Category: Survival Mindset

Preparedness: Now What? – Part 1, by O.C.

Upfront, I should say I am a few months away from 70 years old. I was raised in New Jersey. Even though I spent 26 years in the US Air Force and the Montana Air National Guard, I was not prepared for anything out of the ordinary. My journey to prepping really began on September 11, 2001. At that time, I was working as a defense contractor in Crystal City, Virginia, just down the road from the Pentagon. Meanwhile, my wife was a civil servant working inside the Pentagon building. In my cube-ville we were no radios or televisions allowed. …


Society’s Sudden Death: 2023-2026, by Jakobus A. Rechnen

Editor’s Introductory  Note:  The following translated article could be considered a conjectural rant. It was written by a European SurvivalBlog reader, under a pen name. If you don’t like reading rants, then skip reading this. – JWR — This is my gedankenexperiment for period: the three years following, Europe, in U.S.A., and the world (whole). It has its basis in my scary belief that the Covid Vaccines are actually for the worse than the Covid illness that the Vaccines (Impfstoffe) claim to be preventing. I may be completely wrong, or I may be mostly right. Maybe. You decide. Premise: I …


Risk Management for Small Business Owners, by T.S.

I’m willing to bet that many SurvivalBlog readers own a small business of some sort. Whether you have a brick-and-mortar store, sell homemade goods at a farmer’s market, or have a “side gig” with eBay or Etsy, figuring out how to make your small business resilient (without much expense) is an excellent use of your time. I own a small and entirely online business that ships products across the USA. This is currently an additional income source. My “day job” is in IT, where I’m certified in risk management and disaster recovery planning. I’m going to present an industry-standard plan …


Career Change to a Durable Trade, by A Grateful Mechanic

I get great enjoyment from reading the perspectives and implementing the ideas in SurvivalBlog. This is a wonderful space to be able to share operating experience and ideas for making our futures brighter and better. An article by Mr. Rawles dated October 12, 2009 references career paths that are recession-proof: What Recovery? Find yourself a Recoveryless Job. In the article, he made reference to difficult, dirty, and dangerous jobs. I recall reading that article and it made an impact on me and my life. Six years ago, I embarked on a journey to find a new career that would offer …


Economics & Investing: JWR’s Predictions for 2023

Today, in a special edition of this column are JWR‘s economic, finance, and market predictions for 2023 and beyond. — Bottom line up front (BLUF), I believe that  2023 will be seen as a year of recession, layoffs, and stagflation. Consumer inflation will be rampant, but some assets will deflate, as the economy contracts. In the longer term, the recession starting in 2023 may develop into a general economic depression. Perhaps the era will someday be characterized as “The Depression of the late 2020s and early 2030s.”  Now, for the details: Precious Metals: With inflation continuing at a rapid clip, …


Low-Cost and No-Cost Preparedness

Many SurvivalBlog readers have contacted me, lamenting that they don’t have enough money to prepare.  My response? Re-prioritize how you spend your time and money. The following suggestions are primarily based on my own experience. Avalanche Lily and I do our best to live a frugal life. Please prayerfully consider and implement some or most of these suggestions, as new year’s resolutions. Here are some suggestions for spending less money: Pray. Prayer costs nothing, and it helps focus your mind on your priorities. Chief among these should be your family, friends, fellow church congregants, neighbors, and co-workers. Study. Used books …


Aggression and Awareness, by SwampFox

Have you ever noticed how some people in life have a “kick me” sign on their back, like they are repeatedly targeted by others? Have you ever heard somebody react to news of a violent crime with disbelief, saying “I never thought it could happen here?” Why does it seem that some are incapable of defending themselves when attacked, begging not to be harmed? There are two kinds of people in the world – those who are aggressive and those who are not. Many of us have been taught from a young age to be kind and polite in words …


