There doesn't have to be an emergency for there to be scarcity...

Ah, reason number (insert large number here) to stock up on more than food for emergencies. I went shopping for shoes again recently, and my experience was even more disturbing than it was almost two years ago....though it was similar:

I went to our national chainstore of choice first, and the choices were extremely limited, and the prices were considerably higher than I wanted to pay. Extremely limited=there was one pair of shoes in the size that I wanted, and a salesperson told me that the only shoes they had were the ones on display. So I went to choice 2 on the chainstore list.

Wow, the displays in chainstore 2 were impressive. There were even some shoes that were 50% off. I was very happy to see the display, but from there it went downhill. These shoes were mostly display only, so a sales associate had to go check one by one for the shoes I requested. To make a long story short, she went back again and again, and there were no shoes in the size I was looking for--except for one pair that for some reason (color I guess) was $10 more than another similar model. I declined and went to look at store 3.

Again at chainstore 3 choice was very limited, but I did find one pair that would work. If memory serves, it was about the same price as the lone pair that was in chainstore 1. So I reasoned that since we get a coupon occasionally for our membership in a kids club at chainstore 1, that I would spend our money there. The shoes were a necessity, and stores were about to close, so I headed back to chainstore 1....

...only to find at that point that the one pair in the size I needed at chainstore 1 was actually wide width. So they had no shoes in the size that I needed. I ended up taking yet another trip to chainstore 3 and buying the pair there.

So, okay, I don't sew, and I should work on that, but I pretty much am sure that aside from wrapping together something with twine and/or duct tape under dire circumstances that I won't be successful at making anything even vaguely resembling shoes. I asked the salesperson at chainstore 1 how often they got shoes in, and she said that honestly, they didn't get them in very often. (You can compare this to the linked post in 2008, when I was told that they got shoes in weekly.) She did say that you could order just about anything online, but that will not help in an emergency situation, when you need the shoes now because one of your children has failed to mention that hard work/play and resultant shoe holes + melting Idaho snow make it necessary to purchase shoes asap...or any other emergency, for that matter.

So, one of my goals is to save up and buy shoes ahead, online or otherwise, because shoemaking is not one of my talents. I also am going to try to find out if there are other items that I will need to take notice of--the scarcity of items is not always immediately apparent. For example, in chainstore 3 there were rows upon rows of shoes, but not much of what I needed. There were even clearance shelves, but again, full of pairs that were of no use to me. I don't know how many pairs of ultra-expensive pairs there were in the size that I was looking for, because they weren't an option. Not an option is not an option, whether it's due to price or unavailability, so it seems to me that storing ahead would be a wise practice.

What about you? Have you noticed a scarcity in any items, food or otherwise, that you are now planning to add to your emergency supplies? The more we get the word out for each other, the better prepared we will all be able to be....

A couple of experiences....

Got back from Utah, where we spent Thanksgiving, and we were able to gather a few more items for storage--dehydrated corn, toilet paper, clothes from the cousins for my children, who are growing, growing, growing. All good things. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

Of the two experiences I referred to in the title, one happened before Thanksgiving, and one happened after:

--Within the last little while, our car has had difficulty starting. Although it was fine once we were actually able to get it to start, it was a worry that almost every time the driver sat down, there would need to be multiple attempts to get it to catch. One day I was unable to get it to start at all, and we were no longer able to deny that professional intervention was needed for whatever the problem was.

My husband was able to get it started, and took it in to be repaired. The car works great now. Thing is, right before Thanksgiving, we got a receipt in the mail from the business that my husband took it to. Not so unusual, I guess, although my husband had already received paperwork when he paid for the repair. The unusual part was found at the bottom of the receipt, where a personal note, handwritten, (which I don't have in front of me, but I think this is close to, if not verbatim) was included:

"Thank you for your business in these hard times."

I had never seen anything like this, but I thought a lot about this. The place where my husband took the car to be repaired is not the "usual" place that someone might think to take it--he took it to a car dealership where they sell cars, but also have an automotive repair shop. What with the economy the way it is, it seems difficult to imagine that people are lining up in droves to buy new vehicles, and perhaps there is even less this year at this time because of certain programs that were in place earlier. Whatever the case, it just reminded me of how hard it is almost everywhere right now. My husband pointed out that when you need a vehicle repair, you don't really have much choice about repair if you need the vehicle--I said yes, but you do have a choice as to where to get the repairs done....

The other experience happened Saturday, when I ran into the local national chainstore to pick up a few things. It was very quiet, something that came up when I went to check out. I said that I expected it to be busier, and the cashier replied that she did too. Then I said that maybe it was just that people were still out of town for the holiday, and she said that that would be a good reason. And then she said something along the lines of, " I hope it's not that no one has money to buy anything."

