# Will you survive the "New" Normal???



## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

As I talk to my friends who are preppers, most seem to be planning to survive for a few weeks or months until the Government resumes and normalcy is restored...BUT what if the government collapses and the electricity doesn't come back on? What if there is an EMP or some other catastrophe occurs? Are you prepared to survive and adapt to the "New Normal"? Are you psychologically prepared as well? What will happen to you when the gas runs out and your generator quits? Are you going to be able to survive mentally and physically?


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

all I can answer with is: :dunno:

my _*plan*_ is to outlast the sheeple with a strategy of laying low coupled with making it mathematically disadvantageous to try to 'take my stuff' (it takes a real zombie to think that can of Spam is worth getting a bullet to the head, crippled in a trap, poisoned/infected by dookie coated punji-sticks, or worse... and hopefully by that time they'll have whittled their numbers away through attrition and attacking softer targets)

my parents can't bug-out and my off-property hidden caches are only good for 1 or 2 people and are placed to get from one to the next, and truthfully if it's winter maybe not even then with the cold, the extra effort to move through snow and break hard ground, the lack of unfrozen water and fish/game... :gaah::surrender:


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I expect to be good for about a year. We have food and water for about that long. We have guns and ammo. Ways to heat our home and cook our food. We don't have land so we won't be able to grow our own food. Even if we had the land I can't image being able to adapt to farming without tractors or even horses. We would have serious problems surviving long term without a return to normal after a year or so.


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

What would make a person think that the government could come back and fix a problem that they let get out of control in the first place. If Shtf on a big scale kiss this marketing driven life style goodbye. the simple true valuation of the chinese currency would tripple or more the price of all the "cheap chinese" goods, and that alone would create mayhem. 

The new normal will most likely be selfsufficient life punctuated by protecting said life from those who want to take it.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I’m prepared for quite a few new normal’s. Am I prepared for all new normal’s that could come along? No way and I don’t think I could prepare for all of them.

Besides a good stock of stores, preparing for me means being able to survive as a minimalist, getting by on as little as possible. For example artificial lighting. Do I need to have 6 lights lit at once in a room? No, I only need one candle to have enough light to do what I need to do in the darkness of my home. You just have to accept that when it is night out you can only see the circle around you, not the whole room. Do I need to have a TV, laptop or any other electronic toys to keep me busy? Nope, a stick and a few small rocks could keep me occupied for quite a while. How many different games can you think of using these two common items? Do I need to keep warm in the winter? You bet I do! A chainsaw is really nice for firewood but an axe and/or bow saw will get the job done too. Do I need air conditioning in the summer? It would be nice but I survived this past summer without any. I break life down into basic components of wants versus needs and go from there. You can get by on surprisingly little if you really had to. You first have to accept that fact and learn to be happy with it.

I lived in NE PA for a year with no electric or inside running water and heated the farmhouse with a wood cookstove. Primitive and a pain in the rearend at times? You’re darn tooting it was! Did I survive? You betcha! Did I learn to be happy with very little? Sure did and looking back I was pretty happy with my situation and could easily do it again. But... Only if I really had to. There is something magical about walking into a dark room, hitting a switch and having light!!! Or waking up to a warm home not a frozen glass of water next to the bed.


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## Frugal_Farmers (Dec 13, 2010)

BillS said:


> I expect to be good for about a year. We have food and water for about that long. We have guns and ammo. Ways to heat our home and cook our food. We don't have land so we won't be able to grow our own food. Even if we had the land I can't image being able to adapt to farming without tractors or even horses. We would have serious problems surviving long term without a return to normal after a year or so.


You would be surprised how you can manage crops without the assistance of machinery.

Highly suggest anyone with the means to find a patch of land suitable for growing small scale crops to do so. Get ahold of open pollinated seed and be prepared for the long haul.

Guns, ammo and precious metals may be good to have on hand, but in the long haul, you can't eat anyof them.

We have plans in place to ride it out for the long haul and actually practice many scenarios. A prepping friend made the comment the other dya that it appeared that I had my own little "lab" set up on the property. I continue to explore many options and experiment with lot's of new projects.

The key to remember is that things will NEVER return to normal and each of us MUST be able to adapt to ever changing scenarios.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

kejmack said:


> As I talk to my friends who are preppers, most seem to be planning to survive for a few weeks or months until the Government resumes and normalcy is restored...BUT what if the government collapses and the electricity doesn't come back on? What if there is an EMP or some other catastrophe occurs? Are you prepared to survive and adapt to the "New Normal"? Are you psychologically prepared as well? What will happen to you when the gas runs out and your generator quits? Are you going to be able to survive mentally and physically?


