Category: Survival Mindset

Survival Planning–More Than Just Gear and a “To Do” List, by Ray

A lot of people tend to approach survival planning as a simple exercise in gathering stuff and making a “to do” list. Having the right supplies and equipment is important, as is prior planning. But there may be a way to optimize your post collapse/disaster actions. I’d like to talk about the concept of the decision making aspects of survival. Decision making is the “Why” that joins the “What” (As in “Here’s what we’re going to do…”) to the “How” (As in “…and here’s how.”) All the gear and knowledge in the world do you no good if you don’t …


Letter Re: What if The Schumer Doesn’t Hit The Fan? – Reasons to Prepare Anyway, by MB

Hello Jim, I’d like to respond to MB’s article. In the Securing Your Castle section, MB wrote: “If you have studied survival even a little, then you are aware that arming yourself ranks high on the list of recommendations. Perhaps some of you share my reluctance to build an armory in my home. I have children, and being married to someone who is strictly against guns makes security a particularly difficult element in my survival preparations. While I recognize security as an absolute must, I have reservations about keeping a device designed to kill in my home. Ironically the reasons …


What if The Schumer Doesn’t Hit The Fan? – Reasons to Prepare Anyway, by MB

As long as I can remember, I have felt that someday the comforts of a modern American lifestyle would vanish, at least temporarily. So I have made small mental preparations for some time now; keeping my mind and body fit and strong, staying informed, dropping hints to the wife, etc. Recently, and mostly after reading Patriots, I have a renewed interest in preserving my life and protecting those I love. After educating myself on the subject of survival, I felt, as I’m sure many others have, very vulnerable and even overwhelmed. I needed to take action, immediately. Many thoughts spring …


On Spring and Well Water, and Some Water Treatment Basics

Plentiful fresh drinking water for drinking, cooking, washing, and gardening is the most critical resource for all societies. The vast majority of the residents of First World countries are dependent on grid power to supply their water. When the grid goes down for more than a few days, water towers will soon be drained and huge numbers of people will be forced to draw water from open sources. Thankfully, there are streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds in walking distance of most homes. Rainwater from roof downspouts can also be used. But the logistics of hauling water will be a challenge, …


Water Considerations for WTSHTF, by Terry M.

When prepping for WTSHTF, many times we focus on how much dehydrated food we have stored. While dehydrated foods can have a very important part in our plans, we have to remember that almost all that food needs water. Water you may not have accounted for in your plans. The following quantity figures were taken straight from the Walton Feed web site, a very popular source of dehydrated foods. Feeding a family of four Breakfast: Pancakes = 2.5 cups water Milk = 1 quart water margarine = 4 Tbsp water egg mix = 3 Tbsp water per egg (4 times) …


You Can Catch More Flies With Honey Than Vinegar, by Adam in Ohio

I started my preparedness journey a few years before Y2K. A friend of mine opened my eyes and both of our families have been adding to our preparations ever since. Unfortunately, looking back over the last 10 year, I have not been able to convince one more person to become better prepared. I am obviously not happy with the results so I have decided this year I will try something different. I think where I went wrong is being too open about my preparedness journey. I would become very excited about some new aspect of preparedness that I had discovered …


Letter Re: Advice for Preparedness Newbie

Hey Guys. I came upon your site, and all I really had to say, was “Wow”. I suppose I’m not the best candidate to be a survivalist. I’m 21, I rent my apartment, have a mountain of student loans, and work as a waitress. My friends are mostly of the classic female-materialistic variety, and have no immediate concerns beyond a swimsuit sale at PacSun. Anyway, I’m an avid reader. I began to develop an interest in the term “Peak Oil”. I read several articles, and conducted a few small studies of my own. The fact that many of the articles …


Letter Re: Dick Proenneke–A Modern Day Pioneer in Alaska’s Bush Country

Mr Rawles, I saw the link to the anchorage daily news about alaska and I thought that you or your readers might be interested in a man named Dick Proenneke who basically left his life behind in the {Lower 48] states and lived alone in the Alaskan bush for about 30 years. Yes, he did have some outside support, and a few visitors a year but the man was amazingly resourceful. There is a documentary he filmed himself that actually shows how he made his own cabin by hand with no power tools, he makes not only the table and …


