I’m a single dad (32 year old) of three amazing children, Aaron 12, Sarah 11, and Savannah 3, and this is our journey. In 2008 we had lost everything, my job, our house, our jeep, the truck and pretty much everything else. We did manage to keep our four door sedan as our source of transportation. We were fortunate to have family who had a 2nd home and welcomed us to use it. I had prepped a little here and there for the past10 or so years but was still learning and very naïve to what being prepared really meant. I know we still make many mistakes in our prepping and we are always learning something new but as life this truly is a journey. 2008 really opened my eyes to our economic and political situation and I began to educate myself on the basics. It wasn’t long before I began to understand the magnitude and severity of our current situation and the fact that it is no longer IF just when.
Here We Go
We made the move to a small house in a village in Georgia where space was an issue so my first step was searching out a storage unit that was affordable and suited our needs. I found a unit that was 30×15, and much cheaper than other units of smaller size. This was not only out of necessity for household things we just didn’t have room for but to also be used for storage and staging for our supplies. I began by designating a section of the unit for our supplies yet took care to make it blend in and make it look like just another storage unit full of household “stuff”. Our family has a small place in the mountains which is not ideal, yet is still better than where we live. The kids and I have began supplying this very small family cabin as it is currently our best bug out option and only an hour and fifteen min drive from here.
Defense, I had always enjoyed guns and shooting so this was an area I had a head start in. I already owned 10 battle rifles so it was just a matter of consolidating to common calibers and equipping appropriately. I also am a firm believer in force multipliers if at all possible! By this I mean what I call normal capacity 30 rd magazines, scopes, night vision (even if it isn’t top of the line), binoculars, tactical vest, two-way radios, smoke grenades, training, anything that will give you an advantage if TSHTF. My children all own Ruger 10/.22s and that’s what they started with. Sarah still prefers it she just had to modify a little bit to get her ergonomics right. She had me add a Tapco six-position adjustable stock and a small scope and she has become very proficient. Aaron saved and saved and eventually had me trade up for him to an Arsenal Inc. Bulgarian AK-47 chambered in 5.56mm NATO.
I work as a fitness trainer and have made friends with much of the law enforcement in town and have managed to get a local police officer to let me use a vacant piece of land he owns to train and practice with the kids. Keeping safety top priority we enjoy doing a lot of Run and Gun because of the competitiveness, yet we try to practice everything from shooting behind cover to peeling. Since I could not afford formal training I video tape our training and get some friends I know who are on the Terrorism Task Force or ex-military to critique our training and point out any mistakes and ways to improve. I must point out I do practice OPSEC and I live in a rural gun friendly town.
We have slowly built up our medical kit over the past few years. Using a big tool box I had we started gathering medicines, band aids, gauze, splints, suture kits, quick clot, Hemcon, antibiotics to tweezers. Also not forgetting literature to aid in this area should we ever have to use it. We have also built up a very small amount of antibiotics which we are still working on. A good bit of our medical kit was procured from Amazon.com and was pretty affordable.
Most of the bulk of our food supply has been stored in 5 gal buckets. In the event of a total collapse we do hope to begin our big garden. We have slowly been stocking up on Heirloom, non-GMO and non-hybrid seeds. The heirloom seeds made it a little more interesting for the kids because of the history behind some of the seeds. We are currently growing a small garden to educate and improve which I must say is fun and the kids love it. Oh I can’t forget to mention I have gotten all my buckets from the grocery store they are free where I live. Prepping as a family has been great but I must say out of all we do, the kids hate washing out the 5 gallon buckets the most, and they have washed a lot. We have also put back a small collection of traps that I had picked up here and there to help aid in food gathering. Small critters will be more prevalent than big game. I had in past Christmases bought bows for the kids. The kids just think they are cool and fun yet they serve a purpose and could be used to kill game and do so quietly.