Assessing and Prioritizing Risks, by Francis Marion

One of the most common questions asked by new preppers is “What should I prepare for?”. The easy…and wrong…answer is “everything”. After all, as Frederick the Great said, “He who defends everything, defends nothing”. If one attempts to prepare for everything that can happen…from coastal erosion to Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) to winter weather…one could quickly become overwhelmed. This is why the first steps in preparing should be to assess and prioritize risk. For background purposes, I spent more than 25 years as a commissioned officer in the United States Army Reserve, including multiple deployments. When planning military training and operations, …


Are You Self-Reliant, Self-Sufficent, or Self-Sustaining?, by Mrs. Alaska

One of our goals each year is to decrease our dependency on others by increasing our skills and resources. In the city, it was convenient to pay for services and products. Living remotely, we learn to do many things ourselves or do without. I evaluate aspects of our life on a continuum from dependent to independent: Dependent on others Self-reliant Self-sufficient Self-sustaining Given recent news reports of coronavirus and the economy, tornadoes, wildfires, and power outages, perhaps readers are applying this sort of rubric to their situations, too.


Thinking Outside the Aquarium: A Different View of Government Force

Much like a fish in a small aquarium, the citizens of modern-day nations have a distorted view of the world around them, and their relative freedom. They’ve never known a space any larger than the walls of their fish tank. From their perspective, the aquarium constitutes the limits of their world, and it is the only life that they can imagine. I’m penning this essay in SurvivalBlog to encourage my readers to take a step back and think about the very nature of government — all governments, at all levels. Of the 195 nations on Earth, all but a few …


Preparedness Regrets and Priorities, by N.C.

We all have our own ideas of how much risk we’re running and what type of disaster seems the most likely threat. Your answer to that will depend largely on where you are. Doubtless, my focus would certainly be different if I lived in Germany and it would be different if I lived in Ukraine or in New Zealand. Since I live in the United States the one that has cost me more than a little sleep is the prospect of a civil war in the US. It used to be that this was an extreme subject, raised only rarely …


21st Century Life: Controlling and Redirecting Anger, by SaraSue

I’m sure quite a lot of us, tens of millions for sure, maybe a couple hundred million, were slapped across the face a little while ago by the highest officeholder in our land. Anyone who disagrees with the gub’mint is a domestic terrorist, apparently. Also, the “Red Wave” that wasn’t? Or, if you don’t fix the root of the problem, you will get the same result. Sometimes throwing mud against the wall, wishing some of it will stick, is an ineffective use of your time and energy. I’m not saying that voting is a useless exercise. I’m just saying that …


YOYO Civil Defense, by 3AD Scout

Sometime between the First World War and the start of the Second World War the concept of civil defense or civil protection was born. The original purpose was to protect civilians from aerial bombing. After World War Two, the United States dismantled its civil defense corps. With the US the sole possessor of atomic weapons, there was no perceived need to spend money on civil defense. That perception did not last long due to the Soviet Union testing their first nuclear weapon in 1949. President Truman re-established civil defense with the goal of protecting the civilian population against a nuclear …


Do Not Comply – No Matter What, by SaraSue

Articles in SurvivalBlog are generally, focused on practical “How To” survivalist topics. I’ve been concerned more about my mental and emotional state lately. With so much negative news as of late, I’ve been focused on the practicality of managing my spirit as I work on practical things. I thought I’d share – this is where I stand. There comes a time when you realize that there is nothing left to do but face the Evil and stand firm. You’re done with trying to convince people, especially people you dearly love, that the Evil is here now. You’ve reconciled yourself to …


Revisiting the Rule of Threes, by J.M.

If you’ve been involved in prepping for any length of time or even just done some research on the subject, you’ve probably come across some variation of the Rule of 3s. I’ve seen it expressed a lot of different ways, but the most common version goes something like this: You can survive 3 minutes without oxygen or with severe bleeding You can survive 3 hours without a stable core body temperature You can survive 3 days without water You can survive 3 weeks without food The rule makes a great starting point for planning your preparations, but I’ve found that …