I thought I was prepping

[Yorkshire Andy]

With the little one if your not first aid trained ask around the "mother and baby" / play groups as many run a first aid course based about children / paediatric first aid often for wayward parents who are on supervised attendance to make them "better" parents

When mrs andy asked to do it they let her FOC and others in the group were gob smacked that she asked to do it rather than been made to attend

[Arzosah]

So I need to find a skill I want to learn, I have fishing kit from 15 years ago and its back at my parents house in the shed, I have minimal skill there and when I fished for a while as a teenager I lacked the patience to get into it. So I don’t think that would keep me interested these days, and it’s a lot of time away from the family, they wouldn’t come with me.

Exactly! What would be useful on a prepping level, and what would you *enjoy*

As for putting money aside, afraid not. Too busy paying debts off for now, its too easy borrow money these days, so whilst I have the insurances on everything in the house I know should they pack up I would need to replace them, should it happen anytime this year I think its going back on the plastic I’m sorry to say.

Okay, this concerns me a teeny little bit its a hobby horse of mine, so my apologies in advance. While you're paying down debts, can I advise you to go to http://www.moneysavingexpert.com? There are plenty of ways you can make your money work for you more efficiently, and you'll find them all on there. When you've given the main site the once over, go to the forum - just like *this* forum is specialist on prepping, *that* forum is specialist on money, for you currently it would be the Debt Free Wannabe bit. Like here, you don't have to join, just apply the info.

Tbh I’ve never considered what could TRULY affect me the most, I don’t live in an area likely to flood (not that I know of anyway). Never even thought about a house fire, I’ve always considered should something be our downfall it would be an external source, not internal. I shall definitely take that into consideration.
I live south Leicestershire and over the past 3 years have had at least 10 power cuts, some for 10 mins, some for up to 4 hours, the wife still panics but the torches and lanterns are good to go there. And yeah, first aid kit, forgot to mention it, I have one, not a huge thing that would be much use to more than a cut or something and have maybe 2 or 3 packs or paracetamol in the house, so maybe that will be factored into my plan.
I can use the stuff I have, perfectly fine with the tents and stoves and all that, been camping plenty of times, decent with all my tools so happy with that. Never used the life straw though. It’s just sitting in its packet with the instructions waiting to never be used.

That all sounds great.

Books, now there’s something I haven’t really considered, I suppose we really do take for granted the internet nowadays, as I read that post I said to myself, why bother with books, just Google it, and then I realised that the whole point is Google may not always be there.

Ooh, books! Books are lurvely. There's always something really interesting to read. There might be freebies you can read with your kindle/kindle app, but there's loads on Amazon too. One of my best was the book of a BBC TV series, the Victorian Kitchen Garden, for £2.81

Thanks again for some great replies, its given me a lot more to think about and its nice to know I’m not surrounded by extreme 100% preppers who look down on the pretenders, part-timers and newbies but in actual fact, normal people with there heads screwed on. For the most part.

What, did you catch sight of my tinfoil hat while I was typing

[whenfires]

Some great posts in the replies here.

I haven't been prepping for very long and in my case, rather than waves, it can be all-consuming. Like any new 'hobby' for want of a better word, there is a mad dash to want to get everything, learn everything and do everything as soon as possible. Like the previous replies have said, it pays to take a breath and pick something to focus on and I'm having to learn to do that myself.

We've all been guilty of looking at some new gear and going "oooh shiny, I want!" and I am probably among the worst if I'm honest.

In the end, we all prep differently and I don't believe there is a right and wrong way. Don't be hard on yourself and realise that even if you view your prepping as imperfect in you are still way ahead of the game compared to the vast majority of the population.

[tanstaafl]

Okay, this concerns me a teeny little bit its a hobby horse of mine, so my apologies in advance. While you're paying down debts, can I advise you to go to http://www.moneysavingexpert.com? There are plenty of ways you can make your money work for you more efficiently, and you'll find them all on there. When you've given the main site the once over, go to the forum - just like *this* forum is specialist on prepping, *that* forum is specialist on money, for you currently it would be the Debt Free Wannabe bit. Like here, you don't have to join, just apply the info.

Cant agree enough about money saving expert, a fantastic site and really helped me thru my money problems, 6 years ago my debt was £38,000 , as off the end of last year my total debt was £14 (gawd knows what but thats the figure my credit report came up with)...

He also does some very good little books , one of which "thrifty ways for modern ways" is very prepper oriented ........

