What, do you feel, helped you have the urge to"stock up"?..genetics, or, the environment?

I have always been the one in my family to be the one to "Get ready, winter is coming!"...

I am always the one to look out for the sales, stock up, and have things :just in case".

My Grandmother was the same way having been through the depression and had ROWS of canned goods until the day she died (I still miss her dearly). Even when winter is upon us here in the midwest, my family likes to tease me and call me "Grandma" because they all say I am just like her, even my mother! I take this "badge" as a compliment now, but have begun to think it is inherited as apposed to something in me induced by societal issues. I really seem to be the only one in my family who has this intense desire even though we were all raised the same..! Any thoughts?

I definitely know people with family members like your grandma.. the ones that have cupboards full of anything and everything. The ability to make a meal for the whole family with close to nothing, if needed.

For me though, I found that in games I had somewhat of a 'hoarder' mentality. This came to a certain toy that I will not mention here, also. My little girl's room is just SURROUNDED in these girly toys and she will never understand why.
Daughter only gave me an excuse, if asked about them.

But seriously, some people just have a hoarder mentality. In games, in real life... I think it's all the same.

2 years ago I was living out of my truck. Didn't have a thing to eat I only had a cigerttee lighter, a tent, and a sleeping bag. I new I was getting evicted a month before i was "homeless" but did't prepare. I figured it would just fix itself.
I learned from my mistake and now i am saving almost anything that might be useful. I kinda got my urges from past mistakes.
Live And Learn

Really it is a good question, about what it is that makes some people 'hoard' loads of stuff/food, while others do not. Somehow though, I don't think all of it goes down to past experiences, personally.

But, wonder what it was for everyone else.


Erm... anyone else finding themselves stealing bunches of sauce packets and plastic silverware from every fast food place they come into contact with?

Could just be ATS's influence on some of us. But, squirrels do it instinctively.

Mine is a long road of learning, sparked by a healthy distrust of humans. The older I get, the less tolerant of others I become. Therefore when the spark lit the storage dump, namely when I discovered my work colleagues were so brainwashed as to, "only follow orders" and the local counter-terrorist police paid me a visit as a result I witnessed, at first hand, how far down the road to fascism U.K. has gone.

So now, I prepare. For what? I don't care but I will prepare.

I started last October when the economy started going bad. You just never know what is going to happen. I prepared for one kind of disaster not knowing that another different kind of disaster was about to happen when we had the ice storm here in Kentucky. I was prepared and was able to go through it with limited trouble and was able to help a few of my friends in the process. They in turn replenished the supplies that I used ( although I told them it wasn't necessary) and they have started being more prepared themselves.

Originally posted by Nirgal
I discovered my work colleagues were so brainwashed as to, "only follow orders" and the local counter-terrorist police paid me a visit as a result I witnessed, at first hand, how far down the road to fascism U.K. has gone.

So now, I prepare. For what? I don't care but I will prepare.

I too have seen things happen that boggle the mind.

If you get a chance read "The Third Terrorist" by Jayna Davis
from Oklahoma about the Oklahoma City bombing.

She was a mainstream news reporter that would not let the unexplained
passed even though she was pressured to by the FBI.

She even lost her job over it with the local news station.

There are many other things that have gone on that I have covered
in many of my posts, and you can just search to dig thru a few of them.

All in all, those who are truly ready for long term bad times may make it.

Those who are not will first experience the so called 1st commandment
of the Georgia Guidestones.

We are being pushed into a new dark age by the powers that be.

The ppl that are awake are far too few to make any real difference.

The NWO is moving forward and your only real hope is to hide well
in the remote wilderness and ride it out, out of sight, out of mind.

If you can be seen from the air you will be acquired.

Good Luck to you all !

I grew up in the rural Midwest most of my life, and during my childhood, we were oftentimes snowed in for weeks at a time. My parents always stocked up on food, toilet paper, and other supplies so as to be prepared just in case we got snowed in. They did this year round, and as an adult I always do the same.

Why have I always been the one to stock up on supplies while my brother and sister don't? I don't know, but I do know that I always feel a little nervous and on edge if I don't have a cupboard that's overflowing with food. I wonder if it has something to do with personality type?


Click here and then scroll down to where it says "Planner Inspector - ISTJ." That's a specific personality type, and perhaps those of us who plan, prepare, and stock up in case of a Sit X fall into this personality type. That personality type certainly describes me. It would be interesting to know if others here who plan, prepare for Sit X, and stock up also feel like they're this personality type.

I am the first to star and flag your Op.

