at this point in time, we are still waiting to hear back from a handyman recommended by our Pastor who said he can help us save a good bit of money.  In the mean while, we are limping along with a semi-working furnace and some borrowed electric space heaters, a few we borrowed from the neighbors.  Next week when it gets down in the teens again, I have a backup kerosine heater we might have to pull out of storage (I had my Amanda grab a few gallons of Kerosine last week).  All that to say, preparing for things that do go wrong doesn't make you a nutcase, it makes you ready! 

"A failure to prepare on your part does not necessitate an emergency on my part."


On another note...
Amanda and I had a few discussions in the past two weeks and I can't help but think we're not going be here in five years.  It saddens me to think about leaving behind all the plans I've invested in the property, but I "need" a barn and a house with a fireplace!  Where we live now is great... but Amanda informed me that I can't keep any pigs on our property... let's just say I have some motivation to fix this house up!