Why food storage is so important

The next little while may be scarce on the posts. We are expecting our third child in the next few days. I completely spaced the post yesterday. My mind has been elsewhere lately.

I did read a really good post this week. Ill put a link in here for you. I recommend you read it. It is exactly what my wife and I think about food storage. I really liked the points that food storage is not just for when SHTF. It is for so many other reasons. What if you lose a job and can't afford to go grocery shopping, or your sick and can't get out. Or, being in Canada, if snows 4 feet and you can't drive any where.

Another great point is that you should store what you eat and eat what you store. Don't buy things you don't regularly cook with or eat. What happens is either it goes bad because you never use it, or when it comes time to dive into your food storage you don't know how to use it. Just buy extras of what you already eat, and cycle through that. Then when it comes time to use the food storage, you meals still taste the same and you are familiar with it all.

Last point I wanted to hit on from the article is to learn a new skill. Learn how to can food. My wife and I were talking about learning how to make our own butter and soap. It could be a fun family activity and you can save a bit of $$ by not having to buy butter or soap.

Well, I don't want to give everything away. Here is the link.
http://survivalistprepper.net/why-food-storage-and-prepping-are-so-important/

Let me know any thoughts you have on the subject.

Moral Obligation

*DISCLAIMER*
The term visa in this post represents any creditor not just visa.


My wife and I had an interesting conversation on Friday about "moral obligation." It really came down to a conversation about ethics. Ethics is such a grey topic that it's hard to not become heated when discussing ones views of ethics.

For example. What is your moral obligation? Is it to your children or visa?
If you answered children congratulations.
Now let me ask you another questions. Do you make sure you pay all your visa bills on time even if it means your kids don't get something they need? Or do you sacrifice your credit and get our child clothing that fits?

I feel (at least in our case we did) that most of us will sacrifice things our children need in order to pay that visa bill on time. The question for us came down to the point of one of our kids not having pants that fit any more (seriously though, kids need to slow down on the whole growing thing). If we can't afford to pay both visa payment and new pants, which do we do?

So then the ethics come is. Is is ethical to not pay your visa bill? What if you found out there was a way you could postpone your bill payment because you found a loophole somewhere. Would that be ethical? Or is it ethical to make your child wear pants that are too small because you would rather give that money to visa?

What about braces? Visa payment or braces payment? Would you think it ethical to pay visa and make your kid wait for better teeth? Or is it ethical to get your kids teeth aligned properly and make visa wait? What about a life skill like swimming? Do you take them out of swimming lessons because visa wants that money?

It all came down to this. It is our moral obligation to pay off all debts, agree? So if you found a way that you could actually not pay all your debts and have it forgiven because of a loop hole, is it ethical to use that loop hole?

Lets think of it this way. You have to get pants for your kids. You find the pants you want and buy at x price. Then the next day you find out they went on sale. Is it ethical to go back to the store and ask for the deal to be put on the pants so you can save some money? Many would say yes, it's fine. So what if you get a visa for x price and y interest rate, spend some money, and then realize that there is now a way to get the visa company to pay some of that off for you (give you a "discount" on your debt). Is it ethical to use that loophole? Or is it the ethical choice and moral obligation to pay off the full price of that credit card?

Is it true that many of us think that the super rich use unethical ways of getting money? What if they are not being unethical but have found loopholes that allow them to cut their debt in half?

Why does the word "loophole" make us cringe? We think of it as a cheat. What if we just renamed loophole as "a lesser known law," would it still make us cringe, or would we seek out these lesser known laws? What if in the fine print, it never said you had to pay off the full balance? Would it still be unethical not to pay to full balance?

Are we being taught by our teachers or parents that it is unethical to use loopholes? That it is unethical to find a way not to pay all of our debt? I am pretty sure that those questions just made you cringe, like you were choosing a very bad decision.

How about this scenario. You find out there is $1000 sitting on a table free for that taking. Anyone who goes to this table can take $1000. Would you go? umm yes. So what if you found out that your creditor has a "loophole" that is $1000 off your debt? Would you consider it unethical to use that $1000? Would you think you were cheating your moral obligation by using that $1000 to reduce your debt?

My questions came because I started asking why? Why do we think it unethical.

What about this? Why is it ethical for banks to give you a 20% credit card but only a 4% savings account?  Why is it ethical for banks to charge you a penalty for paying off your mortgage too fast? Why is it ethical for banks to charge all their interest upfront, so they make sure they get it just in case you decide to pay off your debt too fast?

