Letter: Preparing for SHTF

JWR, How do I prepare for a SHTF event I see ahead but also deal with being unemployed due to serious illness the last four years? My wife works, but the money gets eaten up by just getting by, and we own no property. Hence, we have no ability to get ahead. Any ideas, please? I find that so frustrating and maddening. I don’t know how to tackle this. Surely others are in the same boat as me. – S.A. JWR’s Comment: Right. You aren’t the only one in that sort of situation. I think the best bet would be …




Hurricane Preparedness in the Sunshine State- Part 2 , by D.H.

We are continuing to look at general preparations for a hurricane. Those of us in Florida are used to these, but many are not. In this article series, I’ve already covered the topics of the bug-out bag, sheltering in place, foods,water, and hygiene. Let’s move on, continuing with health, which is very important. Health Ensure you are in good health before the storm hits. My young daughter threw up at dinner two days before Hurricane Ivan hit in 2004. I made my wife take her to the doctor the next day; she was diagnosed with appendicitis and had an emergency …




Hurricane Preparedness in the Sunshine State- Part 1 , by D.H.

We, down here in the “Sunshine State”, just recovered from Hurricane Irma. It was a massive storm that covered almost the entire state. Floridians are used to hurricanes. We expect them every year, and most of the locals don’t freak out when the local weathermen starts predicting mayhem from a storm over 1,000 miles away. Don’t get me wrong; we’re prepared year-round and watch storms closely, but as one of the fastest growing states we have lots of newcomers who aren’t experienced with this annual weather phenomenon. Hurricane Season Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30th. Since most …




A New Way To View Preparedness Group Leadership in Management Action, by Old Bobbert

When we go grid-down will it really be safe around them, certain preparedness groups? The following is presented as a narrative of a close-knit, experienced, preparedness leadership group that is making reports and decisions concerning grid-down medical type services during a monthly leadership meeting. From it, we can learn. An Alice In Wonderland Group Leadership Meeting Here we go, following Alice down the rabbits hole. Wait you say, “What is the rabbit’s hole?”. We were talkin “bout that just last week. Ole Jim Bob asked that same thang, and his good ole buddy, Bubba Peabody, smiled and said to Jim …




What We Have Done So Far- Part 2, by N.F.

In part 1, I provided the foundation of our move to Northern Arizona, where we have lived for five years. I defined the seven most important elements I would like to see in the property, and these seven items form the building blocks for a sustainable life that we are trying to live. I’ve already covered our water plan, which is the first, and began discussing our food plan. Now, let’s continue with the food plan as we wrap this article up today. Chickens When we first arrived here, we were befriended by many people, one of which was really …




What We Have Done So Far- Part 1, by N.F.

This is the story of a city boy and girl who decided to make the long journey to become country man and woman. This unlikely story has roots stretching back to childhood. Hopefully, my hindsight can offer some foresight to others on this blog who have not started down this formidable path. For any who have embarked on this journey, I hope my individual experience will give you new ideas and insights. Going from a high density human existence, to a life of constant challenges out in the wide open spaces, changes one’s perspectives on many different levels. This is …




Preps and Practice- Part 2, by ArmedSafety

In A Disaster, Remember To Listen To Your Body If you ever find yourself in a disaster recovery situation, keep in mind to “listen to your body”. Whether you ride out a storm or evacuate and come back later, guess what? The mess will be there. August and September in south Texas aren’t fun for anyone that must work outside. Those that do work daily in the heat and oppressive humidity get somewhat acclimated to it. Others may have an inside job and spend very little time in the heat. The clean-up seems daunting at first, but always be sure …




Preps and Practice- Part 1, by ArmedSafety

Prepping for the Inevitable “Zombie Apocalypse” I have, for years, been a student of prepping for the inevitable. The inevitability could have been one of many options– CME, economic collapse, civil unrest, or one of many more called collectively “The Zombie Apocalypse” by me and my family. We all have our reasons for making our preps. For some it may be relatively simple preps for an ice storm that causes power loss for a few days, to those who go above and beyond to survive a nuclear holocaust. The preps that I have fall somewhere in the middle, which is …




