Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
We are living in absolutely crazy times right now. What with the contentious election, the migrant crisis, the potential of war with Russia, looming terror threats, our crashing economy, our fragile power grid, and frequent heated demonstrations about Gaza and Israel, it’s difficult to focus your prepping energy. A lot of folks have said they currently feel incredibly helpless because they don’t know what to do. Today, we’ll talk about what to do.
It’s overwhelming.
Our present situation is nothing if not overwhelming. Threats are coming at us from all different directions. How can we focus on just one without missing an important indicator?
It’s easy to get sucked into the cycle of fear, but that is paralyzing.
You may need to limit your access to news to get beyond it. I’m certainly not saying to completely ignore it – just to carefully select your sources and not scroll on newsfeeds and X all day long. We need information, but I’m not sure we need constant, every-second-of-our-lives information. I think that makes things seem even worse than they are in an already bad situation.
Find some trusted sources and limit yourself to those. Also, you may want to put a time limit on this.
There’s a name for spending hours reading negative news. It’s called “doom-scrolling,” and Merriam-Webster defines it as “spending excessive time online scrolling through news or other content that makes one feel sad, anxious, angry, etc.” If you’re already in the habit of doing that, it can be difficult to escape the cycle, but it’s essential if you want to be effective. Focus more on spending those hours being productive rather than immersing yourself in bad news.
As a news junkie myself, and also while I’m recovering from surgery, it can be extra tough not to get sucked in. I finally had to make a rule for myself to check three places for news in the morning and then three later in the afternoon. I spend the rest of my time working on other projects, reading books, learning skills and languages, and enjoying some shows on Amazon Prime.
I strongly suggest you limit your news time as well. You may also want to seek out some more positive stuff. There are a lot of fun channels on YouTube with good news, how-to videos, nature documentaries, cute puppies, and adorable kittens. Yes, I know some people are going to say this is an idiotic way to spend your time. And obviously, it’s not productive. But it’s far better for your mental health than doomscrolling.
What should you be prepping for?
You know, I’ve always kind of hated that question. That silly show, Doomsday Preppers, was always edited to make it look like the guests were hyper-focused on only one looming event. That’s not how real people prep, and I’m pretty sure it’s not how the guests prepped, either. But if you sound well-balanced and rational, it doesn’t make for good television.
I like to recommend general preparedness. Selco also recommends “going back to basics” when you don’t know what to do. So, think about your pillars of preparedness.
- Pillar One: Water
- Pillar Two: Shelter
- Pillar Three: Fire
- Pillar Four: Food
- Pillar Five: Signaling | Communication
- Pillar Six: Medical | Hygiene
- Pillar Seven: Personal Safety
No matter what emergency you are facing, you can’t go wrong by focusing on these areas.
Another area I’d recommend focusing on is financial preparedness – paying off debt, investing wisely in tangible goods, and putting your savings into a medium that won’t lose its value.
Physical fitness cannot be overlooked either. In some situations, we are trapped in our own bodies, but most folks can work to become more mobile and fit. The more active you are now, the less difficult it will be for you later. If you’re new to this, start off slowly with just a simple, short walk at an easy pace.
If you have mobility issues like I do, you can look on YouTube for seated exercises. One of my legs doesn’t work, but my arms have never been so ripped. While this may not make you more mobile, you can never go wrong with extra strength and stamina.
Some productive things you can do
Another thing that helps a lot is to do productive things. If your productive things are related to the pillars or your financial security, then this will help you to get through basically any kind of emergency.
Some activities cost money, while others don’t.
- Use containers you already have to store more water.
- Make sure you have multiple ways to purify water you acquire.
- Take a walk around your neighborhood or property and seek out additional sources of water.
- Grow your own food.
- Preserve food.
- Stockpile long-term storage food.
- Make any necessary improvements on your homes – good windows, perhaps some off-grid power sources, needed repairs, etc.