Why do we let these things slide? I sometimes wonder how the world got so backwards. They can charge what ever they want, raise interest rates, charge penalties for paying our debts back too quickly, and we let it slide. Not only that, we think its a "good deal". What??? Yet we think it unethical to find a way not to pay visa the max amount they demand.

What if the super rich just understand how money works and that "loopholes" are just "lesser known laws." And they use them. Hence why millionaires can get away with paying no taxes (not saying all millionaire pay no taxes). Not that they did it illegally or unethically, but they sheltered it properly using "lesser known laws" and instead of it being considered income, it was considered something different. Taxes are designed for the middle class anyways. Taxes are designed for income. Money from a job. If you own your own business your don't have to pay the same taxes and you can take advantage of more tax breaks.

Just some questions to think about. I think for the most part, ethics comes down to personal opinion.  What one thinks is unethical another might think is perfectly fine and feels is honest.

Our society is putting us in a corner by making it nearly impossible to do anything without having a credit card. I feel it is extremely important for all of us to learn how money works. We get so afraid of it because it appears complicated or boring.

Either we control our money, or our money will control us.  

blank mind

My mind is blank
There is nothing but nothing
Stars

That's my poem. I made that up just now. I think it could probably win a prize.

Truth is, I don't really have anything I wanted to write about this week. I had a plan for a different post but it is going to have to wait. I'm not ready to post it yet.

I have mentioned this before. Changes are coming. I am unsure if it will be to this blog in particular or if I will be starting a separate one, I have yet to decide.  But changes are coming.

These changes are all bases around blogging. I have been reading quite a bit and there are some changes I want to make that will enhance the blog and my blogging experience.

Honestly, I knew blogging would be tough, it's hard to come up with content on a regular basis. My issue so far has been me leaving it till the last moment and realizing I don't have a topic of the day. I want to turn this into more of a full time thing. That's why there are changes coming. My blog as it is now isn't set up for the full time attention I want to give it. Let me say that in different words. I want it to become a full time thing, it wont be that right away. That is a lot of time to devote to something.

I'll give away one secret. I want this or another blog to produce money. Why not? One plan I have is actually to do a blog about my journey to financial success in the blogging community. I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of the hardest things I will do. But that's why I want to blog about it. It will show everyone that anyone can get into it and make it work. If I make it work that is...other wise I will show the world that I didn't get it to work...that would be embarrassing.

In time. I'm in the middle of researching this thing out and documenting as I go. Even if it can bring in a couple hundred bucks a month, that's one more stream of income that has a potential to grow.

Anyways, I'm grateful for you the readers. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have this blog and I wouldn't think there was any potential or point in blogging.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Hello Readers!

We found out that we were paying for a balance protection insurance on our credit cards. We promptly canceled that. We were paying that every month. What were we paying for? If I lose my job or get hurt, they will pay my minimum payment for 1 year. If I still have no job THEN they will pay off the balance of my card. WOW, thanks...
Or I could pay off my own card so I don't need anyone to pay the balance of my card. I was choked when I figured out we were paying that. Unreal.

Anyways, my thoughts this week have been on finances. Controlling our money and creating additional streams of income. Someone last week mentioned that it's pretty silly to have only one income stream. Why would be want to put all our eggs into one basket?

That is a great point. Why would we put all our eggs into one basket? When I looked at my situation I said, man, I need to spread my eggs out.

I don't only have one stream of income. Both my wife and I have a job, so that's two streams of income and I am starting a second job, so that's three. 

The question I had this week was "what happens if one of us loses our job. Are the other streams of income enough to cover expenses?" The answer is no.

I think that is the case for a lot of us. We have those two jobs, but we are living in such a way that forces us to continue in both jobs. If one spouse loses a job, then bills aren't being paid and credit is being destroyed. So why are we having two jobs then? What benefit is it?

I want to get to the point where we have enough additional streams of income that if one disappears the others are still enough to cover expenses.

Of course there are a couple ways to get into that position. One is to reduce your expenses, the other is to increase your income. Obviously, the second is the optimal choice. No one wants to reduce their expenses. What do you cut? Cable or internet? Netflix? Kids sports?

It's better to just increase our income so we can still enjoy our cable and internet. So what options are there for increasing your income? Heres a short list:

1. get another job/spouse goes to work
2. go back to school to get a better paying job
3. ask for a raise
4. start a business


This is what have come up with. I am already working two jobs and my wife is already working one, I have gone to school to get the better paying job, no one likes asking for a raise, and I have started a business and continue to look into how to start more.

