Make this the year you get better prepared. Here are 35 projects to launch you into action. Each is low budget; some require nothing more than your time. Most require no more than a weekend to complete.
- Get organized! Begin a 3-ring binder to organize notes; this will be your Emergency Binder. Use it to consolidate your preparations, notes and lists in one place.
- Research on Google Earth the area around your house. Get to know your danger areas. Where are the “choke points” for escape via automobile? Where are the natural water supplies? Where are the risks? Make notes for your Emergency Binder.
- Using Google Earth, find three different routes from work to home, from home to your safe place and other places you may need to travel. (Pick up children from school, etc.) Identify possible problem areas. Update your Binder
- Buy a detailed laminated paper map of your city and county. Store in your binder.
- Begin to accumulate $200 in 1-dollar bills. Store in your waterproof, fireproof, secret compartment place in your home. When able, increase to $500.
- Scan your personal documents and copy to a thumb drive. Store the thumb drive in a safe place. Include social security cards, passports, birth, driver’s license, marriage, divorce decrees, insurance and title documents, deeds and contracts, bank account numbers and charge cards, (including lost or stolen notification numbers), stocks and bonds, wills, medical information, prescriptions, etc. If you have some survival books or guides on your computer, you can also include a few of these on that thumb drive as well.
- Scan head-and-shoulder photos of each family member. Save to your thumb drive. Print a copy for your Emergency Binder. If family becomes separated, a recent photo may help.
- Video or scan still photos of your home contents. When disaster strikes, having a home inventory will help with insurance claims. Copy to your thumb drive.
- Start saving plastic 2-liter pop bottles (not milk jugs, they decompose). Sanitize and fill 1 with ¾ with water. Use it to fill any empty space in your freezer. If your electric fails, this ice jug will help keep food preserved in the freezer as well as being a source of drinking water. If space permits, have a least 1 2-liter bottle in the freezer per person.
- Ask friends and family members to save soda bottles for you. Lie about your intentions, (tell them it’s a school project for little Johnny). Sanitize the bottle, lid and threads. Fill with tap water. Your goal is to accumulate 30 bottles per family member and large pet. You can also use soda bottles for fishing.
- Prepare a “Car” 72-hour emergency bag. Think Shelter, Water, Fire, & Food. Pack into a backpack. Store it in your car. Revise it with the change in seasons.
- Store survival bars in your emergency bags.
- Catch up on immunizations, dental and medical procedures. Invest in your family’s health.
- Learn to shut off your home’s water, electric, and natural gas. Teach your spouse and children.
- Replace those exterior door hinge screws with 3” screws, reinforce the door jamb and add deadbolts with at least a 1” throw. Add pins to casement windows.
- Update exterior lighting around your home, garage and out buildings. These should be solar, motion-detected security lights. Mount high up so that vandals can’t reach. Stock extra light bulbs.
- Check the status of your fire extinguisher, fire alarms and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (battery powered) with each spring time change. Stockpile 1 extra battery for each alarm
- Buy and mount an axe in your attic. In the flood plains, if you retreat to your attic, you need a way to cut through your roof as a means to escape.
- Get on the other side of the law by joining your local Sheriff’s auxiliary, search and rescue, joining your local CERT (Civilian Emergency Response Team), or getting licensed for Armed Private Security in your state. None of these are guaranteed to give you a pass when you’re dealing with an Orwellian law enforcement official, but they will improve your odds considerably
- Make some dryer lint fire starters.
- Build a heater out of a candle and some terra cotta pots.
- Make a candle from a tub of Crisco.
- Earthquake proof your home and food storage shelving. See the post at Prepared LDS Family for some great ideas and be sure to scroll down into the comment section as well.
- Get in your food storage room and do an inventory or some organizing
- Protect your electronics with your own homemade metal trash can faraday cage.
- In a multi-car family, one vehicle will probably sit during a crisis. Consider long-term storage (longer than 6 months) and determine your auto’s needs.