And yep to the OP "waves" is a good way of putting it.......... guilty as charged... but got a few weeks food and water (and probably 3 months + of protein powder) , and the basic prepper tools etc but need to up the tinned long term stuff

[Hamradioop]

AS I see It Funky Prepper is a Gear Geek and he is also a bit of a Walt. most of his vids fall into two classes gear reviews usually a freebie and camping in the woods with his mates. I have seen very little Preparedness come from that source. His new shed is on Mains electric not renewable energy like solar or wind. There are better examples than Darren I am afraid.

[Silent witness]

This is a great thread! I have been prepping on and off for about 2 years now. I have managed to stockpile a three month food supply for my family and have enough basic level medicines,first aid items, general survival gear and the like to manage for about a year. Batteries are hard for me to get a decent stock up as we keep using them and not always keeping up with the replacement cycles!

I too worry that I am not far enough along with my preps. Like everyone else on here I have been seduced by cool gadgets and shiney gear which is sitting in racks in the garage and although useful I have wondered if they would really be important to me in a bad situation. I'm also guilty of splurging on new kit and then not taking the time to learn how to use it properly or practice. I have good intentions of cooking one meal a week on a camping stove and getting the family used to store cupboard meals but then a month passed and I have not done it even once.

Thank you everyone here though, you have reassured me that I am not failing any more than most other preppers who have busy schedules and limited resources available. I agree that little and often is the way forward and any prep no matter how small can make a huge difference when things get bad.

It is easy to become overwhelmed at the enormity of what you think you should have and know to be well prepared. When I first started I thought it was almost too much for me to take on, but with a plan and doing something small most weeks and buying extras on each weekly shop I have managed to make significant headway. I think now that the real danger is to sit back with the food stocks and shiney camping gear tucked away and feel satisfied. There is always more to learn, more to practice and more plans to be made.

Good luck with the preps and I hope you have found a little more confidence in what you have already achieved.

[Decaff]

I look on Groupon for battery deals, I got a huge stash a couple of years ago, Duracell brand and dirt cheap. It's free to sign up and they do have good stuff on occasions.

[Slazanger]

Whoa!!! Take a deep breath, you are still more prepared than the general masses out there and you should feel quiet relief at that.

This...

Just being aware of your circumstance, your surroundings, your needs puts you ahead of the pack so take relief in that.

[Medusa]

Everyone on here seems to have their own individual take on prepping and there is nothing wrong with that at all. Modern life seems to be hectic, dividing time between family and work and all the other things we need to do on a daily basis. You mention you have a young baby, congrats! Taking care of your family is your number one priority and if you dip in and out of prepping that's fine. I think we need to remember that prepping is not a new thing, my Grandma prepped for her retirement just as she had done for her new life as a married woman with a "bottom drawer". I prepped for leaving work to be a full time Mum to my first child by stocking the freezers with cheap food, buying a few extra tins of food each month and baking and cooking meals to carry us through for a year. I too watch the You Tube videos and wish I had some of the shinies, I would love some of the awesome bushcraft knives these guys seem to have but £150 is money I can't just go splashing out. My preps so far are reading to gain knowledge, water and food supplies, first aid supplies and a basic first aid qualification and firewood. I have several different camping stoves, tents, lots of basic tools, log burners in the house, candles and a good stock of basic cleaning products. I have a basic EDC bag which doesnt contain everything I would like but hey ho, as others have said we are probably more prepared. I guess we have to remember too that not all of us have the storage space that some people do.

[PreppingPingu]

As has been already said - by thinking about prepping and having a few bits puts us ahead of the rest of Joe Public. I too go in waves. I will spend a few weeks posting on here and reading up on various threads and then I will be off, getting on with life - which is how it should be. Life is for living and trying to enjoy, not spent hiding , in a bug out testing and re testing your stuff else you end up like one of those "loonie prepper types" that we love to be type cast as *wink*

In all seriousness, being prepared is from the small everyday stuff such as always carrying a plaster and some paracetamol on you and never running out of staple food at home - always having spare tins of bean/pasta rice etc so you don't have to run to the shop unexpectedly or send someone out when you are ill. From that, right up to having kit and food for a month or two! And it it is about what is important for you personally. My husband loosing his job a few years back underlined how thankful I was to have kept a month's worth of pasta, rice, and tinned food in the home, so I knew even tho we had no money coming in, at least we had food! And yes, when ever there is a power cut - we are prepared which is more than can be said of some of my friends. My teenage daughters now tend have bit in their bags and are the ones with the plasters and small torches to hose emergencies. Nice to know the idea is being passed along.