100 Preparedness Tips

With our country being disassembled inch by inch, hurricanes, earthquakes on the daily, and financial disasters...everywhere...it pays to be prepared for anything that might happen. Here are some tips...

Money

1. Have an emergency fund, the bigger the better.
2. Keep cash safely stored in your home in case ATMs go down.
3. Make every effort to be debt free ASAP.
4. Put your life savings/investments in a variety of places (stocks, CDs, mutual funds, etc).
5. Always carry cash with you in case credit cards aren't able to be processed.
6. Carry debit/credit cards from three different banks in your wallet (in case some but not all bank systems go down).
7. Save as much money as possible (buy stuff on sale, shop at thrift stores, etc).
8. Pay phone and other bills annually if possible (this will keep your service going even if payment systems are down for an extended period of time).
9. Check your free credit report annually to make sure nothing is out of line in your reports.
10. Be aware of the many financial scams going around and avoid them if possible.

House

1. Keep your home in good repair and have the tools/materials on hand to make repairs if needed.
2. Keep your home well organized so you can find the gear/supplies you need during a disaster.
3. Keep your home well stocked with consumables that you use often (TP, shampoo, soap, paper towels, etc).
4. Have multiple sources of water on hand (bottled, tap, from a nearby creek, etc).
5. Have multiple ways to cook during a disaster (kitchen stove, patio grill and fuel, camping stove and fuel, etc).
6. Have multiple ways to heat your home during a disaster (furnace, kerosene stove and fuel, wood stove and firewood, etc).
7. Make sure your home is secure (dead bolt locks, window alarms, solid core doors, etc).
8. Be prepared to evacuate your home if necessary (due to wildfire, chemical spill, etc). 
9. Have a solar battery bank on hand for use when the power goes out.
10. Have a year's worth of food stockpiled (helps when there are shortages or steep price increases).

Car

1. Have a comprehensive car emergency kit in your vehicle.
2. Keep a battery jumper box in your car (charge it up regularly).
3. Always keep food and water as well as a good first aid kit in your car.
4. Keep your vehicle in good working order and make repairs as needed.
5. Keep basic car repair tools and materials on hand.
6. Keep seasonal items for your vehicle on hand (chains, snow tires, ice scraper, etc).
7. Always fill the gas tank up when you hit a half tank.
8. Keep a regularly updated overnight/emergency bag for each family member in your vehicle.
9. Keep a map in your glove box in case GPS goes down.
10. Keep a few "wag bags" in your vehicle in case you end up stuck in traffic for hours.

Job

1. Keep your resume updated no matter how secure your job is.
2. Keep up with your business networks (this is a great way to find out about jobs before they are even posted).
3. Have multiple sources of income (a job and some side hustles, for example).
4. Be exceptional at your job and always keep learning and improving your skills.
5. Be strategic when job hopping.
6. Always prepare like you will be laid off without warning (this happens a lot lately).
7. Take advantage of any benefits your job offers (401k matching, educational support, etc).
8. Know your job's policy manual backwards and forwards (this way you won't miss out on things like paid severance if worse comes to worst, etc).
9. Look towards your work future and plan for impacts from AI, corporate downsizing, etc.
10. Make yourself invaluable at your workplace.

Family

1. Teach your kids how to respond in a disaster (if you are injured, they might need to save YOU).
2. Make a family communication/reunification plan if you all happen to be in different places when disaster strikes.
3. Have multiple ways to communicate with friends and family after a disaster (cell phone, email, social media, HAM radio, mesh network, etc).
4. Teach your kids useful skills like gun safety, Stop the Bleed, what to do in active shooter situations, what to do about bullies, etc.
5. Pay attention to the mental health of family members, before, during, and after a disaster.
6. Take time to prepare for pets, livestock, babies, the ill, and the elderly and their special needs during a disaster.
7. Teach your family what the most common disasters are in your area and how to prepare for these situations (ie: where are the community tornado shelters, what to do during an earthquake, etc).
8. Have a list of people that can help during a disaster: lawyer, doctor, plumber, auto mechanic, etc.
9. Teach your kids age-appropriate skills: cooking, how to do laundry, helping with gardening and chopping firewood, etc.
10. Volunteer as a family, attend preparedness classes together, go shooting and camping as a family.

