Will You Be Ready
I write lots of detailed, in-depth posts for you here on The Survivalist Blog about preparedness, frugal living, weapons and homesteading. Today I thought I’d simplify and offer you some quick survival tips on how to survive TEOTWAWKI broken into bits.
1) Keep it as simple a possible. If something can be done in two steps instead of three why bother with the third step? If there is an easier and simpler way to the same result, why make things difficult. Remember The KISS principle: “Keep it simple, stupid”.
2) Take your time and create a plan. With a paper and pen write out a detailed survival plan. What, when and how – while considering your personal needs and those of your family. Do this every six months – circumstances change, keep you plans flexible.
3) Have realistic expectations. I’m sure many of you would like to have a retreat on one-hundred acres nestled in the remote Idaho wilderness. A room full of high-tech weapons and gear. A customized humvee in the drive. A bunker stacked from floor to ceiling with MRE’s and the latest freeze-dried foods. But in reality most of us will never have this stuff. Set your preparedness goals at an obtainable level work relentlessly to meet them.
4) Educate your team, work together. Divide your family or survival group by skills. For instance; one member might specialize in medical procedures, another in chemistry and another weapons repair and reloading etc. Figure out what skills and resources you have as a group. Fill the gaps with training, classes and study.
5) Get a solid understanding of the basics. Everyone should at least know the basics, CPR / first aid, how to shoot, weapons maintenance and using available resources. Cover the basics first before moving to more advanced concepts. Refer to #1 above.
6) Know when to change strategies. Don’t become fixated with plans or beliefs. If something works, great; if not you need to find out what the problem is and how to fix it – even if it means a complete overhaul of your original plan.
7) Do a threat analysis. Stop, think, look around – if you were being attacked what would be the most likely approach? What are the weak points in your defenses? Who are probable attackers? When are they likely to attack. When are you most vulnerable? Find weak spots in your defenses and harden those points.
8) Experiment. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Never assume something works without first trying it yourself. We have to many armchair survival “experts” giving advice on things they have never done. Never take anything at face value – try everything yourself to see if and how it works, (This includes stuff you find here), leave nothing to chance.
9) Build a good library. You need books on gardening, homesteading, food storage and cooking, trapping, tracking, repair, raising livestock, alternative energy, medical, herbs and eatable plants, outdoor survival etc. Make a list of the books you need. It’s best not to get many titles covering the same subject – they tend to overlap and cover the same techniques and advice. See number 8.
10) Don’t get discouraged. It’s easy to become discouraged or give up altogether. Stay focused, set obtainable goals and remember everyone started from the beginning. Stop worrying about what some survival guru said you need in his latest fiction novel. You know your situation and needs better than anyone – plan accordingly.
11) Analyze your skills. Take a close look at yourself and your skills. Write down the things you are good at – find your strong points. Do the same for your weak points. What do you know little about? Find the area that needs improvement and get to work building your skill level in that area.
12) Take inventory.Take a good look at your food storage and other survival supplies. Write down what you have, look for gaps in your inventory. I did this a couple of weeks ago and found I needed to expand my medical kit.
13) Get a check up. If you still have a job with medical insurance great. Get a complete physical and check-up – same with dental. Correct any problems found.
14) Find your own way. No one knows your situation or location better than you and no one can formulate a survival plan based on your personal needs better than you. You know who you are and what you are capable of – plan accordingly.
Have other tips or advice on how to survive TEOTWAWKI? Feel free to share in the comments below.
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My list:
1:Invest in my COMMUNITY. Neighborhood watch, charity drives,do nate food and toys to the local homeless shelter.
2: Get to know my neighbors- attend every community dinner on the calendar.
3: Plan out my garden over the winter and get ready for spring.
4: Buy spare parts for the mower , the cultivator and other implements that i may even remotely need one day, even parts I don’t think I’ll need.
5: Get a library card. That gives me access to books that I dont own right now .
6: Vote! Be a part of selecting my local city council members.
My suggestion is look at your current life, and figure out WHO/WHAT are you dependent on to continue to live……then ask yourself what happens IF they/it quit supplying you your needs. Start the basics: water, food, warm shelter, security…..
For example:
Water…..do you turn on the tap every day and expect someone else to be on the other end putting water IN so you can take it out ? What happens to you if that person quits doing that ? ( For whatever reason )
Food…..do you obtain all your food from the grocery store ? What happens if you stop by one day, and the shelves are empty ? Then expand your thinking to: What happens if the store NEVER comes back ?
and so on, for EACH service or item you really need to keep on living.
And once you have determined you are at the total mercy of someone else’s efforts, start taking responsibility and control of your life ( and those you love ) and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
This is a great post. I live in first layer of suburbs outside the second biggest city in Michigan. It isn’t optimal but I am not in a position to change it at this point. This blog is very helpful. Thank you all for your continued great posts and helpful tips.
