Archive for the ‘Self Sufficiency’ Category

Nine Ways To Be More Self-Sufficient (Even If You Live In The City)

Many people are intimidated by the idea of becoming more self-sufficient or preparing for disaster because of the misconception that you have to live in the country or at least have a bug-out location in order to do so. This simply isn’t true. There are many things urban or suburban dwellers can do to improve […]

Drought. A Letter

Dear James, The biggest current threat to the U.S. food supply is the extraordinary drought that has had a relentless grip on the western half of the country. If you check out the U.S. Drought Monitor, you can see that drought conditions currently stretch from California all the way to the heart of Texas. In […]

Event Phases : Understanding The Progression to Collapse

My proof reader, harshest critic, and prepping partner (my bride of 45 years) read my first cut of this article and told me that it was interesting …….. but boring! She may be right, but I still think it’s worthy of a few minutes of your time to read. The points I make may be […]

Three Digital Privacy Solutions You Should Know About

Dropbox, the popular cloud-based file storage service, has upwards of 200 million registered users. I doubt many of them have ever read the company’s privacy policy, which states clearly that the company will fully comply with requests from law enforcement agencies. And while the company does encrypt your files across their multiple data centers, they […]

Water How Much Do You Really Need Every Day

How Much Do You Use Given the recent chemical spill that may have contaminated the tap water of roughly 300,000 residents of a number of counties in West Virginia, drinking water is on people’s minds. Ice storms, blizzards and unusually cold weather have also disrupted the water supply to thousands if not tens of thousands […]

10 New Year’s Resolutions That Every Prepper Should Make in 2014

Every year, people make a series of New Year’s Resolutions that are usually forgotten by the time you flip the page of the calendar over to February. This list starts with some of the standard resolutions that everyone makes that are particularly pertinent to preppers, and then contains some that are unique to this community. […]

6 Trees Every Survivalist Should Know

“Living in the open in this way, and making friends of the trees, the streams, the mountains, and the stars, gives a scout a great deal of confidence and makes him love the natural life around him. To be able to tell the difference between the trees by their bark and leaves is a source […]

Using Auctions, Goodwill and Second Hand Stores to Stockpile Prepping Supplies at Bargain Prices

I was unexpectedly laid off two years ago. Although I eventually landed another position after months of searching, losing my job was perhaps the most humbling and painful experience I’ve been through in recent years. Truth be told, I was also bitter. The frustrations of hunting for a new job in a tough market, starting […]

Power’s Out and in a Pinch? How to Create 5 Makeshift Urban Survival Lights

It’s impossible to be perfectly prepared for an imperfect world. Sometimes you just have to go MacGyver and solve common problems by using the resources you have on hand and a little ingenuity. I’ve always said that the ability to improvise is one of the most important survival skills. This article is a collection (not […]

The Truth about Doing Laundry Off-Grid

I thought it might be a good exercise to try doing laundry without using the washing machine and dryer.  Whenever there is a hurricane approaching one of the preparation chores that I do (in addition to making sure there is enough water, food and supplies for several days) is to do the laundry while power […]