On a scale of one to ten....

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

...with one being hardly and ten being totally, how prepared are you compared with how prepared you want to be? This is for those of us who aren't old hands at preparedness, but rather for those of us who are still working on it.

Also: Are you finding it difficult to find the things you need? Are you able to find alternatives or substitutes? Has your list grown out-of-hand? Do you think you'll be 'prepared'? How do you define 'prepared'?

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), December 12, 1998

Answers

Hi Karen: Not being an 'old hand' at preparation, and still working on it, I find that it never really ends. Y2K is so fluid, even if one feels totally prepared something can happen that will change our expectations and impact our preparations. From reading a lot of posts and articles etc, the only thing to me that makes sense is to prepare to the maximum extent possible as our individual circumstances allow. You may be interested in a thread I started a few days ago called Do your preparations match your expectations which covers some of the same ground you are asking about.

Thanks to all of the good info still available here and other places, it has not been too difficult finding things that are needed, although there is a definite increase in delivery wait times. The best overall list I have found is the one at the Cassandra Project.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), December 12, 1998.


hmm, about a 2.5 or 3.0, though on my budget I'll most likely not make it to more than a 7.5 prior to 01/01/00.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), December 12, 1998.


Agreed

Compared to my fantasy 'budget be damned' ideal, I stand at about a 3. Conversly, compared with most people I know in the 'real' world I'm about a 9

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), December 12, 1998.


As far as individual items are concerned, I think I'm between between a 5 and 7. But because I think I need to move in order to be safe, and haven't done so yet, I can't rate my position beyond a 2 until I do so. So far I, haven't had trouble getting the items I want, but it has taken months to get some of them even though some of these were ordered back in August/September.

-- Dr. Roger Altman (rogaltman@aol.com), December 12, 1998.

In response to whether things are hard to find I would say -- somewhat. I was surprised not to find any strike anywhere matches in our town (if you saw GN's post). But we found plenty at an Amish store. Generators are easy to find. The only exposure to short supply or waiting times has been at Lehman's. Even their phone message apologizes for lengthy hold times due to y2k. Although, you know, maybe I'm not finding any shortages because I'm so unprepared! Great, more anxiety.

-- lparks (lparks@eurekanet.com), December 12, 1998.


Ideally, I'd move the whole family to a private desert island fully stocked...Given that I have limits, I've budgeted preparations over the next 10 months, and it's going according to plan so far, two wilderness survival courses and a sizeable grain order. Do need to spend more time practicing the skills, working out, etc. Will spend quite a bit of cash and effort on all this, and it doesn't seem like near enough...

-- Shimrod (shimrod@lycosmail.com), December 13, 1998.

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