# How Prepared Are You Really?



## Well_Driller (Jun 3, 2012)

So how prepared are you really for a long term disaster? It's easy enough to be prepared for the short term, but how about long term? If we were put in a situation where for the next 3 to 5 years or more likely no one knows, the following happens:
The entire power grid was damaged to the point that no one knows when it will be fixed.
Oil imports, oil production, fuel production, economy, every public utility, transportation, communications, etc. Everything that we have come to rely on way too much in these modern times completely collapses. So now what? The only resources you now have are what you had when it all come crashing down. So for a little while you will probably have enough stored fuel for limited transportation but once you run out you're done. No more is available. What then? What about food supply? Storing food is one thing, but how are you going to sustain a food & water supply on your own for the next 5 years? Do you have a plan? What happens when you run out of ammo with no more available? How are you going to continue to protect yourself? My best guess is the cities would turn into total chaos very quickly. There's more to this than I can even imagine at the moment so just use your imagination and add to this scenario. I'm interested in how everyone here would deal with this? One thing i've learned from this board in reading through all the posts is everyone has weaknesses and strengths in one area or another, and it also helps you identify your own strengths and weaknesses, in which you can learn from. There are so many unknowns in such a disaster, and adding to the fact that people can be very unpredictable when pushed to the ultimate extreme, sometimes the people you thought you knew, well you really don't know........ So, how would you deal with this?


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

I think that the most important thing to prepare long term is the mindset of the individual. Most people can't afford to stock up on 5 years worth of food or supplies, nor do they have room to do so. Knowlege and attitude are the most important things that you can have in order to ensure long term survival. Knowlege of how to do without things, how to build things and how to make things work...the attitude to be willing to try, to adapt, and to overcome.


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## chick (Mar 25, 2012)

I like to think I could manage alright on what supplies I have, and I have the experience of growing up without power or other luxuries like central heating and running water. 
When ammunition runs out I have the know how to make workable bow and arrows and slingshots and have traps to set. As a kid I had a deadly arm for throwing rocks at small animals and birds  but even if I might not be able to do these things any more, my grandkids are already capable.
First of all we need to survive the initial SHTF short term - defending against looters etc, then after that we need to think about replenishing our food supplies to make it through the first winter. Most people around here have huge gardens anyway for normal yearly preps. 
Living so far north I don't think there will be any drifters (looters or zombies or whatever you want to call the lowlifes) sticking around to spend a winter here. I think most will take the easy way out and head for warmer climates, or will freeze to death the first week of freezing weather.

Here there's more then enough wood for heat and cooking, and shelves of jars and lids for canning. Solar food dryer, solar oven, clay oven and good cast iron cookware. Supply of sugar and salt etc should last for quite a while 
There's no shortage of meat on the hoof or wheat or oats for grinding and a good supply of heirloom seeds. Most important is close family nearby, and decent reliable neighbours to team up with. 

A couple bridges can be taken out to deter people from using our road and there's good high hills for lookouts. 
And best of all I'm far from the nearest city and off the beaten track.


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

I've been doing this for some time now, and I didn't go into it without sitting down and thinking hard about things.

I sat down with pen and paper and outlined the worst scenario I could think of and went from there. I then made lists of everything I needed to survive. From there I started my info gathering. And since then I've gone back and rewrote a majority of those things because of the info I've found.

Without explaining what we have I can say that we would do well if needed. Of course, it wouldn't be in luxury ( lol we're not millionaires for sure!), but we wouldn't be starving and in rags.

Going into something like this without thinking about things is foolish IMO. You have to have a plan. And you have to cover the basics ( must haves) before you go into the extras ( wants/would likes).
You also need to expand you knowledge base about things. From foods to security. You don't have to be an expert I don't think, but you should know the basics of everything.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Well_Driller said:


> So how prepared are you really for a long term disaster? It's easy enough to be prepared for the short term, but how about long term? If we were put in a situation where for the next 3 to 5 years or more likely no one knows, the following happens:


There are so many "what-if" scenerios on things that "might" happen - the biggest thing is to think about all of them and figure out the best plan to deal with each situation.

The worst "long term disaster" to me is one that there is no solution or no workable solution. That could be as simple as falling off of the roof of your house and breaking your leg and arm and then loosing your job because you can't do your job and then loosing your vehicle, house, BOT, BOM and other such equipment because you have no where to store it all because you have no house and then because you have no house, you can't get a job because you have no fixed address ... and it spirals very quickly into a personal SHTF situation ....


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*Less than 1% of Americans are prepared for the long haul*

I really like your post. I have long thought that if the SHTF, it will not be over in a week, month, or year. I believe life will never be the same.

