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PWB Survival Tactics #3: Don't Despair - Prepare!! [1]
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Date: 2025-02-13
Hello and happy Thursday! It is gray, rainy, and cold here, and the ground is covered with slush and ice, but what the heck — in keeping with our lessons from PWB Survival Tactic #1 and #2, let’s be optimistic!
Somewhat less optimistic is the news, and NO! We are not going to talk about that!!! But we are going to admit it would be easy (if we let ourselves) to slip into a slough of despond. And well, hey, what good is that? So instead, let’s start taking action! Instead of despairing, let’s start preparing !!!
(Preparing, by the way, is another great way to reduce anxiety!)
Just like cooking something new for a fancy dinner, the future is a bit less daunting if you take steps ahead of time: Consider your (menu) options. Decide what seems most appealing (or least unappealing!). Print your recipe, assemble your ingredients, double-check that you have what you need…
Okay, I’ve hauled that metaphor about as far as it will go! But truly, even the horrors of possibly-impending disaster can be mitigated with some advance planning and preparation. So today I’m going to share as many ways as I can think of that we can be proactive on our own behalfs (behalves?).
Please share any ways you can think of in the comments, for all of us to take advantage of!
Welcome to PWB Theme Thursdays! If you’ve never visited or commented in a PWB (Pootie/Woozle/Birdie) diary before, come on in — the water is fine, and the folks are always friendly! A few quick guidelines: No trolling the diary.
If you hate pootie diaries, leave now. No harm, no foul.
Please do share pics of your fur kids! If you have health/behavior issues with your pets, feel free to bring it to the community.
When it comes to problems, we may just have someone with experience who can help. So ask!
Whatever happens in the outer blog STAYS in the outer blog. This is a place to relax and play; please treat it accordingly.
There is no such thing as stealing a photo around here, but if you would like a pic from the comment threads, please ask the poster. He/she may have a copyright to those pics. Many thanks!
There are some pics we never post: snakes, creepy crawlies, any and all photos that depict or encourage human cruelty toward animals. These are considered “out of bounds” and will not be tolerated. If you keep posting banned pics...well then...the Tigress will have to take matters in hand. Or, paw.
1) Take advantage of opportunities that may or may not be there later. For example, right now you can get almost any vaccine you need at Kroger or Walgreens or CVS, many of them for free. With that anti-vax idiot taking over HHS, who knows how long that will be true? So last week I got a DPT update, plus the RSV vaccine (finally!) Next Monday I’m going to get an MMR booster (because the mumps vaccine loses efficacy over time, and I’d be willing to bet we’ll see outbreaks) and a pneumonia shot. And another Covid shot as soon as they’ll give it to me!
Also, while Medicaid is still around, I am getting to all my doctors asap, and asking them if they can write my prescriptions for 12 months in case I have to go to self-pay visits, which for my crucial docs I can probably manage once a year. Most of them also see the potential writing on the wall for Medicaid, and are being as cooperative/supportive as they can!
I’m trying to make sure I have at least a 90 day supply of my crucial meds on hand (mostly thyroid). The times I’ve missed taking them for a day over the past two years have me halfway there :-) None of them are particularly perishable.
And by the way, if you have pooties and puppers with scrips, maybe talk to your vets about getting a couple months’ supply in advance, if you can!
Other opportunities I can think of off the top of my head:
Community/State/Federal support programs: LIHEAP, which helps people with heating and utility costs is one. If you’re a homeowner, see if your county/city has property tax relief for seniors.
Big financial changes: if filing bankruptcy is a looming necessity, do it now. FSM knows what will happen with the bankruptcy laws, but they sure as hell ain’t gonna get better in the next four years — not for us “little folk”, at least!
If refinancing your home/taking out an equity loan would be advantageous, consider doing it now. Again, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen in the upcoming years.
We kins lib tugedders!!
It’s a slightly different topic, but: do you have original or notarized copies of all your important paperwork? Birth certificate, marriage license, proof of name change/divorce, etc? Do you have a passport, and is it up to date? Need copies of your tax returns? As federal departments are mismanaged into chaos and/or ripped to shreds, getting hold of needed paperwork is going to get harder and harder. Plus eventually there will be a knock-on effect at the state and local level. Make sure you have everything you need now.
Expect that any law or program which favors and/or protects the middle-class, the poor, minorities, and other at-risk groups, will be going away. Take advantage of them now while you can!
On that general subject…
2) Get your financial house in order as much as you can: What would you do if you suffered a catastrophic loss of income? I’m not asking that to scare you!! But it is likely we’re heading into a seriously rough patch economically. So let’s think ahead!!
What can you do to reduce your expenses if need be? Do you need high-speed home internet, or does your cellphone come with hotspot capability and a data plan equal to your needs? What things can you cancel/dial back/reduce if you had to? If you couldn’t keep your current living space at all, where would you go? — Once again, not asking to scare you! But it’s a lot easier to weather things you’ve at least thought about in advance :-)
Make it into a role-playing game: If worse came to worst and we all end up in a Mad Max simulation, what would you do? How would you prepare? Who could you team up with? Family members, friends — there is strength in collectives!
SHarin spayse kin be fun!!
While role-playing in your head, feel free to go heavy on the fantasy — throw in rock-hard abs and the thigh muscles of a twenty-year old, horse-tail helmet plumes, whatever suits your fancy :-) You’ll still be mulling potential hard decisions in advance; might as well have fun with it!
What kind of shape is your car in? How are the tires? A lot of tires are manufactured overseas — China, Japan, South Korea. If you need new ones, consider getting them asap. If you need repairs & can afford to get them taken care of, do it sooner rather than later,
What things can you provide for yourself? The price of eggs is going thru the roof again. Other foodstuffs are likely to follow. If you’ve got your own property (or a fairly secure rental), can you mitigate that somewhat by putting in a vegetable garden? Maybe getting chickens? (They don’t really need fancy feed — they can survive very happily on food scraps, bugs, and leftovers!) Gardening is also good exercise, good therapy, and can be very soothing :-)
Well, shoot and dang! I wanted to talk about communications and organizing too but I’m running out of time already! So I’m gonna save that for next week. And if the above is sending your anxiety through the roof, remember: none of this is happening yet. (Well, not much of it!) And we don’t know how much of it will!
But rather than either whistling past the graveyard and hoping, or getting overwhelmed and paralyzed by anticipation and worry, let’s seize this time we have now and do as much to prepare ourselves as we can!!
Think happy thoughts. Practice your Circle of Okay. And prepare!!!
Supohrt eech udder!
Wurk tugedder!
For bonus guidance on preparation for your pets in disasters both natural and manmade, check out Ice Blue’s three-part Pet Emergency Preparedness series, too!
Love you guys!!! Together, we will get through! And please, please share any thoughts, ideas, suggestions you can think of in the comments, for us all to take advantage of!
Remember — don’t despair. Prepare!!!
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