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Prep vs recreation

3K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  Northern Homesteader 
#1 ·
Simple topic, how much of your expendable income do you consider acceptable to spend on recreational uses vs prepping? This came to mind because I recently sold my older motorcycle and got a newer faster one. It came down to a personal choice to put more money into something frivolous that i enjoy. What sorts of sacrifices do you make to your entertainment to be able to put money into prepping, or what activities do you indulge in that might take away from your prepping?
 
#3 ·
Of discretionary money available for those two budget lines, it is about 25% entertainment, and 75% prep. But much of that entertainment money is spent on things that pertain in some way to prepping, too. So, overall, I guess it would be closer to 15% to 85%. But then again, as prepping is as much a hobby to me as anything else, could say it was 100% entertainment.

But for a single answer 15% entertainment/85% preps.

Just my opinion.
 
#4 ·
with the exception of one dinner out and one movie a month, all our expendible income goes into homestead improvement/prepping. Either building garden space, purchasing ammo/weapons, purchasing canning and long term storage supplies and food, and making improvements to our home for better storage capabilities. We also spend money on projects to improve the property in general which in its own way tends to lean towards prepping as well. Upgrading things on vehicles should we need to hit the road. Updating, maintaining and using our camping/outdoor gear is entertaining but also is great practice towards being in a real life SHTF scenario. We're avid campers and outdoorsmen already, so we are fortunate that we find practicing our survival skills entertaining (hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, bushcrafting).
 
#5 ·
Our budget is so small that it's about 50/50. But if we go by JDY's description it would be also closer to 15/85. Is a camping weekend recreation or practicing skills? Is gardening a hobby or practicing skills and supplementing your grocery bill? Is having a large pantry prepping or done to save money at the grocery store?

The saying of all work and no play makes Jack a dull guy holds true. If you don't do something for entertainment why are you working?

Honestly our two biggest 'entertainment' expense are eating out a couple of times a month and gas for our car when we go out to yard sales or just driving around to find bargains.
 
#6 ·
If going out to eat is entertainment, ours is breakfast or lunch out, while we're doing our shopping Saturday or Sunday. Even though we have chickens and get our own eggs, sometimes it's nice to let someone else cook. I do love a nice salad bar, or asian buffet for lunch too.

Socializing is mostly done by neighbors dropping by, or a pot luck dinner at another neighbor's home.

Last movies we went out to see were War Horse, The Grey, and the Hobbit. Good movies are few and far between.
 
#7 ·
There is no reason the two can't go hand-in-hand.

As for your bike purchase; a bike would be a real nice thing to have in a crisis situation. great gas mileage, quick and not as easily stuck in gridlock. You could take it a step further and get a somewhat off road bike. Think of all the routes that opens up for you.

Camping, fishing and hunting are also great examples of preps that can be easily woven into the fabric of your life. I love to spend money on gardening and outdoors gear. they bring entertainment/happiness to my life while enhancing my "survival" skills and mindset.

I'm no where close to where I want to be in the skills area. But I'm for sure a lot better off than if I'd spent my money on a huge entertainment center and dined out often.
 
#8 ·
My only budget towards recreation is gas money to drive to a place with free recreation and I limit that to only entertain my dogs, like fetch at the lake 3 miles down the road.

Everything else is into preps.

I guess you could say training with firearms is a recreation as well but I define it as preparation. I also roam around on my ATV time to time. I'd say I use $10 in gas every 2 months on it.
 
#9 ·
Much of our entertainment is free and my husbands boss is generous. If he eats in a restaurant he likes, he gets a GS for a few of his employees. If he sees a good movie, he thinks we should too and gets us a GS. He gives all of his employees new work boots for Christmas. Our biggest entertainment expense is a basic Netflix account.
 
#10 ·
Excellent Valid Question

Sometimes prepping and recreation can and do mix. We actually find prepping to be somewhat recreational in nature like hiking, camping, ham radio, etc., with all the related survival skill stuff including a little of firearms training also.

Hobbies can directly overlap with prepping and employment. We lean heavy on medical and communications. Retired RN. Others will also combine the many distinct different aspects of hobby, job, prepping and fun! HB of CJ (old coot)
 
#11 ·
I Did Not Answer Your Question

Getting old. We spend around 10% of our total family net income on prepping in general. We are not religious, but the 10% seems to be accurate. Taking both recreation and prepping both in hand to try to determine a dollar value on each is difficult. You see, they overlap greatly. We take something new and difficult and make a game out of it.

Speaking just money...probably 90% prepping and 10% recreational. That means that only 10% of 10% of our total net family money goes for recreation. However, a lot of what we do for fun is very cheap. We will fix something new in the kitchen, watch a $2.00 new release DVD with air popped popcorn and decaf iced tea. Library books?

Cheap fun. We also go to the local digs on Friday and listen to "free" music and just buy some sodas and iced tea and have fun. More fun for us is an overnighter hike out with primitive, cold camping. Fun for us and it also exercises and tests our prepp levels. See how they overlap? Our grandkids are learning to turn adversity into fun opportunity.

Toss them into the woods this time of year and they, for the most part, will just walk out two days later very mad, thirsty and hungry, but none the worse for wear, having done it several times before. Recreation for us is learning new things and doing other things differently. For us education is recreation. See how we work it? HB of CJ (old coot)
 
#12 ·
It depends on your circumstance, lets face it, once TSHTF however much you spent on preps you may not think is enough. So I prep as much as possible and do very little rec for myself, but like Jerry prepping is a hobby and I love gardening and other prep activities. But, it is also important to me that my kids enjoy life while they are kids, so I am careful to make sure they get to be kids and get to play sports and go on vacations etc.

