STACKERS!

I know some of you are asking yourselves, “How can I prep when shit has already hit the fan?”

I won’t sugarcoat it. It will not be easy.

However, look at these times as an opportunity to tighten up.

Prepping is a ‘before’. ‘during’, and ‘after’ kind of thing. Kind of like stacking.

Once you start, you don’t ever really stop.

Once you have that nice, comfy emergency savings account, you never want to go back to not having one. So you continue to make sure it is there.

Same goes for being prepared.

Next…let’s talk about how to maintain that Prep + Stack Life while under lockdown:

• Spend as little as possible. We are in a recession. Save your bread. That should be fairly easy because everything physical is just about closed. Don’t fall for the online shopping trap. Don’t hit those drive thrus just because they’re still open. Take note of your finances. Establish a budget. Grocery shop and stay off of Amazon. Plus the economy ain’t looking too good out here… so just to be safe, stash your paper. Read Financial Starter Kit by Beez if you need help developing better financial habits. Her book also includes a Money Allocation spreadsheet to help with your budgeting.

• Get fit at home. Ask yourself… Did I really need that gym membership? I’ve been doing push ups and pull ups every few hours, every day. I have also been trying every workout Eric has been posting on Twitter to help people out through this quarantine. Eric’s Routines + my resistance bands have me thinking ‘what gym membership’? If you’ve been slacking on working out, it’s all good.. check out Eric at Commando Athletix! He provides personalized workout plans, videos, live streams, AND a lot more to help whip you in shape, gym or no gym.

• Get better at grocery shopping and cooking. If you’ve visited a grocery store recently, you know it has been a little bit of a challenge to find everything you usually buy. I went to Aldi a few days ago and they had everything in stock pretty much except for flour. Weird. They even had toilet paper.. A part of staying sane these days is making sure you keep a balanced diet at home. This shutdown has exposed a lot of people. Either they don’t know how to cook or they only know a few recipes and will be miserable by week 2 of Chicken Alfredo for dinner. Don’t be these people. Get creative. Crack open those recipe books. Do your googles for new recipes using only the ingredients you have. USE YOUR CROCKPOT. This is the perfect time to brush up on your cooking skills. It’s also the perfect time to develop better grocery shopping habits. 

Pro tip: don’t forget to add that random bag of rice, beans, or oats to your grocery list. $2-$5 every other week and your emergency food stash will grow like crazy.

• Organize your home and take inventory. Spring is here. Why not jump on some spring cleaning? I highly recommend cleaning and disinfecting your house from top to bottom anyway because winter is over and it’s just time for it. This also allows you to take inventory of everything you already have which is a very important prep itself. Check the dates on your cleaning products, clean out your deep freezers, and take stock before you shop. This saves you money because you only buy what you need.

• Keep learning and growing. Now isn’t the time to slack off and Netflix all day. Read a book. Study something. Learn to speak a new language (Download DROPS in the app store & thank me later). Learn to code. Grab a free book off of For Stackers Only. The resources are endless out here. A LOT of courses and books are on sale as well. Take your pick and get to it. Just don’t sit in the house for a few weeks to a few months and come out the same at the end.