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Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Sep 20, 2022 Posted September 20, 2022

What you can do about it: Focus on one thing. Even when the news seems overwhelming, you’re still getting ahead if you can make progress at one thing. Review your Go Bag, as discussed above. Keep working on your finances. Do you have a budget? Review the items you want. Then sort them by their usefulness or impact. Is budgeting toward one item more helpful than scrambling after many? Keep building your pantry, as you are able Consider if you can find or acquire any food locally. Are there farmers or producers in your area? Think how you will stay warm this winter. Do you have a source of heat? Backup heat? Warm winter clothing? Blankets? Check your light sources and batteries. Do you have a way to create light during a power outage? Get some exercise. It’s great for mental and physical health. Read a book. Good luck this week.

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Sep 09, 2022 Posted September 8, 2022

What you can do about it: Review your skills and supplies. When was the last time you checked on your Go Bag, food stores, or water stores? Document your inventory and see if it is correct. Mark your calendar to do it again next year, or next quarter. Store some more water Keep hustling your finances. Are you wanting to look for a job? Improve your skills to work toward a raise or promotion? Do you have a monthly budget? Times are tight, but any step taken helps. Check your First Aid Kit. Do you know where it is? Having some supplies and training will be helpful if you are forced to wait for professional help. Take a First Aid class. Are there any organizations in your community that run them? Could you partner with one to host a class at your work, church, school, or group? Keep building your pantry as you are able. Reminder of this free PDF cook book for recipes: “Good and Cheap” Check in with a friend or family member – how are they doing for food? Do they have a plan? Are they able to build a pantry? Do they need your help? Helping each other and our community may help you feel good, shed stress, and build a positive relationship. Check your winter clothing. Do you have clothes or blankets if you need to keep warm? Could you ‘downsize’ to using less space, or one room in your house if you needed to conserve heat? Review your hurricane preparations if you are in an affected area. Plant some trees. If you live in the northern hemisphere – there may still be time to put some roots in the ground before winter. Check with your local greenhouse or volunteer planting group. Get some exercise Review your entertainment Practice gratitude. What’s one thing that went well this week? Have a productive weekend.

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Sep 02, 2022 Posted September 2, 2022

What you can do about it: Get some exercise. Getting into shape is a great way to help you stay healthy and live longer. Get vaccinated (both covid and non-covid) Wear a properly fitting mask when appropriate / in crowded spaces Check your Go Bag. Make sure it is ready Review how to prep and plan on a budget Review your water supply. How many people are you preparing for? How much water do you have stored? Review your pantry and shelf-stable food supply. How many people are you feeding? Do you know how long your food stores will last? Do you have items that are both nutritious, and items that taste good / are your family favourites? Track what you eat for two weeks. This can help you realize what you actually like, so you can store it. Ask everyone in your household what they love to eat. Can you practice making each dish? Store appropriate ingredients? Keep working on your finances Back up your data. If the internet went out, could you still access your important documents? Consider printing off paper copies. Call someone you care about, and discuss a recent event, such as the Jackson water outage. What would they do in that situation? Could you help each other? Could you make a plan to e.g. visit a relative or friend and stay with them, if needed, in exchange for offering the same to them? This may be one way to approach growing your network of allies. Review your evacuation routes. If you had a flood, where would you go? If you live near storm drains, do they have grates? Could you work to get some installed? Do you need an axe in the attic to get through your roof in case of flood? Stay calm and drive defensively on the road. Move carefully and pay attention when working from heights, or working with dangerous chemicals and machinery. Read a book Take a break. Relaxing and recharging are important too. Good luck this week.

Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Aug 30, 2022 Posted August 29, 2022

