The Reality of Prepping!

An overview on the prepping mindset.

Contrary to popular perception, prepping isn't all about, food, fire, foraging, firearms, and fermenting. In it's broader sense, prepping is about putting plans in place to minimise the negative impact of an otherwise unexpected event.

There are many events which could arise unexpectedly. These could include a loss of income, an injury, an accident, a fire, flat tyre, breakdown, electrical grid failure, food shortages, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) or solar flare as well as many others outlined in the list at the end of this post.

In order to ensure that we are best prepared in the wake of an unpleasant event taking place, we must invest time into thinking about what the outcome may be from the event itself, such as no income, no food, no water, etc and then implement strategies to mitigate the potentially negative outcomes.

The events of the past two years saw many people lose their job for many reasons. I fall into this category. This has the potential to impact on people directly, their family, and their lifestyle as well as the emotional stress that can come alongside.

A loss of income has some obvious and immediate impacts. Without the employee income which most of the population rely on in order to pay our bills including mortgages or rent, we may not have a place to live for very long if we haven't put some measures in place to mitigate this outcome.

To prevent the loss of a home, we need the following things:

1. Money to pay the mortgage/rent

2. Food to eat in order to minimise the outgoing expenses

3. Other ways to minimise other expenses such as electricity usage, eating out, other leisure activities

This is a simple analogy on something that has affected many of us during the 2020 - 2022. To address the first point on the short list above, here are a number of measures we can put in place to 'tick the box' in addressing what we need to reduce the risk.

Money to pay the mortgage/rent.

• The most obvious way to have money to pay the mortgage or rent is to save money prior in preparation. Putting a specific amount of remaining cash away each week or month will assist with this. Those who don't have much left at the end of the month may get some benefit from this article from Budget Direct.

• Side hustle - Use your existing skills or hobby or start a business to generate an additional stream of income. There's a great read from Robert Pagliarini that can assist with this.

• Recurring income - This one is my favourite. Generating an income that continues to come in month after month without having to turn up is a godsend. This can be done by investing in rental property or stocks/shares when times are good, or even starting your own online business to diversify your income. Wix has some great tools to assist in creating a professional website without needing any prior web development experience.

The above scenario is something that we can either relate to or conceive as it is something we can all fathom. However, there are many other scenarios that we aren't too familiar with such as many of those on the list at the bottom of the post.

Major examples could be a fire, a flood, or even a "terrorist" attack. In these times, the modern conveniences that we so readily rely upon may not be as accessible, if they are even available at all.

If the electric grid goes down, the supply chain is severely interrupted, or we are left in a WROL situation, then we need to consider how we would feed ourselves, where we would get clean water to drink, cook and bathe, and how we would keep warm.

In the prepper community, there is the Rule of Three. This rule covers the vital things we need to stay alive and how long we can live (or rather how long until we die) without them.

1. Three minutes without air

2. Three hours without shelter

3. Three days without water

4. Three weeks without food

Taking the Rule of Three into consideration, what would you need to prepare in order to ensure that these things are taken care of in the case of an unexpected event?

• Do you have clean air to breathe? (Think fires, riots, or contamination)

• Do you have a safe place to stay warm in a cold/wet environment or cool in a harsh/hot environment?

• Do you have enough clean water to last you through until you can replenish your supply?

• Do you have enough food to last you through until you can replenish your supply?

It's not an impossibility from needing to have any or all of these things prepared for outside of the existing conveniences that we currently have access to. Take a look at what has been happening in Jackson, Mississippi or even at home during the times of severe bushfires as well as those who were in the ash clouds of New York during the events of 9/11 or what the devastating effects that another Carrington Event would have today to see just how quickly what we take for granted can be taken away. Australia's volatile food supply chain has also been making international news.

When we prepare, we aren't only helping ourselves by maintaining what we need to survive, but we are also taking some of the burden from society and emergency services (in some cases) which then allows them to assist those who haven't done their own work to help themselves.

Extreme examples could be a total economic collapse or a Without Rule of Law (WROL) situation. In these times, the modern conveniences that we so readily rely upon are not likely to be accessible at all.

In these cases, it is up to us and our community that we create around us to get through these times.

The Rule of Three applies in this situation however, we may be in it for the long haul.

• Without power, do you have a way to cook your food?

• Without water, do you have a way to procure, filter, and sanitise your water?

• Without internet or the telephone system, do you have a way to communicate with others?

• Without fuel, do you have a plan and a way to get to another, safer location?

• Without gas, do you have a way to keep yourself and your loved ones warm?

These are just a few of the many questions to ask yourself to see how well you are prepared or how long you may survive without these conveniences.

If you're going to rely on fire as a method to cook, boil water and stay warm, have you considered:

• How you would light the fire?

• How long would your fire lighting method last? A lighter only has so much gas and flint and matches come in a finite amount.

• Where would you procure firewood from?

• How far is the wood from your base camp, home, bug out location, etc?

• How many others will be relying on this same location?

• Will lighting a fire attract unwanted attention?

• Do you have appropriate cookware?

• Is it safe to light a fire where you anticipate doing so?

There are many ways to light a fire and David West has a plethora of ways to achieve this. I highly recommend watching his videos.

Survival Supplies Australia also have many options for ways to start a fire. One of my favourites is the Dragon's Breath Ferro Rod and Striker however they have many other options as well as a vast range of other prepping and survival gear including water filtration, survival food, and first aid gear to name a few. We get into these items in another post.

Aussie Prepping and Survival Skills (APASS) aims to bring people together to create communities where we can collaborate and build our survival networks so we aren't left on our own when things reach the tipping point. It's also a place for like minded people to get together virtually as well as face to face in our local areas to build mental strength knowing that we aren't alone. This also gives us the ability to form relationships and trust within our communities where we can support one another as well as trade commodities.

Join our telegram group to become part of the APASS community of like minded preppers - t.me/awakeaussieprepper

For our telegram channel without chat, join here - t.me/apasschannel

As a whole, prepping is a mindset and what we put into action around said mindset. It's about the plan of action which is implemented before we need it. It's about having the right strategy, skills, tools, plans of action, and gear for when we need it.

In other posts, we drill down on specific scenarios, food storage methods, growing our own produce, security, safety, first aid, how to connect with others, recommended gear, and links to other resources where we can all learn and grown in the field of prepping and survival.

Follow our telegram group for more information and to connect with those that are like minded - Aussie Prepping and Survival Skills

Feel free to drop me a line with any comments, questions, or collaboration suggestions.

Click to view Potential Scenarios to Prepare for:

Flood

Flat Tyre

Breakdown

House Fire

Automobile Fire

WROL

SHTF

Famine

Supply Chain Issues

Loss of Income

Economic Collapse

Grid Failure

Food Shortages

Water Supply Disruption

War

"Pandemic"

Martial Law

EMP

Solar Flare

Polar Shift

Carrington Event

Civil Unrest

Communication Disruption

Embargo/Sanction

Extreme Cold

Extreme Heat

Drought

Injury

Medical

Water Contamination

Air Contamination

Burglary

Theft

Hold Up

Hypothermia

Hyperthermia

Dust Storm

Bushfire

Tsunami

Earthquake

Avalanche

Hurricane

Home Invasion

Bail In Laws

Godspeed!