Ready for Tomorrow — The Cheapskates Way

Save money, plan ahead and build a household ready for whatever life brings.
There is a lot we cannot control.
Prices rise. Income can change. Bills arrive. Work can become uncertain. Fuel gets dearer. Food shortages happen. Storms, floods, bushfires and blackouts interrupt normal life. Sometimes the problem is much smaller — a broken appliance, an unexpected expense or simply a very expensive month.
But there is also a great deal we can control.
We can plan ahead.
We can keep useful food in the pantry.
We can lower the amount of money our household needs to run.
We can build savings a little at a time.
We can learn skills that help us make, mend, cook, grow, preserve and repair instead of always having to buy.
We can keep household supplies ahead rather than replacing everything when it runs out.
We can have alternatives.
And most importantly, we can give ourselves time to think and choices about what to do next.
That is what Ready for Tomorrow — The Cheapskates Way is all about.
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Follow the Complete Ready for Tomorrow Series
This page is your introduction to Ready for Tomorrow — The Cheapskates Way, and it is open for everyone to read. The complete series, however, has been created especially for Cheapskates Club members inside the Member Hub. There you'll find the step-by-step articles, videos, practical challenges, worksheets, planners, checklists and printable binder pages that will help you turn these ideas into a plan that works for your own household. If you're already a Cheapskates Club member, simply log in to the Member Hub and follow the series as each new part is added. If you're not a member yet, you're very welcome to join the Cheapskates Club and come along with us as we calmly and consistently build households that cost less to run, have useful buffers in place and are better prepared for whatever tomorrow brings.

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This Isn't About Preparing for Disaster
You don't need to expect the worst to see the commonsense in preparing ahead.
In fact, most of the things we will do throughout this series will make everyday life cheaper, easier and less stressful right now.
A well-stocked pantry means fewer emergency trips to the supermarket and gives you the freedom to wait for a good price.
A household buffer means an unexpected bill doesn't immediately need to go on a credit card.
Keeping basic toiletries and cleaning products ahead means you can buy them when they're on sale instead of when you've run out.
Knowing how to make bread gives you another option when bakery prices rise.
Combining errands saves fuel, time and wear on the car.
Keeping a gift pantry makes birthdays and Christmas easier on the budget.
Learning to preserve food lets you take advantage of a glut, garden harvest or wonderful special instead of letting food go to waste.
All of these things are useful in ordinary life.
And if something bigger happens — a drop in income, a shortage, a prolonged blackout, a natural disaster or another disruption — those same preparations give the household breathing room.
Preparing ahead isn't about fear. It's about making life easier.
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The Cheapskates Way of Preparing
We are not going to rush out and buy everything on a giant preparedness list.
We are not going to spend money we don't have.
And we are certainly not going to fill cupboards with things we will never use.
We're going to do this the Cheapskates way.
Calmly.
Gradually.
Within our budget.
Using what we already have first.
Buying at the best price we can.
Learning useful skills.
And building a little more security every week.
Because the goal isn't to own the most stuff.
The goal is to build a household that needs less from the outside world at short notice.
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What Does “Ready for Tomorrow” Look Like?
It will be different for every household.
For one household it may mean having enough pantry food to comfortably cover three months.
For another it may mean clearing a credit card and finally starting an emergency fund.
Someone else may need to concentrate on reducing large household bills.
Another household may need to build water storage, improve their first-aid supplies or learn how to cook from basic pantry ingredients.
You don't need to do everything at once.
We're going to look at each part of the household and ask:
What do we already have?
What do we actually need?
Where are we vulnerable?
What could we improve without putting pressure on the budget?
What can we do now that will save money, time or stress later?
Then we'll work on it, one manageable step at a time.
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What We'll Build Together
As we work through Ready for Tomorrow, we'll gradually strengthen the important areas of everyday household life.
Money
We'll look at what it really costs to keep the household running, how to lower that amount, how to prepare for a temporary loss or drop in income and how to build a cash buffer without feeling that you need thousands of dollars immediately.
The goal is simple:
More breathing room. Less dependence on debt.
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The Pantry
We'll build a useful pantry around food your household actually eats.
Not random tins.
Not panic buying.
Meals.
Ingredients.
Staples.
Backups.
And enough food to give you choices when prices rise or shopping becomes difficult.
We'll keep working towards a practical three-month household pantry buffer.
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Food Storage & Preserving
Buying ahead only saves money if we look after what we've bought.
We'll cover pantry rotation, freezing, dehydrating, preserving, canning, using excess food and storing staples so they last.
Waste isn't preparedness.
Using what we have wisely is.

Water
We'll look at drinking water, cooking water, pets, hygiene, storage and ways to use less.
Water is something most of us rarely think about because we simply turn on the tap.
Ready for Tomorrow means having another option if that tap doesn't work for a while.

Cooking & Emergency Meals
Could you still feed the household if you couldn't get to the supermarket?
What if you needed to use less electricity, less gas or less water?
We'll build a collection of simple meals using everyday pantry ingredients, along with the Cheapskates Emergency Pantry Meals, MOO mixes, substitutions and low-fuel cooking ideas.

Household Supplies
Food isn't the only thing we run out of.
We'll build sensible buffers of:

• toiletries
• cleaning supplies
• laundry products
• household basics
• regularly used consumables.

Again, the aim isn't enormous stockpiles.
It's simply staying one step ahead.

Power, Fuel & Utilities
We'll look at how the household would function during a power outage, how to protect food in the fridge and freezer, charging and lighting, fuel use and what household routines depend on electricity.
We'll also work on using less energy during ordinary life — because every unit of energy we don't waste saves money now.