- Make sure you have a way to cook that doesn’t require electricity, and then practice. I used to take my girls out into our backyard in the city and we’d have a fun cookout over a campfire. They loved it, we learned stuff, and it was a nice way to bond while learning skills.
- Think about how you could stay warm if your power went out, then proceed to prepare for these alternative methods.
- Consider getting your ham radio license and practicing for communications purposes.
- Learn medical skills. You can often find free local courses at your fire department or YMCA. You can also find a plethora of excellent videos on YouTube to help you learn to handle medical emergencies. Look at both First Aid and longer term options for care, in case help is not coming.
- Learn about natural remedies.
- Work to make your home safer. Are there any easy access points for criminals to breach your home? Fix them before things get even crazier.
- Learn self-defense skills. These skills are perishable, so if you already know them, practice them.
- Head to the shooting range. This is also a perishable skill. If you don’t know how to shoot, now is the time to learn. If you do know how, now is the time to practice.
- Work on building a trusted community of people nearby. It’s great to have a plan to go across the country to meet up with family, but if you can’t get there, you’ll need a like-minded community nearby.
- Learn survival skills for extreme situations from folks who have experienced such events.
- Learn what to do in the case of certain events, like a nuclear disaster, civil unrest, or economic collapse.
- Teach your children how to handle emergencies in case they ever have to face them alone.
- Teach your children and grandchildren the skills you possess – things like making a loaf of bread, the joy of planting a seed and watching it grow, being outdoors in nature safely – don’t let these skills and arts be lost to the next generation.
These things may seem very small but in the grand scheme of things they’re significant. We are all limited by something – things like our health, our finances, our mobility, our locations, or something else. But if we’re diligent and use the resources we have to improve our situations, we can focus on productivity instead of panic.
The key here is to do something.
Don’t get sucked into the doom cycle. It’s paralyzing and no matter who you are, or where you are, or what your situation is like, there is always some small thing you can do to improve your chances of survival. Focus on the basics when you don’t know what to do and you’ll always be better off.
What about you? How do you focus on productivity? Do you have any hacks for learning skills inexpensively? Do you find yourself doomscrolling online?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.
Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.
I belonged to a civil defense group that disbanded some years ago Called the NC Rangers. We offered free preparedness training to civic and church groups around NC. We also offered assistance to county Sheriffs and Emergency service organizations. Members of the group trained in preparedness, emergency medical/wilderness first aid, search and rescue, forearms/self defense as well as other areas. As far as the pillars of preparedness are concerned we included one that is missing from your list, faith. In many critical survival situations the person that survived states that it was their faith that helped them survive so keep the faith. There are no atheists in a foxhole.
Glad you are healing and I enjoyed following the Widow in the Woods.
I grew up doing R.E.A.C.T., (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Emergency_Associated_Communication_Teams) and I miss those days of grass roots civil defense groups that worked with the police on things like traffic control and communications. It was a cooperative time where we all knew each other and worked with mutual respect. I really should get into HAM now, but don’t have the time or money. Still have access to some triax tower and a couple of GMRS antennas from back in the day, but none of that is useful without the knowledge.
Your pillars of preparedness are wrong. Number 7 – Persomal safety: is number One.
If you are not alive, if you are forced to flee, or if your preps can be taken from you, then just how much preps you have, does not matter much!
Your prepping will be for nothing, if you can not take it with you or keep it secure.
Once you are safe and secure, then water and the rest start to matter.
Assumptions matter.
Now I am sure the assuption was made, that you would be basically safe to start with, (Cognative dissodence at work, we all do it).
But in Times of Distress, War, etc. Assumptions will get you killed.
Assume nothing!
Plan for every contingency you can think of and then some.
Planning is good. Even scripture talks about storing up for years of famine. There is only so much one can do and you simply cannot plan for everything that could possibly go wrong.
If your obsession is staying alive then perhaps you should take a look at that. Dying isn’t the worst possibility out there.
