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A Fair Share for Everyone

I find it ironic that preppers are accused of hoarding and being selfish because we put aside our own property for an insurance policy. Instead of 50 inch plasma TVs and foreign holidays we buy and store items that will keep us alive in the event of a catastrophe. We spend our money yet everyone thinks we should share it out because others have not prepared.

Our stores are not infinite and we have enough put aside for us and ours, hopefully. Even our friends and distant families can’t use any of our stores as we just don’t have enough. Preps are treated differently as unlike holidays or TV’s your friends or distant families don’t expect you to take them away with you or buy them the latest TV model. They do however seem to think when it comes to life or death you should share with them because of your ties even though that would mean you and yours won’t make it. It is human nature. They have had their opportunity to put aside an insurance policy of their own but chose not to. We tried to tell them but they just thought we were crazy. Now our unlikely event has happened then it is poor us. If this scenario happens it won’t end well no matter what happens. The irony is they may be right and we are wasting our time. Nobody knows but our way is plain and simple insurance just in case and at our expense.

However, we will assume here that you have everything put aside, you have your own little group and you don’t have anyone else using your supplies. Everything is as you planned.

But is it? How far did you actually plan?

Everyone has different requirements for consumables like food and water. Some need more than others and so we will have people with different portions. That is fine. We make a meal and share it out as required. However, the concept goes well beyond the basics. Certain non essentials, luxuries like sauces, seasoning, coffee, tea, tissues and toilet paper are just examples of what will become luxury items that we all consume at different rates. We want to conserve luxuries though as they are a reminder of comfort that we can’t have as and when we want now.

As an example think how much toilet paper each individual in your family uses. I can keep a single roll going for several weeks, the missus and kids go through several a week. OK when I can just buy more when we run out but when your supply is finite you have to work out a way to share it out.

So do you;
1) Just let them be consumed as required.
2) Ration them at a fixed rate per day/week
3) Allocate them out. Everyone has the same to use as they see fit. To use, eat, trade or simply wipe up.

Each one of those will have supporters, however I’d hate to be the one to implement anything that meant someone didn’t get what they wanted in my family. It is OK to ration coffee to an amount per day but toilet paper just seems ridiculous. However, if it isn’t rationed it will certainly run out quickly and those that use the least will run out at the same time as heavy users.

I believe we can get away with rationing certain luxury items like coffee, tea when they are used in a family unit so that everyone has a certain amount per day. Some days some will get slightly more, some slightly less if they miss out. It can be a show of affluence for visitors and barter items.

Toilet paper, plasters and the like, are used when required and as needed is a bit more difficult to ration certainly with a family. You could do it in a community where your stores can be used as barter but among a family unit it will be impossible. I’ve bought a lot of toilet roll, it is light but bulky and I can only store so much. So I have resigned myself to the fact that although I have enough to last me years it won’t anywhere near that long despite the attempts I will make to make them ration usage. So my bottom will lose out of its share of that luxury. Such is life. A fair share for everyone, not very likely but needs must. I’m expecting a bigger share of the tea.

When you are planning your stores, consider not just your usage of the item, but how others might use them. Plan accordingly considering how much space and funds you have.

8 comments to A Fair Share for Everyone

  • Highlander

    I see stores as supplies to see us over the difficult immediate period after an event, the longer that period lasts the better, but of course its not forever.

    But while those stores are being consumed we must find ways of getting something similar for the time when it runs out,… lets take coffee for instance, while we are drinking our stored coffee, we take time out to make a few cups of coffee from the roots of the dock plant,… when we have our meals we include some meals that are freely growing around us,… what I am trying to say is the we try to condition ourselves onto a new diet, slowly.. before the supplies run out, because if we leave it too late, our bodies make react badly to a sudden change

    Also I think we have to think very hard about our stores,… lets take the toilet paper again,… we certainly haven’t the room to store toilet paper, so we have opted to store baby wipes instead, because baby wipes can be washed and used again, many times,… not the best idea, but better than the moss we will have to use once the baby wipes have disintegrated,..:)

    As for the sharing of our stores with none preppers,… I try not to get annoyed with this, I agree its unfair,.. but if its family we are talking about, we have little choice, other than keep trying to persuade them onto our side, the biggest problem is where within the family we draw the line

  • prepper1

    Well if you can make a toilet roll last several weeks you mustn’t shit a lot that’s all I can say.

    Like highlander says and also Selco, survival starts the day the stores run out.

    The idea Highlander has of trying things out whilst you still have the stores is very valid, nobody likes sudden change.

    You could even mix in the new wild foods with your current food stores slowly increasing the percentage of new food to old.

    That way before anybody knows it, they’ve been eating worn burgers for yonks before they even realize the dried beef ran out ages ago.

    You cant substitute everything, like with toilet paper, once its gone its gone, and then the sponges come out like the romans used but then maybe that could be a job for somebody after an event making a toilet paper substitute, you’d certainly have a lot of custom.

    • Greg

      Sounds very red dwarf to me, one sheet to wipe forwards, one to wipe backwards and one to polish.

  • prepper1

    It’d be hard for at least a generation.
    Because the older people that remember the old days of toilet paper and tv etc would die off to be replaced by kids who know no different and wont even know what toilet paper is/was for example.

  • bigpaul

    never heard of dock leaves!!!

  • prepper1

    You can poke your finger through them…

    grass is better, but you have to make sure the clump you just grabbed hasnt got hidden stinging nettles inside…

    I’ve had many a poo outdoors and grass has never let me down yet… dock leaves are a different story however…

    Maybe I’m to rough with them…

  • bigpaul

    course you could just put a padlock on the stores cupboard?

  • Grumpy Grandpa

    I knew about the Roman’s use of sponges for this purpose, as do most people – I just didn’t think of it! Storing compressed sponges would certainly take up very little space by comparison with bog rolls and they’re not single-use items, so you won’t need so many. It seems like common sense to suppose that they’ll become de rigueur, as they were for the Romans.