Food storage or paying off debt?

[Sicnarf]

If you only had the choice to do one or the other, would you spend money to build your food storage or pay off debt? Thanks! :)

[Backroads]

Tentavily I answer, pay off debt. I consider debt to be a burden.

Though being without a way to support myself is a terrifying thought.

[mdfxdb]

pay off debt first. Then do food storage.

[Vort]

pay off debt first. Then do food storage.

Or follow mdfxdb's theory and sell pot door-to-door, and then you can afford to do both!

[Dravin]

One can do both, one can direct money to both endeavors in a lot of circumstances. Even if it's just an extra $1 bag of starch (rice/beans/barley/lentils) or can of chili per paycheck while diverting beyond minimum payments to debts. In some cases one can rearrange their food budget to find a way to start building some food storage.

If I was in some hypothetical situation where it was literally an extra $2 to my debts per month or $2 to food storage per month I'd probably go with the latter. If we're talking a one time check that I can spend only on debt or food storage for the amount of $2000 and I couldn't split it I'd put it on debt.

[Wingnut]

Or follow mdfxdb's theory and sell pot door-to-door, and then you can afford to do both!

Hey, and you can do that up there now, right?

[NeuroTypical]

Debt is indentured servitude. Get rid of it, and don't accumulate any more of it.

[jerome1232]

Food storage can even be buying more canned goods than you usually do, that kind of thing helped my family get through tough months before. It's amazing what having a couple extra cans of chilli and beans can do.

[bythelake]

I like Dravin's and jerome's suggestions.

But you might also consider how much debt you have and how long it will take to pay it off. If you have only a small amount of debt, and it can be paid off in 2-3 months, pay it off first. But if paying off the debt is a long term thing, you will not want to wait until you are out of debt to start getting at least some food storage.

[Sharky]

One can do both, one can direct money to both endeavors in a lot of circumstances. Even if it's just an extra $1 bag of starch (rice/beans/barley/lentils) or can of chili per paycheck while diverting beyond minimum payments to debts. In some cases one can rearrange their food budget to find a way to start building some food storage.

If I was in some hypothetical situation where it was literally an extra $2 to my debts per month or $2 to food storage per month I'd probably go with the latter. If we're talking a one time check that I can spend only on debt or food storage for the amount of $2000 and I couldn't split it I'd put it on debt.

We are doing both.

We simply keep a running total of everything we put in our shopping cart, then we take 10% of the total & add that much in storge items.

The system works at the grocery store, the hardware store, even the feed store.

Increasigng the grocery budget by 10% doesn't break the bank .... in fact it leaves extra with which to pay off debt.

In the a hypothetical of $2 for one or the other, I'd ensure we had some food & some cash reserves.

Worst-case scenerio when or if you have absolutely no income what-so-ever .... having paid off your debts is not going to feed you or your family.

[Just_A_Guy]

If you only had the choice to do one or the other, would you spend money to build your food storage or pay off debt? Thanks! :)

Frankly, I'm not sure there's a good one-size-fits-all answer. What do you do for a living? How stable is your job? Where do you live? What potential sources of food are available locally? What kind of debt do you have - is it secured debt and, if so, how badly do you need the collateral? In a go-to-heck situation, is the debt dischargeable in bankruptcy? What other sources of food/food storage do you have available?

My gut reaction would usually be that it's generally better to have the food on-hand - in a short-term crisis, you can usually let your debts go delinquent for a few months before you get sued; and in a long-term crisis, you'll either be thinking bankruptcy or else the fellow occupants of your fallout shelter won't really care how much money you owe to some finance company in the parking lot formerly known as Manhattan. But again - every situation's different.

[Blackmarch]

If you only had the choice to do one or the other, would you spend money to build your food storage or pay off debt? Thanks! :)

I suck at doing food storage so i'd probably end up focusing on debt.

[mirkwood]

Pay down your debt. There are simple ways to slowly build your food storage, but debt is crushing.

[pam]

Part of provident living is reducing your debt.

[EarlJibbs]

Depends on what debt it is and how much you are paying. If your savings a month is say $200.00 or more, that is a lot of money you could be puting towards your food storage.

Then again, some people arent good at slowly building a food storage. Myself included. I have never been able to be strict enough. My example. I received an extra sum of money, I only have my house and car with debt to it. I could have paid down the car a little more shaving off interest in the end. But instead I chunked it down on some good food storage to start out. It will now be able feed my family for about 4 months. It is a great start and I am adding on slowly with staples like flour...etc... This has felt great to me, but that is because I have not been organized enough to slowly build it up.

[Echo2002]

If I was given one lump sum and told to either pay off debt or build food storage I would pay off debt.

My thought is if something happens where you lose your house or apartment and get put out on the street, you can't really carry your food storage around with you.

Of course I would think any family that takes preparation seriously would also have several month's worth of cash in a savings account besides their food storage.

[jayanna]

Food storage, but then my debt is mostly mortgage. If we have a job loss or injury we can use the food storage and use what money we have to pay mortgage. But the other way around and our debt is paid, but we have no food.

Though I do think one can really do both.

[Wordnerd]

I think both can be done as well, paying off or even paying down unsecured debt ought to free up some monthly cashflow which could be put into food storage. If it was secured debt with fixed payments though, I would probably prioritize food storage and savings.