Prepping Intensive: Module 9

Worst Case Scenario Challenge

This week we’re talking about worst-case scenarios – prepping for events beyond a power outage from a storm or a small blip that is an inconvenience.

It’s difficult to narrow that down to one challenge, so we opted for the most likely of these scenarios for our challenge: economic collapse.

An economic collapse can be on a grand scale, like the one occurring in Venezuela, or it can be personal, affecting only your family. This week, assess your current chances should an economic crisis hit close to home:

• For how long could you pay your bills if your income stopped?
• If you had to rely on the food in your pantry, how long could you make it stretch with only minimal trips to the store for other supplies?
• Is there some fat you could trim from your regular monthly expenses? The less we spend, the longer we can stretch our limited resources.
• For an event that only affects your family, there are more options for acquiring food than if it is a scenario in which everyone is hungry. In such a situation, what sources could you tap into to pad your food supply? Some examples might be:

Hunting

Fishing

Foraging

Growing vegetables

Raising meat animals

Spend some time making a plan to acquire food.

• Your ability to live with less utility usage can reduce expenses and give you a better chance at keeping the power on in a crunch.  Do an audit this week of your usage and find some ways to cut excessive use.

Use this information to make a personalized plan to weather an economic storm.

No-Cost Preps

Prep your kids. If something happened to you in an emergency, would your kids be able to keep warm, hydrated, and fed? Sometimes we think that children are too young to do these things, but disasters don’t care about our desire to shelter them. Take a realistic look at their maturity levels and teach them the skills they need to survive in a crisis.

Communication can mean the difference between life and death. This week, determine to pass the amateur (ham) radio test. The study guide and practice tests can be found here.

Choose one room in the house to prepare for a worst-case scenario. The room you choose should be easy to heat, so if you have a woodstove or fireplace, that would be the best choice. Make a plan to separate this room from the rest of the house to keep it warm and secure. (Curtains or blankets in the doorways, French doors, etc.)  Figure out what kind of sleeping arrangements you’ll make – will you drag in some mattresses from the bedrooms, use sleeping bags, or get air mattresses

Are you prepared for the potential of a fire? In an emergency situation, the fire department may not be able to respond. Create an escape plan to get everyone safely out of the house if necessary.

Low-Cost Preps

Set up an emergency dishwashing station. Purchase some inexpensive plastic basins. You’ll use one for washing and one for rinsing. Basins are recommended instead of the sink because the rinse water can be reheated to wash another load of dishes and the wash water can be used to flush the toilet. (This 12-pack is a great price for these very multi-purpose items.)

Look for some old wind-up clocks and/or watches that are in working order. You can often find these at yard sales or thrift stores. They won’t require valuable batteries, which could be important during a long-term disaster.

Get some heavy rubber gloves for handling waste, and also stock up on disposable latex gloves (assuming no one in your family is allergic to latex.)

Buy some reusable products. In a long-term emergency, you won’t be using disposable products. Invest in some bar mop towels to use in place of paper towels, and some flour sack towels to use for drying dishes, filtering liquids, and much more.  This will be an initial investment that saves you money if you begin using them now instead of throwing away your money with disposables.

Put together a kit to seal off your house in the event of a chemical or nuclear disaster, or a pandemic. Include enough duct tape and heavy plastic to seal all doors, windows, and vents to the exterior.

Increase your home repair supplies. In the event of an emergency, you’ll need to make sure you can cover windows or patch holes.

Build a simple Faraday cage to hold various electronics. You’ll find complete instructions in this article as well as in Dr. Arthur T. Bradley’s book, Disaster Preparedness for EMP Attacks and Solar Storms.

Make countdowns more fun. Advent calendars can be a fun way to count down the days of the power outage. (After all, what isn’t better when you have a little bit of chocolate?)  Purchase these after Christmas when they go on sale and make the crisis seem more fun to kids.

Buy some books. Hit yard sales and thrift stores. Look for useful non-fiction, but don’t forget about the entertainment value of a good story!  Even if you don’t have a lot of time for reading right now, purchase some fiction in genres that will interest your family members.

Stock up on fire extinguishers in the event of a fire.

Investment Preps

Look for a reasonably priced self-defense class in your area. The ones at martial arts studios are often the most in-depth.

Get a wheelbarrow or a wagon. In a long-term situation, you may need to bring water or other supplies home on foot, and they’ll be difficult to carry. Some type of cart will help immensely. This is particularly important if you aren’t as spry as you used to be.

Wash basins

Bar mop towels

Flour sack towels

Heavy rubber gloves

5-year calendar

Disaster Preparedness for EMP Attacks and Solar Storms.

Make countdowns more fun. Advent calendars can be a fun way to count down the days.