Stocking Up, Putting Back, Prepping = Paranoia?

Bettacreek, I apologize if I sounded judgemental. I'm usually pretty open minded about people. I was on welfare some years back and was grateful for it. And though I don't purchase name brand clothes (it's never been my thing), I do get my hair and nails done every once in a while. (I'd love to know how you do a home manicure that looks professional by the way) I wear modest jewelry (also never really been my thing). In the case I described above, what put it over the top was the brand new SUV.

Anyway, it was just my impression. That's all.

Oh, no! I wasn't trying to give you a hard time or anything. I hear that stuff all the time though, and some people are downright nasty about it. It all depends on the situation the person is in. Honestly, if people had that much money, they wouldn't be able to get on FS. Some people are plain stupid with money, but it doesn't mean that they have a lot to spend. Ex-family in law was like that... They were poor as sin, but they had the nicest stuff, and weren't on FS... Problem is that they put their money into things that weren't a priority.

I have read the most recent posts and it has me thinking. Last year was a really financially tough year . In December 2009, we got an over 300 electric bill. (note: The bill is in my mom's name and has been since May 2008)I could not put us the budget before that because we had to pay in full before and be on time? I really cannot remember, but I did try. . Then one day, I was futzin around the computer and on the power bill's website and voila! I did put us on the electric bill budget and it was to be 198/month. So I went about the business of paying 198, when one day and suddenly my husband, who was incubating about 3 dozen eggs, calls me and says the power had been turned off. Investigation yielded I needed to pay the 300 plus power bill plus all their stinkin fees to get it back on as I watched in heartwrenching agony him tossing our prehatched chicks into the field. . From that point forward, we missed sales and coupon events, incurred late fees, never had a dime to do anything and one day while my mother and stepfather were on their last day in town and over at our house for lunch and goodbye until next year, my husband got a little gruff around the lunch table. Actually, just before lunch. He had finally gotten back to sleep for 35 minutes and they arrived. When he exited the bedroom, he slammed the door open (which he always does because it doesn't open all the way) and then Hotdogs were done before beans even started and I had all I could do to hurry the process along. My mother and her husband concurred in private that they were going to leave shortly after lunch because of this. When she explained her leaving in full it was during the conversation of her dog having a major seizure event shortly after arriving back at their campsite, I felt horrible... I apologized on his behalf and she told me not to make excuses for him. She said that when that happened, she said,"EEEEEEEEHHHH Don't need this" and decided to leave. I did not get that they left earlier than planned until this conversation which was the next day. I bring this all this up as history to say this much...

even my mother and her husband, who are not wealthy, but to some degree, "well off", made a judgement on my husband who in a tired moment became a little grumpy in his own house and based on a work schedule which was all over the calendar 9overnights, days, nights, night to morning etc) I think because I complained about eating hot dogs so much and not having any money amongst other things, (and yes, I must have done this alot because a couple months later, she called to tell me that I needed to change my montre) she just got tired of hearing it and decided that we obviously wanted something for nothing from her. Yes, we have borrowed money from them, but we were not ungrateful about it at the time or afterwards. It was simply a year of paying a lot out in fees and interest and not being able to go get milk on a Tuesday when we needed it and not wait till Thursday when he got paid. It was gas going up, but not being able to shorten the drive to work. It was still 40 miles to work when gas was $3.20 or $3.75. More expensive gas and groceries and we buy less and do without at the grocery store. It is not being able to pay for both... groceries and gas. and believe it or not, we don't qualify for food stamps. We do qualify for medicaid for my SN daughter and at the time, about 45 dollars of WIC. But there was a time, when though we qualified for certain things, we didn't take advantage of them. I still, at times, cringe at not being able to make ends meet and accept medicaid and SSI on behalf of my daughter.

Have I gone off on a tangent? I wish I didn't do that. If somebody wants to , please do. I would never send these posts if I worried that it wasn't worded properly and so I ought not to hit "send'. I am trying to figure some of life out right now and I feel somewhat safe in doing here.

Laureli You ARE safe in doing it here. No worries. We each seem to have our own frustrations around here, and we ALL vent here

I know what you mean about not qualifying for assistance too. I know lots of families who are struggling that don't get AFDC and really should for whatever reasons. It gets on my nerves, so we share with them. When I haul produce, those are the first places I hit. One family drives a Lexus. Sometimes folks make assumptions about people who drive certain types of cars etc. but the truth of the matter is, they drive that car, because they bought it dirt cheap from the insurance company after it was "totalled" and sank $800 in to fix it when things were better financially. You can never tell by the way folks look or what they drive if they are "needy" or struggling to make ends meet. That family is genuinely excited to see me pull in with a truckload of produce, because it means next month won't be so tight, and maybe they can afford a new pair of shoes for their little granddaughter who is growing like a weed rather than using every last penny for food. Folks like that are why I drive that truck all over creation and work my butt off in the heat to get the food out there to those who can really use it. And I like being able to make a difference. We're low enough income we actually get AFDC but I truly know folks seemingly worse off than us, who can't get help. It's sad really. So I do what I can to help. It's just never enough, which is frustrating to me. I wish there were 40 hours in a day sometimes!!!

