Prepping « Robin Writes

Prep Monday – A To-Do List

Come on, ya’ll knew I’d make a to-do list for this too, right?

It occurred to me that, while we have quite a few supplies laid by and know what we’ll do when SHTF, that none of these things matter unless we’re practiced and prepared to move – to take action, to follow through, you know the drill.

First, I’ll start with before it all goes down:

“Stuff” is in one spot, with an updated inventory.
Weapons, etc. are in another spot.
We have a truck, and extra fuel.
We know where we’re going – and if that isn’t possible, we have emergency instructions and maps to go elsewhere.

Next, we need a plan if SHTF decides to happen on any day besides Sunday, when we’re all together. And “the others” need to know where to go if they aren’t here that day. So, odds being what they are, that’s six days of the week where our immediate family will be scattered. Who knows about the others, which means they need to know the meeting spot and have a code word to make sure this IS SHTF and it’s time to GOOD.

Whoever is at home or closest will grab the weapons and secure the house
Whoever has the truck will immediately stop whatever else he or she is involved in and high-tail it home. Whoever has the car will do likewise. Parent closest to school picks up the kid.
Truck loaded, everyone out.

Sure, it will take time. Maybe forty minutes, tops. Can’t be helped. Not like we can sit around waiting for it all to go down, right? We, like you all, have jobs, school, lives, etc.

But the point is that there IS a plan, and since we’re prepared, both mentally and with supplies at hand, it’s more like taking a fast camping trip. A really fast one!

And sure, we practice. Not necessarily the load-it-all-up-and-go, but the rest of it, yes. You can too:

Designate which person is where at the time of SHTF – change this up now and again, so you can prepare for any eventuality. (Practice, too, for other variables, like traffic and general panic and accidents. Know when you should leave, when you should wait for others.)

Note the time. Yell “GO!”

Those who have to drive to arrive at home must first wait and do nothing during that “drive time;” whoever is at home, swings into action. Others “arrive” and the task is completed. See how long it takes.

Once in a while, depends entirely on you, take a practice run to your bug-out destination. Try different routes. Be aware of changes – ownership, construction on roads and neighboring properties, improvements, etc. can all turn out to be surprises. Bad ones.

To sum it all up, it doesn’t make much difference if you have a pantry full of food and a garage with your gear and other supplies if you don’t A) have a place to go and B) a method of transport. And if you run around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to GOOD without practice, you’re going to forget at least half of what you need.

Remember those fire and tornado drills in school? Yeah, they still do those – in schools. Some families do them at home, too, but we never did. You probably didn’t either, but now might be a good time to start having SHTF drills.

How do you do it? How do you plan for the future?

In the last few years, there have been a lot of news stories about the “end of the world” and “believers” who sell everything they own and get ready to be raptured. Most people shake their heads over this kind of behavior, but isn’t prepping a little bit like this?

Yes, it is.

If you believe in an apocalypse, or economic collapse, or even zombies (yeah, right), and you’re prepping – just how far do you take it? How do you balance the present with the possibilities of the future?

I’ll tell you how:

Just like you prepare for any future.

See, if you weren’t worried about the economy, the food supply, the criminal element (including, of course, politicians), you’d be planning for the future, right? College for the kids, savings of your own, home improvement, retirement, etc., etc.

As a prepper, you’re planning for the future too – but not necessarily one in which you picture the kids coming home for the holidays or lounging around your new pool or traveling in your golden years.

But what if there IS no apocalypse? No disaster? Is it possible to be prepared for everything, for any eventuality?

Yes. I think so. It’s like a work/life balance, except preppers have life/prep balance.

Back in the day, I had a little book with pockets on some pages. The book talked about saving versus spending, and the pockets were to divide up your allowance. Still cute for kids today, if you can find one. The point is that, just like in this little book, we as adults are instructed to save 10%, donate/tithe 10%, spend 10% on ourselves, and the rest is for bills and so forth.

Sure, it’s hard to do – even more when you divide up the savings part into college, retirement, short-term, long-term, and whatever else you choose. And, too, with rising costs, well, it ain’t easy!

But I simply propose another 5% or 10%, whatever you can squeeze in there, for prepping of another kind, the kind we do “just in case” SHTF. You can call it your SHTF Fund. Catchy, huh?

When do you expect your prepping to pay off, so to speak? Next year? Five years? Ten? Not in your lifetime? For myself, I’m thinking in the next two to five years. If we make it past that, maybe all this work will pay off in our kids’ lifetimes, or in our later years. Hard to say, really. Those with more knowledge than I may have a different timeframe – feel free to weigh in!

The point is that you have to be ready for ANYTHING.