- Committing to reading one homesteading or self-sufficiency type book each month for the next year. Search for free books on Amazon.com for Kindle“Camp out” in your backyard with your family.
- Find out what you don’t know about living off the grid for 1 weekend. No matter what the weather, deal with it. Pitch the tent, sleep in sleeping bags, eat from can foods.
- Harden the garage door with reinforced tracks. Supplement glass with Lexan, Plexiglas or security film mounted inside. Decide where is best to park the un-needed vehicle – in the garage? Used as a barrier on the property? Hidden and camouflaged?
- Check oil and coolant. Drain or add anti freeze to windshield wash reservoir. Remove anything that will mold, rot or mildew. Anything that will attract rodents to nest. Jack it up or sit it on concrete blocks to keep tires from developing flat spots.
- Disconnect the fuel pump and run the car until it quits to drain fuels from the engine lines. Insert steel wool in the tailpipe to prevent rodents from nesting in the exhaust system. Place several rodent traps in the engine compartment.
- Do not engage parking brake as the pads may become fused. Remove battery and cover
- Plant prickly bushes under windows to deter vandalism. Consider other ways to use landscaping to your security advantage.
- Power tools don’t operate without electricity, pre-cut ¾” plywood to cover all first floor windows. Especially in hurricane/tornado areas. Pre-drill holes so that you can install plywood easily. I was more worried about looters so I chose to make chain-link panels for my windows. They store flat, and can be handled/installed by one person. I can see out the window and it protects my window from a Molotov cocktail. Sure, there are better options, but this is cheap and you can accomplish it immediately while you research other options
- Find 10 survival-type recipes that your family likes – 10 breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Ingredients must be all shelf-stable foods. Stockpile enough ingredients to make each recipe 3 times and you have 30 days of food storage.
MsKYPrepper, we could have a lot of fun, I think! Just sharing and learning from one another.
There is an exception I’d like to raise to using google earth, if you will forgive me for being an old “shtick in the mud” -again! ;) I have grave concerns about using google or google earth, especially in a situation such as this. Google has become very sophisticated at tracking every keystroke entered on their sites; you use google earth, they’ve got your exact location pinpointed, and all of your points of interest. OpSec in me is screaming: No! No! No!
I NEVER use google as a search engine: only “www.duckduckgo.com” – there are others out there, I’m sure, but this one DOES NOT track anything, which is why preppers, in general, like it.
Just use a good, old-fashioned paper map and keep it well hidden except to those whom you want it revealed. In fact, not one but use “backups”. “ONE IS NONE, TWO IS ONE” – AND 3 MAKES ME HAPPY!
Make weekend “trips” to those areas of interest, see them in advance, and know exactly what you’re getting yourself into, and what it should look like when you arrive at each and every point.
There is still time to do this, but I wouldn’t be too slow about getting started.
OpSec (Operational Security): it may seem “silly” today – tomorrow it will save your lives.
Hundreds of thousands of people are using google maps at the same time all the time. Researching your neighborhood prior to the need to know isn’t probably a red flag at this point. (I believe they observe and record trends more than individual use.) Whether it’s google or somebody else, everything we bring into and send out of our computers is logged in the ethersphere one way or another. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not endorsing one search engine over another, I’m just saying this application is not the most dangerous on google.
MsKYprepper did not suggest using the electronic mapping in an emergency, only for educational purposes. Furthermore, the possibility of technology being compromised in some way during an emergency is high. The mandatory GPS units in new cars is more of a concern to me. My son about led himself and his sister into the most dangerous section of San Diego using some GPS directions application on a cell phone.
My dad would not let me have a drivers license until I had met HIS criteria which included map reading. Everyone, even in ‘normal’ times, should know how to read (and fold) a paper map, including a topo.
Another nice thing about using paper on your recon excursions is you can write notes about specific spots or intersections in a notebook and cross reference with a number written on the map. This way you don’t forget anything when you get home to discuss and evaluate your plans.
Hi, Pam!
You’re right on a couple of points, kinda-sorta (is that English?!)
