First Things First: Key Questions Facing the Beginning
Prepper
by
Norse
Prepper
SHTF
Plan
While there
may be three
million Americans preparing for a paradigm shift which promises
to change our very way of life, that leaves roughly 99% of our population
that has failed to take any serious steps to insulate themselves
from catastrophe. Earlier this week we asked "How Horrific Will
It Be For the Non-Prepper?", in which we detailed the disastrous
consequences that await those who will get blindsided by a widespread
natural or man-made disaster. Hopefully, that
article will be enough to convince some "non-preppers" to start
putting their well-being into their own hands by developing personal
and familial preparedness and response plans for far-from-equilibrium
scenarios that may strike at anytime.
As Norse
Prepper points out in the article below, one of the key motivators
for ramping up your personal larder, supplies and skill sets is
to avoid ever putting yourself and family into a situation where
you are left with no choice but to tell your loved ones that you’re,
"going to get us some food and will return with it or die
trying." In a scenario like that your odds of survival
diminish significantly.
If you’ve
turned the corner, or been ‘awakened’ as we like to
say in alternative media, then the notion that the system as we
have come to know it could fall apart around us without warning
can be very overwhelming at first. So, too, is the daunting task
of determining what steps to take next and how to go about creating
your own personal preparedness plan to shield you from whatever
may befall us.
The following
questions, suggestions, considerations, and topics of discussion
are a primer for those who have chosen to take control of their
personal safety and security, and may help to point beginning preppers
in the right direction.
Inspired by
the article regarding how
horrific it's going to get for the non prepper, I thought I
might also submit the following article on what it is like to be
a new prepper. The purpose of this article is not to tell my story,
but to give perspective on how overwhelming it was for me as a beginning
prepper.
With the amount
of knowledge that readers at this website display, what could I
possibly add?
My answer to
that is perspective.
Many on this
site and others have been preparing for years and are prepared.
I know one of the first replies will be that you can never be fully
prepared and it's a journey more than a destination and I subscribe
to that 100%. I personally will never be done prepping. One thing
that I have found in my years of work is that after someone has
done something for some time, it's hard to remember what it was
like in the beginning. I work in an engineering field and things
that are very simple and seem like basics can be complicated and
not easily understood by someone who is new in their engineering
career. Hopefully this article takes you back to when you first
began prepping and helps you relate to us newbies.
Think back
to when you first felt the tugging of something in the back of your
mind leading you to do more research and eventually coming to the
conclusion that you must become a prepper. It may have been as blunt
as a Katrina event, or possibly it was just little things here and
there that eventually and gradually led you to where you are at
today. Regardless of the journey, I believe it to be important to
remember your roots and by doing so you will be more armed to help
other people to come in to the light of what is going on in the
world around us and help them get more prepared.
How I was first
awoken from my state of unpreparedness was when I watched the End
of America video produced by Porter Stansberry. What I saw scared
the heck out of me and after watching what he had to say and showing
the facts of our economic system, I went from being a SHTF ostrich
with my head in the sand, to fearful that time is running out for
our country as we know it. Even after seeing the End of America
video, I still wasn't aware of what it was to be a prepper. I focused
more on investing in silver and things like that to hedge against
the
coming hyperinflation. It wasn't until about six months ago
that I came across the term prepper and dug in to see what this
movement was about and frankly, I found it extremely overwhelming.
Below is my
top ten list of the thousand questions that came flooding in to
my head upon my awakening as well as what I am doing to answer these
questions. I believe these are all questions that every new prepper
should answer as fast as possible and take steps to prepare for
immediately.
- What
am I preparing for?
I needed to identify what it is that I'm going to try to protect
myself from. If I was going to prepare for a one week loss of
power in a winter storm then there isn't much to prepare for.
If I am preparing for a global collapse of the financial system
or EMP
that would send us back to the early 1800's I've got some
work to do. At a minimum I would suggest that new preppers start
with a plan for being self reliant for 3 months. By the time
you are prepared for this, you will have learned much and can
then set out on whatever your phase II duration will be. I live
in a northern climate with harsh winters so my phase I goal is
to be prepared for six months. Personally, I am still in this
stage of prepping, but phase II will be for preparing for a multi-year
grid down scenario.
-
Am
I going to bug in or bug out?
I agree with the opinion that bugging out should only be considered
if you have somewhere to go. Heading out to the woods is not an
option unless you are trained in surviving under these conditions.
I've got a wife and three kids, heading to the woods is not an
option for me. If you are going to bug out, it needs to be earlier
in the collapse rather than later or you will find yourself stuck
at a road block. Read the book One
Second After for a detailed description of what happens to
refugees attempting to flee to already starving communities. Personally,
I have chosen to bug-in. It is where my preps are located as well
as familiar neighbors.
- Can
I defend my family, property and preps?
Let's face it, when the SHTF, my preps will be viewed as "their"
preps to the golden hoard. Is a stranger more likely to watch
their children starve or are they more likely to tell their wife
“I'm going to get us some food and will return with it or
die trying.” The prepared need to ask a different question.
When they arrive at my doorstep, what will I do? Will I give them
some of my preps as charity? Every meal I give out gets me closer
to the time when I will be telling our family, as I head out the
door, “I'm going to get us some food and will return with
it or die trying.” This is a huge decision to make because
we need to have resolve in our minds what we are going to do when
this day comes. In a SHTF situation there can be no indecisiveness.
I won't go in to any detail on how to defend yourself as there
are novels of information on this subject. I believe a defense
plan is more important than a food plan because if you can't defend
it you might as well not have it.
- Do
I have enough to feed my family until order is restored?
