SHTF is here. My employer had NO money for payroll.

Whaddya mean "There's no money for payroll?!?"

First it was a text from my Director: "Direct deposits will not be happening this week. You will be issued a paper check on Friday at 3 o'clock instead." I've grown accustomed to my direct deposit hitting my account around 3am every other Friday. I've been with this particular hospital system for right around 4.5 years. Only one time prior did they experience a "glitch" and we were simply issued a paper check on payday instead of our direct deposits.

Then, on Friday, we were told: "Checks won't be ready until 4pm."  Then 5pm. Then Saturday. Then on Saturday we were told it would be Monday. Having worked the night shift Sunday night, I was dead asleep when I received a text Monday afternoon saying: "Emergency meeting at 3pm today."

Oh crap. Wifey and I had discussed what would happen over the weekend if it turned out that I never got this paycheck. In the forefront of lots of co-workers' minds was the fact that another local, rural hospital had recently closed overnight with NO notification to it's employees.  To keep you up to speed, the meeting was to tell us that we MIGHT get paid on FRIDAY now. But management PROMISED it was coming. Time will tell.

So, after lengthy discussion, Wifey and I have switched into survival mode. We recounted all the prepping and training we've done over the last three years with the helpful guidance of SurvivalBlog.com, Rural-Revolution.com, TheSuvivalMom.com and several other prepping and homesteading websites.

Starting Monday morning, our eldest two daughters (remember, we have six girls) rode their bicycles to school for the first time ever. Luckily, all six girls had just received them for Christmas from Santa. End result, they LOVED it.

Then we planned out how we would start introducing our food preps into our daily meals. Powdered milk is high on my list because we chug through more than one gallon per day. I recommended making a full gallon and presenting it to the little ones without mentioning that it wasn't regular milk. I settled for Wifey's suggestion to mix it half-and-half with regular milk for the first batch to ease them into it. Milk being the staple that it is at our house, we have no room for a picky eater to decide they didn't like the new version.

I spent the evening printing out meals-in-a-jar recipes and we will start tomorrow on making a dozen or two of these. We decided it was time to start trying our preps and discovering what we like and don't like thus helping us learn what NOT to buy any more of in the future. We won't use oxygen absorbers because we will begin using them for at least one meal per day.

The huge cauliflower in our garden right now will help
reduce grocery bills.

As luck would have it, our family Suburban was in the shop for a new starter when this debacle derailed us.  There it sits, ready to be driven home, if only we could pay the $667 in repair costs. This has forced us to reroute and rethink our driving habits. I can walk or ride a bike to work if necessary (assuming I keep the same job.) The only driving chore left is to drive the elementary school kids to school (a keen 24 miles one-way, yes, ouch is right.)

Which brings us full circle to home schooling again. We discuss it EVERY year. Now, with the thought of only having one vehicle or perhaps losing our only income, home schooling is on our radar again.  We need to discuss this MUCH more because as I have blogged before, the last thing Wifey and I want to do is screw up our childrens education by trying to educate them when we're not sure we are adequate teachers.

So here we are, Tuesday at 5am. We'll be making NO runs to the grocery store this week. We're treating it just like a true SHTF scenario. We'll make our own milk, eat our food storage or food from our garden (you should see our cauliflower!) The kids will ride bikes to school and then the school bus. My last shift is tonight (Tuesday night) and starting Wednesday, we'll be cleaning and reorganizing the house to see what can be used immediately, stored for later use or donated to make space.

In a way, I almost feel like this is our wake up call for being wasteful. There are always lights on in our house. Food gets thrown away from every meal. Clothes are left on the floor for days as if they aren't important. It is time to tighten it up at our house. Everything and everyone will have a purpose and this will be a tremendous learning lesson for our children.

Bring it on Mr. Fan. Throw that S**t at us. We're ready!

~OJD

So, what would be first on YOUR list if you weren't given your next paycheck?