Kits (1)
Can I make a better BOB than the Ready America 70280 Emergency Kit?
Can I make a better BOB than the Ready America 70280 Emergency Kit?

There are many premade bug out bags and survival kits that you can buy online. One of them is the Ready America 70280 Emergency Kit ( https://anon.to/5iqCK3 ) . I wanted to see if it was really worth the money or if piecing it out yourself would be a better deal. I thought I could make a comparable or better kit by going to the dollar store or the cheap camping gear section of Walmart. What I learned- For the price, it's not too bad. It's hard to piece out this bag yourself and keep it under that budget. The company Ready America is able to make these kits for so low because they buy things in bulk. For example, a single Mylar blanket or disposable poncho is $3 if you buy it by itself, but if you bought in bulk and bought 10 of them, then they are $1 each. Think about this company who buys them by the thousands. They probably spend $0.25 each. If you have a spare backpack, stainless steel canteen, first aid items, and/or flashlight that you aren't using, you most definitely can make it under the price on Amazon. But piecing it out yourself, it isn't that easy to make a bag of supplies for two people under that price. My advice- If you just want to buy a bag and set it on your shelf for 5 years, this could be good. But for just a bit more, you can easily upgrade this pack with much higher quality items. And even though this kit is made for two people, splitting up the items into two bags that each person carries is a smarter plan as you are able to separate and still have enough supplies to survive on your own. Other cheap items I would add- A BIC lighter with a rubber band or zip tie around the trigger to prevent it from losing gas in your bag if it got pressed in. Multi tool. 50 feet of paracord. USB flash drive (preferably one that can also be inserted into your smart phone) in a ziploc baggie with important documents on it. Old pair of clothes (socks, underwear, shirt, pants). Little hygiene kit (toothbrush, toothpaste (you get both for free from the dentist every 6 months) feminine hygiene products). Little battery bank and charging cable in a ziploc baggie to keep phone charged up. Trash bag (can be used for so many purposes).

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Reply to: Anyone else wondering if recent substation attacks are “white hat” efforts to accelerate/prioritize grid hardening? Posted December 31, 2022
Reply to: Burning Candles Posted December 31, 2022
Reply to: Burning Candles Posted December 30, 2022
Reply to: Burning Candles Posted December 30, 2022

I like burning candles. My mom always had one going while I was growing up so guess it’s engrained in me. I’ve never trimmed the wick though in fear that I would not have enough to burn the candle, but that is a silly excuse if you think about it. The wick should always be long enough on it’s own if not too long and not burn itself out because it will be wicking up wax.  I’ll definitely try this trick to extend the life of my candles. Thanks! One thing that I had a question on: is there a minimum amount of time a jar candle should be burned for for maximum efficiency? My thought is that if you only burn for a short period of time it will only melt the wax around the wick and not reach the edges of the candle. The result would be the boring down through the center of the candle and leaving the edges unmelted.  In the past I’ve taken old candle scraps and melted them down into new candles, but makes for some funky smells if you are mixing various fragrances. 

Reply to: Teach me about life insurance Posted December 1, 2022
Reply to: Teach me about life insurance Posted November 29, 2022
Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Nov 29, 2022 Posted November 29, 2022
Teach me about life insurance
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A reminder to check the expiration dates on your IDs
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Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Nov 18, 2022 Posted November 18, 2022

Can I add a news article that came out this morning that I think is relevant? 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck heading into the peak shopping season Last year that number was 56% of people were paycheck to paycheck, so a rise by 4%. What this means is that people will either have more modest holiday celebrations, or take out more credit to keep up with inflation and the other factors that have lead to this rise. The article says that credit card balances are up 15% this quarter, so I’m assuming it’s the later. My thoughts: Save money now for the holidays. Budget and stick to that. If grandma is upset you didn’t buy her some expensive thing, that’s on her and it doesn’t mean you don’t love her. Homemade gifts are awesome and in my opinion I appreciate them more than a gift card or something else.