I haven't been on this thread in a few months and I decided to revisit it to see what is going on.
Let me be completely truthful.....I would qualify for lots of assistance by the #s. DH doesn't care to get letters from agencies inviting him to a job fair though, when he already has a job and isn't interested in looking for another one. I also work outside of home.
So I am on my own. Besides there is just too much explaining to do. My kids have always gotten cash gifts from close relatives and savings bonds and ALL their money has always been saved for them and therefore there is a paper trail that I would have to explain and we have exceeded the amt of saved money allowed to qualify for foodstamps, etc....
So to make ends meet, I keep myself as frugal as possible. My house looks like a camp, but its liveable. I would never buy a new outfit, if I could get it from the community center. I sweat in the heat, until I can't stand it and turn on the AC. Very seldom will you catch me getting take out food. I live modest and sometimes I really think people make assumptions on me. I could have nice things. I could easily go out and borrow 50,000 today and start making my house and yard beautiful, but I'd have to pay it back eventually.
I buy in bulk and I'm always careful. I got that from my grandparents; may they RIP. Every week I'm off, I try to come up with 8 things I can do to improve my home life/farm, without paying a single penny. Almost anyone could do that if they had a mind to.
I can believe there are people out there who couldn't do some of the things I do, but in my experience, there is always just a little more someone could do everyday to cheat in this game we call life. I go thru life like its a big game I'm playing at and I do a lot of crazy things you just might not credit.......I purposely add and subtract incorrectly in my checking acct to allow for an eventual cushion, which hopefully I never have to tap into. I pretty much never touch the egg money, except to buy feed for the animals or make improvements with the farm projects. Its all a big (but serious) game to me.
I watched a movie once called Master of the Game. And thats how I looked at things....like its all a game and it can be mastered. I have had some very hard times in the past. I have made a gumbo and didn't have meat to put in it, so I put eggs. I didn't have onions, so I picked some wild onion tops that just grow like weeds here. That was just one day. I truely didn't know how I was going to get to the next week. I cleaned my house, completely and put all the lose change in an ashtray on the table that day. I came up with 47 cents. DH and I ate a lot of homemade biscuits that week, with (thank God) eggs and he went hunting with his brothers and killed a few rabbits. Finally the young roosters were big enough for us to kill them (hardly) and we put them in the freezer and had a little meat and saved on feed. The game was really hard when we first started playing it.
Any of you having a hard time.......hang in there. Use whatever resources you can. Go to the library and learn something you don't know. Be ready to help people with your own 2 hands.....that can get you all kinds of help, even if its not money (at the very least, when someone gives me a few hours of work, I'll at least ask them to sit down for supper). If there is a will, there is a way.

I think a lot of people get the wrong impression about the system we call " welfare" because there are two kinds of people that use it. The first grouping of people are the people for whom it was originally designed and that's the folks who for some reason or unable to make it during the months when they can't work.

It is easy to imagine then in the dead of winter in states where the temperature gets to 20 below zero and the winds get very high brickworkers and steelworkers and people who work outside are really not able to get work. They need some help. The other population unfortunately are the ones who have made a profession out of doing nothing but taking money from the government in the form of welfare and those are the people to whom most people object.

Everybody at some time in their life finds themselves behind the eight ball. It is not an uncommon experience, and unfortunately becoming more and more common even with people who have decent jobs. That is why we developed the welfare system to help each other during hard times. The question then becomes "how long should we allow that to continue at one time before we say enough is enough?"

The unusual occurrence of having so many people not having enough money for basic necessities however has become overwhelming to our current situation. This is the result of the inflation that everybody says "isn't happening" and the fact that the wages have not increased to meet the inflationary costs. We all know that the costs increase the very minute the minimum wage is increased by the government. This becomes a self-defeating prophecy.

Personally, I have no problem with the WIC program or the welfare program or medicaid as long as it is being administered to people who have been or are working and contributing to the tax base of our nation. Not being able to earn enough money to make ends meet for basic necessities is not a crime. It appears however to be a much more common occurrence in this country than it used to be in the past. Unfortunately, the government people who are running the programs seem to think that you have to be completely destitute in order for the government to help you out. I think this is a terrible shortsighted policy. However, what it does accomplish is keeping those government type people having power over people who don't have money and are now beholden to these Government people i.e. politicians for giving them some of course, with the string attached that their vote is what they really want in return.

What needs to happen is the people who are working and just not earning enough money need to be helped out so that they can continue working and contributing to the tax base. Additionally, the shortsighted administrators of these programs will not let you qualify unless you have absolutely no money in the bank. Personally, I think persons who put money in the bank are doing the right thing because that's the way to get out from underneath these problems. Even the act of saving money contributes to the tax base.