Everything is a choice. Choose your focus, doomscrolling or living the life that you have every day and purposely looking for good things in it.
Again, nothing wrong with being aware and prepping for what you are able:-)
to store food for one to to two years is a good plan until you can get those gardens planted and growing if it is a long term thing, tornadoes and hurricanes, a one month supply should get you by.
best of luck guys
I dont view news as negative. It is just information. Sure, Oct 7th was horrendous, but it did not make me feel anxious or sad.
Concerning a given topic, I try to read from two or more sources to get a more widespread reporting or points of view.
Obviously there are things well outside of our “circles” (to use a Selco term) that we cannot influence, like something happening on the other side of the world. But by staying informed, we can act accordingly if it applies. Case in point, the BRICS are meeting in Oct. Reportedly they are going to continue to confirm and promote trading in currencies other than the USD, aka de-dollarization.
Per the Marines, we tend to look at it as,
Food
Water
Shelter
Security (physical, mental, medical)
Had to do more with the logistics of getting those things to a given location. All have to be taken into consideration, and each situation will be different. There are lessons that can be learned, but at the same time you have to be flexible if the situation changes.
good point 1stMarineJarHead, logistics is everything, and i might ad community. amateurs think tactics, professionals think logistics. folks have to be fed and supplied.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again. There have been people predicting since the 1970s that The End of the World as we know it would and could happen at any time. It may happen or something may happen to prevent it. The only thing we can do is prepare ourselves for whatever could happen.
Just as a head’s up, if you all don’t know about a pending seaport strike, think about all the things you get daily from China, and remember the toilet paper shortages of 2020. It may not happen, but if it does, where does that leave you? I limit my news, but I do think about how something might impact me when I hear about it, and then try to take some action. On a side note, all that hand sanitizer that you bought during the plandemic makes great fire starter in an emergency, so keep some nearby at all times…
I remember when Toby Cowern introduced those seven pillars of preparedness. Two pillars that he omitted were transportation and financial preparedness.
Transportation may not always be what we are accustomed to. Gasoline and diesel may not be available. There are politicians at war with fossil fuels and whether they succeed in rigging the 2024 election I’m sure they will try with every trick in the book. If they succeed it may be worthwhile to know a little history. During WW2 when Germany was running short on gasoline and diesel (because of allied bombing) some Germans converted their vehicles to run on bio-gas which is made from plants and crops. That how-to knowledge is very much available online. Another historical tidbit comes from Henry Ford’s pre-1919 Model-T vehicles which were designed with duel fuel engines. A driver could easily switch between gasoline or alcohol (easily made back then commercially or at home) which offended the Rockefellers who despised competition to their nationwide network of gasoline stations. So they donated $4 million in 1914 to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to kick off a fake morals campaign against alcohol. That brought into play Prohibition in 1919 which made manufacturing Ford vehicles with duel fuel capabilities pointless. By 1933 most duel fuel Fords were no longer on the road so the Rockefellers told the New York media in the summer of 1933 that “we don’t need Prohibition anymore”. So by that winter Prohibition at least at the federal level had been killed. Today that knowledge of how to convert engines to run on alcohol is readily available should that ever be needed.
It could also happen that bicycles, smaller fuel-using vehicles, animals, and hiking skills might also become possibilities. In Europe there are hikers who travel across that world pulling a lightweight hiking trailer behind them. Search on YouTube for “hiking trailer” for some good examples. That can make bringing a substantial load with you an easy and routine process. Some people even convert a child-carrying trailer (a thrift store special) into a load bearing trailer that’s easy to pull behind either a person or a bicycle.
Financial preparedness is being swamped with bad news possibilities today. Whether the Dem-Shevik machine can keep Trump out of the White House (who said there will be no CBDC money during his years in office) is unclear … but it’s certain they will try. A world where digital money predominates and digital IDs give the government and the federal reserve absolute control over what you can buy, sell, save, donate, etc would be digital slavery where US constitutional protections become merely an ancient museum relic. There would be some people who try barter, crypto currency, digital access to off-shore gold (example glintpay.com), but only barter might remain during a long term power outage.