Reply to: Experiments with home dehydrated strawberries Posted November 18, 2022
Reply to: How to prevent and survive a home invasion Posted November 18, 2022
Reply to: Cooking in a haybox – a fuel efficient way to slow-cook your meals Posted November 15, 2022
Reply to: Philosophies for good mental health Posted November 15, 2022
Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Nov 15, 2022 Posted November 15, 2022

I like weather.gov / NOAA as well. From the little I looked into other stations, many just take their data from weather.gov and put it on their site along with ads and trackers which I don’t like.  Something you can do is to pull up five different weather apps/websites on your computer or phone, wherever you are most likely to look at it, then eliminate which ones you don’t like purely because of their user interface. Then use them all for a few weeks and see which one is most accurate for your location. One might have their weather sensors closer to your house than another so will be able to give you more accurate info. For example, last night I checked the forecast and it said it wouldn’t start snowing near me until 11. The closest and best sensor that they base their data off of is like 40 miles away from me and there are many mountains in between me and that sensor. When I woke up there were a few inches of snow. Maybe the weather just changed or maybe they didn’t in fact get any snow at that sensor. 

Reply to: Non-lethal/improvised weapon options Posted November 13, 2022

I’ve never been faced with an altercation situation before, but I have mentally ran through scenarios so I have something to go off of and am not totally thrown off. When faced with a situation, here’s my continuum of what I will run through. I will stop as soon as possible, but if the threat continues or grows, it will force me to go up a step until I or my family is safe.  Prevent such a situation from happening by implementing steps such as not going out at certain times of night, or hardening my home. I talk about this more in my post How to prevent and survive a home invasion Deescalate the situation verbally. Use passive and submissive speech when getting mugged and handing over your wallet that isn’t worth your life. Use commanding and aggressive speech when needing to force a home invader out of your home. Depends on the situation Flee if verbal deescalation doesn’t work.  Use nonlethal methods such as spraying the fire extinguisher to the face and then fleeing or a stun gun. Use lethal force only when 100% necessary, and think about it five more times before actually going through with it. Like I mentioned in that home invasion post, taking a life can really mess you up for life, even if it was justified. I agree with you both Eric and Steve Martin, there are times when escaping is best but there are also unfortunate times when we must take things further than we want if we want to ensure our own safety.

Reply to: Non-lethal/improvised weapon options Posted November 12, 2022
Reply to: How to prevent and survive a home invasion Posted November 7, 2022
Reply to: 60 Minutes segment this Sunday Nov 6 about TP and how sane prepping has gone mainstream! Posted November 7, 2022
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Reply to: Anyone else wondering if recent substation attacks are “white hat” efforts to accelerate/prioritize grid hardening? Posted December 31, 2022
Reply to: Burning Candles Posted December 31, 2022
Reply to: Burning Candles Posted December 30, 2022
Reply to: Burning Candles Posted December 30, 2022

I like burning candles. My mom always had one going while I was growing up so guess it’s engrained in me. I’ve never trimmed the wick though in fear that I would not have enough to burn the candle, but that is a silly excuse if you think about it. The wick should always be long enough on it’s own if not too long and not burn itself out because it will be wicking up wax.  I’ll definitely try this trick to extend the life of my candles. Thanks! One thing that I had a question on: is there a minimum amount of time a jar candle should be burned for for maximum efficiency? My thought is that if you only burn for a short period of time it will only melt the wax around the wick and not reach the edges of the candle. The result would be the boring down through the center of the candle and leaving the edges unmelted.  In the past I’ve taken old candle scraps and melted them down into new candles, but makes for some funky smells if you are mixing various fragrances. 

Reply to: Teach me about life insurance Posted December 1, 2022
Reply to: Teach me about life insurance Posted November 29, 2022
Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Nov 29, 2022 Posted November 29, 2022
Reply to: A reminder to check the expiration dates on your IDs Posted November 23, 2022
Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Nov 18, 2022 Posted November 18, 2022

Can I add a news article that came out this morning that I think is relevant? 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck heading into the peak shopping season Last year that number was 56% of people were paycheck to paycheck, so a rise by 4%. What this means is that people will either have more modest holiday celebrations, or take out more credit to keep up with inflation and the other factors that have lead to this rise. The article says that credit card balances are up 15% this quarter, so I’m assuming it’s the later. My thoughts: Save money now for the holidays. Budget and stick to that. If grandma is upset you didn’t buy her some expensive thing, that’s on her and it doesn’t mean you don’t love her. Homemade gifts are awesome and in my opinion I appreciate them more than a gift card or something else.

