Preparedness

This month, the message from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is entitled, "Are We Prepared?" It is written by President Thomas S. Monson, whom we consider to be a prophet of God. He asks this question and discusses how we might be prepared for many eventualities.  President Monson was involved in scouting for a long time, so being prepared is something that was often stressed in his various activities.

There are many types of preparation in our lives. When we are young, we try to prepare for a career. I was unsure about what career I wanted for a long time. As a result, I tried to prepare so that I could always find employment to sustain life. As mentioned in a previous post, I have earned a living from almost everything I had lessons in as a child. In addition, thanks to a typing class in high school, I even used that as a base. I typed papers for people in college and did work as a Kelly temporary. Both taught me that I didn't want to type for a living, but I could, and often did do office work. I finally found something that fascinated me, computers, and ended up there for most of the rest of my working life. But again, I did many different things. I continued to learn to stay current and to be able to transition into a variety of areas within information technology. Preparation for a career that can sustain us financially and emotionally is important.

There are other life skills we can learn that will make our lives easier. These include things like gardening, basic repairs, cooking, cleaning, mending, and other things in what is termed housework. When I recently took over the responsibility for our women's organization, the lack of these skills became apparent. The tablecloth that we had in our classroom, which is sort of emblematic of the women, is a decent lace tablecloth. However, in many places, the pattern had given way and there were gaping holes. It had been this way for a while. Many were considering buying a new one. I took it home, spent an hour darning it, and returned it. It now looks almost as good as new and we saved the few dollars we would have spent so we can use them on something more important.

Mending is a skill many have never acquired. It is easier not to mend. However, mending significantly increases the life span of our clothing, linens, and other items, and allows us to decrease our spending. In our disposable society, many are not taught to think this way.

At church, we have been taught the importance of industry, thrift, self-reliance, and sharing with others. We are taught to stay out of debt, or to get out of debt as soon as possible. We are taught to save. These concepts were once commonplace but are now foreign. 

With a food supply in reserve, we have the option to purchase on sale. The more often you visit a store, even with a list, the more you tend to spend. With our change in circumstance, we are now doing our primary shopping only once per month. I also did this in the past when our budget was also extremely limited. Now, I plan a month's worth of meals and purchase all but the fresh items at the beginning of the month. I buy my produce through the co-op Bountiful Baskets about every other week. The Pro picks up anything missing when he goes to pick up a prescription. This has allowed me to almost halve our grocery spend. Of course, I also make almost everything from scratch, which also cuts the amount spent. It was nice not to have to do so when I didn't have time, but I am grateful I learned the skills to enable me to do this.

We made a choice to rely on a single income. The Pro retired from full-time employment when we married. He worked part time and used his income for 'treats' such as weekly date night. Then when we moved to Prescott, we reversed roles and I worked part time. Now that he is back to part time, we are both essentially retired. Had we not saved regularly and stayed out of debt, I would be scrambling to find full time employment again. However, because we followed the advice of a prophet to stay out of debt,  this 'plot twist' did not throw us for a loop. We have to make changes to cut back on expenses, but we can manage.

When employment changes, many people cannot manage. They have not been able to prepare. Being prepared means having the skills, savings, and lack of debt to be able to manage when life changes direction. We cannot plan for all eventualities, but if we fail to plan, we can guarantee that we cannot manage during even a minor crisis.

Before the Internet, it was often harder to acquire these old-fashioned skills. You often had to find someone who had them to teach you. Now, you can often find blogs, videos, and articles about these time-honored skills and can implement them in your life. As one of the blogs I follow stated, many are not aware that you can often get by on one income thanks to the homemaking skills of the family. Unpaid contribution is still important if it allows a decrease in needed expenditures.

The scouts are right, Be Prepared. If you are not yet prepared, you can move in that direction. Maybe the first step is to learn to cook so you can cut out processed foods. They cost more per serving (usually) and do not offer as much real nutrition. Real food actually tastes better. You might also find savings in health over time as well.

If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. (From Doctrine and Covenants 38:30)