If TSHTF, I won't be looking to the govt to fix anything. I can live without central heat a whole lot easier than I can AC, even though our house was built for cooling with 13 ft. ceilings, transoms & the windows & doors line up for ease of air movement. When you open this house up, there's air moving even on the stillest of days. However, the lack of AC will be a huge adjustment. I would miss the internet, too. Our plan is to ration our generator fuel enough that we can wean ourselves off of electricity gently. 

We have enough food stored to last more than a few months but we would need to garden & raise animals to have a continuous supply. I suspect taters, beef & bunny seasoned with jalepenos would be a large portion of our diet.


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## PamsPride (Dec 21, 2010)

I am trying to plan to survive for the long haul. I am trying to set up breeding livestock so that my livestock can reproduce. To me that means keeping a male: goat, rabbit, turkey and roo around. I am trying to get my garden to the point that it produces a substantial amount of our food. Even if we have to eat the same three things for EVERY meal it is still A MEAL. So once I make enough room in my garden/on my property to grow enough of that one veggie to last my family of 8 for a year I have been adding something else in somewhere else. Right now we would be living off of potatoes, green beans, and tomatoes, eggs, rabbit meat, and goats milk but we would not starve. 
If I have to survive without electric for the long haul...I am trying to plan for it. I am not planning on all of the food in my freezer for long term survival. I have a generator but I don't have any gas stored up for it. I have been slowly trying to empty out my freezer and then not refill it. 
I have been trying to plant a fruit tree or two every year. 
The things I am not prepared with: toiletries...mainly shampoo and toilet paper and cleaning supplies...mainly dish soap. It seems that no matter how much dish soap I buy we just run out of it FAST! And medical supplies. 

But I am trying to plan with the mindset that the electric may never come back on and the gov't may never get order restored. Am I ready for that? No! Will I ever be ready for that? Probably not. But the more I plan for it the easier it will be to adjust if it does happen.


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

Tirediron, Woody, FF, and tsrwivey:

Good posts all.
I agree, we will have to adapt to a much simpler life style and will basically have to return to the late 1800's or early 1900's style of living.
Day to day survival will not be easy and will require everyone in your group or family doing their part and sometimes more than their share.
As long as you are able to produce your basic food needs (after the first three months or so), have a good dependable water supply, a roof over your head and the means to stay warm in the winter and as cool as you can in the summer, you should be able to survive for quite a while.

I didn't mention defending what is yours, barter, clothing, dealing with "outsiders", meds & health items, sanitation, and a whole host of other items because we would be discussing wants and needs for a very long time. 
Everyone has their own ideas and plans to deal with whatever they see happening.

All I really can say to everyone on this forum is; I hope and pray that we are all able to endure, and remain in good spirits and in good health as we weather whatever storms come our way.

My daily prayer is; May the Lord bless us and keep us in his loving arms and may he not forsake this Nation. 

DM


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Finally; a post facing the truth and asking the real questions..sometimes we can get too much of canning jam...thanks for real topics with real solutions suggested.
Me?? Hell, I can't even find a way to cover 8 double windows!!!
I'm praying for bartering to make a 'come-back'. I'll teach yours to read--you give me potatoes.
Peace.

Pam'sPride--your post struck home for me--I have been storing food and supplies for 3 years; won't say how many years we have; even so, every day when I prepare dinner, I am thinking, use the food that is STS, not LTS...
I have cleaned the fridg using every thing in there that needed be.
Also, I tend to stray to the 2 freezers in the garage for dinner instead of to my 'store' which is one bedroom....so full now, had to put totes with rice in another bedroom.

Yeah, guarding food and boarding those windows---PITA


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## beericus (Apr 6, 2010)

dookie coated punji-sticks..... i am going to jot that down.....


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

PamsPride:

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you out on the "good posts". Your's must have slipped by be. After I saw and read it, it sounds like you do have your stuff together as far as planning for food.

Toiletries; When i was at Sam's the other day I noticed several things that I intend to start stocking.
They have huge bundles of paper napkins ( I believe several thousand in a bundle) that could be used as toilet paper. It may be a little rougher than Charmin, but it is actually cheaper, you get more and it will take up a lot less storage space.
I also saw that they had large boxes of powdered dish and laundry soap. That would seem to me to be the way to go.
We have been getting Lever soap (16 bars for under $8.00) also at Sam's.
They carry the three pack of Clorox bleach (multi uses) and that much bleach should last a good long time. 

The dollar stores usually carry quite a bit of first aid supplies, pain meds, alcohol, and a bunch of other needed supplies dirt cheap.