Reply to: Experiments with home dehydrated strawberries Posted November 18, 2022
Reply to: How to prevent and survive a home invasion Posted November 18, 2022
Reply to: Cooking in a haybox – a fuel efficient way to slow-cook your meals Posted November 15, 2022
Reply to: Philosophies for good mental health Posted November 15, 2022
Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Nov 15, 2022 Posted November 15, 2022

I like weather.gov / NOAA as well. From the little I looked into other stations, many just take their data from weather.gov and put it on their site along with ads and trackers which I don’t like.  Something you can do is to pull up five different weather apps/websites on your computer or phone, wherever you are most likely to look at it, then eliminate which ones you don’t like purely because of their user interface. Then use them all for a few weeks and see which one is most accurate for your location. One might have their weather sensors closer to your house than another so will be able to give you more accurate info. For example, last night I checked the forecast and it said it wouldn’t start snowing near me until 11. The closest and best sensor that they base their data off of is like 40 miles away from me and there are many mountains in between me and that sensor. When I woke up there were a few inches of snow. Maybe the weather just changed or maybe they didn’t in fact get any snow at that sensor. 

Reply to: Non-lethal/improvised weapon options Posted November 13, 2022

I’ve never been faced with an altercation situation before, but I have mentally ran through scenarios so I have something to go off of and am not totally thrown off. When faced with a situation, here’s my continuum of what I will run through. I will stop as soon as possible, but if the threat continues or grows, it will force me to go up a step until I or my family is safe.  Prevent such a situation from happening by implementing steps such as not going out at certain times of night, or hardening my home. I talk about this more in my post How to prevent and survive a home invasion Deescalate the situation verbally. Use passive and submissive speech when getting mugged and handing over your wallet that isn’t worth your life. Use commanding and aggressive speech when needing to force a home invader out of your home. Depends on the situation Flee if verbal deescalation doesn’t work.  Use nonlethal methods such as spraying the fire extinguisher to the face and then fleeing or a stun gun. Use lethal force only when 100% necessary, and think about it five more times before actually going through with it. Like I mentioned in that home invasion post, taking a life can really mess you up for life, even if it was justified. I agree with you both Eric and Steve Martin, there are times when escaping is best but there are also unfortunate times when we must take things further than we want if we want to ensure our own safety.

Reply to: Non-lethal/improvised weapon options Posted November 12, 2022
Reply to: How to prevent and survive a home invasion Posted November 7, 2022
Reply to: 60 Minutes segment this Sunday Nov 6 about TP and how sane prepping has gone mainstream! Posted November 7, 2022
Reply to: 60 Minutes segment this Sunday Nov 6 about TP and how sane prepping has gone mainstream! Posted November 7, 2022
Reply to: Prepper demographics updated with 2020 FEMA survey data: over 20M people in the US alone! Posted November 7, 2022

I’m on the same page as you Forager. Luckily my preps have kept events becoming DISASTERS and have been more of inconveniences or hiccups in my daily life. Many of the situations I have gone through would have been disasters for someone else who wasn’t as prepared.  The question “Have you or your family ever experienced the impacts of a disaster?” should probably be revised to include examples or a slightly narrower definition of what a disaster is. It doesn’t necessarily need to say “Tornado that destroyed your house” but could say “life altering or changing event that had a reasonable impact to your daily life or finances”.  In a previous job I had to get surveys from people, I have participated in many surveys myself, and I have taken statistics classes in college. This is a very huge task with countless ways to interpret the questions and results. The folks over at FEMA probably know much more about surveying than I do and are doing a great job. Thank you Dr. Chris Ellis for the many hours you probably spent on this data and for sharing it here with us. As the numbers grow, it is reassuring that I am in a quickly shrinking minority and others around me will benefit from what I can share with them. 

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