Ethical Preparedness for WTSHTF, by SF in Hawaii

What (if anything) are you willing to kill for post-SHTF? To consider this question, first let’s start with a quote on justifiable homicide from Wikipedia: Under early Athenian law, it was considered justifiable homicide to kill an adulterer caught in the act or a burglar caught in the act at night… in eighteenth century English law , it was considered a justifiable homicide if a husband killed a man “ravishing” or raping his wife (Blackstone, Wm. at p. 391), but modern law treats this as only a circumstance that will mitigate murder to a conviction for manslaughter . In other …


Letter Re: Some Results From the CDC’s Asian Avian Flu Preparedness/Education Budget

Hi Jim, I’m a regular reader and 10 Cent Challenge contributor. I just wanted to pass on a little info that struck me as very unusual. I live in Louisiana, too close to New Orleans unfortunately. In my mailbox on Saturday, I received a 32 page publication from the Louisiana Dept of Health & Hospitals. It is titled “How You Can Be Prepared for a Flu Pandemic” Individual & Family Handbook. What do they know that we don’t? The state spent $663,594.40 publishing 1,658,986 copies of this Handbook under a grant support from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This …


Letter Re: Why Gold and Silver Investing? Will They Have Utility for Barter?

Hello Rawles Family, First off let me say thanks for all the work y’all have put into sharing the knowledge you have. It has opened many eyes and caused may to be saved in the event something really does happen, I’m sure. I have recently started preparing for several types of emergencies and one of them is the collapse of the American dollar. I have seen several times that you suggest pre-1965 [silver] coins, and gold coins. They are a good item to have in this situations but I continually find myself asking “Why?”. My position on this is, people …


Letter Re: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina and Indiscriminate Weapons Confiscation

Dear Mr. Rawles, First off, I would like to thank you for writing the novel “Patriots” and starting SurvivalBlog. My dad sent me your book in the mail and told me to read it. Being a fan of Tom Brown-ish survival literature, I decided to give it a try. I read it in one night, starting at about 8 pm and finishing at 3 in the morning. Truly, my world view has changed. I have immediately started making preparations—getting my Bug Out Bag together, my Bug Out Routes planned and starting to practice some of the skills sets I’ve let …


Letter Re: Record Keeping for TEOTWAWKI

Mr. Rawles, Many have written on this topic and many more have mused on it. Some have even written on what I thought about, but revisiting topics and ideas allows for fresh perspective and ideas to surface and breath. 1. How Many People? – Does it take a Village?: ‘Billary’ references aside, what is the ideal size for a group of people after the Schumer hits? So many people really buy into the image of the rugged, self sufficient individual. However, if we isolate ourselves, does not that make us easier targets in the long run? Small numbers of people …


Letter Re: Convincing the Unconvinced that TEOTWAWKI is Possible

James Rawles; I enjoy your blog and wish I had more time to review [all of the content]. I plan on getting the best of the blog when my funds permit. I saw the “Convincing the Unconvinced” post and thought I would reply. I like what another reader recommended on bringing people around to preparing and hope you have a section dedicated to this subject somewhere on your blog. Pushing a lot of information too fast will be counterproductive. They need to learn and decide for themselves to be prepared, and how prepared [they want] to be. MJS could try …


Letter Re: Convincing the Unconvinced that TEOTWAWKI is Possible

Jim: To the young man having trouble getting his parents to prepare for disaster, I have some suggestions that may help. These ideas can be easily modified to fit other relatives and friends too. First, lead by example. Whenever you, personally, do have money, no matter how little, spend a bit to stock up on something you, personally, use. It can be something as inexpensive as a toothbrush, or a bag of potato chips, whatever. Store it in a clear bin somewhere prominently in your room. As your parents see that it is so important to you that you spend …