I believe that life will be more like what I just read about in The Road. Maybe I am pessimistic, but isn't everyone who is on this forum?

When I hear people say they are set because they have a year's supply of food, I think they are almost as in denial as non preppers.

I believe that even preppers will be lacking. There are a few who have a lifetime of preparing, live in a rural area far from big cities, live an off the grid life, raising their own food with large stores and a good underground facility built for themselves. I wonder how many there are really?

Part of my belief is based in biblical predictions. Some of you could help with those predictions, but 7 years is a minimum prep. And that means we will have to be on guard for 7 years.


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

I don't believe any disaster will last over a year or 18 months. Think about it, we have lots of oil and natural gas. We can grow all our own food and have plenty left over. So what's holding back our energy independence?? EPA regulations and nonsense. When people are dying and being stacked like cordwood because of no energy some bureacratic bunghole saying you can't drill here will most likely be used for axle grease. We have everything we need except the balls to stand up to bureacratic regulations and when people start dying because of those regs dumb crap goes out the window real quick!! Believe in our country and each other cause we need nothing!!!


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

At the moment I'd be dead in 3 weeks.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

mojo4 said:


> I don't believe any disaster will last over a year or 18 months. Think about it, we have lots of oil and natural gas. We can grow all our own food and have plenty left over. So what's holding back our energy independence?? EPA regulations and nonsense. When people are dying and being stacked like cordwood because of no energy some bureacratic bunghole saying you can't drill here will most likely be used for axle grease. We have everything we need except the balls to stand up to bureacratic regulations and when people start dying because of those regs dumb crap goes out the window real quick!! Believe in our country and each other cause we need nothing!!!


I think you are assuming that little with the world as we know it will change. If certain things happen, there could be many nuclear plants cause problems that make Fukishima look like milk toast. Radiation problems could affect growing crops for many decades, or more. The Yellowstone caldera could wreak havoc with growing and life in a large part of western USA, between deep ash causing people to not breath, have access to their land and air pollution that could block sunrays for a long time.

I think it could be more than about energy.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

We have about a year's supply of food and water. We're limited by the amount of money and space we have as well as the fact that we can't have a garden where we live. 

I think it's going to get extremely dangerous after it hits the fan. There are going to be half-starved people and dogs out there. I believe some people will resort to cannibalism. I think after it hits the fan it will be safer in Detroit after dark than in your typical midwestern small town after dark. For me, the scariest time will be walking the 100 or 200 yards to where I'm most likely to be dumping my garbage bags and poo bucket with my shotgun tucked under my arm. Most likely, by the time of the collapse my stepson and his fiance will be married and their child will have been born. If anyone has to die dumping the poo and the garbage it will have to be me. 

I believe we'll have an economic collapse very soon. Probably this fall. I fully believe that 90% of the US population will die in the first year. Only an estimated 3% of people are prepping. The federal government will keep their people supplied. Maybe the fact that most preppers will be prepping for more people than themselves will make up for the preppers who will be killed for their supplies. Still, America will be vastly different a year after the collapse. I think what people will notice right away after the collapse is how dark it is outside at night. And after the first few months, how quiet it is at night. You try going out your door at night and people will hear you for a good tenth of a mile if not further.

I don't believe the collapse will be permanent. I believe we're going to have an economic collapse but eventually the government will regain control of the country. The kind of people who want a one-world government want people to live without much technology. We'll most likely become a nation of subsistence farmers ruled by a wealthy elite that retains access to cars, gasoline, medical care, electricity, and all the modern conveniences that they will deny everyone else.

I'm also a Christian who believes in the pre-trib Rapture of believers. I believe the collapse will happen first and the Rapture will happen some time after that. I believe God will probably bring people to your door for you to take in. If you hear God's voice in your mind telling you, "Jim Smith is at the door. Let him in", you'll obey that voice. We have a year's supply of food and water. If the Rapture is 4 months after the collapse then we have food and water for 12 people and not just 4.

So, in the next few months I expect to be as fully prepared as I can afford to be. But even then, I have no illusions that I'll be prepared for the next 10 years.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

mojo4 said:


> I don't believe any disaster will last over a year or 18 months. Think about it, we have lots of oil and natural gas. We can grow all our own food and have plenty left over. So what's holding back our energy independence?? EPA regulations and nonsense. When people are dying and being stacked like cordwood because of no energy some bureacratic bunghole saying you can't drill here will most likely be used for axle grease. We have everything we need except the balls to stand up to bureacratic regulations and when people start dying because of those regs dumb crap goes out the window real quick!! Believe in our country and each other cause we need nothing!!!


