There are a couple of us here that have a good deal of experience and are willing to share it.
BUT we need you newbies to ask the questions you need answered! Everyones preparedness
needs are going to be different, based on their experience and preperation. So don't be
afraid to ask questions. I would rather you learn something from us than die or depend on
someone else.

"knowledge, without experience, is simply information"
Mark Twain

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Retired Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) Instructor
certified pistol, rifle, shotgun, home defense Instructor
NRA Life Member
Survival & Disaster Preparedness Instructor

Some of us Newbies are new here but not to prepping..

OK, I'll ask a few. I live on an island in the middle of typhoon alley in the WestPac. We are used to having to prep for the periodic storm. Most are small to medium typhoons, occasionally we get a real ass kicker. Imagine winds in excess of 150 mph for anywere from 4 to 12 hours. Rain for 3 days straight. Major damage to light structures. Utilities out sometimes 2 days to a month long. I can handle the prep for this kind of neccesity, have every thing that is neccesary to cope and more. The thing that I fear is the truely long term disaster. Because I am on an island, we are dependant for constant shipments of everything, and I do mean every thing. My question is this: has anyone else ever considered worst case scenario and planned out accordingly?

My major concern at this time is for natural disasters, however, I am planning for the other kind as well. What can you suggest?

Having been on both Okinawa and Guam during typhoons, I know what you mean. The first thing i would look into is native alternatives to what you need. What resources are there on the island that you can use. Then look into stocking up on the things that there is no native source or alternative for. Which island are you on?

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Retired Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) Instructor
certified pistol, rifle, shotgun, home defense Instructor
NRA Life Member
Survival & Disaster Preparedness Instructor

Doing so will provide you with a nice stockpile but will also be a big help bartering for the items you still need.

Okay, here are my questions.

I'm a stay-at-home mom of 4- and 7-year-old girls. I have limited 'alone time'. I've been working on getting prepared for disaster, power interruptions, etc.

Here is what I have:

- A large-ish veggie garden and a decent number of 1-2 year old fruit trees and berry bushes.

- About 2 months of food, juice and water stored that I rotate and add to on a regular basis.

- A first aid kit that is better than most but still just the basics.

- I cook, bake, sew, crochet and garden, not necessarily for preparedness, but because I enjoy it.

- A 2-burner propane cooktop and 3 grill-sized propane tanks.

- Decent Motorola walkie-talkies.

- 2 solar battery/cell phone chargers

- 2 Bug-out-Boxes (green totes) with food for 3 days, candles, coffee-can stove, playing cards, and $550 in small bills and change.

- Some pre-1964 silver dimes and quarters for spending after the money has minimal value.

- No debt other than mortgage.

Here is what I don't have:

- I have no self-defense skills.

- No guns or knives (other than kitchen knives).

- No kerosene or propane heaters, and no way to heat the house in an extended power outage.

- No way to defend the house (sadly, not something we were thinking about when we bought it). We have a raised ranch, which means half our windows are at ground level, and we also have three sliding glass doors.

So I have two questions:

What should I concentrate on first? What am I missing?

What is the most likely type of disaster we might face? I personally think it's going to be runaway hyperinflation and economic collapse, but I'm curious about what other people think.

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Waste not, want not, use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.

I haven't been asking because I'm busy reading, learning, and stocking.
When I do come up with a good question, I'll be sure to post, but there's already a wealth on information here that I'm working through.
You guys have done an awesome job!

Progess: I have a great little "get home bag" now in case I can't drive home from work or shopping for whatever reason. I'm in a small town so it's rather simple. Most of it is actually in case I get stuck at work for an extended time during a storm, lock down, etc. It's little enough it fits into my daily carry bag, a cross between a big purse and a tote bag.

Am most of the way through a good short term range (3 days to 3 weeks) first aid kit.

Next step is working toward building up supplies for 3 weeks at home without power, stores, etc. Our town's worst disaster so far shut everything down for one week, and with the storm season coming and the current political/economic climate, I figured it's time to start working toward longer term. 3 weeks seems like a nice beginning stepping stone.

Love the site! Love reading through older posts to gain insight!

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If better is possible, then good is not good enough!

