Starting over? Okay, I’ll take that literally even though it may not be exactly what you meant.
1) There’s nothing more important to prepping than having practical skills. As a recent white-collar retiree, I’ve found that I have very few and it is a huge problem. So get some experience in PRACTICAL things: Construction, Electronics, Plumbing, Farming, Animal Husbandry, Welding and the like.
2) Buy farmable land with its own (non municipal) reliable water and start developing it. I’m sorry for those of you in Arizona and Nevada, but the lack of water means you’re probably in trouble if TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) happens.
I’m doing this right now, by the way. I’ve had some land since 2005 and just retired to it this year. Unfortunately, it was 500+ miles away and I did nothing with it except to build a vacation home. This year, I put in a garden (in June). Unsurprisingly, it didn’t go very well. (Of course, June is VERY late to be planting seeds but this year it was the best I could do.) Gardening comes with a big learning curve. One of the things I’ve picked up is that it will take years before I have a garden that is large enough, diverse enough and productive enough to sustain a family and the skills needed to preserve what such a garden grows.
If TEOTWAWKI had already happened and I’d bugged out to here, I’d have been unprepared despite 15 years of thinking about it and buying things. I’ve stocked several months’ worth of food, but my family would have run out and starved long before I could have created a garden to sustain us.
I can’t say it enough: Start your garden soon and learn to can or freeze dry what it produces.
3) Form a solid relationship with like-minded neighbors. I’ve seen advice here to keep one’s prepping plans private. While I understand the reasoning, I respectfully disagree because in a true TEOTWAWKI situation – as opposed to a limited crisis such as a month-long power outage – you aren’t likely to make it on your own. You’ll need others to split the work and to look out for each other. Stockpiled weapons aren’t going to save you if it’s just you and your your family against an armed gang.
But good neighbors might.
How do you go about finding allies and preparing for TEOTWAWKI with them? I have no idea. Maybe you can tell me. Living in a rural location improves my chances in that I’m surrounded by more people who are competent, independent and distrustful of government than I might find elsewhere, but there are also a large number of addicts (Surprisingly, opioids are a *huge* problem in New Hampshire and Vermont!) and crooks, as there are in any state. How to avoid them while finding and bonding with like-minded neighbors who will have my back? That’s the question.
4) You must have guns. I don’t really think that hunting is a viable solution in TEOTWAWKI since wild animals you can eat will quickly be GONE, but there will be smaller critters raiding your crops and a .22 rifle is a good way to take them out. Hey, I actually ate a groundhog this year! I figure that if I shoot it, I’m going to do my best to eat it (If it’s reasonable. I refuse to eat a skunk.)
At a minimum, you should have at least one handgun (self defense both in the home and out), one shotgun (home defense, hunting and putting down your larger animals), one .22 rifle (varmints), and one larger rifle (.30-06, .30-30 or .308). Don’t forget the ammunition. Stock 1,000 rounds per gun – more than that for the .22s since .22 LR is still inexpensive. Ammunition not only keeps forever if it’s clean and dry, but I think it may serve as a medium of exchange (a currency) in TEOTWAWKI.
5) Water filters. I don’t think an explanation is needed.
6) 3-months worth of food. Costco used to sell buckets of dehydrated food. They were cheap and advertised as edible for 20 years, but they were bland or downright awful to eat. You might want to spend more and get something your family would be willing to eat even if TEOTWAWKI doesn’t happen.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by
Decomposed.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Decomposed.
-
This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Decomposed.