What you can do about it: Keep building your pantry, as you are able. Extra food is a good insurance and defense. Tend and harvest your garden Consider preserving some food, if able. Methods such as fermentation or dehydrating can be low effort and help your food last longer. Consider how you will stay warm this winter. Do you have a way to create heat? Candles? Do you have warm blankets, sleeping bags, sweaters, socks? Think about how you could reduce your living space, if needed, to stay warm. Could you shelter in a single room? Do you have a family or pet that would help to add body heat? Do you have a tent? Could you create a canopy bed? Are there air leaks or other areas of your home you could address and fix now if the weather is warm? Make a list of your favourite meals. Can you plan ahead and stock some items to help raise morale with a good meal? Make a list of shelf-stable foods that you could use to create meals. What do you enjoy eating that you could make without cooking? Can you practice? Review your entertainment options. What do you do or have for fun? Do you enjoy card games? Board games? Sewing? Run a practice session, as if the fuel supply was cut off near you. If you were unable to get fuel for your vehicle for several days, what would you do and how would you cope? Do you have backup plans or options for staying safe, getting to work, helping your family? Making a plan now may help. Check on your Go Bag. Do you have it packed and ready to go? Find a way to receive emergency alerts. If you are in a floodable area, do you know how you would hear about alerts? Do you need a flood app? Radio? Write down an evacuation route. And a backup route. If your area flooded, do you have an evacuation plan, and a backup route? Where would you go? Do you need a map? Review how to prepare for civil unrest, or traveling through a possible area of protest Take swimming lessons. It’s never to late to learn. Knowing how to swim is a useful skill at any age. Get some exercise. Exercise helps reduce stress. Make a list of things that went well this week. Has anything positive happened? It is okay, and helpful, to celebrate and be grateful. Good luck this week. What are you grateful for that’s going well?

Reply to: Skills & tools for kids? Posted August 28, 2022

Teaching and installing a growth mindset, and being aware that not all kids learn or achieve at the same time or rate, are both fantastic steps. Great post. I like the growth mindset tricks of rephrasing as “I’m not able to do this… *yet*”, and focusing on the positive of what people _can_ do, and any positive steps they make. Healthy for kids and adults. Here is a previous forum thread on “What to say to kids instead of “be careful!”. .. For discussing the topics of finances, work ethic, and humility I enjoyed reading “The Opposite Of Spoiled”. It covers topics such as: When to talk about money with kids. Answer: as soon as they start asking questions about it How to have money conversations and have honest discussions about your own past, your money choices, and kids comparing money with their peers How to discuss giving, volunteering, and modeling generosity Having discussions about: people only posting their best, biased versions of themselves on social media, and how those aren’t reasonable expectations to set for your entire life. The Fun Ratio. Calculate: hours of fun per dollar spent The books’ thesis: Kids should have chores and responsibilities Kids should have rules to govern their behaviour and schedules Don’t lavish them with material possessions Don’t do everything for them The author believes that most of the qualities and attributes you want in a kid can be taught using money – curiosity, patience, thrift, modesty, generosity, perseverance, perspective. I’m not sure I fully agree with that, but it’s an interesting idea for teaching valuable behaviours and mindset. The book suggest setting up a system of three jars for kids: “Give”, “Save”, and “Spend”. Give them an allowance if you are able, even something small, and set some percentage of money that goes into each jar. Then the kid can choose where to put their ‘giving money’, and you can go with them to make a donation, see the effects, etc. This also works to get kids in the habit of: saving some percentage of your money, and weighing and making tradeoffs about how much you may need to work or save to get something you want. The author has high praise for kids’ ability to make tradeoffs, and give up something they want to achieve something else. They also discuss how it is better to help or let kids make money mistakes when the ammouts are small and the stakes are low. As a parent, it might feel scary to see your child ‘waste’ $10 or $100 on something that you know they don’t need and that seems like a wasteful purchase. But experience can be a good teacher. If they realize that they don’t like that purchase, don’t enjoy or get value from that thing, and later regret the decision – what a wonderful mistake to make with only $10 when you are young, than to make a similar money mistake with $10,000 or some other large sum later when you are older. If we prepare based on probability of future events, and it’s likely that we will spend much of our lives dealing with money and needing gratitude, delayed gratification, and the ability to make trade-offs, teaching these skills seems like a good bet.

Reply to: Turn off your WiFi when you don’t need it, and other tips on how to prevent hacking and tracking Posted August 28, 2022

Great collection of tips. What do you think about editing the title to say “Turn off your *phone* WiFi when you don’t need it”? I would find that more clear. My initial impression was also that you were going to talk about home routers.