If you live within the expressways your only hope is to get out. If you live in a large cities limits you have a little more time, but you have to get out. Not likely any urban area will accept you, so you have to get to the country. Bug out bags have been harped on, but maybe the only thing between you and survival. That and making sure your vehicle is ready to go at least 200 miles. Always. From that point your knowledge your skills and most important, your attitude is what will bring you through. Have your stuff together, ready and have some direction to go and several ways to get there. This is for folks in populated areas, which most of us are. Pray and never panic.
I absolutely enjoyed these 14 steps to teotwawki. It really is simple as you have put it. If all hell were to break loose and you cannot get to your bags then I would say that you should always carry a cigarette lighter with you and a military P-38 or larger can opener in your jeans, sweater or coat pocket. With fire, you will stay warm, and with a cutter, you will be able to cut open cans, some containers and so forth and although it is not perfect by any means a person can manage under many circumstances by foraging for containers to collect rainfall and (untreated) toilet tank water, building materials, fuels, etc. provided they have received no real limiting injuries or are not too physically handicapped. When the time comes and if possible, we should help all those who cannot help themselves and do the best that we can for them such as getting them water, food, warmth through fire or blankets, etc. But, if that is not possible then that is just the way it will have to be. I hope to not be in their shoes then but if I am…the most anyone can hope for is that 99% of all the people out there have good hearts and minds…:)
I have P-38s on every keyring, in all bags and packs and in the gloveboxes of all my 3 vehicles. It might seem a bit OTT, but they’re cheap, so why not?
One day I might even be proficient in their use! :-)
All good suggestions. We have covered food, water, shelter, vehicles, defense, cooking, heat, and even charity. One thing I think of often is what kind of a person will I be after the SHTF? Will I be a moral and ethical person afterwards as I try to be today? Or will the stress and shortages push me into being a predatory self-preserving animal who will prey on those who have what I want and need? I pray I remain a moral and ethical person, come what may. To that end, my faith is important to me.
So, my suggestion would be to become closer to your spiritual side and your conscience and in doing so, commit to being an asset for the new society rather than a blood-sucking louse. With a new start, we could become a better species. This may not be a direct step to survival, but it might make surviving worthwhile. It could be the difference between just surviving and actually thriving. Keep the faith!
In reference to #1: personally, I prefer the KIS principle ;)
Actually, I think the second ‘S’ in the acronym isn’t to make a judgment, but more to keep us humble. I teach a lot of classes in numerous disciplines, but generally learn something in every class, sometimes from a child who asks a simple question. Arrogance may mean we miss these little gems.
Lint, I agree with you but don’t hand out food or anything at your home (except to family or good friends). The problem is once you start something like that everyone knows where to go to get a handout and you can’t stop it. If you want to be charitable do it through an organization like your church.
But here is what YOU need to know:
1. It’s later then you think.
2. Food will be worth more then money in the future.
3. Someone you know intends to either sponge off you or take what you have when things get tough.
4. Someone you don’t know intends to either sponge off you or take what you have when things get tough.
5. By the time it becomes obvious to everyone it will be too late to prepare.
6. If you don’t prepare then you are the one planning on sponging off someone you know or to take what they have when things get tough.
I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. My original post was more about faith and spirituality, not actual food stores. For my list of simple ways to survive TEOTWAWKI, I have included FAITH IN GOD. Sorry I wasn’t better at explaining that in the first place.
My own personal philosophy about feeding other people is that I will help those who are truly trying to help themselves. People who seek moral and ethical ways to survive, not those who will do anything to survive. Those who will abandon their humanity in order to survive are just rats as far as I’m concerned and I will not feed rats. Feeding rats is a dangerous thing to do because the more you feed them, the more there are. Soon, they will eat all your food and then start eating you.
BTW, your points 1-6 are always in my thoughts.
Item # 6 I appreciate most because I believe a “survivalist” must be fluid. To have the ability to adapt & overcome situations is powerful.
Item # 10 is very important in my opinion because survivalism is 80% mindset, 20% actual preparation of the individual items.
I’ve seen a lot of lists like this on other blogs but they always seem to forget #7. (And my household needs to be working on that one!) Posts like this are why I really enjoy this blog and find it extremely valuable. Thank you!
