Link: Be Better Prepared: 12 Brilliant (And Slightly Badass) Ways to Do It

[crudos]

Basic stuff mostly, and don't get the badass part, but whatever. No talk about community (pre, during, and post shtf), and how not to get your ass shot from the 'marking your territory' and 'foraging' parts.

http://www.suburbanprepper.com/be-better-prepared-12-brilliant-and-slightly-badass-ways-to-do-it/

Everyone wants to be better prepared. Today we will share 12 brilliant and slightly badass ways to do it. You and your family have to be ready and prepared for all scenarios. But what happens when you are forced to evacuate for an extended period of time? You will be forced to leave with only what you can carry. A situation may arise where you will be forced to improvise. This article will help you be better prepared for when the original plans fail.

Once you determine why you are prepping, you will have a better understanding of what you have to do. Prepping is life assurance and not life insurance; you are preparing to maintain life during and after a cataclysmic event.

What is required for life after the disaster? Surviving the crisis is one thing, but surviving in the aftermath is an entirely different scenario. You have to think outside the box because there really are no rules, and to survive you have to meet the challenges before they meet you because by then it is too late. People have survived natural disasters, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and so forth. However, who out there can say they survived a nuclear detonation in their city, a chemical attack where one drop of nerve agent on the skin is deadly in minutes and is there anyone that has survived a biological attack that spreads diseases and bacteria we only thought lived in nightmares. The next attack or disaster could break new ground in its intensity and devastation.
 
1. Have a Military Mindset
The military trains their soldiers to be mentaly tough. At some point, it may very well come down to survival of the fittest and of the smartest. You have to be physically able to do the tasks as well as have the metal fortitude to see them through to the finish. One hundred people can beat a large oak tree all day long with sticks and never fell the tree, nor even damage it. One person comes along and decides to put an axe head on one of the stout sticks and the tree is felled in a matter of hours by one person. This is how you must think as you begin to prepare for a disaster.
 
2. Bring the Heat
You will have to defend what is yours. People that you otherwise thought were not a risk to you will be a risk during a calamity. Parents will be desperate, and will go to great lengths to feed their families. Those parents may be your friends and neighbors. Firearms are vital and you should have them for protection during the crisis. You cannot ?shoo? people away like a stray animal they will want, no they will need, what you have and will turn to violence to get it. If you are not prepared to defend your family, yourself and possessions there is no point in even preparing. You will be living in a ?new normal? so get up to speed quickly or you will be overrun. Do not let your ideology destroy your chances for survival.

A good feeling is realizing you had a firearm and did not need to use it. That sinking feeling, that total feeling of failure, is when you need a firearm and do not have it. Once at that point, you can only wish. Never get caught in the position where you can only wish you had what you needed to protect your family. Always be in the position where you have what you need when you need it.

3. Prep Like Macgyver
Everyone has seen the old TV show Macgyver and if you haven?t, it?s about a guy who could make amazing things out of everyday household items. If you stop and think, you will realize much of what Macgyver does is common sense. These are things that you can do, but maybe not to the same extremes.

Inventory your location and you will realize much of what you need is already there aside from the stockpiles of food and water and certain other items.

Duct tape, the uses are endless. It can be used to repair virtually anything temporarily. Use it for rope by twisting several strips together. Use it for fire starting (a small piece will ignite from sparks) binds bandages to wounds and use to hold splints in place to immobilize fractured bone. Use it to restrain people. Twist into string for fishing and use as a fly or other flying insect catcher. Take a one-foot strip, sprinkle sugar on the adhesive side, and hang near doorways and open windows. Flying insects will stick to the adhesive. Flies are attracted by the sugar. Lay a strip on the floor to trap ants and other crawling insects as well. When the power goes out and the doors and windows are open to cool the home, you will need to control insects. Cups of cider vinegar placed about will attract and capture fruit flies and certain other pests that get into your foods. You have to begin to think about the little things such as pest. Things you took for granted and could control with modern gadgets and conveniences.
A crowbar is a multi-tool. You can hammer with it, pry with it and even pull nails. Keep one in your attic and garage at all times. Have you ever thought about what happens if you become trapped in your attic? How do you get onto the roof? Floods and home invaders can force a family to retreat to the attic. You must have a way out. Have an emergency ladder, made of rope or nylon that can be fastened to the roof joists for escaping from the roof. Use the crowbar and other tools to break your way through the roof decking. Crowbars can be used to disable vehicles as well by punching holes in tires and radiators. Make sure the crowbar is one of the larger ones so you have leverage and weight. Not to mention, a crowbar is an ideal personal defense weapon.

Use your imagination when prepping such as cutting a gallon water jug in half. One-half is a usable container for eating out of, serving food out of and so on. The other half with the handle and cap can be used as a funnel by taking the cap off or used as a large glass or water pitcher with a handle. To make a portable shower cut just an inch off the bottom of the jug so you have most of the container that can be filled with water. Bore four holes in the cap and once filled the water will spray from the holes. Hang the jug overhead and stand under the flow for a quick wash. You can use a watering can for the same purpose.

- Use vitamin C tablets to flavor stale water

- Use dental floss for fishing line, binding things together and for stitching up wounds. The floss is relatively sterile but always use a quality topical antiseptic when tending to wounds.

- Use the top edge of your car windows to sharpen knives. The glass along the edge is not polished and will provide a rough surface to hone knives

- No eyedropper for measuring bleach to purify water? Then take a small strip of clean paper and lay one end in a spoonful of bleach. When you pick the paper up it will begin to form drops. Each drop from the paper is equivalent to an eyedropper measurement.