I feel this is a genuine and important question which can lend much insight into our personal and shared psyche.

Why has it taken so long for so many to just now begin to start feeling the necessity much like an expecting Mother gets the nesting urge.

I also had a grandma that was very wise who also lived through the depression era. I took many lessons from her and sometime after my now 13 almost 14 year old was born I began to see the rise in food prices and household goods. Many people were in denial even if I showed them how the same products I bought each month would at first go up by 10 to 30 cents a month or every other month.

Before long with this consumer awareness what only a short time before cost me 40 dollars a week rose to over 80, but still people were in denial.

By the time those exact same products hit over one hundred dollars people were beginning to open their eyes yet figured the cost of living would catch up some how.

It really was not until the gas hike happened that some people actually came around and began to see stocking up as different from hording, which I had heard from some people I had advised to stock up some years ago.

Then the stock markets began to show great stress and the GP began to place their sights on the promises of the politicians.

I have to be honest the days of me trying to warn anyone are long past, I actually tell people that I have had to use my stores which is not entirely a lie, but just began seeing the next level of preparedness which is becoming private and the same as others...

Food, silver, ammo, non gmo oh yes.

reply to post by fullmoonfairy



I was raised by a mother that was raised by a martyr, from the depression era. My father was like me and was't much of a put it up for later kind of guy but his parents were. Untill oh maybe six months ago when I seen things were going to go from bad to oh sh*t I DID NOT SAVE anything for anything! Now I save everything, am stocking up on toilet paper and canned food and water and lamp oil I have started sewing, cutting coupons and I am planning a huge garden to put up this summer. So for me I am very thankful to have learned from my Grandparents and parents, I never had the desire to be like them until it became necessary so I am lucky to have learned so much from them because now it is survival time.

reply to post by cornblossom


I agree with this analogy. For example I did not put away food and survival items until it has become a necessity, but I have always been a huge planner. I have always been the one that was ready for anything. When my daughter was a baby I had her diaper bag stocked with extra baby food and bottles just in case their was an emergency (like a tornado and we got buried under rubble for a while I could feed her untill we were dug out). This is the kind of personality that fits what you are talking about, but I havent always planned for this specific issue it just wasnt relovent until now so I guess I am very practicle as well.

I stock up on the basis of this: What can go wrong, will go wrong.

Plain and simple. Easy motto to live by. Well easy for me.

Mine began long ago ( in a different galaxy: ) ) No seriously At school I remembered how my Grand parents always stocked up during good times because they did not know when bad times would come calling. it was prior to the supermarket era. It was the norm for people and familes to keep extra supplies if they were available as all to often there was shortages.

But the main tiggers for me came in the 1970s as a cold war warrior, Often we would have to go to ""Secret" military depots ( dunno why secret everyone knew about them) the UK during the Cold war used to keep for example 600,000 tons of beef, 600,000 tons of pork, 600,000 tons of lamb, hundreds of thousands of tons of grain etc to supply the eessential services during a nuclear war, BUT NOT FOR CIVILIANS.
The army sent me on an advanced NBC course, we learned how it was actually possible to survive a limited nuclear war, and the military had all the kit for themselves to ensure they and the government survived (IE the UK govt spend 70 million pounds in the 70s building a super bunker in Canada just for the Royal Parasites).

One day when we were doing NBC training in readiness for a big exercise in Germany (Lionheart) we were having a break, One of my colleagues who was a sergeant and married with kids asked the company commander
" Sir if we have to go to war and have all this NBC kit to protect us, plus the armoured vehicles and hardened shelters when we go to Germany.
What measures have the government and MOD taken to provide NBC kit , supplies and shelter for our familes ? "

" Absolutely nothing " came the reply, The army families like the civilian population are officially not deemed worthy of protection, unlike the Royals, Senior Civil servants, Politicians etc.

That day a lot of us became republicans and a few became survivalists.


[edit on 20-3-2009 by Northern Raider]

That is a darn good question. Nobody in my family has the same mindset as me. Im the only one. I have often wondered why I took to the survival scene and how far back I can trace it. I have memories of stuff that dates back to being a 10 year old thinking I need to save old news papers incase we need fuel for a camp fire. I really do think its in my genes, I think somebody in my family tree must have had the same mentality and It just landed on me this time. In any case im darn happy I do have the mind set I do.

reply to post by antar


First off, thank you for the star and flag! Secondly, I can't stop looking at your beautiful avatar. I'm jealous!

