Are you really prepared? Seriously????

[2dream]

Physically for an old woman I am pretty good to go. I don't do any exercise routine other than just work. I can work 4 to 5 hours at a pretty steady pace. Then I have to take a break of 30 min or so. Then good to go for another 3 or 4 hours. I prefer working outside from daylight until about 11 or 12 noon and then back at it outside from about 3 until dark. The in between time is my rest/housework,cook,clean time. I only eat one major meal a day and that is at night. Daytime I snak a couple of times. A granola bar, handfull of peanuts, quick sandwich or whatever is quick and handy.

Of course all the work around here is done early mornings, nights or weekends. The rest of the time we are at our paying jobs from 8 to 4ish. But I figure I can keep my weekend pace up all week if I don't have a job.

I can't run anymore. Well.. I can but I have that old woman run. But I can still hike thru the woods with a shotgun and sack full of squirrels, heft a 40 lb bag of chicken or rabbit feed onto my shoulder and haul it to the feed storage bin, dig post holes or pound a metal post into the ground. I am a little slower than I use to be but I am tenacious. So I figure all in all for a 55+, smoking, 125 lb scrawny old woman I can get by.

Since I can't run I have to maintain my shooting skills.

 

[me&thegals]

Wanda--I love it! A feisty woman

I'm in good shape. Could always be better and stronger, but I can work from dawn to dusk and never get exhausted. Of course, 4 hours of that every day is sitting at my computer doing transcription, so... I feel like I could definitely handle whatever might come. I think that instead of getting exhausted I would just get stronger, but I have the benefit of good food, a comfy bed and shelter and being in my 30s

me&thegals

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

So does anybody here actually own their house? As in no mortgage. I would have to be in really good shape to carry round all that food and water after my house got foreclosed. If you still owe money on your house and the economy crashes then you will most likely be out there with all the other jobless people trying to stay alive. Having all this extra stuff on hand is good in case of an act of nature that cuts off access to stuff, but an economic collapse will do you in if someone else owns your house. Banks are ruthless.

Mine's not a fancy house, and it's small, but it's been paid off for 3 years. And we have 7 acres to go with it. It's not a lot of acreage, but I've been able to plant LOTS of edible plants, or fruit bearing trees...things that come back each year. Pears, Apples, Cherries, added plums this year, blueberry bushes, rhubarb, asparagus, grapes, wild raspberries and blackberries are in abundance! This year the MayApples are growing like crazy!!

Once we paid the house off, we decided we wouldn't buy anything unless we could pay cash or barter for it. Everything we've acquired over the last 4 years (not counting our home) has been paid in cash or bartered for, or found for free.

Property taxes for now are pretty reasonable in the county I live in. For our entire place, house and 7 acres with all the outbuildings, we pay roughly $200 a year on property taxes. Other people around us are paying $400-$1000 a year because of how large their property is, the types of homes they have, etc.

 

[Tallman]

So does anybody here actually own their house? As in no mortgage.

Mine's not a fancy house, and it's small, but it's been paid off for 3 years.

Once we paid the house off, we decided we wouldn't buy anything unless we could pay cash or barter for it. Everything we've acquired over the last 4 years (not counting our home) has been paid in cash or bartered for, or found for free.

Way to go Quail! I'm on the same program. I live in a very common dwelling, but it's paid for on a nice piece of farm ground.

I've paid cash for years. Hope it stays that way.

 

[unclejoe]

I've been climbing trees (literally) since 1982. I have a bumper sticker that says "YOUR BACKYARD IS MY GYM". I can work circles around most 20 somethings. DW is a landscape installer. After work, we come home and work around here till dark. Neither one of us could do a marathon run as we both smoke, but we feel that we are in very good physical condition even though we crossed over that big 5-0 mark last year. I'm sure it would take some getting use to if we had to give up the tiller, the chain saw, the wood splitter, and the trucks for hauling, as well as all of the other modern implements we take for granted, but I'm confident we could adapt.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't know....in a total economic collapse, the banks would have a very hard time going around kicking all those folks out of their homes and wouldn't even have the employees to do so. Nor would the transportation or communication lines be available, so they still couldn't do much if someone was squatting in their homes and properties. And what would be the purpose of kicking one out of a home that had no market, no one would be buying anything at that point but food and fuel....if money was worth anything at that time. The banks would be closed.

 

[justusnak]

Well, Our home is NOT payed for..and wont be for...a long time. We just bought it in 2005. :/ However...as long as the government payes my DH's military retirement/disability..the house is covered, with a few dollars left over. DH and I are nearing the "big 5-0" but I have to say...we are still pretty tough for grandparents. We cut, split, and stack 10 to 12 ricks of wood every summer...the only "machine" we use is a chainsaw. The splitting is all by hand..and we drag the wood out of the woods in a hand drawn wagon. We did however this year rent an auger for the fenceposts. We for the most part do everything the "hard way" because we cant afford all those fancy tools. I can throw 50 pound bags of feed with the best of them, and even out work my 25 yr old son. I think we could do it. We already do!

 

[Mackay]

Thats my biggest downfall. I'm not real strong physically, although pretty healthy. I have to take my time with things and heat just knocks me flat... but I know things get better when I do them all the time. My work requires a certain kind of physical endurance but not lots of physical brute strength. I keep flexible by doing yoga and I think flexibility provides for more strength.

My husband is 60 and he started building our spread last summer. After a desk job for 30 years he goes slow... but slow and steady wins the race. Our goal is no injuries.

 

[Big Daddy]

I don't know....in a total economic collapse, the banks would have a very hard time going around kicking all those folks out of their homes and wouldn't even have the employees to do so. Nor would the transportation or communication lines be available, so they still couldn't do much if someone was squatting in their homes and properties. And what would be the purpose of kicking one out of a home that had no market, no one would be buying anything at that point but food and fuel....if money was worth anything at that time. The banks would be closed.

A total economic collapse is not going to happen overnight. It will be gradual. The only hope would be if there were millions of people getting evicted for non payment and the govt decided to put a freeze on it. There will always be a market for foreclosed homes. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. There will be millions on the street before the banks give up their property. Don't count on that pipe dream.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I've been reading the serial books by Diana Gabaldon, about a woman doctor who falls through a crack in ceremonial stones (like stone henge) into the past and lives around the revolutionary war time, actually in the colony days as well as in Scotland in this same time period. Its about her love story and her work as a healer. Its kinda interesting how she works to try to survive and the things they do to get by. It made me think that we just really have no concept on how hard it was then or how hard it really could be.....they are fun books to read and I've been lost in her time for about 3 months now.

Ahhhhh- an Outlander fan. That makes 2 of us. LOL

I'm number 3!

Wanda, I'll be the first to volunteer my property for the campsite! Come break up my new ground and I'll feed you all the wild game and fresh veggies you can eat!