Those two missing pillars are mandatory additions.
–Lewis
If you can swing it, have a restoration shop install an ethanol fuel system in your car. Then you can power it with ferment. Might want to ask them to make it all mechanical with no computer chips in case of EMP. But – $$$
From a practical standpoint, our family prepares for the natural disasters most common for the region where we live. We prepare for both evacuation or shelter in place situations. This kind of preparedness often involves the 7 pillars, but gives focus to each action and there are plentiful lists of advice for each kind of disaster starting with Ready.gov and state web sites along with good prepper site like this one. By being well prepared for one kind of disaster, such as a wildland fire or Snowmaggedon, we are automatically well prepared for pretty much any disaster that might take place. It’s taken several years to be as well organized as we are now, and we update as time goes by. But if a family or individual gets started with a good prep plan, and follows through being prepared for common emergencies, they are less subject to fears generated by the news media. I don’t have to prepare for WW3, I need to prepare to survive the next winter storm, lengthy power outage, earthquake, predictable flood, or large wildfire as these are real events that happen in our region nearly every year. Just my opinion.
I’m working on a new property in addition to the old one. I’ve planted a fruit orchard here. But just because of my age I bought the most mature trees I could afford. This is the 2nd year for most of the trees, so many have bloomed a few flowers this year. I’ve left one peach on one tree just to try it. 2 hazelnuts are growing now so will be harvesting size in a year or two. The elderberry had many blooms this first year but few set. The dwarf mulberry trees are getting well established but are not productive sized yet. Blackberries, Strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, service berries, and more are all getting established now.
I’m not seeing bees here so I’m planning to have a hive set here next spring. I bought the new wooden box set up and the owner will provide the new bees for it. I’ll get a share of the honey unless I do the seasonal care then my share will be more.
I have been saving heirloom seeds all my life as did my mother and her mother. The garden is improving and I hope it will be better each year. The compost pile is doing well and I have two big piles of aged horse manure and quite a bit of rabbit and composted chicken manure set near the garden. I also grow plots of alfalfa, mixed greens for chickens, red clover, buckwheat, wild wheat, and more. some are for making flour, some for teas, ect. Alfalfa is also added as dried leaves to new growing areas in the garden as it boosts nitrogen for green growth.
I’ve added more canning jars to the canning room and I’m awaiting an order of 40, 4oz glass jars for seasonings. I love herbs and dried powdered vegetables to add flavor to my simple cooking. I love my homemade blends also. So I hope 40 jars will be enough. I have been using pint jars but the kitchen is tiny and the shelves at the food prep area is overwhelmed and many wont fit in. I’ll store the pints in the pantry (whole bedroom taken over) and the 4 oz. square jars in the kitchen. I’ve added another used pressure canner to my collection so I now have three pressure canners and 7 assorted sized water-bath canners. I’m setting up for solar power to run the food preparation and storage, but alternatives are easily available.
I do have things now at several sites but mainly on my two rural properties. Sewing is covered by treadle machines I’ve reworked and bought accessories for. I do have a leather sewing machine for clothing or boot tops. It will require power to be used. It could be used with direct electricity or a series of pullies much like my woodworking setup. I may set up an engine to run on wood gasses from burning. I have plenty of wood available.
