Okay, so it’s not “cold” cold. Yet. But it’s pretty chilly out there at 50 degrees and overcast. And colder at night, of course.

So are you ready for that?

It’s one thing to stock up on food and water, and even cooking fuel, and sure, you think about the cold weather – the real stuff – right around the corner. You might have insulated sleeping bags, blankets, long johns, and a host of other “keep warm” items.

But has reality sunk in? How much time do you spend outside your cozy office or home? As I’m writing this, I have the thermostat set at the usual 70 degrees, but I’m still chilled from earlier and so I turned on the space heater at my feet. I’m quite toasty!

Is that a good thing? Right now, yes. For prepping, no.

Here’s my theory:

I understand that people actually live in Arizona, right, where temps get up over 100 during a pretty regular basis. Obviously, they’re a lot more used to it than, say, someone from Canada (yes, I said Canada on purpose and you know who you are!). So heat likely bothers the Arizonans a lot less than the Canadians. The opposite also holds true: those who are used to the Southwest would be frozen in Canada, yes?

Now, I know what’s best for me in terms of prepping, and if I weren’t freaking out over a few #firstworldproblems as the cool kids say, I’d totally have the thermostat reflecting the outside temp – and a couple windows wide open – and this space heater would be out in the garage somewhere.

Even if you have fuel for cooking and some thermal undies and all, the more you can get used to actual temps and not the man-made variety, the better of you’ll be when SHTF. You won’t be shivering (much), you won’t be cranky and whiny and wanting to huddle under a blanket. You will thrive. You will become acclimated.

What better way than to start now? Your utility companies might suffer a bit, but your bank account will be much more stable.