Built for a Purpose and Quality

While skills trump gear, there will always be a little something you’ll need to buy. Many of the items we buy may not be expensive on their own, but when looked at as a whole, the tally can really add up. If you’re like me, then over the years you have bought quite a bit of things that you either found were not quality or didn’t serve the purpose you needed. Prepping can be an expensive endeavor. Some of the items we buy may be very expensive. It is very important that the items we buy meet a certain criteria. The various items we buy need to be made to fulfill a certain purpose and they need to be quality made. It is very rare that I come across something that meets these two criteria and is not expensive (at least in comparison to other similarly made items). An example of this would be a machete I bought several years ago. At first, I thought it was inexpensive, maybe $12-15.00. One of the first times I used it, it bent. Turns out, it wasn’t inexpensive, it was cheap. By trying to save a few dollars, I ended up wasting more money having to buy another better made machete at a much higher cost. There is an adage that I heard a long time ago that I have come to learn is quite true. “Buy once, cry once.”

With so much information available on the internet, it is fairly easy to find countless reviews by people with personal experience with nearly anything you can think of. Put those reviews to use before you buy something. Keep in mind though that there will always be a few people that say item “X” is the absolute greatest thing that has ever graced planet earth. Conversely, there will always be a few that say that very same item is the worst curse to befall mankind. Weed out the few “extremist” on either end and dive into those in the middle. Make sure to research any item thoroughly. The more you know about the item the less surprises crop up later. These online reviews can really help find the items built with quality.

Another adage to keep in mind is, “too good to be true.” If something seems like an amazing deal that simply never comes around, there’s probably a reason that deal never comes around. If it seems too good to be true, it likely is. In my experience, those amazing deals I thought I found turned out to have a catch. Use good judgment when looking into “deals”.

Price does not always equal value either. I’ve come across several different hatchets online that have had great reviews and cost anywhere from $75-125.00. If you want to run out and buy a gold-plated $1,000.00 hatchet, be my guest but don’t expect it to do anything more for you than the $100.00 hatchet. Keep in mind too that the more extra money you spend on an item needlessly is less money that you can put toward other preps.

I’m sure we all know at least one person that believes that some insanely expensive piece of gear is what will solve all the problems they have that are preventing their skills from shining through. If some guy is a terrible shot with his $400.00 pistol, he blames the gun. He goes out and buys some $2,500.00 custom made pistol and goes to the range only to still be terrible. Now that gun is the problem. Gear is meant to augment skills. If you don’t have the skills, the gear won’t make the skills magically appear. Learn how to use an item before blaming the item.

Another way to maximize your gear is to buy gear built for the intended purpose. If you use gear for something other than what it is intended for, you could either break the item or cause yourself to work far harder. I’ve got a backpack that I have really liked. A couple of weeks ago, I took that backpack on several days of mountainous hiking. I decided very quickly that before my next real hiking excursion, I will be getting a hiking pack. While the pack I have is great for day-to-day needs, it was terrible for hiking. That was not the purpose for which it was built, and it showed.

Find the items that fit your purposes. Then, figure out which ones are really quality. From there you’ll have to decide which ones are in your price range. If you have to save up for awhile to get it, then start saving. Don’t settle for something cheaper. Don’t buy something you’ll regret later. Make your purchases worthwhile. It will take time. It will take patience. It will be worth it. If it is built for the purpose you need and it is quality made, then the value will be there.