Hope this helps.
DM


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## lickit (Oct 6, 2011)

*old telephone books are free, make fine toilet paper*

but can't be "flushed". shtf, flush toilets won't work anyway.  So stockpile the phone books, not TP, The books won't rot in a year or 2, the way TP does. Get a dugout shelter shored up and be ready to line it with "space blanket" Mylar, and have adequate clothing and sleeping bags, and you won't need to heat it for the winter. Be ready to line it with white cotton sheets for the summer, making it easy to spot molds, fungi, insects,and deal with them. The sheets also keep such things out of contact with you, to a positive extent, at least. Cook with a "hobo stove", using one can inside the other, with ventilation holes, paraffin in the bottom half of the inside can, rocks between their bottoms, and several twisted mop strings as wicks. 50 lbs of paraffin will cook a family's food for a year, and it's $1 a lb on the Net.


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## Turtle (Dec 10, 2009)

Well, as I have said elsewhen on this site, the government's own studies show that it would probably take around 6 years to restore just the electrical grid in the event of a collapse. With that in mind, I'd say it's pretty obvious that 6months to a year of supplies will not be enough.

Learn skills, don't worry about stockpiling thirty years of supplies.

As for mentally preparing ... I highly recommend any of the books by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman.
http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-Society/dp/0316330116


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## lickit (Oct 6, 2011)

*after a year, nearly everyone will be dead.*

Lots of good items, like metal roofing, pipes, plastic sheeting, netting, cords, wires, diesel fuel, etc, etc, is going to be lying around for the taking. I have non hybrid garden seeds for the time after the first year, but I am not risking being above ground, in daylight, for sure, for that first year. I will simply let the diseases, starvation, bad water, and infighting kill off as many as possible, then I will be running much less risk with my garden plots, which I intend to keep small and well hidden, anyway.


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## Turtle (Dec 10, 2009)

lickit said:


> Lots of good items, like metal roofing, pipes, plastic sheeting, netting, cords, wires, diesel fuel, etc, etc, is going to be lying around for the taking. I have non hybrid garden seeds for the time after the first year, but I am not risking being above ground, in daylight, for sure, for that first year. I will simply let the diseases, starvation, bad water, and infighting kill off as many as possible, then I will be running much less risk with my garden plots, which I intend to keep small and well hidden, anyway.


I don't know about "nearly everyone" .... Maybe 70% will be dead? But yeah, either way, salvaging will become the major new career.


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## lickit (Oct 6, 2011)

*70% of 300mill people is 210 mill rotting bodies.*

you really THINK that that much of a disease vector is not going to kill lots more?


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

The first few years we lived out here, before we got the solar panels, we used oil lamps for lighting. It was nice, but we learned to get as many of the "real" chores done as we could during daylight hours. In the winter daylight is pretty short. 

My strategy is to be resillient. Roll with the changes, find a way to make do. We pretty much do that now, but we know that right now there's still the safety net of grocery stores and medical facilities. We'll have some adjusting to do if the SHTF.

Our weakness is going to be animal feed, especially for the chickens. We can't grow corn up here, and other grains are labor-intensive for hand-growing.


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## Turtle (Dec 10, 2009)

lickit said:


> you really THINK that that much of a disease vector is not going to kill lots more?


Yeah, I'd say that population dispersal will shift and spread pretty quickly. Granted, fifty miles around every major city will become a dead-zone, but I'd say that about 30% will survive. Maybe 25%.


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## lickit (Oct 6, 2011)

*I hope not, that will still be WAY too many to live*

very long by means of personal gardening, because that is all that will be left/possible. When columbus got here, with the HUGE herds of bison, elk, etc, only 3 million Indians were able to live by foraging. That's why I say only 1% are likely to survive shtf for a year or more.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

lickit said:


> but can't be "flushed". shtf, flush toilets won't work anyway.


If your septic is a gravity system, your toilets will still flush. You can collect rain water to use for that. One of the reasons I bought my last two houses is that they both have this system. Works without electricity or running water. You just have to fill the bowl.


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## lickit (Oct 6, 2011)

*u can waste that water and effort if you like.*

I'm using a hole in the ground and quicklime, myself.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

lickit said:


> When columbus got here, with the HUGE herds of bison, elk, etc, only 3 million Indians were able to live by foraging. That's why I say only 1% are likely to survive shtf for a year or more.


Exactly. We live in a rural area and everyone thinks "oh, there's lots of deer and other game, we'll be okay". But if our family (extended, if the SHTF and kids/spouses and grandkids make it here) needs a deer every two weeks to supplement the garden bounty, that's 26 deer a year, just for our family. I realize we could cut back on meat even more, but my point is, when you add in the other families around here all doing the same, the deer will be gone before long.

Same with foraging. There's a reason a lot of Indians were nomadic. Sure, we have a lot of wild greens and other edible plants here, but the ones with real substance/calories are roots and such, like Cattails. How many cattail roots do you think it takes to make a meal, times how many days before they're gone?

Without large commercial agriculture operations, starvation will eliminate the masses. And a lot of us, too.


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