Is it really prepping, or just a justified case of OCD ?
This is what goes in my mind when I read about people accumulating gear.

There are times when I buy 2 or 3 of something "just in case"
Sometimes I am releived I did 'cause that stuff disappears from the market ( half a dozen of my favorite clone multitool ).

Luckily, I am the kind of reluctant customer
"thinking about something " takes a big chunck of my life
so I didn't accumulate too many knives, bags of other stuff. But still think time to time about the issue of preparedness itself and how much time we should be spending on preparedness.

The best way to go - in my opinion - is to buy whatever you need in your LIFE. To use things for camping, work and other tasks , and so you justify the item even if no disaster happens.

Being prepared does not mean you are necessarily prepared for TEOTWAWKI literally. Life itself , as we live it , is choke full of mini - teotwawki's. A Case in point, my dad's illness did not only mess up many of my plans, it had forced me to think outside the box, improvise, use my tools and bags more frequwetly than I have done before.

I am really thankfull to everyone here for their inspiration and ideas. Although I haven't used the knowledge to start a fire under icy conditions, but the duct tape card, pocket knife, and even the walking pharmacy ( personal medicines in pencil pouch ) have helped me a great deal through multiple sleepless nights during the toughest times of dad's ilness. The multitool came very handy fixing dad's toilet chair whic almost broke in the worst of times.

My word to everyone is to keep prepping
Aliens may not drop on us from the sky, but you may find yourself facing a ton of problems , with nothing but the stuff you have on you.