SAVING

In reading some other blogs, I see where people are talking about saving for the recession, saving for emergencies, saving for job losses, stockpiling for disasters, etc. Now I admit I saved ahead for the Y2K non-disaster. I didn't go overboard, but I did stockpile some necessities just like I normally do during the winter months. I did however, add a few more oil lamps and bottles of lamp oil than I normally would. I am a "saver"; can I blame that on my parents surviving the depression? I have an extra kitchen in my basement that has cupboards of home-canned goods in them. I have cupboards of paper plates and plastic utensils. I even have a spare stove that is electric while my main one upstairs is gas. The original intention was that would be my canning kitchen and not heat up the upstairs. However, since it is also my sewing room and has become the family dumping ground for anything they don't know what to do with, canning there was a major undertaking and moved back upstairs. But it is a good place to use as my survival "pantry". Now, I've been on the Homeland Security website and others and have seen the 3 page lists of "essentials" to stockpile in case of disaster. There are even separate lists based on which disaster we are planning on; a flu survival kit for the pandemic, a live out of your basement survival kit in case of nuclear disaster, and lists of things that will be endangered first in case of a bartering system being instated. There are lists of supplies needed to live off the land, and lists of supplies to never set foot outside on the land again. I sometimes laugh that I could feed a 3rd world country out of the stockpiles of groceries already in my house. Am I paranoid? Or am I prepared? Am I frugal? Or am I over-spending? The Bible says not to be anxious about what we will eat or wear because God will take care of us just like he does the birds and flowers. But shouldn't we also be responsible and prepare for the days ahead so we aren't a burden on others? Where do we draw the line so to speak? What is taking care of our families and what is wasting our family's money? Those of you who know me well, know that I am a "planner". When we go on vacation I take along blankets in case the hotel room is cold and I take along a fan in case it is hot and doesn't have air conditioning. I take along food and extra clothes and extra medications and etc. My husband is a "fly by the seat of your pants" guy. He figures why pack so much when there is a WalMart every 100 miles or less and he can buy whatever he forgot to take along. My motto is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and usually reality is somewhere in between the two. Recently in Bible study, we were watching a video series When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, and the speaker said we are accumulating stuff we don't need even knowing that we can't take it with us when we die. He talked about how much money is spent each year by people renting storage units to store the stuff they accumulate. And how we work long hours and ignore the things truly important to us, so we can buy more stuff to store, stuff that someone else will have to get rid of when we are gone. So I guess my question is, how do we know when we have enough stuff? How much do we need to save? I am interested in any of your thoughts on this subject.