Needs & Wants-what Is Your Mindset & Attitude?

[Keith]

I think the title here could just as well be "Consumerism". So many people WANT & indeed NEED or think they need so much stuff. I was just sitting & thinking, I always have difficulty when family ask me what do I want for Xmas or Birthdays, frankly I can never think of anything. To put it simply I have ALL I need & want, my needs & wants are very basic. Believe it or not I was thinking of the dipped beeswax candle I carry in my pack. This candle if used sparingly will last for ages. It gives me light at night if needed, & it can even supply warmth in an enclosed place at close quarters. I consider it an important part of my equipment. If someone were to give me another beeswax candle, I would be very pleased, more gunpowder would be handy too. Linen thread I have plenty of, & I have a ton of lead.
Do you see where I am coming from? If your needs & wants are as basic as mine, then they will not be hard to deliver, & you will be easily pleased. Mark earlier was talking about the mindset, well that I guess is what this is about. Imagine the average person who is always trying to keep up with the Jones's, how would they cope when they can't take their possessions with them, or they can no longer live the lifestyle they have become accustomed to? It will be very traumatic for a lot of people. I am glad that a beeswax candle pleases me so much
Keith.

 

[lonewolf]

yes, consumerism will be consigned to history post SHTF, you cant keep up with the Jones's if your starving.
I have said before and i'll say it again, once SHTF I am expecting the suicide rate to sky rocket- maybe slow at first then it will explode as many realise the enormity of the situation.
many is the time, even on prepping forums, someone has said " I don't want to survive if SHTF!" and I am sure there are many like that out there.

 

[Ark79]

simplicity Keith exactly what a mean no disrespect to anyone when a say a good mind set is required and that works for all aspects of prepping/survival/bushcraft or every day life

 

[Keith]

yes, consumerism will be consigned to history post SHTF, you cant keep up with the Jones's if your starving.
I have said before and i'll say it again, once SHTF I am expecting the suicide rate to sky rocket- maybe slow at first then it will explode as many realise the enormity of the situation.
many is the time, even on prepping forums, someone has said " I don't want to survive if SHTF!" and I am sure there are many like that out there.

I had a women tell me one time that if survival meant using a gun, then she would sooner die. I can't get my head around that sort of thinking. I hope she does not have family to protect!
Keith.

 

[lonewolf]

I had a women tell me one time that if survival meant using a gun, then she would sooner die. I can't get my head around that sort of thinking. I hope she does not have family to protect!
Keith.

yes, many people wont kill Bambie(deer) or Thumper(rabbit) to survive, especially in the UK many- mostly townies- will not kill an animal even if it meant their own demise, no I don't get it either! oh yes, and most townies in the UK are vehemently anti gun and anti hunting.

 

[greenbear]

I think it is important to consider the concept of "Consumerism" when looking at mindset and attitude. Keith summed up "consumerism" perfectly in his opening sentence, but it also helps to understand why people came to want and need stuff to the point of perceived dependency. How many times have we heard "I knew I had to have it" or "I just had to have it" etc? Consumerism is, surprisingly, a fairly recent phenomenon and has largely risen to prevalence in only the last thirty to forty years (in part due to a postwar boom and a reaction to a flood of products onto the markets in the 1950s & 1960s). TV has its own role to play as does advertising via the internet these days. We live in a modern society where luxury goods are displayed to us wherever we go. Cast your mind back to your childhood, anyone over 50 will not have seen these temptations very often unless they specifically went into a store. The dependence on new/the latest/most fashionable items is, I suspect, creating a generation of people that would not consider making or reusing something, and that does not bode well for the future as, whether we like it or not, oil etc will dwindle and eventually run out (on a practical level, at least) and consumerism will dwindle and die with it. The big question is can western society recover the pre-war mindset that helped the US out of depression, the UK through the blitz and France through Nazi occupation.....

 

[lonewolf]

the answer to your final remark is NO, most people " want, and I want it NOW!" so what happens? it all goes on the plastic with no thought of how to pay it back, just look at those frantic picture of "black Friday" last year!
I read somewhere that the debt in this country amounts to £10,000 for every man, woman and child, that's personal debt not mortgage or rent arrears. we live in a different world these days.
I think the genie is out of the bottle as far as materialism is concerned.

 

[Ark79]

A understand that only to well a grew up with what I could have not what I wanted and I was taught to build what I needed not buy it out the shop But I must admit a do have some what of a need for new technology for our doors i.e. Clothes etc so a do have some guilty pleasures lol

 

[greenbear]

the answer to your final remark is NO, most people " want, and I want it NOW!" so what happens? it all goes on the plastic with no thought of how to pay it back, just look at those frantic picture of "black Friday" last year!
I read somewhere that the debt in this country amounts to £10,000 for every man, woman and child, that's personal debt not mortgage or rent arrears. we live in a different world these days.
I think the genie is out of the bottle as far as materialism is concerned.

To be fair the quoted figures (I think it was £15 Trillion - mean anything to you? I can't even begin to visualise or imagine it) includes mortgage lending which, as we all know from UK house price rises, gets larger without including personal spending debt - which has over the past few years shrunk a little.

 

[lonewolf]

no I don't know about the figure you quoted, I saw a reference some time ago that gave the £10,000 figure this was PERSONAL debt not including mortgages or rent, just day to day spending. food/clothing/ etc etc.

 

[greenbear]

£10k is a vast amount of money for anyone to owe, the risk of default etc must be very high. I suppose many folks borrow that much to finance cars these days, but nonetheless.....

 

[Orange Lemon]

I had a women tell me one time that if survival meant using a gun, then she would sooner die. I can't get my head around that sort of thinking. I hope she does not have family to protect!
Keith.

Darwin was not daft

 

[Keith]

As far as money is concerned, if we can't afford it, we don't buy it. I payed off my first vehicle & my first property purchase. Since then it has been cash all the way. No debts. Borrowing is bad news.
Keith.

 

[Ark79]

A wish a could say the same Keith lol a will get there at some point. How you put it is exactly how my father done it

 

[Keith]

A wish a could say the same Keith lol a will get there at some point. How you put it is exactly how my father done it

It is a matter of doing what you can with what you have Mark. It could have gone differently for me, I was lucky enough to have got enough work to pay things off & from there on pay cash. But that meant working often 6-7 days a week, & at one stage 13-16 hours a day, 7 days a week for 12 months. We do what we can mate.
Keith.

 

[lonewolf]

my father said to me when I got married, the first time, he said " if you want something save up for it, don't get into debt!" something I have tried to live by all my life. most people in my experience just put it on the plastic with no thought of paying it back, some I know use one card to pay off another, madness.