Category: Survival Mindset

Stuff Hitting the Fan: A Position Paper – Part 1, by R.L.

The United States of America is a very resilient country; that is to say, the people of the United States are a very resilient people.  But, stuff happens and our current crop of politicians seems determined to drive us into the ground with their short-sighted and self-serving policies.  The purpose of this paper is to briefly identify some possible trouble spots, and suggest a few remedial type actions to help prepare for any adverse consequences of catastrophic failures induced by pin head politicians.  Most of the current problems we face have their origin firmly rooted in, and are fertilized by, …


Help for the New Prepper, by Don H.

 Many of us that have been prepping since before the Internet have welcomed all the new information, knowledge, and interaction with our fellow preppers. But for someone who is just starting out, it can all be overwhelming. So overwhelming that they don’t know where to start. The sad part is that many of them don’t start. They feel that they have to  spend so much money at one time to get all the gear that the experts say they need, that they just can’t do it. This is in large part due to shows like Doomsday Preppers. While I watch …


Finding Comfort When TSHTF, by P.R.

You could say that Y2K started us on a serious survival path. But long before that, preferring the peace and quiet of country life, we had already begun our search for a small acreage some distance from any cities. The idea of simple living and self-sufficiency appealed to both my husband and me. Finally, in 1998, we were blessed to find a few acres in Central Texas. With a partially built house on a dead-end road, trees and some pasture, it mostly fit all our requirements and was within our rather meager price range. So 15 years later, we are …


Selecting a Retreat, by M.D.L.

The last time I sent an article to SurvivalBlog [The Secret Prepper, in May, 2013], I told of how I was secretly preparing for the possibility of the “S” hitting the “F”.  Well, I’m proud to say that I’ve finally come out of the shadows and into the light.  The lesson I’ve learned is to quit worrying about how much the Band Aid is going to hurt and just rip it off.  It wasn’t all that hard and my life is better for it, even if my family has taken several opportunities to fashion me an aluminum foil hat. That …


How to Wake People Up: A Time-Travel-to-the-Year-1970 Gedanken, by Joe Snuffy

Many preppers and survivalists have tried to convince family members and friends about our current predicament, being the long-term collapse of industrialized civilization. As intellectual survivalists, many of us have studied the works of Dr. Joseph Tainter (The Collapse of Complex Societies), Dr. Nate Hagans (Peak Oil / environmental economics), John Michael Greer (catabolic collapse theory), etc. Many of us collapse theorists have performed a form of fusion between these noted theorists, as well as noting significant events ourselves, since the early 1970s, in particular. How about a neat little Gedanken (a thought experiment) or role playing game during a …


Emergency Preparedness: 101, by Jennie From the Flats

Wakeup Call  It was 2 o’clock in the morning when our two year old toddler woke me with a terrifying scream. She was just across the hallway, but I was disoriented for a moment and couldn’t figure out why I was blind.  As I realized the power was out, I looked for the battery-powered lantern I keep beside the bed only to find it missing.  The three year old had probably been playing with it again.  I felt my way around the house and hoped the lantern would still have power.  It clicked on and what a blessed sight that …


Prepping for Our New Reality, by D.&M.

[Editor’s Introductory Note: I sometimes receive quite lengthy articles that are mix of great practical information and extended political narratives. In such cases I sometimes opt to edit out the particularly ranty sections. Where I have done so, you will see: “[Some deleted, for brevity]“. My apologies, but to make an article of this length readable, editorial discretion is a must. Furthermore, I have to recognize that all politics are local. Since SurvivalBlog is a publication with an international readership, I feel obliged to chop out political discourses that would be of little or no interest to my readers in …


Am I Crazy?, by Crazy As A Fox

I am a Vice President o a very successful company in the western side of the Midwest.  I am in my early 60s, and after 30 plus years with the company – I will retire in next year or so with no debt, a good retirement plan, stable lifestyle – no worries, right?  So, why do some of those around me think I’m crazy (even me sometimes)?  Here’s my story.   I grew up a farm boy working the family farm with my grandma and grandpa, old school Swede – German homesteaders – milking cows, slopping hogs, baling hay, walking beans, driving tractors, gathering eggs, and yes, shoveling S#%*.  Small rural …