Reply to: How to avoid losing your entire digital life in an instant Posted August 26, 2022

Great post, Supersonic. I especially like you break down each item into multiple, small steps and rate them as easy/medium/advanced. This is a good reminder that there are often several small things we can do, and doing one small thing is often a big improvement over doing nothing. I also prefer app-based 2FA rather than linking it to a specific phone or phone number that can be lost, stolen, or broken. I use BitWarden as a password manager, and you can store 2FA codes right alongside the password. There is some debate that this is less secure. But it means I can still access my accounts even if my phone dies. I also like physical security keys for 2FA. This is one reason I include them in the Digital Recovery Kit – you can store it offsite, and if you lose access to your phone or account, you still have a way back in. https://theprepared.com/kits/uivm3gqh/

Reply to: New here – what articles are your favorites? Posted August 26, 2022

Hello and welcome! I hope you love it here. Building a list of favourites is a great topic. If you are just starting: The intro guide is excellent. I send this link to people all the time. It not only has a concrete list of actual steps to take, but also helps to introduce the mindset of wanting to be more prepared. Next, think about starting to build a pantry. “Store what you eat, and eat what you store”. This may be the cheapest way to get started, if you can simply pick up an extra item or two each time you shop for food. Exercise is something most people will be able to do, and can be free. If you do nothing else but have a Go bag, build a pantry, and stay in physical shape, you are doing well. Two personal favourites: The in-depth article on portable solar chargers. Getting a solar panel may not be applicable or affordable for everyone. It is a more advanced item. But to me this article exemplifies the attitude, professionalism, and effort that makes The Prepared such a great website – a knowledgeable expert spent many hours actually testing the products, using relevant equipment such as a multimeter and load testers. They walk through the math, explain subject expertise, explain why you can’t just plug in a phone and watch the battery percentage chart, explain the math, and share their data. This is a great article that displays how they know what they are talking about, that they’re not here to sow fear or to profit off of short-term panic, and that they really do want to build the best possible, long-term content. It’s great work. Book Review: The Reslient Farm and Homestead. I ended up buying a copy of this book on Josh’s recommendation. It has a lot of interesting discussions on mindset and long-term thinking. It got me interested in permaculture. The Prepared “Best Of” Preparedness Mindset Tour: Once you feel comfortable or feel you have the basics down, I humbly submit a series of links that had a big impact on my thinking: “What if History really isn’t any guide?”. It’s better to be generally prepared and keep an open mind, than to get specific about events from the past. This post inspired me to read “The Black Swan”. The Split Screen Effect. “Weirdness” and events don’t always happen to everyone, and don’t always effect everywhere all at once. Keeping this in mind can help you to deal with disasters, and better understand other people’s reactions to them. Preparing is just “flattening the curve” for everything else. From food to water to power to finances. “Early is on-time, and on-time is too late”. It is okay to be acting out of lockstep with your peers or neighbours. Think about the big, important things you depend on, or that could be most easily disrupted. Working to improve them is okay. Stay calm. Take small, positive steps. Building a resilient mindset. Bias disclaimer: I am a practicing Stoic. Make a plan, and stick to the plan. The Big Picture. These articles were written and posted over a long period of time. Taken together in series, they have helped me to improve my mindset, enhance the way I think about preparing, and analyze my actions and preparations from a higher level. It has helped me to think about what my goals are, and why. Taken together, I think these articles outline a fantastic “Preparedness Mindset 101”. It’s a cohesive thought process, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.I have returned to these essays multiple times over the past year or two, and it has helped me a lot to stay calm, worry less, and continue making productive steps on ‘the plan’. Best of luck to you! We’d love to hear about your favourites once you decide what you like.

Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Aug 23, 2022 Posted August 26, 2022

Hey Bradical, it’s great to ‘think out loud’ and share your thought process and conclusions with the community. Kudos. It has been decades since I purchased a sleeping bag, so I can’t personally claim more authority than the research already in the sleeping bag article. Great work on insurance shopping. I feel that is a valuable yearly activity. What recipes do you use when creating your own popsicles? Perhaps consider a forum post?

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Aug 19, 2022 Posted August 26, 2022

Hey CR – good catch about disposable plates. I agree having disposable items available for short-term use is best. I would not use them for regular, long term use as that generates a lot of waste. Otherwise – good tips. Thanks for sharing.

