Posted: 12/21/2013 7:45:56 AM EDT
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Business has been slow since summer, and we just lost a couple major accounts. I have declared full emergency financial SHTF status for the Rat household. Eating almost exclusively off the pantry/LTS. Digging into emergency savings, cutting any and all expenses not necessary. At the same time, we are going to make some big changes to the company: We are going bi-lingual. We are also going to invest in an entirely new product line that will hopefully be up and going inside 3 months. This along with a new product line from my normal vendor should have us going pretty well by summer. In the meantime, this winter will be very lean. This is why the first prep consideration should be for financial problems. So for the lurkers, THIS is why we say over and over again: Have your financial house in order FIRST. Have food FIRST. Gun's won't help in this SHTF. That is all.
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We've been in a financial SHTF for the past few years now and it just got worse recently.
Personally, I'm trying to get my head above water so I can move out on my own and start my own practice (counseling/therapy). It's VERY lucrative there's just a lot of paperwork with insurance companies and such. But I'm 90% done doing what I need to do to prepare. Just have to find an office I can afford to get started. Anyway, we've basically stopped going out to dinner, unless we receive gift cards. We buy in bulk when things are on sale. I cook all our meals. I learned to repair most of the common issues with our vehicles (that saves thousands easily!). We also budget as best we can for supplies for my son (diapers, produce, clothing, etc). You just have to sit down and analyze what are wants and what are needs. Only want we still have is basic cable. Doing that we saved a LOT and do not have to dip into our savings/portfolio too much. Not preaching...just saying that's what we did and it helped. Good luck! -Emt1581 |
I hear you brother. Had a head gasket go out and bought a beater since I couldn't afford to get it fixed. Started getting caught up on put off bills, then boom, the woman gets fired from work today. It may sound terrible, but when you're eating a ramen and rice diet, at least you're eating. Really wish I didn't cash out all my canned food being to lazy/tired after work to cook now. 
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I hear you brother. Had a head gasket go out and bought a beater since I couldn't afford to get it fixed. Started getting caught up on put off bills, then boom, the woman gets fired from work today. It may sound terrible, but when you're eating a ramen and rice diet, at least you're eating. Really wish I didn't cash out all my canned food being to lazy/tired after work to cook now. So sorry to hear that! 
Not sure what she did for a job but some things are super easy (nurse...pretty much ANYTHING medical) and most everything else is super tough to find a job. If she gets unemployment maybe have her go back to school to get a license/cert in something at a community college. That can be a huge ticket and it's usually pretty cheap. Again, just free advice. Take care. -Emt1581 |
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We've been in a financial SHTF for the past few years now and it just got worse recently. Personally, I'm trying to get my head above water so I can move out on my own and start my own practice (counseling/therapy). It's VERY lucrative there's just a lot of paperwork with insurance companies and such. But I'm 90% done doing what I need to do to prepare. Just have to find an office I can afford to get started. Anyway, we've basically stopped going out to dinner, unless we receive gift cards. We buy in bulk when things are on sale. I cook all our meals. I learned to repair most of the common issues with our vehicles (that saves thousands easily!). We also budget as best we can for supplies for my son (diapers, produce, clothing, etc). You just have to sit down and analyze what are wants and what are needs. Only want we still have is basic cable. Doing that we saved a LOT and do not have to dip into our savings/portfolio too much. Not preaching...just saying that's what we did and it helped. Good luck! -Emt1581 No offense, does this come as a big surprise? Eating out on a regular basis is one of the biggest expenses that anyone can easily cut down on and save. Ironically many people are just numb to the idea of cooking a simple meal. 
