Provident Living: All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!

 





 

 



For all of those who know me, it comes as no surprise, that my recent calling, as Emergency Preparedness Specialist in our Ward, has me all sorts of excited. All things provident causes a "burning in my bosom" that makes me want to shout out a big, " Hooray! Let's go grind some wheat and bake some bread!". I am the product of three generations of amazing women who raised families through difficult times with very little money, but with lots of love. They have taught me to be resourceful, prepare for what life may have in store for you, be glad for the opportunity to do so,  and that compassion and serving others is the greatest opportunity you can be given. Believe me, during my formative years, there was always a mother or grandmother encouraging (and sometimes demanding) that I take a hands on approach to learning basic domestic skills (i.e. sewing, gardening, cooking, canning, budgeting, and saving for a rainy day). Sometimes there was much drama and eye rolling, from my youthful self, at such unimportant demands. After all, who needs to know all this "stuff"?

Fast forward several years, and I find myself a young wife and mother on a budget that doesn't seem to want to stretch as far as I want or need it to.  All of a sudden, a  basic knowledge of  these skills didn't seem so silly. At first trying to implement provident living techniques seemed daunting. Where to start. Of course, I told myself menu planning, cooking and baking from scratch, preserving garden produce for "later", mending clothes, building a food storage and savings account, were only things I would have to do until we started making better money.  Fast forward 20 something years later, and we are still waiting for times to get better. It seems as your income grows, so does your family and the demands on the budget. Many times our family has been thankful for the stockpiles of sugar, flour, and canned goods in the basement that have gotten us through.

There is a comfort in knowing you have taken steps towards preparing yourself and your family for the "rainy" day that will inevitably come. It's not just catastrophic natural disasters that we should be prepared for (even though it is definitely necessary, considering the stream of floods, earthquakes, and natural rumblings we have seen worldwide), but the personal setbacks that may come ( job loss, unexpected financial obligations, health scares, etc.). "Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh;" (D & C 1:12).

My job is to make preparing for what may come is a little easier, and a lot less scary. I have been learning it through trial and error for quite awhile now. That is why I have started this blog. When I  started my back to the basics lifestyle, I needed help and ideas of where to start, and how to get organized. I have discovered tons of great sites with straight forward and easy how to tutorials on the Internet (Woot! Woot! for Pinterest), e books, and in regular books (For you old schoolers, like me. Most are available at the library). Here I can share what I have learned with you, and together we can learn to be the Proverbial Ant from the fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper".

As a jumping off point go stop by http://www.providentliving.org/?lang=eng. This site explains the importance of  preparedness from the Church's perspective.  Please feel free to leave a comment! I would love for you to share your thoughts!