Personally I feel the last one is the best option. In time you can free your self from your job with the business you start. There is, I'm sure, an infinite amount of ideas for kinds of businesses you can start. Mom and Pop shops, network marketing, affiliate marketing, selling crafts or home made items, start your own day home or hair salon, etc, etc.

I really want to spread my eggs out. I don't want to risk my family life on my boss not firing me, or deciding that our department is no longer needed or cuts are needed. So I want to ask you guys, what other ideas are out there? I would like to hear some ideas you guys have come across to increase your income or create a second/third/fourth stream of income. I would like opinions on some of the ideas out there.

One last point. The ball is in your court. It is extremely important that we take our financial future in our own hands. It is our responsibility to make our money and pay our bills. If we leave it in the hands of others, we will never be free.

A Toast to Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

In Canada, Thanksgiving is to celebrate the blessings of the harvest. Hence why we all eat really good food and drink delicious eggnog. So let us all celebrate this Thanksgiving by eating lots of food, drinking lots of eggnog, spending too much time with family and friends, and expressing our thankfulness for the many blessings in our lives. 

That is all.

Brain Dump

Wow, my mind is full right now. So many things to think about. Which one to write about?

Zombie apocalypse seems right around the corner. Just google ebola virus and there are articles of 3 patients who died and were "resurrected". Granted they may have been thought as dead, but still. Bodies appearing lifeless then coming back. Apparently one of the women who came back spent 2 days in a room with no food or medicine prior to coming back. But then again there are sites claiming it is all a hoax. I'm telling you, one of these days it's going to hit our door step and we still wont believe it.

Conference was this weekend. For those of you who don't know, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This weekend we had our second General Conference of the year. First one was the first week of April. It was an awesome conference, as always. A lot of great talks. I liked how they have now allowed speakers to speak in their native tongues and having subtitles on the TVs. They all used to speak English. We are getting quite the representation of nationalities at conference. It is a wonderful thing.

Talked quite a bit tonight about preparation with one of my brothers. It's a hot topic right now with me if you can't tell. It's hard for it not to be when you look at the news and see things like ISIS doing whatever they want. I can't imagine the scene the prophets like John the Revelator saw of our day. They speak of bloodshed and chaos. It hurts my stomach seeing what has been done and that's only a few pictures. John saw it all. I don't know how he could have handled it. These things almost seem unreal.

I don't want to dwell on the negative but these topics have been in my mind this week. How blessed I feel right now to live in this amazing country. Still we need to prepare for anything. Could be a flood, loss of power, loss of a job, or an attack. Either way it is pretty dang smart to have something on hand in case the SHTF!

More Preparedness Stuff

More preparedness stuff this week. We have been working on getting our food storage up. It was really hard to have one when we moved twice every year for the last 5 years. Every time we had a food storage we would have to eat it all because we needed to pack up and go. Now that we are in a spot that we can stay for awhile (at least that's the plan for now, but you never know...), we can actually start creating an actual food storage. Each week we go shopping we grab something to go into either our 72 hour kits or food storage. First week was bottled water, then a big bag of rice and I believe we also got granola bars for the 72 hour kits. I think next we are going for the canned meat.

It is going to feel nice to have a reserve of food and water. We made butter this week. That was awesome. We got some cream, a marble and a mason jar. Put the marble and cream in the mason jar and shook it till we had butter. It is quite delicious too, Haha, tastes like cream. We are going to figure out a way to make it taste more like butter. Maybe more salt. I have been having this desire to learn how to do things on my own. Making butter is one example, another is how to sharpen knives and axes. Making soaps is another one I think would be pretty fun. Not sure how time consuming it is but it will be cool to be able to say I made my own soap.

I think we rely too much on others to provide. I fear for it actually. What happens when the power goes out in your house for 1 day or 1 week. How do you keep your food cold? How do you cook with no stove?

Anyways, this has been on my mind a lot. Can you tell? Haha. Maybe it's part of my dad instinct kicking in, making sure my family is taken care of no matter what.

By the way, the youtube channel is up. No content yet, and I'm not sure how soon either. I want to have a schedule set up for frequency of videos and topics picked out. Just thought I would let you know that I am one more step closer to getting it up and running. Name and everything else will come later.

The point of it is going to be education. I want want to help other people learn how to do the things I am learning how to do. I find there are a lot of videos by "experts" but not to many by a rookie who is also learning how to do it. I figured why not film myself learning how to do it and show everyone else that it isn't (or is...) as scary as it looks.

Anyways, I need to go to bed.