That is assuming order will be restored. Personally, if it gets
as bad as it can, I do believe eventually a new nation or nations
will form and there will again be public services. I had to figure
out what my comfort level is for the amount of time that I will
need to eat from my preps, supplemented by gardens, hunting, fishing…etc.
-
How
will I heat my home?
Since my plan is to bug-in in a northern climate, I need to figure
out how I will heat my home. I live in suburbia and it scares
me to see that relatively few people have wood burning…anything.
I have a fireplace in my house and will secure enough firewood
this summer to heat my house for two winters. All of my neighbors
depend on electrical or natural gas for heat. I personally have
seen the temperature in my location get to -60 degrees below zero
with a wind chill of over 100 below. Many in my surrounding area
will die of exposure unless they can be in my living room. I honestly
don't know the answer to the question of what will I do when people
in my area are freezing and there is smoke coming out of my chimney.
Anyone who has driven past a house burning wood in the winter
knows it is fairly impossible to not alert people to a nearby
source of heat. To me, this poses one of my greatest threats.
Suggestions here would be helpful.
- How
will I keep clean?
Personal hygiene will be a huge issue in a SHTF scenario. I realized
quickly that I need to stock up on toothpaste, TP, laundry/dish/hand
soaps, medical
supplies, and everything else needed to keep sanitary conditions
in an unsanitary world. I made lists of lists of all of the things
I will need. [Lists
and more
lists]
- How
will I provide light and electricity?
In an EOTWAWKI situation having some rechargeable batteries to
use will be a luxury that we currently take for granted. I plan
on getting a stockpile of rechargeable batteries and solar equipment.
I have a basement with a sump pump, when the grid goes down what
will keep my basement from getting inundated with groundwater?
I picked up a secondary battery powered sump pump that runs off
of a deep cycle battery. Solar rechargers can be purchased to
ensure that the batteries can be kept charged. How great would
it be to be able to watch a movie on a laptop? With respect to
light, when there is no power, it will be very dark. Children
(and some adults) can get spooked easily when there is 14 hours
of darkness per day in the winter. I am going to stock some solar
powered garden lights. These can be placed in the light during
the day and provide for a night light during the hours of darkness.
Radios, flashlights and other things can be hand cranked for power.
Anything that is sustainable and will produce light or energy
will become extremely valuable.
- How
will I keep up on information and communicate with the outside
world?
Obviously my TV will become useless. Who knows if there will be
radio stations transmitting, and if they are, what is the source
of the information? Personally I plan on eventually getting a
HAM radio and learning the trade. I believe this will be the best
information available as it will probably be filled with info
from other preppers in the nation.
-
What
do I have to offer others?
In a collapsed society, skills,
knowledge and items for trade will pay off in a huge way.
The only thing that will help me acquire supplies that I don't
have or want will be the ability to offer something to someone
who has it and they find the value of my goods or services to
be more than what they have. If they don't, then they will not
be willing to trade. I have personally chosen to stock up on more
of the convenience things for these situations. I plan on stockpiling
coffee and lighters. People will trade for a hot cup of coffee
and from my perspective, coffee is a convenience. People will
need to be able to start a fire for cooking or heating their homes
and a source of fire will be invaluable in a SHTF scenario. Personally
I won't be bartering away guns or ammunition because the person
who I just armed would also realize that if I can spare these
essential items I probably have other essential items and now
they have a way to get them from me.
- How
will I fight off boredom?
One thing that has haunted me is when the SHTF, how can I pass
the time without going completely stir crazy? Obviously, there
will be many chores and a lot of labor involved in daily life
after a collapse, but there will also be hours upon hours of sitting
in a quiet house. My kids will be involved in chores of the day,
but what can I do to reduce the monotony of a grid down situation?
I plan on stockpiling books on many different subjects. Fiction
and nonfiction. How to's and stories. A bow and arrow can provide
hours of target practice as well as developing a survival skill.
Decks of cards can provide entertainment as well as bartering
potential. If you go to a casino, you can get decks of cards for
50 cents. Puzzles, board games, pads of paper and plenty of writing
utensils. Anything that can hopefully make life more fun for the
family to escape reality, even for a moment. Don't forget the
most important book of them all, the Bible.
- How
do I pay for all of this?
OK, I know I said top 10, but this question needs to be taken
care of pre-SHTF where as my top 10 deal with issues post-SHTF.
Most are living paycheck to paycheck, so how can preps be paid
for when we are in survival mode? My plan is to sell off anything
that I don't feel is necessary. Have a garage sale and go to garage
sales – you would be amazed at what you will find. I recently
found three oil lamps for 50 cents each! Sell things on Ebay and
Craigslist. Get a second job and dedicate all income from it to
preps. Don't worry, if the SHTF doesn't happen and you are prepped,
you can always go back and replace these items, but get prepared
first. I would rather have a stocked supply room than shares of
Google.
What am I preparing
for? Will I bug in or bug out? How will I defend myself, family
and home? What will I eat? How will I heat my home? How will I keep
clean? How will I produce light and electricity? How will I get
information and communicate with the outside world? What skills
do I have and items can I use to barter? How will I fight off boredom?
These are but the tip of the iceberg of questions needing to be
answered for when life as we know it comes to an end. When talking
to and dealing with anyone new to prepping, please remember that
they are entering a large and complex world where their decisions
on what to do next could mean the difference between life and death.
Help them to make a list of priorities and offer them advice on
what the list should contain. This article is just a primer, but
is more than what 99% of people have done to prepare themselves
and their families for what is coming.
Also, please
let me say thank you to Mac, the contributors and people who comment
on the SHTFplan
web site for helping me and my family prepare. You truly are
today's patriots. God bless.
Reprinted
from SHTF Plan.
May
18, 2012
Mac
Slavo [send him mail] is a
small business owner and independent investor.
Copyright
© 2012 Mac Slavo
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