I have lots of sewing material, thread, and heavy duty used clothing as an unexpected resource. I’ve learned to make simple shoes on rubber flipflop soles. If necessity were to come to it shoes can be made on other types of soles as well. I’ve learned to make cattail sandels as the Apachy’s did on the desert. As a child I made hand tanned leather moccasins. My favorites were high topped ones that used a shaped rawhide sole and a simple closure on the side at the ankle. My investments have been in paid off land, simple supplies and tools of all kinds. As for faith I learned long ago that could keep me strong and sane in the most insecure times and prayer could bring how to answers when I just didn’t have the knowledge I needed. I memorized much of the Bible as a child. I taught it to my children and others by making simple songs of a few verses. It may seem over simplified to pray: “ask”, “believing”. But that is the Biblical formula given to believers. It kept me through 10 months living off the land when I was 21. I learned new things by trial and error. I learned more by asking God how or what to do. I sang and quoted scriptures and talked to my children, who were not with me, to keep loneliness and fear at bay. I relived happy times in my memory. Of necessity I stayed busy from dawn to dusk searching for food, gathering firewood, seeking out useful things in areas where careless folks dumped stuff along a rural road. I cooked in an empty vegetable can till I found a metal coffee can. I carried water in a glass soda bottle, ect. peeled sticks were my stirrers and tongs for cooking and chopstick to eat with. I covered on cold nights with evergreen branches. Later I had piles of dried rabbit hides to make my bed in.
You can really live quite well but very simply. We are just used to so much more than is just survival.
My chickens are doing well and two broody hens are sitting nests right now. Roosters will automatically get made unalive after 8 weeks old or when I get around to them. I only will keep three or four roosters to keep divergent bloodlines. I have four right now and am deciding which to keep. Three are about one year old and one is two years old. Good fryers when young and fit for stewing when much older. I hope to get a start of new rabbits before winter. I have the cages and a barrel of pellets still. Wild rabbits and squirrels are also plentiful here. So are mountain lions, coyotes, bears, and a healthy buck that walks through the place every few weeks.
I have a couple of Shortwave radios but I haven’t bothered yet to get licensed. Many of my friends are licensed. They would help.
My time is spent working on things here, watching a bit of news- mostly online, and learning more skills if something catches my eye. I have several trellises to put up and a tiny 3×5 metal shed for my gardening hand tools. The older larger shed will hold pots and things for indoor and outdoor seed starting. There is also a 6×12 greenhouse to be dug down and erected.
I’m also helping to start a new church in our area. In 7 weeks we’re running about 80 now in a poor rural town of less that 8,000. I’m out with the young people putting up fliers, planning activities and helping with teams in the church. Also helping to look for a potential permanent home for the church. We are currently renting a space. I hope to turn that over to some one younger soon. Last week we had a BBQ and backpackschool supplies giveaway. We had 150 folks for that day. I find I’m driving more and letting the younger folks do more of the walking. lol. I can tell I’m slowing some but not ready to quit just yet.
I keep up with the highlights of the news but the details tend to bore me now. I don’t seem to get too excited or afraid of what’s going on. The bad parts of the news aren’t too much really new. The bad is just more intense and more common than it was. I’ve seen our nation at war. I’ve seen violence and protests. I’ve seen sort of honest politicians and totally dishonest ones as well. Yup I’ve seen elections where the dead did much of the voting too. I’ve seen folks get beat up and shot, cities burn, and homeless camps. I’ve been laid off and been hired enough to know neither has to be a permenant situtation. I liked being my own employee best. I’ve owned a restaurant- hired, fired, did inventory and ordered food and did the books as well. I’ve cooked and waited tables also. I started an Indian Mission school K-12 and ran it and taught in it for about 25 years. I taught where ever and whatever was needed from alphabet to Trigonometry. It’s been an interesting life. Still is.
Clergy Lady, you sound like the inspiration for Daisy’s Widow in the Woods!
You’re awesome!
God bless you.
This weekend I’m releasing a new edition of my parallel economy shopping and action guide that I think you’d like. Check my tg page for the link: t.me/BrainFuel26
Good grief! Daisy, get this gal on your writing team! I’d love to read your life.
In reference to clergylady
YES!