A Hunting Prepper: How the Numbers Add Up, by N.N. in Arizona

About seven years ago I met a young lady who would later become my wife, in a college religion class. We fell in love, worked extremely well together and have created an amazing six-member family. This is important because, before her I had never hunted, rarely camped, and had a penchant for electronics and wasting money. Becoming a husband and father has curbed many of those issues and marrying into a family that camped and hunted their whole life was an eye opener. My first few steps into becoming a (self-proclaimed) Prepper were unobtrusive and hardly noticeable. My father in …


Dealing with the Dying, by A Healthcare Couple

This essay is a joint effort from a healthcare couple.  My wife is a hospice nurse and I work at a long-term care facility.  Together, we have witnessed numerous patients die.  The purpose of this essay is to educate you in helping to take care of a dying group member (will use the term patient for this writing).  The first time that I experienced death up-close and personal was when my best friend B. died a few years ago.  We were both in our 20s and he had cancer.  Over the course of more than a year I was with …


Letter Re: The Most Important Preparedness

Dear James, Recently, a friend of mine just took his own life, leaving behind a wife and three young children.  He loved to talk about being prepared and would spend hours reading survival blog.  As far as “preparedness” goes, he seemed to be very prepared for TEOTWAWKI, having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on guns, ammo, a bug out vehicle, all the medical and survival supplies you could think of, etc.  He also had military training, martial arts training, and was an excellent marksman, if anyone was prepared, he seemed to be ready.  However, in the end, he would …


Learning 52 Skills: Applying a Purchasing Plan Approach to Learning New Skills, by Seth T.

It’s common for Preppers to run into a misallocation of resources.  Some things are flashy (Read: Guns) and will attract a lot of attention. People will spend hours and hours researching their newest gun purchase but never take the time to conduct a test loading of their bug out gear into their vehicle.  People will spend hours comparing the XTP vs Golden Saber vs Hydra-Shok for their carry gun, but never work on drawing their weapon from their carry holster, manipulation drills, or shooting basics.  How much money is spent on QuickClot and trauma dressings by a person who doesn’t have any first …


Letter Re: Pre-TEOTWAWKI Survival is All in The Numbers

Dear James: It occurred to me while training kids on water safety, that some of the most basic elements of surviving everyday life are perhaps neglected by many of us while focusing on worst case scenarios.  We can be so wrapped up in getting through TEOTWAWKI that we neglect first surviving to TEOTWAWKI. It doesn’t do any good to be fully prepped for TEOTWAWKI if you, or a loved one, dies in the meantime from one of the statistically most likely causes of death – namely disease and accidents. By the numbers, if you are younger an auto accident may …


Different Prepping Approaches, by Marlene M.

It’s interesting to see the differences in the way people prepare for the future. We have been reading ‘SurvivalBlog’ daily now for over four  years, and here too, we find different types of people who prepare differently. (One reason why I love SurvivalBlog!) It is also interesting to read the difference between FEMA suggestions, Homeland Security (?) preparedness requirements, Weather Channel Preparedness tips, and different books written on the subject. Then there are the multitudes of survivor shows on television from Les Stroud in ‘Survivorman’ to the man of few words — Cody Lundin in ‘Dual Survivor’ and his new …


Teaching Opportunities, by J.L. in Pennsylvania

My story begins as another closet prepper.  As many of you, I did not have the support of my spouse for my new found drive to prepare for the unknown. Often I would attempt to sneak items that I planned to lay up long-term into the grocery bill without her noticing. I would even have online purchases delivered to a neighbor claiming to him that it was for her birthday or our anniversary. Needless to say, I usually (always) got caught, which would lead to long discussions about me “wasting money.”  As fate and the good lord would have it, …