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Aug 26, 2022 Posted August 26, 2022

Great collection of related links, Carlotta. I think the ‘preparedness trio’ of exercise, building a pantry, and working on finances are the links that relate to something in the news roundup almost every week. Are there other activities you all work on each week? What else you can do about it: Track what you eat for two weeks. This may help you to review and analyze your diet, to see what foods you usually buy. Analyze your diet. Is there anything you’d like to change, or anything you could do without? e.g. would reducing milk or meat help to save you some money, or make your diet more resilient? Consider ways to reduce your electric bill. Wash with cold water, rather than hot. Line dry your clothes instead of running a dryer. Take shorter showers. Replace old incandescent lightbulbs with LED models. If you have a tank hot water heater, considering lowering the temperature to 120 Fahrenheit / 49 Celsius. Try using a fridge or freezer thermometer to keep your fridge at 37 Fahrenheit / 3 Celsius and your freezer at 0 Fahrenheit / -17 C. Consider filling empty freezer space with freezable jugs or containers of water, to help keep the freezer cold. In the winter – turn your thermostat down by 6 degrees Fahrenheit or 3 degrees Celsius when you are asleep or away from the house. Plant some trees. Consider if you can plant to provide shade or a windbreak for your house, to help regulate temperature. Install some curtains or shades. Keep your Go Bag ready Practice traveling your evacuation route. In the event of a fire or flood – do you know where you will go? Get some exercise Have a productive weekend.

Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Aug 23, 2022 Posted August 23, 2022

What you can do about it: Keep working on your finances. Search for jobs, take a course or build skills that keep you employable. Keep building a pantry. Stock shelf-stable foods that you will eat, as you are able. Think how you will stay warm this winter. Do you have a way to heat your home? Do you need a sleeping bag? Do you need backup heat? Store some water in your home Keep tending to your garden. Can you mulch to conserve water? Have you learned anything that will change what you plant next year? Check you Go bag. Make sure it is packed and ready. Fill up your vehicle when your gas tank drops to half full. Stay on top of your vehicle maintenance, and any other items or devices you rely on. Get a paper map. Do you know multiple ways of leaving your area? Plan your escape route. If you had to evacuate for a flood, fire, or other reason – where would you go? Do you have a friend or family member you could stay with? Best to arrange this in advance, before it is needed. Review your insurance coverage. Will you have coverage? What, and how much? Can you call your company to discuss it? If you won’t be covered for ‘extreme’ events, can you shop around? Does that change your life plans? Shopping insurance rates may also be a way to save some money. Review your vaccinations. Do you have this documented for you and your family members? A printed, offline copy for reference? Do you know when you are due for your next shot? Use an umbrella for shade. Do you have other ways of staying cool? Get some exercise Take a break. What are your favourite de-stressing activities? Good luck this week.

Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Aug 16, 2022 Posted August 19, 2022

Kudos Eric. I always enjoy hearing your thoughts on topics also.

Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Aug 16, 2022 Posted August 19, 2022

Hello, thank you for the kind words. I have been especially busy working on some prepping projects as of late, and have not had time to visit the site as much as I would like. However, I am always happy to hear what others thing and how you deal with your own preparations as well.

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Aug 19, 2022 Posted August 19, 2022

Water-saving tips that do not require changing your habits: Install low-flow faucet aerators on your sinks and taps (0.5 GPM) Install low-flow showerheads (1.8 GPM or less) Replace old toilets with low-flow or dual-flush toilets (1.6 gallons per flush, or even 1.0 to 0.8 gallons) Find and fix leaks. Check old pipes and connections, use food coloring in toilet tanks to spot leaky toilets. Instead of growing a grass lawn, find local plants that are more hardy to drought and plant them instead – e.g. microclover, vetch, or creeping thyme. Add mulch in your garden. In “The Drought-Resilient Farm”, Strickler says “Perhaps no other practice improves water movement into the soil surface more effectively than creating and maintaining a mulch layer”. Water-saving tips that require changing your habits: Take shorter showers Shower less often Instead of running the water, shower using a cloth and water from a bucket If you normally wait for the water to warm up, capture the initial shower water in a bucket for use in watering plants, cooking, cleaning, etc. Avoid running the tap when brushing your teeth, or any other time. Measure out the water you use to cook food, to use only the correct amount. Consider using compostable or disposable plates and cutlery. Keep a pitcher of water in the fridge, so you aren’t letting water run, waiting for it to get cold. Water plants deeply and less often rather than frequently and shallow – this trains the plant roots to grow deeper to seek moisture, making them more resilient. Edit: What else do you do to conserve water?

