Prepping is not hoarding.

[RWalls]

For me, prepping isn’t just a matter of stockpiling supplies. It also a mindset, a means of gathering skills you and your family need to survive once these supplies run out. If a long-term SHTF scenario, like an EMP were to occur or, more likely, if our civilized nation collapses, your knowledge and skills will be more valuable than the stockpile of water, food and gadgets.

I try to make it a responsibility for each family or group member in my “group” to learn at least two skills that would be crucial if SHTF. Also I want the experts to be able to teach other group members the skills to everyone. Because lets face it, highly skilled individuals need rest or may become injured. If your only medic is injured, what steps do you take if he never taught any other member the skill? What are your skills?

What, if any, skills do other group members possess? Do you believe each person should spend time teaching others their skills now, before they could be life saving, or used to trade during a potential societal collapse?

Me, I am a licensed wildlife control operator. You name if, I can catch it, gut it, skin it, cook it. Snares, legholds, conibears and cage traps are a few things I can use and/or make.
I am decent with a hammer and other hand tools as well as power tools (which depending on the scenario may be worthless). I am a licensed HAM radio operator with 10M, 2M, 11M and a few other radios.
I can cook and can, shooting is a hobby of mine. But, more importantly I try to diversify when I can and teach others I know the skills I possess.

So lets here it ladies, what are your skills and group skills? Do you take the time to teach each other?

[inceptor]

Is prepping hoarding? That will depend on who you talk to. At one time the govt suggested 2 weeks of supplies, now it's down to 3 days. And many still don't pay attention. Take a look at Sandy. Folks thought the govt would care for them. SURPRISE!!! :biglaugh: When people find out you are a prepper, you get treated like a pariah.

I'm a city boy that grew up in the inner city. I have only been hunting one day in my life and I missed the only shot I had. My skills are in what I can fix work around what can't be fixed. I have a prep or two to help me get through. I used to have a couple of guns but they were lost in a boating accident.

[Sparkyprep]

I can kill, clean, and, cook just about anything that crawls, walks, slithers, swims, or flys. I can build just about anything that you would need to survive. I know a lot about edible plants in my area (SouthFlorida swamps and bush). I know how to grow cows, and vegetables. I'm an avid shooter, and a VERY avid fisherman. I can make fire from nothing. I'm skilled at various knot tying. I can sharpen a dull blade to a razor.

Before I sound too much like I'm tooting my own horn.....

If you were in an all-out firefight with a well-organized enemy, you better pick someone else besides me to lead the defense. I am not a soldier, or tactician. If you need someone to preserve your foodstuffs in any manner other than smoking, get someone else. I don't know squat about canning. (I want to learn though.). I'm still pestering my dad to teach me reloading, but it hasn't happened yet.

[dsdmmat]

Hoarders have an emotional tie to everything they have. Preppers have a use for almost everything they have.

If you can give away your items without having an "emotional moment" about them you are not a hoarder, you might be a pack rat but not a hoarder.

As far as skills go: I am a jack of all trades and master of none.

[big paul]

my food stores are only to keep me over the "hunkering down" period, after that i'll have about as much food stored as the average sheeple. but I can fish,shoot,trap and know the back country of North Devon like the back of my hand. I still have to learn how to look after livestock properly but wife was a herdswoman(stock person) in the past and is a life long country woman my mother was a farmers daughter and I have inherited her love of the countryside.

[machinejjh]

I was not a "woodsman" growing up. I was sick a lot, up until about 12 (pneumonia 13 times in those 12 years). So I spent a lot of time indoors. But I am trying to make up for it now. I learn all I can from anyone who can teach me. Our food stores were testing last month, due to medical bills for my wife coming in. If we didn't have those extra supplies, I don't know what we would have done.

[Just Sayin']

Hoarders have an emotional tie to everything they have. Preppers have a use for almost everything they have.

If you can give away your items without having an "emotional moment" about them you are not a hoarder, you might be a pack rat but not a hoarder.

As far as skills go: I am a jack of all trades and master of none.

Well said dsdmmat!

Part of the problem is finding people who care enough about being prepared to either learn from, or to teach. My wife is not really into prepping, although recent events have sparked a little more interest in what we have. She already has a fair amount of skills and she learns pretty quickly. Most of the other people I know that have any leaning toward being prepared are pretty much like myself a hunter and fisherman, ex-military or LE, pretty skilled and self sufficient. When we get to discussing most anything about prepping, first aid, weapons, tactics etc, we're just nitpicking the little details, because we are all pretty competent in the same areas. Heck, we trade more recipes and gun loads than prepping info it seems like sometimes.