What I do object to is where the people who can work but don't and do nothing but demand increasing handouts from the government for which they made no contribution whatsoever to the national treasury! Personally, those are the people who should not have the privilege of voting because they don't contribute to the tax base in any way, shape or form. They simply expect clever politicians to give them more in return for their vote which quite frankly is buying votes and I object to that vehemently!

Further what really gripes me, is that population of welfare recipients who move from state to state. They're able to get Medicaid, Medicare, welfare and all kinds of handouts wherever they go and never really have to make any attempt to stop the cycle of poverty by just getting a job and sticking with the job for an extended period of time. Additionally, they seem to have the ability to produce more children which increases their need but they don't have any way of making any attempt at stopping the problem. Rewarding people with money for having more children that they can't afford does not make sense. Yes we all have freedom in this country but that freedom has to be matched by responsibility otherwise it doesn't really exist.

Most American citizens, who understand our system, will do everything in their power to get out from underneath that difficult time in their life. The concept of having four generations on welfare however is patently absurd and I object to that vehemently.

We as Americans, are here to help each other and as the old saying goes "G*d helps those who help themselves!"
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni
Trim sends
//BT//

GREAT POST RHODA!!!

I also treat it as a game. Game is save money. Have a fun time in life but be smart and survive. Any one of us can go down in a heartbeat.

We had big medical issues happening. Tony has the heart check a bit ago, then the shoulder is definitely a future surgery and his back...ugh...not sure where that is going but it won't be pretty. AND I just had the heart situation also. I just got $3500 in bills for my share after insurance on me alone with the heart issue. Thank goodness I can pay it because of all the little tricks to save money day to day means you have that emergency money to pay it. So friggin' important.

I rob Peter to Paul all the time It works if you can stay on top of the game.

I also do the AC thing. I let the house get to about 80-82 and then I have to turn it on. And I put it at 77. So while it cools down, now I am so used to 77 that if I go lower I freeze to death HAHA

I just went NEW clothes shopping. Haven't gone in AGES! I spent $150 and got ALOT of things for summer. I am done. While one person would spend $120 on a shirt or 1 pair of pants, I got all my shorts, Ts, couple capris, few nice shirts and some undies for that money. I actually came home saying I did well. Now all those stained farm Ts and pants can be retired for only farm work and I have somethign presentable to go out in public So $150 for a 2 year clothes budget is pretty darn good LOL LOL

and you are right. making the right friends and helping them means good help in return when needed. that is a great support system.

k0xxx said:

Why do you suppose it is that some people equate stocking up food and other needed supplies with being paranoid?

Click to expand...

I know I'm probably taking the OP too literally, but my take on it is this: stocking up on food & supplies isn't paranoid, but there are some characteristics of some preppers that do fit the criteria.

Per Wikipedia:

The World Health Organization's ICD-10 lists paranoid personality disorder as (F60.0) Paranoid personality disorder.[5]

It is characterized by at least three of the following:
1.excessive sensitivity to setbacks and rebuffs;
2.tendency to bear grudges persistently, i.e. refusal to forgive insults and injuries or slights;
3.suspiciousness and a pervasive tendency to distort experience by misconstruing the neutral or friendly actions of others as hostile or contemptuous;
4.a combative and tenacious sense of personal rights out of keeping with the actual situation;
5.recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding sexual fidelity of spouse or sexual partner;
6.tendency to experience excessive self-importance, manifest in a persistent self-referential attitude;
7.preoccupation with unsubstantiated "conspiratorial" explanations of events both immediate to the patient and in the world at large.
Includes:
expansive paranoid, fanatic, querulant and sensitive paranoid personality (disorder)
Excludes:
delusional disorder
schizophrenia

I've not noticed many of those characteristics in members of this board, but am a member of <another board> where such characteristics are pervasive. To many there, everything the government does is hostile, individual absolute freedom (to the point of anarchy) is paramount, and 3/4 of the activity on the board seems to be in support of exposing government conspiracies.

All all preppers paranoid? No.
Are some preppers paranoid? Yeah, some are.

Hey Guys, I am new here. What I am trying to do to be a little more prepared is canning soups, stews, meats, along with drying
and canning veggies. It seems that the more you have ready the easier it will be for us all. I am looking for some
pressure canning recipes for taco soup, Shoney's cabbage, beef and bean soup, and brunswick stew. I went the library
yesterday and checked out some canning books, very disappointed that there were so few things of what I was looking for.
I means when whatever comes, I would like to open a good soup that I have put up. Also for a working girl to just come
home and open a jar of Ground round and make spaghetti or tacos it saves so much time. I look forward to hearing from
you! Dona

Yes, that is my strategy as well. More meals in a jar!!!