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No offense, does this come as a big surprise? Eating out on a regular basis is one of the biggest expenses that anyone can easily cut down on and save. Ironically many people are just numb to the idea of cooking a simple meal. No no, I'm not talking about like city-dwellers do where we would eat out for every meal. I mean the once a week we'd go out on Sat. or Fri. just for dinner. By stopping that it adds up. And it was just an example. We always cooked a lot. Now, it's pretty much every meal. But I'm a good cook and I can make pretty much anything. So it's not horrible. -Emt1581 |
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100% agree! Debt is your worse enemy. Having no savings is an equally bad enemy. Save up a real emergency fund and start getting out of debt, then don't get back in debt. Rat is right, your finances are 10x more important than guns, ammo and preps. Good luck OP, I hope everything works out great for your family and your business. |
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We've been in a financial SHTF for the past few years now and it just got worse recently. Personally, I'm trying to get my head above water so I can move out on my own and start my own practice (counseling/therapy). It's VERY lucrative there's just a lot of paperwork with insurance companies and such. But I'm 90% done doing what I need to do to prepare. Just have to find an office I can afford to get started. Anyway, we've basically stopped going out to dinner, unless we receive gift cards. We buy in bulk when things are on sale. I cook all our meals. I learned to repair most of the common issues with our vehicles (that saves thousands easily!). We also budget as best we can for supplies for my son (diapers, produce, clothing, etc). You just have to sit down and analyze what are wants and what are needs. Only want we still have is basic cable. Doing that we saved a LOT and do not have to dip into our savings/portfolio too much. Not preaching...just saying that's what we did and it helped. Good luck! -Emt1581 Two words, Mobile Office. Seriously, get an RV set it up for business, travel to clients or shift location for central location so clients don't have to travel very far. You can write off the RV as a business expense and have a unique selling point. especially if your paitents have mobility or travel issues. |
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Quoted: 100% agree! Debt is your worse enemy. Having no savings is an equally bad enemy. Save up a real emergency fund and start getting out of debt, then don't get back in debt. Rat is right, your finances are 10x more important than guns, ammo and preps. Good luck OP, I hope everything works out great for your family and your business. Agreed, but don't eliminate your savings by wiping out debt. Make sure you have LIQUIDITY! I'd rather have $100K in the bank and $100K in debt (the mortgage), than no savings and no debt. Good luck trying to get equity out of your house without a job or income, short of selling it. |
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Agreed, but don't eliminate your savings by wiping out debt. Make sure you have LIQUIDITY! I'd rather have $100K in the bank and $100K in debt (the mortgage), than no savings and no debt. Good luck trying to get equity out of your house without a job or income, short of selling it. Quoted:
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100% agree! Debt is your worse enemy. Having no savings is an equally bad enemy. Save up a real emergency fund and start getting out of debt, then don't get back in debt. Rat is right, your finances are 10x more important than guns, ammo and preps. Good luck OP, I hope everything works out great for your family and your business. Agreed, but don't eliminate your savings by wiping out debt. Make sure you have LIQUIDITY! I'd rather have $100K in the bank and $100K in debt (the mortgage), than no savings and no debt. Good luck trying to get equity out of your house without a job or income, short of selling it. ^^ this |
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Agreed, but don't eliminate your savings by wiping out debt. Make sure you have LIQUIDITY! I'd rather have $100K in the bank and $100K in debt (the mortgage), than no savings and no debt. Good luck trying to get equity out of your house without a job or income, short of selling it. Quoted:
Quoted:
100% agree! Debt is your worse enemy. Having no savings is an equally bad enemy. Save up a real emergency fund and start getting out of debt, then don't get back in debt. Rat is right, your finances are 10x more important than guns, ammo and preps. Good luck OP, I hope everything works out great for your family and your business. Agreed, but don't eliminate your savings by wiping out debt. Make sure you have LIQUIDITY! I'd rather have $100K in the bank and $100K in debt (the mortgage), than no savings and no debt. Good luck trying to get equity out of your house without a job or income, short of selling it. EXACTLY. I've been sayin this here for years with some not having a clue of understanding why. A la my old Bankster telling you to "piss up a rope" story. 
Also, if you have limited income and have financed a BOL, land, or something big, for heaven's sakes don't be talking about the new winch you're gonna buy or the cabin you're going to build until you have a financial cushion built up to protect your ownership of what you are indebted for. Doing otherwise is shortsighted at the minimum or idiocy at worst |
| Good luck OP. We've been scrimping in this household for a while now....we're not in fianacial SHTF but we're prepping for it. Wife lost her job and that was a wake-up call. I can't remember the last time I went to see a movie at the theatre and going out for a meal is a rarety. Bout the only thing we have is the internet and we watch Netflix (that's all)! Yea - I buy prepper and gun stuff and the wife buys herself things once in a while but my son does our hair cuts and wifey doesn't go for pedicures and that crap anymore.....I feel bad for all the people in the resturaunt, movies, foofy stuff businesses but we can't support that any longer. OBummer! |
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Money is power. No money, no power. Good luck in your business. "Money is Liquid Freedom" Heard that from Stuart Varney the other day, in the waiting room at the doctor's office. It really stuck with me. OP - Sounds like you have a plan, and don't sit on your hands when shit goes south. You should be fine, but best of luck regardless. |
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Business has been slow since summer, and we just lost a couple major accounts. I have declared full emergency financial SHTF status for the Rat household. Eating almost exclusively off the pantry/LTS. Digging into emergency savings, cutting any and all expenses not necessary. At the same time, we are going to make some big changes to the company: We are going bi-lingual. We are also going to invest in an entirely new product line that will hopefully be up and going inside 3 months. This along with a new product line from my normal vendor should have us going pretty well by summer. In the meantime, this winter will be very lean. This is why the first prep consideration should be for financial problems. So for the lurkers, THIS is why we say over and over again: Have your financial house in order FIRST. Have food FIRST. Gun's won't help in this SHTF. That is all. What is it you sell or provide? |
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I am in a weird situation as my wife just got a new job and we had to move. The house we were living in was 100%paid for and I owned it free and clear. Luckily where we had to move, my wife's grandmother had a house she is letting us stay in until we find a place. I am trying to get the house we own ready to sell but it's hard having a full time job and trying to fix up a house over an hour away.