Power and heat has been addressed by slowly saving up enough money to put together a small 60 watt solar kit and battery bank. I know this is not a big system but the small battery bank might make up for some of the low wattage. We don’t intend on using this to run an entire home yet just enough to have some light, a couple luxuries and most importantly recharge batteries for flashlights, tactical lights, night vision, and other items like radio or an MP3 player. This could have a huge effect on morale and make life a lot more bearable. I also wanted to mention having power for my hair clippers–I like my hair trimmed and had even found some manual hair trimmers on eBay for under $20. A tip I learned if you are interested is to buy the old antique clippers, they still work well and have a cool factor to them, the clippers currently being produced seem to be a nightmare, at least that was the consensus I found on some blogs. I have also put back about 10 kerosene lamps, wicks, and kerosene. These things like everything else had to be bought slowly and patiently. I made a habit of putting the kerosene jug in the car on the day I knew I was going to get gas and along with a gas can. I would put just a couple dollars of each in each and then add them to my stockpile back at home until the next trip.
Silver
A while back I saw an old 1988 Isuzu trooper on the side of the road, it didn’t have a for sale sign on it but the man who owned it was willing to sell it for $600. The trooper didn’t run but I had some friends who through church liked to help families out. They got the trooper up and running with me paying for the parts and we were blessed to have our 4×4 bug out vehicle. It wasn’t ideal and I wish parts were more plentiful but it’s a tough little rig and very off road capable and most of all it seemed like that’s what God had put in front of us at that time. The kids all loved the Trooper which they had named Mr T., yet still enjoyed the luxury of the last item of our former life, our black on black with leather heated seats sedan. I soon informed the kids that I would be selling the car, and they seemed fine with it until the day we sold it. I think we were all sad in a way, not just because it was luxurious but I think just a final goodbye of our old life. We watched the new owner drive off knowing that our car would serve them well and that for this there was a reason and that all would turn out well. I decided to purchase as much silver as I could with what was gained from the sale of the car which was about $3,000 dollars worth. This is about the only savings we have but it is growing as silver continues to rise and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. This has also been a lesson in being humble for the kids which will most definitely help shape a strong character. We have the small family cabin in North Carolina where I can go if it gets to bad but I also thought as our economy gets worse and the real estate market continues to decline that buying or trading some silver for a small parcel of land might be possible. I realize this would take careful timing and is also a gamble but could still be another advantage of owning some silver or gold.
There is so much that we do that I can’t get it in a short letter but here are some miscellaneous things that I wanted to mention: Where I live I am able to obtain 55 gallon drums which have so many uses, such as water storage, make shift water heater, wood stove (with $45 conversion kit sold on Internet), food storage, laundry wash barrel, and more. We have learned to go to as many yard sales as possible. In the event things breakdown shoes or boots will be very important and in high demand, especially when you have children that grow like weeds. We save everything and hand it down as well as pick up as many cheap boots as possible so every one has a couple spare pairs and sizes to grow into. Don’t forget little things like soap, toothpaste, shampoos, toilet paper, laundry detergent, bleach, and so on. I like to have a change jar or several that can quickly accumulate and pick up quiet a lot of these things at the dollar store. Like I mentioned we live in a rural area and when we see a chicken house falling in or and old dilapidated farm house I try to approach a owner and ask if they minded if we took some tin off the collapsed roof or some pieces of wood. These type of things could be used to build an extra cabin, chicken coup, or make repairs. This is made possible by being able to store some extra materials at storage until I can transport them to the bug out location.
There is so much we have done, and yet haven’t done. As the past few years have gone by I have seen a transformation in all our lives, especially mine. I can see how God has guided me and worked so strategically with the people, adversity, and forks in the road. My faith has grown so so much, and it is amazing how God has worked in our lives. As we got back to a simpler life and prepared for dangerous times here, we were becoming closer to what was truly important and especially for me laying the real preparation and foundation for eternity. It is all so clear now, as we make mistakes in preparing and learn and grow, so do we in life. As we prepare to avoid death of us and our families in scary times, so we do in our faith, so that we may have life after this. As we witness to others about economics, politics, or prepping we must also try to help prepare others with our lord. I had been saved many years ago but I had truly lost my way. God used prepping among many other things to bring me back to life. God had placed two women in my life which happened to be mother and daughter. Two ladies hired me as their personal trainer almost two years ago. The mother who just turned 80 this past Sunday has had an enormous impact on me with her wisdom, sound advice, and rock solid faith. I am so thankful that they never gave up on me. I will always love and appreciate them .They have done more for me and my family than anyone will ever know. You must understand, these ladies are the best preppers I know. This has been my family’s journey yet ironically it feels like it has just begun.