Just my opinion, (in honor of Jerry).....
 
#13 ·
Farm/shop (self employed), and just about everything else is what we LOVE….so likely 95/5. We have always lived this way….just didn't call it prepping……some things are being brought "up to snuff" in terms of financial collapse…ie, making sure LONG term solutions to small scale farming are in place, seed stocks and teaching myself the farming of old, open pollenated corn, taters, etc….. I bought several David Bradley two wheel tractors and am fitting them with 6 hp air cooled diesels……stock MORE hand tools, and "old ways" food processing machines that can be run off small flat belts or hand cranked. Just keeping things in perspective.

And as far as your bike…I have a large old on/off here that is kick start only and lights will work dimly even if the battery is missing. It is road legal and plated. IF fuel goes higher it is a win, and I few smaller ones here of similar vintage (1985-89) that are little bros. that could be used if needed. Also, picked up a "beater" Honda Civic to bang kids around town, etc…. keeps maintenance on trucks down.

I really need to go up in the attic and dig up my Foxfire Series and my black and white old Mother Earth News …..:)
 
#14 ·
I don't spend near enough on preps as I should but buying a motorcycle would be last on the list as far as recreation or entertainment goes. Who wants to be the cripple getting pushed around in a wheel chair or abandoned once tshtf?

All the wind in your hair and riding to live won't mean squat if you're eating through a tube and writing out your responses to loved ones on a mini chalkboard necklace.

Imo, riding a motorcycle on the streets is like banging hookers without protection and waiting to get a std.
 
#15 ·
I ride mine on back roads, avoid the highway….etc….especially like dirt Forest Service roads. Mostly into town to bank and such more for convinience of easy parking.

As they say "pretend EVERYONE is trying to kill you and you'll be fine" :)…….on a serious note though, I realize the risk….saw two people killed as a 16 year old while sitting in my truck at a dance hall. they hit the rear quarter of the car so hard it ripped the bumper off, I was the only one there to see it and first one to run over and see the blood, gasoline, oil, and hunk of what was formerly a 1973 SL350…they were doing 60-70 MPH and hit a car backing out onto the street. …… I have lost 6-10 people I knew since I was 10 (35 years ago) to motorcycle accidents. Many others seriously injured. I get it…but for me it is a joy that I will reasonably approach. FYI, I am/was also an avid mountaineer and ice/rock climber, so for me a little adrenaline is good :) Others like more sedate activity….I like a little fun.
 
#16 ·
I just don't get devoting all your free time and disposeable income to prepping. It's good to be prepared, but like anything else it can be taken to the extreme. It seems like many, in an effort to prolong life, have stopped "living" it.

I know I won't be as well off as some when the SHTF, but I don't want to regret wasting all the time between now and then by not enjoying life.

To borrow a line from Dead Poets Society that captures the sentiment, if not the specifics: "Medicine, law, business these are all noble pursuits necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, and love; these are what we stay alive for."

But, to each his own, that's just my .02. I guess the trick, as some have suggested, is to find prepping behaviors that you enjoy doing.
 
#17 ·
I'll agree with that. If someone spends all their money on weapons and never gets to go to the range, or hunting, then collecting must be their form of entertainment. On the other hand, poetry, beauty, romance, and love are pretty much free. So you can do both at the same time.

So what percentage of disposable income do you spend on entertainment? What kinds of things do you find entertaining?



We already enjoyed camping, fishing, and gardening before we decided to be homesteaders. Two main reasons to be homesteaders are:

1. Work toward self-sustainability, decrease our dependence on corporations.

2. Improve our health by living an active lifestyle. We started doing this as middle age people, and there is no end to the physical work that needs to be done. Makes us stronger going into old age.
 
#21 ·
It's not a percentage thing....

....it's a "what's left to do" thing.

Regardless of when everything goes south, you still gotta live. No sense living in a cave now if you don't have to.

What is fully prepared to one person is woefully inadequate to another person. I, for example, don't have that 1000 acre self-sufficient ranch up in Idaho, but I am pretty much prepared for what I believe is coming.

Enjoy your bike while you can. Nobody gets out of this life alive, but always wear your helmet. :D:
 
#25 ·
Yes, a drive just for groceries might seem excessive. The key is to combine trips. Vacation, relatives, business, medical, etc. You just need enough good reasons to go into the city. Keep a working list of good reasons to go and eventually you will see enough of them.
Exactly! I buy things anywhere and everywhere I see a good sale. If I'm in a store and I see them having a close out at a great price of something we use, I'll buy it. I also don't buy 2, I'll buy a years supply. I got made fun of when we were on vacation because I bought 25 pounds of lasagna. It seldom goes on sale while other bulky pasta do. This was a store that was changing the brand they were carrying and everything was 1/3 the price of normal. I had the room so I bought them. What people didn't see was the 50 pounds of various spaghetti, because that packed flat and out of the way ;).

I know what is a good price for about 200 items and will stock up when it is a great price.
 
#26 ·
All recreation!! Well "only" because my prepping has been done a long time ago, I started sometime just after 2000 (I sensed bad things were on the way) so I even have most of my home and land paid for there is nothing more I can do for my prepping or homestead it literally has everything done including a 3 acre garden and a 16x32 greenhouse so the way I look at it is it is time for me to blow money again… I earned it. I am looking at new Harleys right now, I want to buy a cobalt blue ultra classic and put all the extra’s on it, screw it! I figure there is not going to be much time left were I can enjoy this type of stuff down the road so when I am all bunkered down in my homestead I will at least have had a little fun and a little memories as I sip my homemade wine and grip the the AK, lol.
 
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