Reply #38: I'm the opposite....

[tpsbmam]

It makes me anxious not to know what's going on and gives me a tiny (and I do mean TINY) sense of control doing what I can now to make a difference a year or 2 from now. There isn't a damn thing I can do to control the mess our "leaders" have created (save for what I'm doing....working to get sane candidates elected) but there are some things I can do to prepare for tougher times. I've been saving what I could. I've cut out frivolous things. I didn't do much that was frivolous anyway in the past few years, but I've been much more attentive to the little ways that I fritter away money. We've done 3 yard sales and anything that I make I stash away for tougher times to come. (My neighbors have used the much-needed money for groceries.) I started stocking up on nonperishables awhile ago. We could probably survive for 2 years now -- we'd have to buy a few things, but we could survive with buying nothing if we had to. If oil is going to go to $200/barrel and gas to $7/gallon, I like knowing that we don't have to buy much to survive and can keep errands to a minimum. I keep my eye on sales much more than I used to and take advantage of them to stock up. I started buying in bulk, too -- never did before.

Like you and millions of others, I can't change where I live, what I drive (pretty good mileage but I live in the mountains -- mileage mostly sucks here), etc. There are little things I can do though, things that I anticipate will make a difference a year from now. For me, it's not knowing that would make me crazy!