Thread: Meet your preparedness minded neighbor here

A quick question for all the preppers out there. I am starting to find it hard to focus on one thing while buying supplies, I see deals and buy some food/stores here, ammo there and other misc items. So, the million dollar question....What area/items should I focus most on first?

I'd like to hear some your thoughts and Idea's on this topic.

sailorman2010

Originally Posted by sailorman2010

A quick question for all the preppers out there. I am starting to find it hard to focus on one thing while buying supplies, I see deals and buy some food/stores here, ammo there and other misc items. So, the million dollar question....What area/items should I focus most on first?

I'd like to hear some your thoughts and Idea's on this topic.

sailorman2010

Sailorman --

First off, I'd say you get your basics done:
- Financial/Life Docs in place, on thumb drive, or remote backup.
- Bug-in Kit: 72 hour kit to sustain you and family >> food, weapons, light, shelter, meds ... the usual stuff
- Firearms Readiness (short/long guns, ammo, accessibility, training, etc.)
- Emergency Plans (disaster plan, meeting places, code-words, etc.)

After that, you can work piecemeal to add to your food storage weekly, Ammo/Firearms monthly, and Knowledge Base ongoing. For food storage -- a good goal is to purchase $10/week in extra provisions. There are tons of sites that discuss acquisition, storage and ongoing usage strategies.

For me, 2,000 rounds each of 9mm and .223 gives me the comfort factor I need.

As for a bug-out bag or "go bag" as my LE pal calls them -- I've got one, but I'd only use it in a true SHTF scenario, or (more likely) a Zombie/Hezbollah incursion.

My 2cents

On a thumb drive? I'd put it on paper first...

Kitsap County here.

Originally Posted by sailorman2010

A quick question for all the preppers out there. I am starting to find it hard to focus on one thing while buying supplies, I see deals and buy some food/stores here, ammo there and other misc items. So, the million dollar question....What area/items should I focus most on first?

Dontread had some good advice. I'll go a little further and say: Plan for your local disasters first. These are usually small scale and easier to stock up for first. Work on 3 days first, then a week, month and so on. If you're here on firearms forums, one can assume that you are probably covered on firearms for any small-scale disaster. Do you planning something like this:

1) What will I need if my home burns down? Records of bank accounts, credit cards, photocopies of drivers licenses and passports, and so on. Scanned copies on a USB drive or DVD and kept in a safe deposit box or a relative's safe may be sufficient.

2) What do I need if a Hanford release or other nuclear (CGS) event or CSEPP chemical release necessitates evacuating the Tri-Cities? Where will you go and stay? What will you need to have to get you and family to safety quickly? Here you start planning your bug out bag or get out of dodge plans.

3) What if a pandemic forces a quarantine in your home? What foods, medicines, or other supplies might you need to ride out a few weeks at home?

Once you have your local emergencies planned for you can move on to larger scale preparations like global financial collapse, global plague, etc. So you "random" method is probably not all bad for your local preparations, but make sure you can last 3 days first before purchasing for 3 months. Plan to survive a house fire before planning to survive nuclear fire. And so. Start small and build up from there.

eta: If you don't know the local disaster possibilities around the Tri-Cities, take a look at the Benton County Hazard Mitigation Plan.

North of Spokane here.

I've already been pm'd by a couple of members and look forward to meeting you. Preparedness takes on all different aspects of needs from food and water to mental preparation. Thanks for your interest, we should meet and greet within a week.


Will

I'm in Cedar Hills, West Portland. Here is a site that has an excellant checklist of important "prepardness" items: http://prepardeness.com/emprepchecli.html. It would seem to make sense that people could meet in certain geographical areas for a dinner meeting and sharing ideas. Perhaps a casual association of known geographical neighbors would be important; sharing phone numbers, or e-mail addresses, etc. tkdguy

Originally Posted by sailorman2010

A quick question for all the preppers out there. I am starting to find it hard to focus on one thing while buying supplies, I see deals and buy some food/stores here, ammo there and other misc items. So, the million dollar question....What area/items should I focus most on first?

I'd like to hear some your thoughts and Idea's on this topic.

sailorman2010

"Preparedness Principles" by Barbara Salsbury may be a helpful read to start your focus. I browsed thru it at an LDS bookstore in Moses Lake and ended up buying it. You can Google for additional information on her works to see if it fits your need.

Just chiming in again... south King county, willing to meet up with locals/semi-locals as opportunity provides.

Originally Posted by shoggoth80

Just chiming in again... south King county, willing to meet up with locals/semi-locals as opportunity provides.

Same for me.

@Sailorman2010 - "Food". I was just listening to Jack Spirko's "thesurvivalpodcast" and he mentioned, that under almost any disaster scenario - you need food storage.

1) You lose your job, and have trouble paying bills
2) There's a massive regional earthquake and all supermarkets lose power
3) Zombies
4) etc.

Bottom line: what's good for a more likely disaster applies to armageddon

Ran a StoryBook spreadsheet search on Chemist and Cyborg's IPs. Same zip code, dual postings.

Originally Posted by kenno

Ran a StoryBook spreadsheet search on Chemist and Cyborg's IPs. Same zip code, dual postings.

Kenno, what does this mean? I'm an electrical/mechanical genius. I know my way around the web but I'm still learning. Two people sharing a computer? One person using Two screen names? Just curious. Let me know.

Lefty.

I tell you what...I have enough on my plate dealing with food, guns, water, for my family and the voices in my head...I don't need to know about two people sharing a what? Same IP?

This preparedness thing is too complicated...I'll just agree to meet the few guys that pm'd me, have a coffee together FTF and make up my own mind.

But by all means, please elaborate...






Will

Salem here. I need some more guidance. I have started with my food, water, guns and ammo preps. But i would love for a mentor/ guidance.

Originally Posted by kenno
"Ran a StoryBook spreadsheet search on Chemist and Cyborg's IPs. Same zip code, dual postings."

Oh my god! Our secret is out! Chemist and I appear to live in the same Zip code. Damn our evil scheme has been exposed.

WTF?

Kenno are you just a little paranoid or what is going on. After reading some of your other posts I wonder if your just here to spoil others peoples day. How about lightening up some.

Kenno?






Will

NW clatsop county - looking to network with anybody within about 200 miles (as that's the lowest range of my car with a full tank of gas) I think we should all be showing as much effort towards finding others who want to prepare as we do in actually preparing. after all, none of us will have everything we need, and for those of us with families - we'll need more adults than our household provides to take care of the daily chores and such when the grid goes down.