You are absolutely incredible, God bless you! I’m exhausted just reading that, but thank you for the inspiration! I’m 67 with a bad leg, can’t use it as an excuse, among other things. I know this world is in trouble and is reaching a boiling point and something is coming. I think we’re all hearing the drums beating louder. I want to plant some fruit trees, didn’t know if I’d live to see them produce, but will find some larger ones and pay that cost to increase the chances. Thank you very much!
Clergylady you are truly an inspiration! I gotta figure out how to write you into my book!
Pretty awesome life you have shared. I could only hope to be so completely useful! None of your skills came overnight which is good to remember. Live and learn. I do share a lot of the skills you speak of but can learn so much more.
You are so right when you talk about living simply but well. Indeed. We have all just gotten used to having so much stuff and the conveniences of America. It would be an adjustment to simplify but so doable.
I too am bored and tired of the so-called news. It’s just rinse and repeat all the time. Theatre for the masses to keep em busy and ignorant of the important stuff. Tends to keep hope in a cage too.
Faith is good. I admire yours and hope mine is as strong when the going gets tough. I would have loved to have had you as a pal in our younger years:-)
Thank you so much for sharing. Stokes up that hope factor.
I have plenty of preps but need to get some things more organized. Azure Standard offers great organic bulk items so I’ve stocked up more on things like grains, dried beans, and baking items recently. I don’t have a lot of extra time so I’ve made it a goal to order at least one bulk produce item monthly and use it to can various things. I’ve saved cat litter buckets which are stackable and the perfect size for emergency buckets. So that’s on my to do list to build those. I have all the stuff but tend to get overwhelmed putting it all together. We need to visit a shooting range so our son can learn to shoot something besides a BB gun. What Daisy mentioned about practicing is spot on because the other night when my husband was gone my son thought he heard something in the basement (we have a walkout). I grabbed a gun and headed down but it did feel awkward as it has been some time since I shot it.
I really enjoy your 3 websites. I’ve lived off the grid 6-9 months each year for 22 years. Carried a gun for a living 24/7 for a lot of years..so not a usual life at all. Still there are things everyone can learn. Having provisioned a boat for 6 months to go where we cannot get anything…and 120 gallons of water in tank…well, I guess I was a prepper long before anyone thought what that was. Back woods and winter camping. Not having anyone or way to call for help is normal. I called it (and still do) provisioning. You are providing a wonderful service – we know something is coming and the prep for us is the mostly the same.
I lived on the front lines of disaster professionally. We were the ones some of your readers talk about coming in to support in disasters.
I do have a question. What happened to the prepperwebsite? Poof it was gone and the page that comes up indicates following through would be ill advised. I haven’t missed that site since I found you, but I am curious.
Any clue?
Thanks for what you do.
3 websites? I read The Organic Prepper and The Frugalite. What’s the third one?
preppers daily news
Thank you.
Am I missing it, or are there links to the other sites at the top or bottom of this page?
Glad you asked about prepper website – I miss it and have wondered if it was hacked, or if someone shut it down.
A while back, I know that Todd Sepulveda had sold the site and moved on to other projects. I’m not certain who the new owner is or what happened to it but it’s very disappointing that this valuable resource is gone.
Hubs and I have numerous health issues and I have researched and purchased natural remedies for each issue. Everything I needed was very cheap, like hibiscus flowers for high blood pressure. Natural remedies may not be as effective as Big Pharma but surely better than nothing. Due to the high cost and occasional supply shortage of ammo, we bought a “dry fire” system for each caliber of our weapons. This system can be used indoors ergo neighbors don’t know what we have in weaponry. I just bought tincture for variola (smallpox etc) as our kids/grands have not been immunized against smallpox. Now that I have invested in the basics for health issues, adding something, as a new plandemic is released on the world, it is easier on the budget. Still trying to find a youth gas mask for our grandchild. It’s been on my list for several years.
Thank you. Good advice.
