To Pay Down Debt Or Prepare

I face a conundrum that I feel most of us face: do I pay off debt or do I build up my Homestead Supplies? 

If I pay off debt, then I will be in a better position to weather whatever storm comes: financial, societal upheaval or otherwise.

FYI: My most aggressive possible completion date to pay off my debt is February 7.

If I build up my Homestead Supplies, however, I will be in a better position to start a homestead somewhere and live like a pioneer. 

Not that I want to live like a pioneer, but my philosophy has been, “I want to be able to live like a pioneer if I have to, because I can always better myself and my situation from there as I live sustainably.” 

The other reason that I put: tools, food, seeds, books and other things away into the storage locker that I call my Homestead Supplies is so that I can be able to do something with that plot of land that I want to get (even if it is just a plot of land).

Yet, I can tell you that Debt Freedom is Freedom itself. For if you only have whatever current bills that you have to pay, that and feeding yourself, then you are truly free.

If you are Debt Free then you can go where you wish and do what you want, all you have to do is cover your necessities of life: however you define that.

There are some who say that I should just stock up the Homestead Supplies and rack up the debt as much as I can and not care about that debt.

The concept there is that as hyperinflation picks up speed, then I would be able to pay off my debt with dollars that are worth less and less. 

The belief is that wages will rise and rise in order to keep up with hyperinflation (and keep workers). So, I will then be able to pay off my debt with my fistfuls of dollars that I will have.

The problem with that is that wages don’t keep up with regular inflation, what makes you think that it will keep up with hyperinflation? 

Even in normal times wages don’t and never will keep up with inflation . . . by design . . . by conscious forethought and design. (Ponder on that).

So, I will force myself to pause building my Homestead Supplies as I eliminate my debt (debt that I built up while stocking up those Homestead Supplies).

This is because I am forcing myself to keep in mind that, “I have what I need, not what I want.”

What I need, for my own peace of mind is to be Debt Free once again. I will get there, just one more winter to go, then onto another adventure.