It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.
— Aesop
There was a time when our monthly household income varied … sometimes significantly. To keep from going hungry and not having needed staples in a lean month, we developed a habit of keeping “backups” so we were prepared for the months when our income was less than needed to meet our basic needs.
Though we are not in that situation now, we still maintain this practice. It’s much like a cash Emergency Fund that pays for unexpected expenses when the water heater goes out or the car breaks down. Since we never know what can happen, we are always prepared by having an emergency stash of food and staples.
We typically keep an extra month’s supply of food and staples. Dry good, canned goods, boxed food and medicines are stored in the pantry. Meat, fresh fruits and vegetables are stored in a freezer.
Recently, we needed to use these emergency provisions for two and a half weeks due to a national strike here in Ecuador. Due to streets and roads being barricaded with trenches of fire, access to grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies and hospitals was nearly impossible. Only emergency vehicles were granted access.
Since we had over 30 years of experience in maintaining a supply of food and staples, we didn’t need anything that we didn’t have stored away in our emergency stash. As we experienced, frugality and thrift includes being prepared for the unknown.
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