Forums like this are about the only place I have the opportunity to maybe pass on some knowledge that I have, and the best place to learn about things that I might be unaware of or don't know how to do.

[Sparkyprep]

Hoarders have an emotional tie to everything they have. Preppers have a use for almost everything they have.

If you can give away your items without having an "emotional moment" about them you are not a hoarder, you might be a pack rat but not a hoarder.

As far as skills go: I am a jack of all trades and master of none.

Well, I have an emotional connection to some of my things. There are certain fishing poles, and firearms, that I would never dream of selling, or getting rid of. Does that count?

[Arizona Infidel]

Preppers are not hoarders, but some are.

[Coppertop]

I have been told that I am a "collector with hoarding tendencies" How does that fit in? I have no emotional attachment to MOST of my stuff, just a lot of stuff

[Arizona Infidel]

They were just being nice. You are a hoarder.

[dsdmmat]

I have been told that I am a "collector with hoarding tendencies" How does that fit in? I have no emotional attachment to MOST of my stuff, just a lot of stuff

LOL well my wife calls me a hoarder. I gave her the same definition that I posted and she threw the BS flag up and said you are a hoarder. So we had a garage sale and almost half of everything we sold was stuff she kept around after the kid moved out. All the stuff I put out for sale went as well and it went quick. If I think it is no longer useful to me I will put a price on it that will make it move. I am not worried about getting my money out of things, if I no longer use or have a use for them the space and the little change it brings is worth it to me.

[big paul]

prepping is not hoarding but you watch(just as in WW2) when an event happens the "have nots" will call the "haves" hoarders!!!

[machinejjh]

I prefer the term "pack rat", thank you very much.

[big paul]

I call it "having a few brain cells"!!!

[Arklatex]

We all hoard stuff. It's what supplies you hoard and the knowledge to use them that makes you a prepper.

[BugMan]

I believe it's imperative to have tangible assets that will be hard to aquire in the event of an emergency. Just recently, this area had two snow/ice storms. Some people were trapped on major highways for 24 hours with no food or water. If I had been unfortunate enough to be in that position, it would have been a mini vacation. I would have had everything I needed to stay warm, hydrated, fed. I would have had a way to entertain myself as well. I could have kept my phone charged while using it for the entire time. I would have been able to protect myself and my resources from multiple threats. This is just the things that would have been available to me in anyone of my vehicles.

Now amplify that for the house. No power? No problem. I have at least three ways to create power. I have a wood stove for heat. I have a tri fuel generator. I have a small solar array. I don't run to the store at the threat of a storm. I have plenty to make it through an extended emergency. And on and on I could go.

That said, the best way to be prepared is to encourage as many people as you can to do the same thing. Our biggest issue in a SHTF scenario will be hoards of government reliant "zombies" who are going to "get there's". That is a direct quote from one of those zombies when asked what he had done to prepare for Y2K. He said "Imma gonna get mine's". I politely invited to come out to my area so I could be sure he could get his.

[pheniox17]

A lot of my "hording" is based on a shift of focus of the likely timeline if something happened and a semi new concept bugging out (I have always had enough to get by but why just get by, when you can thrive)

I'm also a supporter of new skills, I spent a lot of time working on a bowling machine called the 82-30 and had to adapt to cold war technology, basically fixing "poop with poop" (that don't sound right)

And I have a huge electronic background with a old style computers background (I can't be stuffed keeping up in latest and greatest but I can use dos and successfully get old 386 operational... And with plug and pray tech... Well...) So I'm 3 parts nerd

Other skills are fishing, cleaning fish, can grow veggies (spent most of my childhood on farms) can shoot, but that was many years ago and I know how to hunt possums :D (so of you have a dog ;) )

Other skills include firefighting, drinking, problem solving, design, been a ass, having fun, while able to switch that off in go time...

My understanding of been prepaired is one man cant hope to know everything but we can tune the skills we have, dabble in a few more (learn a little) and stock for a reasonable period of time (i used a broad word like reasonable because its diffrent to all of us) and everyone needs a hobby, why not one that benifits those we hold dear

[Pauls]

As long as you use what you hoard and replace what you use, you are a prepper.