Too Many Answers Or Not Enough Questions?, by Old Bobbert

This is Bobbert’’s piece on “how to do success” in the creation of our new society. Remembering that not everything we need to do as preppers is a physical or procedural item, I am endeavoring to speak to the post-SHTF issues of the new society’s lifestyles and some related covenants, specifically those enduring agreements between peoples and the special agreements between persons and God. Preppers Owing Much to Nation’s Founders We are the preppers! We are the folks who are working now so as to have an acceptable future for ourselves and possibly some others. We call ourselves the preppers, …




What I Learned Living Through Harvey, by M.S.

I’ve lived through several disasters and learned some thing. The worst events, in my experience, were the World Trade Center attack, Hurricane Sandy in New York City, and then most recently Hurricane Harvey in Beaumont, Texas. South East Texas was hit with life threatening, devastating rain fall, which put entire cities under water, turned towns into islands, and crippled the municipal water system of Beaumont. The following is a list of lessons I learned during this experience. 1. I’m not overly paranoid. I’ve been freedom oriented and interested in prepping for a while, and many of my family and friends …




Do We Have Your Full Attention Yet?- Part 2, by Old Bobbert

Experienced Preppers Fall Short As Great Teachers There seems to always be that cursed word “but”, where the experienced preppers usually fall just a little short of the mark of a great teacher. They never seem to actually talk much, or show much, about the “how” to actually do these necessary/important stuff. Their road map is kept to themselves. They never seem to realize that we all live in different worlds of experience with different needs and different financial positions. And we have different and often difficult family responsibilities, et cetera. How I Researched The Specific Article Illustrated Earlier So …




Do We Have Your Full Attention Yet?- Part 1, by Old Bobbert

Let me get your attention by sharing this fact: “Life expectancy is going up everywhere except in the U.S.” This opening statement is supposed to be the “grabber” and should make the reader want to read the entire article. Okay! Here we go with your bad news of the day in two parts. The first part is short, simple, and terrifying. It’s the one liner in quotes above. And the second part is worse yet. This part says that the life expectancy news today will be worse tomorrow, and every American is subject to the same bad news. However, there …




Letter Re: How to Survive Something Like the Vegas Attack?

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers, I would love to see some discussion about what people in the crowd in Vegas could/should have done to protect themselves, short of avoiding the crowd altogether. If you find yourself in a crowd during a mass shooting like this, what should you do? In such a chaotic environment, it would have been very difficult to know where the shots were coming from. Do you run to cover? Which direction? Crouch in place? How do you avoid being trampled? Even if you had a concealed carry gun, it wouldn’t have been very helpful, and probably it would …




Wandering in the New World- Part 2, by JMD

Yesterday, I began writing about the post-SHTF conditions that may make a wandering nomad type lifestyle much more practical and reasonable. We are talking about considerations for this and continuing with this further today. Situational Awareness – You need to always be aware of your surroundings, where you are and where you can quickly get to for cover and concealment. Medical If a medical emergency occurs, you probably won’t have anyone to rely on but yourself and/or your group. You’ll need to learn how to handle common injuries and illnesses with what you have available. Bushcraft Since you won’t have …




Essential Survival Tips From A Hurricane Irma Survivor, by C.S.

At the time I began writing this, Hurricane Irma had hit only eight days earlier. From it and other hurricane experiences, I have learned some valuable lessons. The first is, use your head. No, do not use it to hammer the shutters down. What I mean is, use some common sense. Demonstrating a Lack of Reasoning Here are some things that happened here in South Florida that demonstrated a lack of reasoning: A guy burned down his house because he wasn’t careful while pouring gas in his generator that was running. The spillage later caught on fire, torching his entire …