Skills

1. Learn how to source and purify water.
2. Learn armed and/or unarmed self defense skills.
3. Learn basic first aid skills.
4. Take advantage of community events like health fairs to learn CPR, AED use, etc.
5. Watch YouTube videos to learn new disaster-related skills or brush up on old skills.
6. If there is a skill you want to learn, find a local expert to teach you (ie: Master Gardeners, local fishermen, etc).
7. Learn basic outdoor survival skills then go on an unsupported, week-long backpacking trip to test your new skills.
8. Consider volunteering. CERT, SAR, and volunteering as an EMT are interesting ways to learn useful survival skills.
9. Learn skills from your oldest relatives like canning food, how to wash clothes by hand, etc.
10. Teach yourself basic things like how to change a tire, how to fix a leaky faucet, etc (YouTube is great for this).

Hobbies

1. Pick up outdoor activities like orienteering, bicycling, camping and hiking to learn valuable survival skills.
2. If you plan to have firearms, learn how to skillfully use them by participating in shooting hobbies such as USPSA or IPSC.
3. Consider HAM radio for a fun and useful hobby.
4. Reading is an underrated hobby these days, read useful books which you can get free from the library.
5. Old-timey hobbies like woodworking, sewing, etc. are both fun and useful during a disaster situation.
6. Have a garden--it's useful (provides food), enjoyable, good exercise too.
7. Even traveling can be a good preparedness hobby. Seeing how people live, especially in third-world countries, can be eye-opening (and useful for disaster preparedness).
8. Enjoy hobbies with your family members; this is great for team-building as well as learning useful skills together.
9. Cooking, baking from scratch, making specialty foods (like wine making, cheese making, making pickles, etc) are both useful and enjoyable hobbies.
10. Team hobbies such as playing softball or volleyball is a great way to stay fit and make friends.

Health and Fitness

1. Maintain your health so you won't be reliant on a mountain of prescription pills which is so common these days.
2. Exercise every single day to maintain good fitness.
3. Eat nutritious, whole foods instead of the massive amount of junk foods that fill our supermarket shelves.
4. Use relaxation and stress management techniques to deal with the everyday stresses of our world.
5. Enjoy fitness activities that blend exercise and socialization like pickleball, bowling, etc; being social is good for your mental health.
6. Set some big fitness goals (like running a marathon) which will improve your health and teach you how to achieve big goals. On a side note, being able to run long distances may be useful in a disaster.
7. Regularly track your health metrics such as weight, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, etc. and keep them within a healthy range.
8. Pay attention to illness and injury prevention tasks that can keep you healthy (ie: stay up-to-date on vaccines, wear a helmet when biking or skiing, etc).
9. Get regular dental, hearing, vision, and mental health care.
10. Try going an entire weekend without being online/on social media--it will do wonders for your mental health.

Gear

1. Create a useful Everyday Carry kit.
2. Create a personalized Bug Out Bag.
3. Put all of your disaster supplies in one area, stored in marked plastic tubs.
4. Have all of your personal documents in a safe place that you can grab at a moment's notice if you need to evacuate (passports, birth certificates, marriage/adoption/military/immigration records, etc).
5. Have hard copies of your contact lists, banking info, passwords, etc. in case your computer dies and all of your digital files are lost.
6. Make a "survival tablet".
7. Invest in quality survival gear (everything from rain jackets to tents to battery banks to flashlights and more).
8. Have support gear for your survival gear (ie: a cleaning kit for your guns, sharpeners for your tools, etc).
9. Look for ways to gather gear at a discount (use sierra.com, steepandcheap.com, the Dollar Tree, thrift stores, garage sales, etc).
10. Way down at the bottom of your gear list might be a "bug out vehicle" or "bug out cabin" for real SHTF situations.

Don't Forget

1. Don't forget to rotate your food stockpile in with your usual food so things don't expire.
2. Don't forget to back up your computer files regularly and keep at least one copy of your files backed up off-site.
3. Don't forget to review your "end of life" documents at least annually.
4. Don't forget to put your emergency plan in writing and give a copy to each family member.
5. Don't believe everything you see online/o YnouTube (and don't watch so much "sky is falling" stuff, it will make you crazy and most of it is false anyway).
6. Don't overlook the value of good sources (I like Ryan Hall for weather, S2 Underground for national and world threats). Use proven, reliable sources for disaster and impending disaster news).
7. Don't forget to add in good/fun things to have in the event of a disaster (keep a chocolate stash with your emergency food, have new games and coloring books to have on hand when the power goes out, etc).
8. Don't forget situational awareness anytime you are in public places. By paying attention you may be able to avert disaster.
9. Don't forget to do these tasks at your own pace (ie: don't run up a credit card to buy all of your survival gear at once...slow and steady preparation is the way to go).
10. Don't forget to have fun when doing these activities; even though preparedness is a serious topic, a bit of fun and levity makes it a less depressing topic.