Defensive skills are something that you should learn and teach your children as well. It doesn't have to be any special martial arts or anything, but most areas do have instructors that will teach basic defensive skills that will allow you to temporarily incapacitate an attacker and get away. I could give you some othet ideas, but we are far enough off topic as it is. You may even want to start some new threads asking these questions.

GUNS - I believe guns are very important for survival. Not only for defensive reasons, but also getting fresh meat for the dinner table. There are a lot of good guns out there that do the job. Before you get one, find an instructor in your area, the NRA website is a good way to lacate one, and take some basic firearm courses. Most instructors will let you borrow guns as long as you pay for ammo. This way you can shoot a variety and learn what works for you. Finding what works for you is very important. You also need to learn how to safely store, load, unload and shoot a gun. A good instructor will be able to take care of that for you.

Knives - Knives are not a good way to defend yourself, even though I would use one if I had to. Kitchen knives can be good but will not hold up in a survival enviroment. That's not what they are designed for. I recommend that everyone have a good lock blade folding knife that they carry, along with a good fixed blade hunting knife and a good hatchet. These should be kept in your BOB. Don't buy a cheap hatchet from Wal-Mart. Places like Gander Mountain and other good sporting goods stores sell good backpackers hatchets that are rugged and lightweight

Heating the house is a big one. I do have kerosene heaters and such for back up, but here is what I recommend and do myself. I have a small generator that I use to run my furnace, refrigerator and furnace when the power goes out. I can't run all three at once, but I can run one at a time without loading the generator and keep the house warm and my food cold. I have several vehicles that are usually kept full of gas. That along with my gas cans, I normally have over 100 gallons of gas on site which will run my generator for about 6 weeks.

Defending your house isn't an easy one. The first thing I would do is early warning systems to alert you when someone is approaching, but before they get close. If you search a;arm companies, some have sensors that you can put away from your house that will trigger an alarm if anyone is approaching. The drawback to these are larger animals can activate them also. You can also use motion sensor lights that light up the whole area when someone is in range. To give youy any frther advice, I would need to see your house.

I hope this gives you a starting point.

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

That is great advice! Why didn't I think of going to the NRA website?

I've been looking at generators, specifically the Honda EU2000i with a recoil start but hubby says it's way too expensive. I'll work on it.

That's the problem. I feel like I'm so far behind, there are so many things that I need to buy right away, but I have to consider how much I'm spending too.

Thanks for all your help!

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Waste not, want not, use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.

Hi Emmysmon,

Sorry not to attach the reply to your post. When I do that, the quoted post bounces up and down on the screen, keeping me from seeing what I am typing!

You sound so much like me in the 1st part of your post. (Except that I stink at crocheting! I am handy with a sewing machine, though!).

My personal feeling is that the economy will get far worse in the next few months, but we're just as likely to have a natural disaster before that--when and where THAT will happen is unknown, of course.

Protecting your home is always a wise move, regardless of circumstances. IMHO, you can buy the most sophisticated security devices, but I still think that good old-fashioned common sense is the best thing--in other words, ALWAYS lock your doors, windows, etc.; have good lighting outside of the house; don't advertise your valuables (or even that you have emergency preps), etc. All of the expensive burgular alarms in the world won't help if you forget to set them. Does anybody remember It takes a thief on the Discovery Channel (sadly, no longer aired)? Many of the people had alarm systems, but forgot/were too lazy to use them! The same goes for locking doors and windows. John hardly ever had to bash in a window to gain access to homes. Prevention goes a long way to keeping you safe--be it personal safety away from home, and in your home.

You don't necessarily need firearms to protect yourself--though I have them, and have used them at the gun range, and recommend we all do the same. Make sure, if you have children, that you get a decent gun safe, etc. Guns and ammo may be increasingly difficult to buy legally some day in the near future, IMHO. Best get them now. Being a petite woman, I prefer a .38 handgun for protection. Bear in mind, if you buy guns, who is going to use them. The larger the gun, the harder it can be for women to handle easily--and, in a self-defense incident, you need it to be easy to handle. Someone at your local gun store can help you choose a suitable firearm. A smaller gun can do what you need it to do for self-defense. Also, makessure that you learn how to load and use the gun; practice shooting at the range.

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WTSHTF: Gather it up, and use it for a GREAT fertilizer for your survival garden!