The people who are running things WANT as many people to die as possible. That's why they've made it so that so many people are dependent on the government. They want us relying on foreign energy. That way when it's cut off our country will become a third-world country over night. The collapse and the all the deaths that will follow are what the global elite want. And after 80% or 90% of our population is dead, the amount of energy the US can produce will become plenty for our needs.


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## faithmarie (Oct 18, 2008)

Magus said:


> At the moment I'd be dead in 3 weeks.


Nooooo


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## Ration-AL (Apr 18, 2012)

BillS said:


> The people who are running things WANT as many people to die as possible. That's why they've made it so that so many people are dependent on the government. They want us relying on foreign energy. That way when it's cut off our country will become a third-world country over night. The collapse and the all the deaths that will follow are what the global elite want. And after 80% or 90% of our population is dead, the amount of energy the US can produce will become plenty for our needs.


i don't agree with this, dead people don't buy no goods, our government and corporate overlords are so closely tied that they basically one in the same, if 90% of the country dies so does 90% of their profits...

give this a watch, somewhere in the middle they go into why we are all screwed , like any documentary there is some b.s. in there, but the things about public relations, the j.p. Morgan family and the rockerfellers ,federal reserve, and our own media are spot on, like anything that's in the propaganda...eerrr...media though it is biased in some spots, so take what you deem worthy and throw the rest away


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

The reason I believe what I believe is simple....name 1 product you absolutely can't live without that we can't grow, make or build. Yep....nuthin!! My personal equation of life = ingenuity x resources x will to work = lifestyle. No country on our planet has our enginuity. How many foriegn DESIGNED products do we buy and love? Resources? We have lots of oil, coal, gas, wood, iron, steel and fields of food. Will to work? OK, we've gotten a bit lazy but if needed we can get it done. Were gonna have to wake up grandpappy to show us how to make sh!t again but factories will reopen and we will rebuild. Or, we fall in line like Euro sheep and accept a one world gov where we don't run things. Well, here is one armed and onery little goat who doesn't like being shoved around. And I don't think I'm the only one with horns a sproutin' in this country. I believe most Americans don't like being pushed around either and we won't submit to foriegn rulers.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

mojo4 said:


> The reason I believe what I believe is simple....name 1 product you absolutely can't live without that we can't grow, make or build. Yep....nuthin!! My personal equation of life = ingenuity x resources x will to work = lifestyle. No country on our planet has our enginuity. How many foriegn DESIGNED products do we buy and love? Resources? We have lots of oil, coal, gas, wood, iron, steel and fields of food. Will to work? OK, we've gotten a bit lazy but if needed we can get it done. Were gonna have to wake up grandpappy to show us how to make sh!t again but factories will reopen and we will rebuild. Or, we fall in line like Euro sheep and accept a one world gov where we don't run things. Well, here is one armed and onery little goat who doesn't like being shoved around. And I don't think I'm the only one with horns a sproutin' in this country. I believe most Americans don't like being pushed around either and we won't submit to foriegn rulers.


*If nothing changes! *:gaah::gaah:

But if all the nuclear plants blow you won't be able to grow squat! If the Yellowstone Caldera blows, the US will be very different for a long time! Most people who own land in farmland--Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota won't be able to grow crops. There will probably be such a thick smog cover that there will be little crop growth. For a long time!


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## lilmama (Nov 13, 2010)

At the moment, only a couple of months and that would be after we butcher the cow, lol. But I have plans in place for being as sustainable as possible. After that it's mindset. Can I live like the pioneers did way back when, if I have to. Yes, I can.


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## ReadyMom (Feb 25, 2011)

mojo4 said:


> *I don't believe any disaster will last over a year or 18 months.* Think about it, we have lots of oil and natural gas. We can grow all our own food and have plenty left over. So what's holding back our energy independence?? EPA regulations and nonsense. When people are dying and being stacked like cordwood because of no energy some bureacratic bunghole saying you can't drill here will most likely be used for axle grease. We have everything we need except the balls to stand up to bureacratic regulations and when people start dying because of those regs dumb crap goes out the window real quick!! Believe in our country and each other cause we need nothing!!!


If there were an EMP ... it takes 18 mos just to get the transformer parts made. See this:

From EMPact America
http://www.empactamerica.org/faq.php



> An EMP event would destroy the large electrical transformers needed for transmission and render them useless. US utility companies have few spare transformers in their inventory to replace those that become damaged. These massive transformers are no longer made in the United States and must be imported from overseas. Only a few foreign suppliers manufacture these transformers and *it takes at least eighteen months to produce just one.* With so few spare transformers, *a widespread EMP event could cause blackouts literally lasting years.*


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## FutureFriendly (Jun 4, 2012)

Magus said:


> At the moment I'd be dead in 3 weeks.