Sometimes I feel like I’m “in the closet” with all this. I hide the fact that I read this site. I am an Electrical Engineer and a solid and logical person and think out everything before acting. Yet here I am. And that is the greatest thing that holds me back in my prepping. I fight myself and feel that I am being paranoid when I prepare for what a part of me feels will never happen. Because of this, my preps are less than they need to be. I KNOW there are many in my state of mind as well, since the few that I have actually spoken to about this are secretly prepping as well and are very self-conscious about it. Yet each time I read the comments and articles on this site, I feel a bit better about the preparations I have to make. I want to thank the whole community of you for your inputs, you may be saving the lives of me and my family.
william,
See the two aricles linked below – good luck sir.
http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/this-n-that/how-to-stop-procrastinating-and-start/
http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/opinion/the-most-likely-shtf-event/
I’m also an electrical engineer although I’ve done mostly embedded software for the past few years. Thinking logically works well for prepping from the right perspective. Think about how much money you’ve spent in say the last 5 years on insurance premiums for your home and auto policies. I suspect it runs into thousands of dollars. Now look at the return on that “investment”. This is one of those interesting cases where a return of zero is the one you hope for. That is to say you’ve had no fires, thefts, or accidents that caused you to make a claim. Prepping is exactly like this. It’s the premium you pay on an insurance policy which if everything works out OK, will never be used, but like all insurance, you keep your premiums paid in case you have to make a claim. The added benefit however, is that even if things work out fine, you can still at some point in the future make a claim against the premiums you’ve paid. That’s when store what you already eat and eat what you store comes into play. Except for some irrecoverable incidental expenses like Mylar bags, and containers, nearly all of what you pay is recoverable, and based on inflation actually pays a pretty good interest rate when you’re eating today’s food at last year’s prices.
From the firearm perspective there’s a similar argument for owning one and in my case carrying it. The chance of my house burning down tonight is a rather low probability, but my house still has smoke & CO detectors and several fire extinguishers, because the chance of someone’s house burning tonight is likely 100%. Like all insurance, having it a not ever needing it beats needing it and not having it, every time
This is a great way of looking at all of this prepping. Building confidence and insurance with dividends: eating the foods, gaining knowledge and practicing the steps to take. This is the first time I have thought about putting all the preps invoices in a fire-proof safe however. Of course we all pay the premiums for insurance. But how many of us insure the preps! If we are the one of a few to have a fire then I don’t want to lose everything I have worked so hard to build up. I suppose you all have done this but since I am quite new to this, it was an eye opener. I would never think to insure a hidden stock of goodies.
Actually, my point had nothing to do with insuring the preps themselves, but you bring up a very good point. Several times a year I go through the property and take photos of all of my stuff. I don’t know if keeping the invoices is required, but photos and an inventory is a great idea. This is why I frequent sites like this. Even after prepping for 40+ years I can always learn something from someone else with a different experience or perspective. Great point!!!
Great list! it is stuff like this that makes survival less of an undaunting venture. Unfortunatly # 7 is a relative of mine.He is a worthless spineless sponge who does not have the backbone to get his life straight.So he is going to be a threat to asses. however him being my wifes brother will mean that we will have to plan for him also. Steve
I agree with Jim G’s comment on getting involved in the community if you have moved to your survival location. When the wife and I moved here two years ago we resolved to be part of the community without being pushy. We joined the local church, attended the community suppers, asked for “country advice”, and helped neighbors whenever we could, BUT, we never told them “How it was done back in “X”". We have gone from being the “new strangers” to being told “it’s like you’ve always lived here”.
YOU HAVE SAID IT ALL IN A SMALL SPACE. I THANK YOU WILL HAVE TO PROTECT ALL YOU HAVE. SO HAVING A S-A B-LAW OR KID THEY CAN BE A BIG HELP. I HAVE FAMLEY THAT JUST DONT WANT HERE WHATS COMING.YOU MAY HAVE TO TAKE INA YOUNG FAMILEY TO HELP YOU THAT IS WHEN YOU HAVE TO TURN IT OVER TO GOD. THAT ISWHAT IVGOT TO SAY
My son and I have food storage for at least 6 months and we grow most of what we use as well. Bug out bags and car equip all ready and we put in as much training as we can. We have both done first aid training so if we get eaten by a wild animal its ok. We have a varity of weapons and pratice living off the land as well. Cautious telling to many others because it may not be accepted as well as should be but do have a complete support team.
every now and then i begin to feel lonely in my prepping. not quite like im insane to do it, but close. i have 3 small children, who could care less about that stuff, but my wife and in laws all seem to find it amusing. they laugh like its one of those eccentricities of my already strange character. this blog makes me feel better. thanks guys. stay safe.
I know exactly how you feel, truemonster. My husband and his son are always rolling their eyes at me. At least hubby lets me do all the prepping I like (just in case she’s right!) After recently accepting a new job out of our area, he asked me to make sure the car had everything he might need in an emergency. He’ll never admit it, but I’m glad he’s catching on.
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