I've been always kinda into this mindset, although almost ending up homeless during the ~2003 mini-recession was a certainly a wake-up call. Having children helped too, because I'm kind of on the hook for not fucking up their lives =)

Started preparing more seriously when I moved out of the city, which meant having more room for supplies. Maybe 7 years ago. Here's a "status card" as of today:

• Financial safety net: we're good for 2+ years of no income, with a diversified portfolio of assets. We were living paycheck-to-paycheck eight years ago.

• Food and water: covered for 3 months for a family of five at our primary location, another 3 months at our second home.

• Self-defense: I'm not particularly into tactical ninja stuff, and I learned a lot about situational awareness, risk avoidance, and de-escalation when growing up in the projects as a kid. Today, we sure make use of the 2nd Amendment.

• Medical stuff: it's been a bit of an interest for me for a long time, and we're in a pretty good place to deal with many contingencies.

• Other potentially useful hobbies: well, I try to cultivate some interests that could turn into viable pursuits if my industry goes belly up. But speaking of what's considered to be "prepper" hobbies, I'm into woodworking and electronics. I'm also reasonably good with chemistry.

• Bugging out: we're in a densely populated metro area, evacuation options not great. We're prepared to evacuate by car, with enough supplies to camp and feed ourselves for about a week. We're not avid survivalists, but we've done more than a fair share of hiking and camping. We have a second home, but reaching it may be challenging if there are gas shortages or if the roads are damaged. We don't have any family to fall back to.