Simpler Times

Posted by Wendy on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 2:13pm in

Economy

We all know it's time to tighten our belts and return to simpler times. I often find my mind wondering to all of the what if's and how my family would fair a major crash of our economy. I Remember past conversations with my Grandmother about the Great Depression and how they survived. She said she did not know she was poor because they always had enough to eat. Now I look at my children and hope I can provide for them as well as my Great grandparents did for my for my grandmother and her three sisters.

Unfortunately our generation is not as practical and resourceful as past generations. "Waste not, want not" is something most young adults have not had to consider. "Save for a rainy day" has been replaced with Mastercard and Visa. Vegetable gardens and preserving foods are becoming a lost art. Hunting and fishing are done for sport not survival. I don't see any chicken coops around and wonder if local zoning laws would allow a couple of "pet" chickens. Fixing and mending have been replaced with waste and buying new things we could do without. Christmas seems to have lost it's deeper meaning and has been exchanged for shallow greed and commercialism. Women work outside the home, families still can't seem to make ends meet, and women do not have time for all of the practicalities our great grandmothers did. We are dependent on our gas, electricity, and all of the other conveniences we have become accustomed to. What would we do if many of the necessities we now take for granted were no longer available to us?

I think about these changes often and hope many others are too. Communities may have to pull together, network, barter and exchange. How prepared are you to provide for yourself and your family in the event of another depression? What resources do you have to contribute to your community? If the value of the dollar were cut in half today, would you be able to survive? I have been thinking about these things for about a year now. If you haven't been, it's time to start. Would you be able to stand seeing you loved ones go to bed hungry?

We have been fortunate enough to not have to face these things in our life time, but history seems to be repeating itself as it always does. Don't be naive enough to think it can't happen, because it just might. Pull your head out of the sand, face your subconscious fears, and safeguard your families future now. The time to pay for our Nations excesses will come sooner or later. It is inevitable. Make preparations to return to simpler times now. If all remains as it is (which I doubt), you have nothing to loose by preparing. You might just be better prepared for another unfortunate life event or an earlier or more comfortable retirement. Simple times were still happy times.

Some sites I have found which might help you begin to prepare:
Building projects- http://www.instructables.com/home
Low budget vegetarian cooking- http://lbveg.com/download/lbvcookbook.pdf
Gardening- http://www.heirloomseeds.com/
Preserving foods- http://www.preservefood.com/
Folk Remedies- http://www.earthclinic.com/
Hard assets that wont crash if the dollar does- http://www.goldworthfinancial.com/index.php
or http://bullion.nwtmint.com/index.php