“Hundreds of thousands of people are using google maps at the same time all the time” – the numbers are probably even bigger, even as we write these messages – and the computer system has no difficulty keeping up with them. This is exactly the point: people are being tracked with every keystroke, and there is no problem keeping up with them in real time.
Yes, keystrokes are logged into the ethersphere – but most of them have to be either purchased or surrendered by “other” entities beyond those doing the collection; not all search engines are selling or giving it to our gubment on a daily basis – google is, and this is not a secret.
It really doesn’t matter whether you’re pinpointing locations for “educational” or “emergency” purposes – they are still pinpointed. The question is, “when SHTF, do you want to be that easily found?”.
OpSec: I do not.
Blessings,
My preference is to go beyond all that with a GPS and map programs that go with it. The map programs cover a large area, and you can custom print whatever areas you desire with whatever markers and labels you want to put on it. They can be on your PC, GPS unit(s), printed out, or however you want to use them. The maps can be used without the GPS, on a laptop if you desire.
There is total flexibility, and almost absolute privacy!
It is worth noting that in an emergency situation, it is doubtful that the GPS satellites would go down for quite some time, so you should be able to use the GPS. If they did, you could have printed maps to fall back on, with a compass. The map programs let you plan routes, calculate area & distance, travel time walking, biking, or driving. You can mark certain points, secret places, or whatever!
I even go a step beyond that, and use GPS units that have a radio built with it that allows you to send and receive voice, and locations. They can also be ‘scrambled’ for privacy. The radio/GPS units also receive the emergency broadcast channels to receive alerts. They even show phases of the moon, speed being traveled, and lots more! They are like an outdoorsman’s PDA.
These units allow you to about anything you could imagine with mapping and communication. They are the Rino series by Garmin. You can check them out at the Garmin website.
Very useful, JfI! Thanks!
Might I also suggest that along with scanning all the documents mentioned that you keep a list of all the account numbers of the gas and electric supply company and the names on them (some of these are in my husband’s name and some in both of our names). Also have a family photo with everyone in them. There was a horror scenario during Katrina reported that a family was broken up when the authorities believed that the adopted children were being stolen by people claiming to be their parents and so the children were sent in one direction and the parents in another with the parents denied access for weeks as they had no proof that they were indeed a family. A similar snafu occurred when a young child was fair haired in an otherwise very dark haired family. Have photos of children with their grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends who may be called to care on them during troubles.
Wow, who would think of that? Superb advise!
My wife is in charge of the food and she has found a great time saver. Go to http://www.srmarketplace.com and get a discount account, then use the food storage calculator to estimate what foods you need for your family based on caloric intake, age, etc. Once that’s done and you deleted the stuff you already have the company sends you some of the items on your list each month up to your budgeted amount. They call it “THE Q” , it’s great! All you need is 15 min. to set it up and now our food storage is on auto pilot! Each month we get a delivery right to our home.
Sorry for the slow response – a busy few days :(
Filling your freezer with water bottles will also have a good, unexpected pre-SHTF effect – your power usage will go down. The machine doesn’t have to work as hard when there is a lot of cold thermal mass in the freezer (NOT an excuse to avoid defrosting – that will clog vents and make it die prematurely)
A six-pack or 2 of the little 10oz. “gym size” bottles is not a bad idea to keep around. When you take out a large item, stick a few in the empty spot, and let them thaw and reuse when you have something new to fill the freezer :)
Try saving those cranberry juice jugs for storage. THey are a much heavier polycarbonite bottles that seal up air tight and are much more durable. The rectangular ones make great kithchen storage for everything from rice, sugar, beans, and other dry ingredients. I’ve been buying one a week instead of the usual diet soda. It’s my morning breakfast drink (with a teaspoon of apple cider for a twang)for my health. Clean the bottles very good when empty. I use them as my water bottle for work for a week or two. That helps remove any lasting cranberry smell from the plastic before they get filled for storage with dried goods. Works much better than purchasing those cheaper made storage containers from the store.
Great Tip Babette! Thank You!
Bev :)