As preppers, we do our best to prepare for disruptive events that will turn our lives upside down. For the most part, we focus first on natural disasters that are common to our immediate area because if there is one thing we know for sure, Mother Nature knows how to throw a real hoe-down when she wants to. One example of such an event is an earthquake. People who live in an earthquake zone know that an earthquake will happen eventually. For them, it is just a question of how bad, and how much it will affect them personally. For that reason, if you live near a fault line, you better be prepared for the inevitable shaker because it is going to happen. This article is Month Three in the series "12 Dis . . . Read More
Twelve Months of Prepping: One Month At a Time
Back in September 2011, when I first wrote about 12 Months of Prepping, I was excited and highly motivated to share monthly checklists with the beginning prepper.
Leading up to the 12 months article, I had done a lot of reading and a lot of research. It was overwhelming to learn and to recognize just how much I did not know. I tried not to become alarmed and applied my typical pragmatic approach to moving forward, not only for the readers of Backdoor Survival, but also for myself. Most assuredly, I had some gaping holes in my own preps and what better way to fill the gaps then to break things down into manageable chunks?
How to Prepare for A Pandemic
It seems like every time we turn around there is some deadly disease in the news. In recent years, there has been Ebola and the Avian influence A (H7N9) virus. There has also been MERS-CoV and many more. While these are epidemics of serious proportion, they are not yet pandemics, but they could be. The best time to prepare for a pandemic is when a serious disruptive event of the pandemic-type is not on the immediate horizon. That said, a pandemic can occur at any time. It is this unknown aspect of pandemics that make them a potential reality we must prepare for. This article is Month Two in the series "12 Months of Prepping for Disruptive Events". . . . Read More
How to Prepare for an Electromagnetic Pulse aka EMP
As someone who was initially overwhelmed at the thought of prepping for every conceivable event on the planet, I finally settled into a routine of approaching preparedness methodically and in accordance with time, budget and perceived need. What evolved was “Twelve Months of Prepping” and it has had quite a run. Now, six years later, to me, it seems rather simplistic. That said, countless readers have pointed out that twelve months of prepping was the perfect tool to help them get started and to become grounded in what it means to be a prepper. It is now time to take things to the next level and become educated relative to specific risks that we all may face at some point down the road. Many of these risks are re . . . Read More
12 Months of Prepping: Month Twelve
The term “at the twelfth hour” is often used to describe something or someone that is late. But in Month Twelve of 12 Months of Prepping, nothing could be further from the truth. More to the point, if you have been following along the Backdoor Survival series on 12 Months of Prepping, One Month at a Time, you have already taken major steps toward becoming self-sufficient if a natural disaster or other disruptive event should strike in your neighborhood or within your family group. As we enter in to our twelfth month of prepping, we are going to take a look back at two of our critical areas of sustenance, namely food and water. And if you are just getting started? Well, let’s chat for a moment about . . . Read More
12 Months of Prepping: Month Eleven
As we enter month eleven of 12 Months of Prepping, it might be easy to become complacent and decide to set aside this month’s preparedness tasks until some other, more convenient, time. After all, if you are following along in accordance with the calendar year, there are family gatherings and holiday preps to attend to this month. Please do not slough off and let that be a deterrent to the task at hand. Prepping is a lifestyle and a commitment to preparedness, courage, optimism, and family values. Let us use this opportunity to continue our learning and to continue to pursue our quest to be ready for whatever disruptive event may cross our path.
. . . Read More12 Months of Prepping: Month Ten
As I do each month, I would like to begin month ten with a little pep-talk on preparedness. We all know that power outages, wildfires, storms, floods, and other disasters can happen anywhere at any time. Although first responders do their best when it comes to mobilizing their resources to assist victims, if the disaster or disruptive event is major, there will be a lot of families in need of assistance. Wouldn’t it be better to rely on your own resources instead?
. . . Read More12 Months of Prepping: Month Nine
Nelson Mandela once said: "It always seems impossible until it is done". And so it is with preparedness. At the beginning, the task of prepping seems impossible. But once you start, and once you really get going, the process does not seem so difficult and most definitely seems possible. Now don’t get me wrong. Talk to any prepper and he or she will tell you that the job is never done. Oh sure, you eventually acquire enough gear, water, and food to get you by for three days. Next, you work on being prepared for a week, then a month and ultimately, for as much as six months or a year. And even then, the job is not done. There are new skills to learn, old skills to fine tune and before you know it, a whole new list of stuff to buy. This month I want to remind you that it is . . . Read More
12 Months of Prepping: Month Eight
You may be familiar with the saying “behind the eight ball”. This idiom implies that you are in a tough, difficult or losing position from which it is unlikely to escape. Now surely that is not someplace that any of us wants to be and for that reason alone, we find justification to prepare. Prepare for what? Who knows. It might be a major disaster, it might be a personal health or financial crisis, it might be a terrorist attack or it might be the collapse of civilized society as we know it. Whatever the reason, the need to prepare is ingrained in us from the time we reach young adulthood. After all, the very first insurance policy we purchased was our way of saying “I am going to be prepared”. These days, we cannot count on traditional insurance to keep us safe, . . . Read More
12 Months of Prepping: Month Seven
We have now passed the half way point and are entering month seven of 12 Months of Prepping, One Month at a Time. By now you should be feeling secure in the knowledge that you are ready to beat the odds should a natural disaster or other disruptive event occur in your geographical area. Having said that, you do not need a PhD in family preparedness to know that there are far more reasons to prepare than a calamitous disaster. As the article Disasters 101 pointed out, the sudden loss of a job, illness, the death of a family member and a rash of other circumstances may require y . . . Read More
12 Months of Prepping: Month Six
One of the challenges we face is finding time to do it all. Not only do we have families and jobs to attend to, but also the never ending list of household chores. There is always something that needs to be done, right? When faced with too much to do in too little time, it is easy to turn our thoughts away from preparedness and instead to take whatever smidgen of time is left to enjoy our hobbies or even to catch a bit of extra sleep. The need for sleep notwithstanding, I want to remind you that many hobbies can be part of your preparedness journey. Hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, camping, sport sh . . . Read More
12 Months of Prepping: Month Five
For those that are new to prepping, time may appear to be your enemy. You know the old cliché “I have so much to do and so little time”? Well let me dispel the myth that prepping needs to be done all at once. It doesn’t. When it comes to preparedness, there is no reason to feel panicked and stressed into thinking you need to do everything all at once. The reality is that time is actually your friend. By taking things slow and easy, you add to your preps at a comfortable pace that does not burden your budget or your psyche. That burden to the psyche that needs to be avoided at all costs. The advantage of prepping over time is that is allows you to adequately assess your needs and to dig deeper into your reference materials – most likely the internet, eBooks, print books, and . . . Read More
12 Months of Prepping: Month Four
If you were to ask a stranger what they were doing to prepare, chances are they would indicate that they have a few cans of extra food and some bottled water in their pantry along with a couple of spare flashlights and maybe some batteries. To be honest, those are the things that most people think of when it comes to being prepared. You and I both know that if a disaster were to occur right now, those folks, out of ignorance or naiveté, would be cut off from the outside world. They would be totally dependent on first and second responders, and then later the government, to help them with the most rudimentary basics in life. Talk about the cost of inaction and failing to prepare! Luckily, if you are reading this article you have taken steps to ensure that you are not put in a s . . . Read More
