Because prepping involves so many different aspects of life that some people would call hobbies, it can get expensive very quickly. You have bushcraft, ham radio, bugging out, food storage, and firearms just to name a few, and all of these can tap your bank account.

There is literally no end to the supplies that we “need” for prepping, but sticking to a budget will not only help us become better prepared, it will help our financial situation regardless what happens. Going into debt may help in the short term, but overall it will severely hamper your ability to prep.

The first thing we need to understand about prepping is that knowledge is more important than supplies. All the supplies in the world will not stop you from making poor decisions, and all the supplies in the world doesn’t guarantee your survival. The key is to stay out of the situations that would require those supplies.

You may have heard the saying “knowledge weighs nothing” and while it may seem a little cliché, it may well be one of the most important rules of prepping. You could put $500 into your bug out bag setup, but if you don’t know the first thing about bugging out, your bag is only going to be useful to the guy who finds it next to your dead body.

With that being said, there are still quite a few areas of preparedness that we need to spend money on, but if we do it right, we can become better prepared, while keeping our heads above water.

SPP248 Prepping, Budgeting & Priorities

This week in the show, Lisa and I not only talked about prepping on a budget, we went over some ways to be smart about prepping, earning a few extra bucks, and gave a few money saving tips.

Extenuating Circumstances & Unavoidable Expenses

Before we even begin to think about putting together a budget, we need to assess our personal situation and figure out where corners can be cut, and what expenses are unavoidable. Our age, our health, our job, and our family makeup will all play a role in what we can and cannot do.

On top of all that, it seems that something unexpected always comes up. Just when you think things are going great, the car breaks down, the house needs repairs, or an accident happens. Kids are also great at springing unexpected expenses on you at the worst possible moment.

There are also some unavoidable expenses that take up the bulk of our income. Our homes take up a large portion of our monthly budget, followed by food. Everything else sort of falls by the wayside if you don’t have a place to live and something to eat.

Keep your personal situation in mind when you are figuring out a monthly budget, and ask yourself what do you have more of, time or money? To some people $100 is a drop in the bucket, to other people it means getting by until the next pay check.

Setting Up a Budget

Setting up a budget is not only a great way to find a little extra cash for that new water filter, or that bug out bag you have been wanting, but it’s also a good idea for life in general. Setting up a budget will not only help you keep track of what’s been paid, and what hasn’t, it also helps you save some money for those unexpected expenses.

In the video below I show you how to use the budget worksheet I created that you can download free at The Preparedness Experience. I have used this same worksheet going on 6 years now and created it because the online apps and tools just don’t do what I needed them to do.

Regardless how you decide to budget each month the key is consistency. The more we pay attention to how much money we have,