If it happened now, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead before the food ran out and we don't have more than a few months supply.


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## FutureFriendly (Jun 4, 2012)

lilmama said:


> After that it's mindset.


I really agree with that. It's not a simple thing to do.


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## artman556 (May 2, 2012)

I am trying to get the mindset


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## FutureFriendly (Jun 4, 2012)

I was just working on a PDF on mindset, mindfulness and D.B.T. an acronym for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. It's to help people deal with difficult emotions. I've been using it myself for a long time but it's hard work. . . . . . . . Just stopped fiddling with the format and thought I might as well attach it to this post as well.


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## Well_Driller (Jun 3, 2012)

ReadyMom said:


> If there were an EMP ... it takes 18 mos just to get the transformer parts made. See this:
> 
> From EMPact America
> http://www.empactamerica.org/faq.php


Not just EMP, those things can't last forever. A problem could arise with one at any given time. It used to be that power was generated fairly local to the communities it supplied. Now the way it's distributed it sometimes comes from long distances from the plants. That's where those transformers come in. One huge transformer = a very huge problem..... The whole point of the way they've done this is to cut down on cost, but it also adds a vulnerability and hurts reliability. So if one fails, what's going to be the cost of the damage done by the time it is fixed? One couldn't imagine. Most rely so heavily on power, yet the grids are so delicate. The steam engine revolutionized manufacturing.......


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## FutureFriendly (Jun 4, 2012)

I'm pretty sure all it would take is a massive solar flare to fry electronics. Bye-bye cell phone, computer, new car and hello, radiation everywhere.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

My big problem would be when the tax man comes around to take my home and property. You KNOW Uncle Obama (or whoever is next in line) and his minions are going to be back to business as usual ASAP after TSHTF. They have nothing else to do but bother us, it is how they make their living. Can’t threaten them or they call in the storm troopers and we know how that will turn out. Might be able to barter but I’m thinking they will want cash in the form of gold or silver or out you go.

As far as no electric, been there and can live without. Same with indoor plumbing, not an issue with me. Going to an almost complete vegetarian diet would not make me too happy but I’ll manage. Tools and other supplies will be bountiful after the initial die off. As far as extending the growing season, like in building a permanent greenhouse, there will be lots of windows and materials to scavenge from all the empty homes. I have enough sheet plastic and 2x stock to construct a temporary one at first.

Biggest threat will be from starving zombies in the weeks following something. My home will look like it has already been vandalized, heck it does already! After the herd is thinned out you will have two groups, well three if you count the government goons. You will have folks who survived and are willing to band together and pool resources to rebuild and you will have the takers. There will be a lot more takers that survive than folks who prepared for something. That is going to be my biggest worry.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

Ration-AL said:


> i don't agree with this, dead people don't buy no goods, our government and corporate overlords are so closely tied that they basically one in the same, if 90% of the country dies so does 90% of their profits...
> 
> give this a watch, somewhere in the middle they go into why we are all screwed , like any documentary there is some b.s. in there, but the things about public relations, the j.p. Morgan family and the rockerfellers ,federal reserve, and our own media are spot on, like anything that's in the propaganda...eerrr...media though it is biased in some spots, so take what you deem worthy and throw the rest away
> 
> ...


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## FutureFriendly (Jun 4, 2012)

BillS said:


> The one-worlders want a much smaller population. That's been well documented. Whether they know it or not, they'll be doing Satan's work for him. Satan has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning.
> 
> http://www.jonesreport.com/article/04_08/28turner_911.html
> 
> ...


Ever hear the one about the dyslexic, who sold his soul to santa?

I think your both on to something, they don't want a big population but, they do want a population that does as they are told without question. They have put a lot of money in to teaching people not to question anything. I think they might want a return on that investment.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

FutureFriendly said:


> they don't want a big population but, they do want a population that does as they are told without question.


I am very good at doing what I am told, sometimes without question!

I am just very selective about who I listen to!


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

Any disaster on the level that we fear coming will reduce the world population significantly. The trick is to live through the first two years. After that the resorceses to come back as a people will be there and the survivors will be hard enough to make a comeback but we will never see the same sociaty we had before the collapse in our lifetime.


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## surviving (Jun 5, 2012)

Well let me see, I live in very very rural New Mexico on a 40 acre ranchette, 
have our own well, raise chickens/goats/ have a green house, lots of dried staple foods (wheat, rice, beans, lentles, sugar, salt, dried veggies etc etc etc. 
House is off the grid ( there is no grid here, 15 miles away from here) satellite internet is how we use the net ( kinda like slow dial up).

it took some work to get here, but it's worth it!

peace
Sheila
www.survivingsurvivalism.com


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