This stuck with me because it seems like a cashier would have a pretty good idea of how business was going, and if the amount of shopping being done was something to worry about. If you haven't started any food storage, or need to add to your food storage, please do so as you are able. Little by little it all adds up, and chances are that more choices with lower prices are available today than will be tomorrow, since prices just seem to go up and up. Just something to think about (and hopefully do) with the economy the way it is.....

That's usually a call to some sort of action

Not too long ago we were at a sports activity for one of our children. Sometime in the middle of said activity, the door in the back of the gym was opened, setting off an alarm that sounded to me like a fire alarm. Once the door was closed, the ringing stopped.

Now the gym was small enough that it was easy to see that there was no immediate need to grab your children and trample other people on your way out to sweet freedom. In fact, though I initially thought that the alarm was set off by a small child messing around in small child fashion, my husband later told me that someone did actually exit the building to activate the alarm. Thing is, everyone heard the alarm, everyone looked around to see that they wouldn't be personally affected, and everything went on as usual. No one did anything out of the ordinary, unless you want to count whoever tripped the alarm in the first place. Thing is, no one did anything at all. What's the problem, you say? After all, there was no actual emergency. And hey, nobody panicked, causing unnecessary pandemonium and havoc. In this situation, you would be right--it didn't hurt anyone to ignore the alarm bells. But (and I know you knew this was coming :) there are "alarm bells" sounding out in many ways that should usually be a call to action to us all to improve our emergency preparation and food storage. If we are not personally affected at the moment that they are ringing, we may be tempted to figuratively glance up, do nothing, and go back to what we were doing. Which alarms are you/I/we ignoring?

One of the things that has been bothering me is the closure of stores, a subject that I put into a poll not long ago. The poll and poll results were as follows:

How do you feel about the number of stores closing in the U.S.?

I think that it is good that people are becoming more frugal 47%
I'm worried about what it means for the economy 47%
I'm worried about what it means in terms of unemployment 47%
I'm already very frugal, so the stores closing will not really affect me 41%
I think that in the long run it will help the economy 17%
I don't like that it will restrict my choices 0%
Other 11%

I was pretty amazed at how evenly the percentages came out, and you can tell that I didn't vote on this particular poll, because no one chose that they don't like that it will restrict their choices, and I will explain why that particular poll choice is troubling to me in a bit. First, though, the fact that stores are closing is a huge red flag to me, even though at first glance that doesn't really personally affect me. I don't work in a store, and I don't shop all that much, so why don't I just go back to my non-retail, non-shopping activities? Well, when the stores close, people lose their jobs, leaving larger unemployment, and less money to spend in the stores where they get their items, which will affect those stores, who may have to cut the number of their employees, and/or close down--are you seeing the domino effect here? And the only way I can see of getting out of the tumble down line is to have my food storage and emergency preparation items so that I can remain standing and perhaps help others to remain standing as well. If I am not totally reliant on a store for the basic necessities, it does not have to affect me as hard if said store goes down. Make no mistake, however--it will affect me in some way. The bells that are ringing out an emergency for those who have lost their jobs or have fewer hours should be a warning for us as well--to get as prepared as possible while we still can, so we will be in the best possible situation we can be in when the bells get closer. Because they probably will. And if they don't? We'll be better able to help someone else up.

It may seem that I'm awfully self-absorbed when I say that I don't like the fact that the stores closing limit my choices, but the way that I think about it is actually something that would affect everyone. When you have fewer and fewer choices, you could end up with a monopoly situation, where one supplier has all the power, and therefore the option to make the prices what they want them to be--which I would think off the top of my head would not be an ideal situation for the rest of us. There is something to be said for "price wars", where stores actually compete for business, and where people still have options. I'm not talking about missing rampant consumerism--just thinking about some basic components of human nature that appear when those who have power exploit situations in ways that reap the highest benefits for them. Hopefully, monopolies won't happen, and if they do, those in charge won't exhibit such unfortunate human tendencies. Either way, the fact that stores are closing should set off alarm bells even if we aren't immediately personally affected, and if nothing else, we can improve our preparedness situations so that we will be better off when we are personally affected. We may not be able to stop a store from closing, but we can stop procrastinating our preparation.