- Condoms can hold up to a gallon of water for carrying and storage in an emergency, wrap in a bandana for easy carrying.
 
4. You Have To Be Self-Sufficient
You cannot rely on anyone else especially the local, state and federal government. Assume they will be out of operation for the foreseeable future. People tend to prepare with the thought of things getting back to normal in a prescribed time. This actually hampers their preparations because they will hold back thinking help will come eventually, it may not so you have to be ready.
 
5. Put Your Back Into It
A situation may arise where you will be forced to do some serious manual labor. Digging your own well could be a possibility. This may sound extreme and it is a lot of hard work but you need a water source that you control and one that cannot be contaminated purposely or otherwise. Though it requires hard work, it is not a complicated process. Tools and materials required include a pickaxe, shovel, ladders, bucket and rope along with PVC piping for attaching a hand pump.

6. Mark Your Territory
Locate and mark all farms in your area out to a 50-mile radius. You will naturally have an aversion to using other people?s property but if the farm is abandoned, the produce will rot on the vine and animals will die in their pens. Use the resources before others get to them. People will flee and leave behind valuable items that you must use to survive. Know where to go for resources before disaster strikes.
 
7. Commercial Opportunities
Local plant nurseries and greenhouses should be located for future use. You have to realize that not everyone will survive the crisis. You have to wrap your mind around the fact things will change, do not become a victim because you refused to do what was necessary, within limits of course. This article by no means condones or encourages, taking from others but merely intends to show you that if the resources have been abandoned you have an opportunity to improve your quality of living and you must take advantage of certain situations.
 
8.  Stack Your Resources
This only applies in an extreme situation, if the event is of such a nature that life and society has changed forever. Your neighbors may not have survived. You need to do what is required to combine their resources with your own. You have to essentially homestead their property and make it your own. However, this does not apply during tornadoes, and hurricanes and the like but when the world has been turned upside down. If you do not, others will. You have to begin thinking about rebuilding your society around you. You will need resources and time and the only way to gain time is to have the needed things to survive today with. To survive you will need currency for the new society. Currency will be possessions, knowledge and fortitude of mind and body.
 
9. Forage Like a Pro
Foraging is simply locating and gathering a food source, but you can forage for other items as well and you should be actively be locating items now that you can go to when an event occurs. Car batteries for example, can be used in an emergency as an arc welder and this is only mentioned in passing because it is possible in theory. Amps are what are required to heat the metal and not voltage; car batteries can supply sustainable amperage for various tasks. You would require heavy-duty jumper cables, and welding/brazing rods. It has been stated in various places that a penny was used as a welding rod but logic should tell you that the metal properties of a penny would not be conducive to welding. This is not something you should try unless there is an absolute need to weld metal. This is for informational purposes only. This is only to get you thinking about uses for items that you would not normally consider.
 
10. Barter Items
Stockpile items even if you do not use them yourself such as tobacco products, alcohol, and non-prescription and prescription medications. Pet food and pet care items will be needed by some that you can use to trade for items they have and do not use. Shoes, clothing, and any household items can be used for barter. Start gathering things now that can be traded when things go bad.
 
11. Offer Your Knowledge
Do you have any kind of medical training, engineering and even military training? These will be much needed skills during a crisis. Do not be afraid to offer your training to others in exchange for things or information they possess. Sell or trade produce and other things such as eggs if you have chickens, or milk if you have goats or dairy cows.
 
12. Learn To Be The Silent Type
If people conclude, you have a home and garden store, a grocery store and a mechanical shop all in one at your home, whom do you suppose they will be looking for during a catastrophe. You simply do not know how people will react to the crisis. They may become overwhelmed and will do things in desperation. Do not assume your friends today will be your friends during a crisis. Harsh as it sounds your first priority is to your family and to yourself. Once everyone has settled down then you can decide if you can help or not. People will try to take advantage of your good nature, so be careful about making alliances in the initial stages of the event.
 
Tricks and Tips
If things have gone bad and there is no recovery forthcoming, you have to start building sustainability such as getting a garden started and raising chickens, goats and even larger livestock.
Tip: Remove your hot water tank and place it outside. Place it on blocks so you can build a small fire underneath to heat large volumes of water for disinfecting it, for bathing and other uses. The tanks will have a spigot at the bottom for draining so attach a hose to drain off what is needed. This would only work if the tank were metal. Some newer tanks are of formed hard plastics. You can use the non-metal tank for storage of water however, and if elevated onto the back of a truck bed you can use gravity as a way of distributing the water.

Start looking around your home and imagine what things can be used for other than their intended purpose.

Did you know that at about 20 feet ( 6 meters) below the surface the ground temperature is always between 50 and 60ᵒF (10 to 16ᵒC). This is about how deep most wells should be or even deeper so that means the water in the well is also the same temperature and anyone needing to store medications at a certain temperature can do so. Any surface water that is covered and has air flow across the surface will cool the surrounding area. This is the same concept that ?swamp coolers? use. Years ago, people built springhouses over natural springs and one reason they did so was for the cooling effects caused by the water evaporating. They kept fresh milk and produce in the springhouse.

[JohnyMac]

Still it's good stuff Crudos...Thx for posting.

I would add one other thing. TG and I were talking about this subject last week - Make sure you pre-place some 5 gallon capped Home Depot type buckets with friends.

In these buckets you could have a handgun and ammo. Precious metals, an extra pair of boots, food, medicine, etc. It's crazy to have all of your eggs in one basket. I think this goes back to Ken's dream in another post too.