Tips For The New Prepper – Learning From History

How Did They Ever Survive 100 Years Ago?

As a society we are only concerned by what is affecting us right now. We don’t worry about water until it’s gone or undrinkable. We don’t worry about our money disappearing from the bank because that just never happens, and yes it does. We don’t prepare for an earthquake or natural disaster until our home is destroyed. And worst of all we as a society we have this unfounded faith that our government has our best interests in mind, and will be there to bail us out when the SHTF. I’m not saying we need to live completely off the grid, but we need to know how, if and when that time comes.

Everything is so easy today. You need food, you run out to the grocery store and get it. You need a new shirt? You run out to your local store and get it. Right now, anything you want you can get either by going to the store or buying it online. But what would you do if you couldn’t get to the store, or the thing you wanted wasn’t there? Most American’s don’t believe that could happen. Actually, most American’s probably have never even thought about it.

Our society today teaches us to choose the easier path, why work harder when you can work smarter. An unfortunately our society is paying the price. Everywhere you look, if you have your eyes open the signs are becoming more and more prevalent that something is seriously wrong with this once great nation of ours. Our corrupt government tells us everything is ok. The mass media feeds their versions of the news for millions of American’s. And the saddest part about it is they don’t think anything is wrong!

Thankfully, you have realized things aren’t quite right in our nation, and you may or may not be wondering what do you do about it? What do you need to do first? The most important thing you need to do is learn. There are many websites and many articles that you will find that can help you in your quest for knowledge. Read books, listen to podcasts, and learn from the experts. The more you know, the better prepared you will be for different situations. The steps you need to take for yourself and your family will be different than the steps I have taken for my family. But maybe reading what someone else has done to get prepared might get your own ideas going.

Tips for The Beginning Prepper

When I began my journey of becoming a “prepper” (I prefer the term self-reliant though) I didn’t want to tell anyone. I knew my friends and family would think I was crazy, and finally went off the deep end. So unfortunately a lot of the planning and research I did was alone. So here are some tips to get you started in the right direction.

Create lists – start making lists of everything you want to learn, and everything you think you will need. You can customize the lists later on, but having a starting point helps to get your thoughts down on paper.

Find alternative news sources – the mass media is owned by the corporations that only want for you to hear their version of what is newsworthy. Question everything you here on the ‘news’ because most of it is keeping your attention from the real news. There are many different places you can find what is really happening. But trust what you know, and even though it is hard, don’t get caught up in everything you see on the news.

Question everything – Whether it is the mainstream news or a website that peaks your interest, keep an open mind. There are just as many prepper news websites with their own agendas out there as there are mass media channels spreading propaganda, the only difference is the money available to them.

Start living with less – this is not easy at first, but it gets easier. Pay off your debt, and live within your means. Even better, leave well below your means, and keep doing it. I mean, do you really need 150 channels to watch? Do you really need that new car? Do you really need that designer bag? You already know the answer to these things. That’s the easy part. The hard part is actually doing it. You can do it, start small and build on it. Stop eating out, and spend more time with your family. For the same cost of a meal out, you can probably eat at least three meals at home. And starting small like this isn’t that difficult. One bonus of this is by eating more at home, you will find when you do have a special occasion and choose to go out, it doesn’t taste as good for some reason. Bu the bigger bonus is you will be spending time with your family, and that is worth a lot more than money.

Learn how to garden – It sounds easy doesn’t it? Well, it can be, and it can be really difficult. But the only way you are going to learn is by doing it. Start learning about your dirt, mark off an area, or try a container garden or raised bed garden. My favorite book on gardening is [Mini Farming Self-Sufficiency on ¼ Acre] It is 20 chapters of very practical and usable information. Even if you don’t have a ¼ acre, you can apply the same principles, just on a smaller scale to the area you can garden in.

Get in shape – And I don’t mean by going to the gym, but if that is what works best for you, do it. Get off of your couch, shut of the TV, and go do something. Go for a hike, go play in your yard, go play with your kids. All of the advice of getting thirty minutes of exercises a day is a good piece of advice, but you don’t have to do it without doing something productive in return. Being more self-reliant will do a lot for your physical fitness. You don’t need to go to a gym to work on those flabby upper arms, get out and dig some dirt, or pull some weeds. Not only will you save money from a gym membership, but your yard will look great! And the hard work you do on a daily basis will get you more prepared of how to take care of your family.

Have alternative methods of cooking and heating – This can be as simple as using your wood burning fireplace, or having a wood burning stove (you should probably know how to collect fire wood too.) How did anyone survive 100 tears ago? We better pay attention to history, learn from it and be prepared to live without microwaves.

Food Storage – There are thousands of articles and books on this topic. Do your research, and do what is right for you and your family, don’t follow someone else’s list unless it’s right for you. But that’s an easy fix, find a list and make your own. Start small, add a few extra cans of food to your weekly grocery store trip. You will be surprised at how much food you can accumulate in about three months with spending maybe twenty dollars extra a week.

Build a library – all of those articles and e-books you have been reading, print them out and put them in a binder. If it’s a great article, save it so you will have it for later, and you can always go back and re-read it later on.

Getting Back To The Basics

Learning from history will help build your knowledge and prepare you for what can and will happen in the future. As you begin prepping this list will keep growing, there are many other important things to consider while prepping and stockplining, but this is how I got started, and what I did in the beginning of becoming more prepared, and self-reliant. Hopefully this will give you some areas to start working on, and you can build your own list, and your skills. Welcome to the club!