The other day I ALMOST had to make a trip to Wally World to get a new pair of clippers to shave the boys heads because the old one didn’t seem to want to work at first. Fortunately, we got it functioning–barely–but probably need to replace it in the near future. Regardless, in the interim of getting it to work, I started to make a mental tally of anything I might need to pickup while there (excluding things like fresh fruit) and began to glance around the bathroom and elsewhere checking to see what we might need because, after, all, I didn’t want to make a significant trip there for just one thing… that’s what “normal” people might do.
I looked initially at things like deodorant and toothpaste but I already have enough of that stuff on hand. And besides I’ve been successfully making my own for a while now and have plenty of the basic ingredients to do so. I then looked at other things like shaving cream and thought “I don’t need that.” I then glanced at Kleenex and thought “I don’t need that” and eventually turned my attention to toilet and paper and realized “I don’t need that either.” After looking around for ANYTHING that I could buy I realized that I honestly didn’t NEED anything whatsoever. I was slightly disappointed thinking that I was making a trip for just ONE thing.
That’s not to say that I couldn’t have purchased more of nearly anything I thought of or looked at, as it would have been used eventually but according to my “system” of organization and purchasing I really didn’t need anything… and it felt good. While I’m thinking about it, my wife and I have a bit of a running joke around our house where she’ll ask me if we need anything before she goes to the store and I often quip “that depends on your definition of need” to which she usually responds with a snide look or remark, which assuredly means “stop fooling around and give me an answer… NOW!”
The answer is usually a “no.” And, to be honest, that feels good to me. In fact, that’s a large part of what being prepared is all about. It’s not just about being ready to deal with emergencies or surviving an economic collapse but even just about not having to go to the store because you ran out of X, Y, or Z. So, what is it you DON”T need? What makes you feel good to not have to buy each month or even each week?
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