While a large part of prepping doesn’t require spending money, you can’t escape the fact that becoming prepared takes a mental investment as well as monetary investment. Done correctly, you can minimize the amount you spend on prepping by focusing on what’s important.

The 80/20 rule: 20% of what you do or buy gives you 80% of the needed results. This basically means that we can get better results by focusing on the 20% than wasting all our time on the 80%. With all the different aspects of prepping It’s very easy to get sidetracked. Every once in a while, we should take a step back and ask ourselves “is this the best use of my resources?”

Prepping is one big category that incorporates a lot of separate categories. We steal a little from military, bushcraft, firearms, mechanics, camping, hiking, gardening, canning, and many more. Any skill that can help us become better prepared can be included in our preparedness plans.

This all means that there is literally no end to the money we can spend on prepping and preparedness supplies. On top of that, we can justify buying just about anything by saying it is helping us become better prepared… I do all the time!

In the video below I went over some of the prepping supplies that can be a waste of money. This isn’t to say that some of these supplies aren’t necessary, We just need to make sure they fit with our priorities.

Subscription Boxes: While these look really cool, and I would take one if someone else was paying the bill, are they really necessary? Most of the time these are packed with supplies you don’t need, or already have.

3 is 1 and 1 is None, But 13 is too Much: Redundancy is important in any preparedness plan, but at some point enough is enough. This is especially true when it comes to bug out bags where space is limited.

Cheap Water Filters: By “cheap” I don’t mean low quality, I mean low cost. The Sawyer and LifeStraw water filters are great for what they are, but that may not be enough depending on the situation.

Suggested Reading: Picking the Right Water Filter

Gimmicks and Gadgets: Let’s face it, we all fall for these every once in a while, I know I do. While these are cool, nothing beats the tried and true prepping supplies.

Premade Kits: As I stated in the video, there are some exceptions for premade kits. For the most part however you money will be better spent on quality hand picked supplies.

Anything from Walmart: While you can find some good stuff at Walmart like Mountain House and Coleman supplies, most of their stuff should be avoided. Anything by Ozark Trail should be avoided at all costs.

Investing in Preparedness Skills

As I stated earlier, prepping skills are not only more important than prepping supplies and gear, they can also help you make better buying decisions. The more you know about a certain subject, the more you know about what gear you really need.

Amateur radio is a perfect example of why skills are so important. You can buy 10 Beofeng radios, but if you don’t know how to use them properly they won’t do you much good.

Going back to the 80/20 rule, 80% of what you do while prepping should be spent on advancing your knowledge. In a true SHTF scenario the mentally prepared and going to fair much better than the guy with all the fancy prepping gear.


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Dale
Dale

Survival and being prepared should not only be a passion, it should be a lifestyle. The definition of a prepper is "An individual or group that prepares or makes preparations in advance of, or prior to, any change in normal circumstances, without substantial resources from outside sources" Like the Government, police etc. I don't believe that the end of the world will be the "end of the world" I believe it will be the end of the world as we know it now. You can also find me on Google Plus and Twitter

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