Only debt we have is my wife's vehicle which I could have paid cash for but would have depleted my savings. I would rather use the banks money at the low interest rate and end up losing a thousand bucks than deplete savings. When we do sell the house, this will pay the vehicle off and have a nice down-payment for the new house we find. |
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What is it you sell or provide? Quoted:
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Business has been slow since summer, and we just lost a couple major accounts. I have declared full emergency financial SHTF status for the Rat household. Eating almost exclusively off the pantry/LTS. Digging into emergency savings, cutting any and all expenses not necessary. At the same time, we are going to make some big changes to the company: We are going bi-lingual. We are also going to invest in an entirely new product line that will hopefully be up and going inside 3 months. This along with a new product line from my normal vendor should have us going pretty well by summer. In the meantime, this winter will be very lean. This is why the first prep consideration should be for financial problems. So for the lurkers, THIS is why we say over and over again: Have your financial house in order FIRST. Have food FIRST. Gun's won't help in this SHTF. That is all. What is it you sell or provide?
You can always sell your guns, btw. 
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Quoted: Agreed, but don't eliminate your savings by wiping out debt. Make sure you have LIQUIDITY! I'd rather have $100K in the bank and $100K in debt (the mortgage), than no savings and no debt. Good luck trying to get equity out of your house without a job or income, short of selling it. Quoted: Quoted: 100% agree! Debt is your worse enemy. Having no savings is an equally bad enemy. Save up a real emergency fund and start getting out of debt, then don't get back in debt. Rat is right, your finances are 10x more important than guns, ammo and preps. Good luck OP, I hope everything works out great for your family and your business. Agreed, but don't eliminate your savings by wiping out debt. Make sure you have LIQUIDITY! I'd rather have $100K in the bank and $100K in debt (the mortgage), than no savings and no debt. Good luck trying to get equity out of your house without a job or income, short of selling it. I agree with that. Our only debt is on our home and the note is for about 20% of the value of the home and we have way more than enough savings to pay it off but we choose not to. At 3.5% interest it doesn't cost much and we are on track to pay it off pretty soon anyway. Having the savings is huge. The one thing about having no debt and no savings is that it's easier to save and create that emergency fund when there is no debt. But yes I agree, cash is king. |
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Thanks for all the well wishes. As for the product/service we provide: Classified . OPSEC and all, plus it is a niche market in the industrial/commercial area.I have not been sitting idle while I haven't been replying on this post: Tentatively, by the end of January we should have a new product in high demand available. Not counting un-hatched chickens, though. There have been some leaps and bounds in the R&D lab in the last 48 hours, and I have made a lot of headway with some key obstacles in the lab. I have some specialized tools coming in on Tuesday, and that will be VERY revealing about getting some more product lines off the ground. I need to get to work right after Christmas with building some new testing equipment for the new line. Still in egg form, though. Time will tell. I will say if this all works, I will be adding employees by summer/fall
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Business has been slow since summer, and we just lost a couple major accounts. I have declared full emergency financial SHTF status for the Rat household. Eating almost exclusively off the pantry/LTS. Digging into emergency savings, cutting any and all expenses not necessary. At the same time, we are going to make some big changes to the company: We are going bi-lingual. We are also going to invest in an entirely new product line that will hopefully be up and going inside 3 months. This along with a new product line from my normal vendor should have us going pretty well by summer. In the meantime, this winter will be very lean. This is why the first prep consideration should be for financial problems. So for the lurkers, THIS is why we say over and over again: Have your financial house in order FIRST. Have food FIRST. Gun's won't help in this SHTF. Sounds to me like you have the right attitude to pull through. You recognized the current business model wasn't working, and implemented strategies to adapt. Meanwhile you had things in place to get you through the transitional period. While all of us wish you didn't have to rely on your safety net, this is validation of your efforts to insure your family could endure if things got tough. Fortune favors the prepared. I'm pulling for good fortunes for your business and family. |