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Aug 19, 2022 Posted August 19, 2022

What you can do about it: Keep building your pantry, if able. Buy foods that you would normally eat anyway. This may also help to save some money if prices rise. Consider eating less meat. Could you cut meat from one meal per week? This may save you money over time. Learn a new recipe to enjoy the foods you already have. Learn how to make sauerkraut, kimchi, or other fermented foods. Fermenting can be a simple, easy way to preserve food to prevent spoilage. In some cases, all you need is a jar and salt. Practice or learn how to sew. Being able to repair your own clothing may help them last longer, and save you money by avoiding needing to buy new. Forum thread on sewing Learn how to survive extreme heat. Slow down, find or create shade, stay hydrated. Consider a solar charger to keep your phone or electronics charged. Practice going without power. Can you spend a day with no electricity? Do you have alternate ways to cook food? Stable foods you can eat without cooking? This may be good practice, and help you spot areas you need to improve. Store some water in your home. Get a quality, re-usable water bottle or canteen (pardon the self-plug) Consider a rain barrel water collector. If you have access to a roof, capture the free, falling resource that you already have. Wear a well-fitting, quality mask when you are around large groups of people, or in a high-risk area To prevent e-coli: Wash your hands before preparing or eating food, after handling animals, after using the bathroom. Cook meats thoroughly to an internal temperature of at least 145°F (62.6˚C), or 160°F (70˚C) for pork and ground beef. More via the CDC Make a list of items that need regular maintenance. Do you have a car, furnace, hot water heater, generator, or other equipment that needs regular maintenance? Set up a schedule to stay on top of it and keep everything working. This may save you from an expensive breakdown or replacement. Make a list of everything that has gone well this week. Practicing gratitude helps train our brains to see the positive, and is good for morale. Get some exercise Read a book Have a productive weekend.

Reply to: Book Review: “Walkable City Rules”, by Jeff Speck Posted August 2, 2022

Excellent association! Speck does mention the Blue Zones in the book, and I think he would agree with you. This page on Blue Zones claims two of the top habits are: Move Naturally – “live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it” Downshift – “Routines that shed stress.” Speck cites a study that shows how driving raises blood pressure for an hour afterward. Those seem to fit well.

Reply to: Book Review: “Walkable City Rules”, by Jeff Speck Posted August 2, 2022

Excellent to hear. It seems several sources from Europe agree with you: “The bicycle network is currently saving [Denmark] an estimated €40 million per year in health costs” “11 000 deaths are prevented each year in the Netherlands and Dutch people have half a year longer life expectancy” “Promoting safe walking and cycling to improve public health: lessons from The Netherlands and Germany”

Reply to: Book Review: “Walkable City Rules”, by Jeff Speck Posted August 2, 2022

> I almost don’t need to read the book anymore after your well summarized review. Thank you. There is likely no higher possible praise for a review. > [more trees] means increased cost and maintenance for the shopping landlords and they don’t want that. Speck shows many such cases of this thinking in the book: where shop merchants fight against changes such as adding trees, charging for parking, having two-way streets, etc.He cites multiple studies that show which actions increase business revenue, and they are amazingly usually the actions that merchants fight against. Charging for parking increases revenue because it speeds up customer “turnover” – only people with cash to spend end up parking there. They hurry to buy things and then leave, which clears up the parking spot for the next cash-heavy customer. Adding trees makes shoppers linger more and visit more, which leads to increased revenue. Two-way streets mean you get customers during both the morning and evening, traveling both directions, which increases revenue. I am not a downtown business owner. But if I were, I would use the case studies Speck has collected to plant trees and do the other improvements which seem to create a net-gain for business. It is sometimes counter-intuitive. But fascinating. >every single person reading .. can pick up garbage I love this. Thank you for the reminder. I will work to remember this as I travel. Is this similar to “broken window theory” – where if you keep your community clean, people will treat it better?

Reply to: Book Review: “Walkable City Rules”, by Jeff Speck Posted August 2, 2022

Agreed! I was thinking the same thing. It will be interesting to see how their city turns out. How do they plan to build so that “every amenity will be only a five min walk away”?

Sump Pump Kit

Digital Recovery Kit

Book Review: “Walkable City Rules”, by Jeff Speck

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DIY Project: Rain barrel water collector

Book Review: Emotional First Aid

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Book Review: “Deep Survival” – Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

Book Review: “The Drought-Resilient Farm”, by Dale Strickler

Summary Report: Our power went out