I remember when I was little I had the urge to hide things, maybe to keep for later. And now I go to the store almost every day snooping around for deals here and there, not always buying but always looking. It wasn't until I got my own home that I really started to focus on the "urge". I was in heaven looking at my full pantry and freezer, and looking forward to winter especially as a good excuse to buy extra. And that includes non-food items as well such as my firewood, soaps, etc.

So, I do think in some way I did inherit this since it always seems to be there in me. I only wish now that I could carry this through completely with "full on"/ "the time is coming" type of stock up. I just can't afford that right now and have to satisfy myself with small purchases.

Thanks,
FMF

Originally posted by antar
I am the first to star and flag your Op.

I feel this is a genuine and important question which can lend much insight into our personal and shared psyche.

Why has it taken so long for so many to just now begin to start feeling the necessity much like an expecting Mother gets the nesting urge.

I also had a grandma that was very wise who also lived through the depression era. I took many lessons from her and sometime after my now 13 almost 14 year old was born I began to see the rise in food prices and household goods. Many people were in denial even if I showed them how the same products I bought each month would at first go up by 10 to 30 cents a month or every other month.

Before long with this consumer awareness what only a short time before cost me 40 dollars a week rose to over 80, but still people were in denial.

By the time those exact same products hit over one hundred dollars people were beginning to open their eyes yet figured the cost of living would catch up some how.

It really was not until the gas hike happened that some people actually came around and began to see stocking up as different from hording, which I had heard from some people I had advised to stock up some years ago.

Then the stock markets began to show great stress and the GP began to place their sights on the promises of the politicians.

I have to be honest the days of me trying to warn anyone are long past, I actually tell people that I have had to use my stores which is not entirely a lie, but just began seeing the next level of preparedness which is becoming private and the same as others...

Food, silver, ammo, non gmo oh yes.

Excellent post Antar, Only wish I could fathom out how to put an Avatar up, nothing as good as yours but any avatar would do.
NR

Originally posted by fullmoonfairy
I have always been the one in my family to be the one to "Get ready, winter is coming!"...

I am always the one to look out for the sales, stock up, and have things :just in case".

My Grandmother was the same way having been through the depression and had ROWS of canned goods until the day she died (I still miss her dearly). Even when winter is upon us here in the midwest, my family likes to tease me and call me "Grandma" because they all say I am just like her, even my mother! I take this "badge" as a compliment now, but have begun to think it is inherited as apposed to something in me induced by societal issues. I really seem to be the only one in my family who has this intense desire even though we were all raised the same..! Any thoughts?

Forgetting myself, Great New Subject, A star for a star.
NR

reply to post by Northern Raider


What a story..thank you for sharing! I am honored, especially coming from you (my survival hero!..)!

I remember when we moved my grandmother to a house closer to my parent's, and when we got to the part where my mom said they would have to throw out all of her canned goods (some were 20+ years old ) she had tears in her eyes. I said we should just let her keep them, but monitor her eating habits once in the new house. "I feel ya', grandma!"

I just think she made a big impression on me even when little. I would go into her "special room" full of cans and look at them, try to read the labels and just think it was the berries to have so much food! Not like I was starving or anything, just enthralled. Now my siblings snocker at my habits and call me "grandma J". I don't care, I am proud of it!

Thank you!
FMF

reply to post by LostNemesis


umm...yes, *blushing*

My purse and work bag has them right now. I bet if I went through all old bags/purses I could set up a fast food restaurant..

No, really, I do take extra but not enough to cause a fuss. I mean, one just never knows, now do we? One time I got my little brother in trouble because I talked him into taking x-tra stuff at a place I won't mention, and some snotty little employee came over and threatened to call the police on us for stealing...she "got her's" when I called her manager when I got home..for the love of Pete!

Thank you for your interest!
FMF

Part of it was growing up in the 1950s.

My parents were from a generation that matured during the depression. They did not have much.

They passed this along to me. We didn't have the material goods that kids today take for granted. We'd be excited if we got a new baseball. Now kids expect teams with uniforms, umpires at games and new equipment before they wear anything out.

We in our turn kind of spoiled our kids.

But, back to the theme of this thread.

We live in the country. As part of that, we've gardened in some years and planted a number of fruit trees.

This year we're once again gardening. To me, part of the experience, is just being outside and appreciating the whole experience. Also, it's just fun to be able to walk out into the garden and pick some corn for the nights dinner.

We also tend to stockpile food. It started as a way to save money. If you buy a case of something that you use, and you buy it on sale, it's a better financial deal in the long run. So we tend to stock up when things are on sale.

So part of it is being frugal and part of it comes from my past where I realize that the world could go through a prolonged period of time where things will be scarce.