Transport
Petrol doesn't need to become scarce to make transport planning worthwhile.
Every unnecessary trip costs money.
We'll look at deliberate driving, combining errands, maintaining vehicles and creating alternatives when transport costs rise.
The One-Trip Week fits right into this part of the plan.
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Skills That Save Money
One of the best household buffers doesn't take up any cupboard space at all.
Know-how.
Cooking.
Baking.
MOOing.
Mending.
Growing food.
Preserving.
Repairing.
Substituting.
Using leftovers.
Making do.
Skills give us alternatives — and alternatives give us choices.

Cash, Bartering & Trading
Most of us rely heavily on electronic payments.
We'll think about what we would do during a payment or communications outage and how to keep a sensible amount of accessible cash without becoming alarmist.
We'll also explore another very old-fashioned Cheapskates idea:
Before buying, can we make it, mend it, borrow it, swap it or trade for it?
Skills, produce, goods and time all have value.

Local Resources & Buying in Bulk
Knowing where to buy can be just as valuable as knowing what to buy.
We'll create our own local resource directory covering things such as:

• bulk-food suppliers
• wholesalers
• farm gates
• markets
• butchers
• pharmacies
• hardware
• garden suppliers
• preserving supplies
• community resources.

This becomes your household's personal Where Can I Get It? reference.

Health, First Aid & Pets
We'll make sure we haven't forgotten the everyday things that matter when normal routines are interrupted.
First-aid supplies.
Regular medications.
Important information.
Pet food.
Pet water.
Veterinary information.
Carriers, leads and pet essentials.
These are much easier to organise before they're urgently needed.

Celebrations & the Gift Pantry
Being prepared doesn't mean life becomes grim.
Birthdays still happen.
Christmas still comes.
Babies arrive.
People get married.
Friends visit.
And sometimes those celebrations arrive during a very tight month.
We'll build a celebration pantry and gift pantry, use the things we already own, make gifts, prepare ahead and create lovely celebrations without debt or last-minute panic spending.
Because being able to continue the happy parts of normal life is part of household security too.
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Your Ready for Tomorrow Binder
As we work through the series, you'll be able to download practical worksheets, planners, checklists, tip sheets and reference pages from the Member Hub.
Print the ones that are useful to your household and build your own Ready for Tomorrow Binder.
Over time it will contain the information your household needs.
Things such as:

• household spending and budget information
• pantry inventories
• food storage plans
• water storage
• emergency contacts
• important household information
• first-aid inventories
• blackout plans
• meal plans
• household supply inventories
• vehicle and fuel planning
• local suppliers
• useful skills
• barter and trade information
• pet plans
• gift and celebration planning
• action sheets for unexpected events.

You don't need to print everything at once.
Your binder will grow as your household becomes more prepared.
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Articles, Videos & Practical Challenges
Each part of Ready for Tomorrow will include practical Member Hub articles and downloadable resources.
There will also be short videos to expand on the ideas, explain how they work in everyday life and show how the pieces fit together.
And from time to time we'll have a small challenge.
Not because this is a competition.
A challenge simply gives us a chance to test what we've built.
Can we go a week using the pantry first?
Can we reduce unnecessary driving?
Could we put the household into low-cost mode if we needed to?
Would our emergency meals really work?
What do we discover we're missing?
Testing things while everything is fine gives us the chance to fix the gaps calmly.
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Start With What You Have
Before you buy anything for Ready for Tomorrow, take a good look around your home.
You may already be much better prepared than you think.
That pantry contains food you've already paid for.
Your freezer contains meals.
Your linen cupboard contains supplies.
Your shed contains tools.
Your garden may contain food.
Your recipe collection contains knowledge.
Your sewing basket contains repair supplies.
Your skills are resources.
Your family and community are resources.
And every dollar you don't owe gives you another little bit of flexibility.
Start there.
Then build gradually.
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The Goal Isn't Perfection
There isn't going to be a day when I announce:
Congratulations! You are now completely prepared for absolutely everything.
None of us can prepare for every possibility.
That's not the goal.
The goal is to become better prepared than we were yesterday.
Perhaps this month you build another week into the pantry.
Next month you get one bill ahead.
Then you build the water supply.
Perhaps you learn to make bread.
You add $20 to your household buffer.
You put two gifts into the gift pantry.
You find a better bulk-food supplier.
You learn to preserve tomatoes.
Little by little the household becomes stronger.
And because we're doing it gradually, we're still living well while we're doing it.
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Why Are We Doing This?
Because I am a preparer.
Because when Disaster Struck, we weren't prepared and the following years - yes years - were the hardest of our lives.
Because I vowed then that never again would I be unprepared for whatever life chose to give my family.
Because being debt free, cashed up and laughing isn't only about having money in the bank.
It's about having choices.
The choice to wait instead of buying something at any price.
The choice to feed the household from the pantry.
The choice not to reach immediately for a credit card.
The choice to reduce spending when income changes.
The choice to make something rather than buy it.
The choice to celebrate without creating debt.
The choice to take a little time to decide what comes next.
That's what preparing ahead gives us.
Not certainty.
Choices.
And the more choices we have, the less stressful unexpected change becomes.
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Let's Get Ready for Tomorrow
We're going to take this slowly.
One subject.
One worksheet.
One useful skill.
One small household improvement at a time.
Some weeks you may already have that area completely covered.
Wonderful.
Move on.
Some weeks you'll discover a gap you'd never thought about.
That's useful too.
You don't need to fix it immediately.
Add it to your plan and start working on it when your budget allows.
By consistently doing a little today, we're making tomorrow easier.
Save money.
Plan ahead.
Build your pantry.
Build your buffers.
Build useful skills.
Create alternatives.
Give yourself choices.
And above all:
Live well today while getting Ready for Tomorrow.

Welcome to Ready for Tomorrow — The Cheapskates Way.