Made the decision a while back, that we would just bug in. Too old to do too much walking, don’t have anywhere to go to anyway. Prepared to protect her ‘n’ me as best I can. Still can shoot straight under pressure, but don’t want to have to ever again. Have a rocket stove made with concrete bricks that’s the cat’s meow. Can cook outside when I need to, and don’t have to have anything extra special to do so. Make absolutely the best tasting cowboy coffee (using a French Press, now). Old, but still learn things from the OP and that old jarhead guy. 🙂 Keep your heads on a swivel – the time is coming soon when that’ll come in really handy for you.
Blessings,
OD
nothing may ever happen but why take chances. i chose to stay prepared not for just me (i would be just as happy living under a bridge, i lived homeless for 2 yrs in my late teens ) i do it for my family. it’s like having insurance for them. i’ll always take care of them if i live long enough.
Old Duffer, ya dang nearly made me spit coffee out my nose! HA! Thank you!
Us, too. If I can’t walk to the mailbox, I sure as shootin’ can’t bugout. Just need more guns, ammo and water.
Regarding self-defense … one of many peoples’ fears is that of being dragged into a long and very expensive court case even though they were in the right in a very justified self-defense shooting. There is at least one non-lethal method that works very well but spares that user an ugly and prolonged court case. See this website for details:
https://byrna.com/
They provide non-lethal ammo that fires from pistols and long guns when there is a caliber match. Use either their weapons or yours. The ammo fires a combo of tear gas and pepper spray that disables any attacker for 30-40 minutes That’s plenty of time to tie up or handcuff the perp and phone for cops. It’s legal in all 50 states and does not require a background check. It is frequently advertised on conservative AM radio.
–Lewis
A garden cart with large wheels can be helpful to transport things over long distances.
Don’t forget cages to transport pets and small livestock, if need be, as well as food, water and meds for them.
I recently had a large tree fall on the electric wire to my home and was out of power for several days.
Fortunately I had a small chicken run cage to put my chickens in, set up inside my garage, as the automatic chicken door opener did not work.
It made taking care of them much easier.
Also had jugs of water for them.
I did learn a couple of things during this episode.
One, I am not nearly as resilient as when I was younger. The fireman who responded to my 911 call was pretty concerned about me and called a paramedic to check on me. I guess I went a little “shock-y”. Fortunately I have a wonderful friend who took me to her house to spend several days, and she kept an eye on me.
The other is, that after the electrician got the wire to my house fixed and the electric company hooked me back up to the grid, the electric company did NOT turn the power back on to my house since I wasn’t there.
It was up to me to flip on the master breaker switch to switch the power on, but unfortunately the electric company did not tell me that when I notified them that the electrician had done his part in repairing the wire.
I did not return home for couple of days afterwards.
(A terrific neighbor was tending my chickens for me in the meantime.)
So I lost several hundred dollars worth of frozen food.
Evidently the electric company faces liability issues if they restart power and perhaps a stove had been left on when power was lost, which might cause a house fire.
I don’t blame them, but it would have been nice to know.
Daisy, how can I contact you? I have a question about survival buckets preps. All of the articles I’ve read were awhile ago. Thankyou for all you do.
Our email address is hello @ theorganicprepper.com (no spaces)
I appreciate your thoughts, Daisy, as this article gives some good suggestions to help solve a problem that is too often seen in the world – that is, a lack of hope. Faith is not needed to have hope. You don’t have to be religious for it, I’m not. The fact that air is still coming into and going out of your lungs is a reason for hope. Your heart is still beating, your mind is still working. Therefore it’s wonderful to have some suggestions on preps that don’t depend on wealth or excellent health.
I like the YouTube suggestions, I use them myself. For example I watch channels about frugality, art, fitness, nutrition and other skills, as they are usually cheerful and hopeful, but also useful to watch. If not YouTube then there are blogs out there, the library, and more, and all those resources can help distract a person into useful directions while building their knowledge and skills.