Call this a rant or call it just anxiety.

Can anyone believe how unstable our economy has become in the last 6 months? How about the last 6 weeks? I am more than a little nervous. Anyone else? Anyone?

What are you doing for you and yours? If you are like us, you are feeling the crunch. What are you doing about it? Do you have any tips or savvy shopping tricks that you can share?

I do not fully agree with this particular talk show host, but he and I see eye to eye on some things. I will not give his name because I want you to read this transcript blurb and follow your own gut on this. Here is a hint, he has one of the top three radio talk shows in America. Read on, then see my comments that follow.

"I told you that values are what we have to reconnect with, time tested, time honored values, the things that weren't fashionable before. I thought a lot about my grandma's fruit cellar yesterday. People make fun of me for saying, oh, you're storing food? Why are you storing food? You're just one of those crazy people. Really? My grandma had a fruit cellar. Was she crazy? No, she could go to the store. You know, I grew up in a time when there were stores. Grandma still canned soup and fruit and food. She had different values and she knew what value was.

Does anybody else remember their mom going shopping and getting stuff in bigger sizes? Do you remember hearing the phrase, "You'll grow into it." As much as I hated it, our parents and our grandparents knew that life was about life.

Over the last year and a half people have made fun of me, and you can continue to. I mean, there's lots of reasons to make fun of me. Really, seriously. My family, you think you could be worse than my family? Please. You should hear my kids. People have said I'm a doomsday guy, Mr. Gloomy, you name it, "Oh, you're crazy." One of my highlights of the year is when I gave one of the most honest pieces of "Here's what you can do as a family." The most honest piece of advice I think I could give you and, oh, was it a joke. Still is. In the office, you should hear. Just last week, "Oh, really? Should I go buy some shoes?" I'm going to give the advice again because maybe this time it will carry a little bit more weight. If you have children, just remember your grandparents, remember your mom. If you have children and you know that they are going to grow out of their clothes and there are going to be sales, make you this promise. I can't promise you that we're going to have 1929 style Depression but I also can't promise you that our country will resemble what it is today ever again. I know you won't change. But I can promise you this. Your dollar is at its highest value because they are inflating the money. Inflation is coming. When people are putting their money into treasuries and they're saying I'll take zero gain in the next ten years, I'll take 3% gain over the next three years, when inflation that they report is running at 5%. Inflation probably now is 10%. People will lose anywhere from 2 to 7% on their money just to make sure it's safe. When that kind of stuff happens, you know you're in real, real trouble. You may not have any money to invest. You don't have to. Your investments won't return as much as inflation. So go to the store. You want to invest? Go to the store today. You see a sale? Today, tomorrow, this week, coming sales, you see a sale, you don't just buy it for this year. Buy it for next year. You know your kids are going to use shoes. Buy them for next year. It is an investment. Because inflation is coming. And if you think you can beat inflation, that's great. I don't think you can." (end quote)

So, how does that make you feel? It made me feel, well, not as prepared as I should be. I tried to make a mental list of things I do to try to prepare my family, things like stocking up on canned and dry goods while it is really on sale. By that I mean not the ordinary Wal-Mart special when everything"appears to be on sale". No, I'm talking about the cold hard sales, like case - lot sales, or bulk item sales. Last week I bought 2, 25lb. bags of sugar at the local ordinary store because the price was too good to pass up.

This is my point, I have to go to the store like everyone else except when I go I plan on buying extra whenever it is possible. I have a pantry like most folks and we have storage space in a guest room, so I store it all over. But the point is I store it! If the trucks stopped shipping tomorrow and you were trying to fight it out over the last can of soup at your local store, what then? How much do you have at home right now? How long could you live on what you have in your cupboards right this very minute? Does it give you a little knot in your gut? GOOD, go with that feeling! Start today. Buy a little extra every time you go. Be realistic too. Buy only what your family will eat, really eat. Canned food has a long shelf life as well as dry goods when stored properly.

What about water? I store it too, but I'm not as good at it as I should be. We drink soda and juice but I buy it in the sturdy 2 liter bottles, rinse them out and fill them with water. I put a as many as I could fit in my freezers. This helps the freezer not work as hard and saves electricity. The rest I store in the guest closet. Our local university did a testing on water stored in a 2 liter for various time periods. The only one that had a slight trace of bacteria is the one that was stored longer than 5 years! Can you believe that?

What about ordinary consumable needs, like toilet paper, shampoo, laundry soap, hand soap and sanitizer? Store bleach and Hydrogen peroxide for sanitizing purposes and it is cheap!! Cheap I tell you. Google the many uses of bleach or peroxide. Then there are "women's needs" and various needs a baby has that should be thought about. Baby shampoo can be used as a body cleanser for adults as well as children, it is gentle and needs very little water. Got pets? What about their food? Are their shots up to date? Are your shots up to date??

Anyway, back to the food. I found one nifty web site that is not affiliated with any particular entity. They have some great knowledge and be sure to check out the three month supply spread sheet. It is really helpful. A good place to start. Start with a good solid week's worth of food, then add to it until you have three months. What about emergency preparedness? The Red Cross and many State and Local Governments have their own web sites as to how to be prepared. Have you looked at them?

I felt the overwhelming need to write this and send it to everyone I know. Most of you know about food storage and basic needs. Many of you do not. My hope is to plant a seed here. Get you thinking. Get you and yours prepared! What kind of friend would I be, how could I not share this vital info. The thing is that there is a lot of info, and you could feel overwhelmed. Just do a little at a time. Several cans of soup here, an extra bag of flour there. Buying bigger clothes for your kids. Whatever your needs, you can do this.

Please e-mail me with any tips that work for you so that I can pass it on.