Recently, we went out to dinner with a gift certificate we received. We went to a fairly popular family restaurant that is usually (at least when we have gone) packed with people. I was amazed, given the night of the week that it was, and the time that we arrived, at the ratio of customers/employees. Suffice it to say, business traffic did not look optimal. Same good food, same good service, just fewer people to enjoy it. At the end of the meal, my husband asked what the deal was with the slow traffic, and the server started talking about the economy. When you consider how much hourly a server makes, (my understanding is that it is very little) and how much tips figure into their wages, people not being able to afford to eat out becomes one of those dominoes. Again, going back to those alarm bells--if you take the attitude that you aren't personally affected because you don't go out to eat, and people eat out too much anyway, you may be missing the point--when the alarm bells ring, and scream out the necessity to get some food in storage, they are not only ringing for those in the food service industry. They are not only ringing for those in the retail industry. They are ringing out, just like they did in that gymnasium, for everyone present. You may not see how it concerns you just now, but believe me, it concerns you, and it concerns me, and it concerns anyone else you can think of, because we are all in this together. If you/I/we are among the fortunate who aren't in the midst of a crisis right now, you/I/we need to heed the alarms and get ready. To those who are reading this and are already having a crisis, I truly hope that things get better for you soon.

The closing of stores is one alarm bell going off that I can think of. A few others may be the continual rise of food prices, the foreclosure on farms, the seemingly shrinking availability of non-hybrid seeds, the state of the economy in general--how many alarm bells do we need? There are probably some that I am missing, but hopefully there is an alarm bell that will ring for each of us before it is too late to prepare. We won't all be able to prepare on the same scale, because we all have different economic means, but each of us can do something, even if it is only to put aside a very tiny bit at a time. We need to do the best we can when we hear the alarms ringing, and not just ignore what is going on---what was/will be your call to action?

And a second question--is there anyone out there that would be interested in an Idaho preppers network? Like I have mentioned before, there are more qualified people around, so it won't hurt my feelings if someone wants to start one up themselves. However, if there is interest, I could set up a page. Let me know.

A little disturbing...

I went out to the mall on Saturday to the national chain where we usually buy our children's shoes, because I wanted to buy the next size up from what they are wearing and put them away for future use. The prices on some of the shoes were very reasonable, but after a call home I decided that I had better have the wearers of the shoes pick them out, because there were apparently too many varieties/features on them for me to pick them out and be reasonably sure of no complaints on my return home. I saw that the sale is to continue until the beginning of August, so I reasoned that when we return for something else before then, the children will have their choice in footwear. So far, so good.
I was about to leave when I further reasoned that my youngest wouldn't care and would be delighted with anything that I would pick out, so as long as I was there....so I went and asked for the appropriate size on one style of shoe. The salesgirl returned and said the best she could do was one size smaller. I asked for another style. Still not available in the right size. I asked for a third style. They had it only in a different size. I asked when they got their shoes in, and she indicated weekly. I thanked her and left.
Now, to be fair, there was the style of shoe that my child is currently wearing, but I didn't ask about that one, so they may have had the size I was seeking available, just in a style that I didn't particularly want. But what it comes down to is this, which I know has been applied an infinite number of times to other situations: things aren't always what they appear to be. They have the shoes, displayed, apparently on sale, but what good does that do if they don't have the size you are looking for? It made me wonder if they were ordering fewer items into stock because of the economy, or if they were closing out choices to help with the bottom line, and when the last sizes available were gone, that style would be gone from the display. You may think that everything is readily available, but that may change, even when it looks like everything is going smoothly, and you can still go get whatever you need tomorrow, next week, next year, you fill in the blank. Looks can be deceiving, so everyone needs to be as careful as they can to make sure that they have what they need in storage, with food and other necessities as well.
I still have time to let my children pick their shoes ahead, whether at that store, or somewhere else, but I want to get it done soon. My children are still growing, and shoes are a necessity that I am not able to make sufficiently on my own. With the prices of fuel and food going up, it's not that big of a leap to imagine that other necessities will go up significantly as well, or may not be available for whatever reason, whether it be businesses failing, or the stores in the area carrying fewer items in order to stay afloat in a struggling economy-unavailable=unavailable=unavailable, no matter which way you slice it.
In an emergency situation, I would have of course been grateful for any style of the right size available, and checked every style out and bought what was available. My reasoning in trying to find something else is this--little things can make a big difference in a hard situation. If I can find something that my children actually like to store away for the future, perhaps it will bring a smile to their face when we pull it out for them to use. Prices may go up, and availability may change, but you'll be ahead of the game if you have what you need put away already.
I may be totally off on this--maybe I hit the store on the wrong day, and maybe all of the circumstances put together --timing, everyone needing the same size shoe on the same weekend, it was the weekend after the 4th, etc.--ended up with me trying to put two and two together and ending up with five. Thing is, there were hardly any people in the mall, (also a little disturbing) which can't be good for the economy, and at the time I was asking, I think I had the shoe department all to myself, so it didn't appear that I was in the midst of a run on shoes. Just something that's not food for thought.