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Hello to each of you patriots.

As you can see I am a newb here, I am asking for some help not only for myself but other newbs as well. I will get straight to the point... I am late to the game. I am not prepared. I am feeling more and more overwhelmed. I did just find this site not long ago and have to admit I am learning a ton reading it when I can, but I am not sure where to start... guns? food? precious metals? I only have so much money a month (it is getting to be less and less under this admin.).

My simple question is this... where do I start? I want to put $50.00 to $100.00 every two weeks towards preparing. Can you help me with a list of what you feel is most important, what should the priorities be? what kind of protection do you feel would be best? what about food? what can I do in a short period of time to prepare?

sorry about the long post, I really appreciate the advice and I know from reading on here that there are some very prepared folks, that is why I ask, I want to learn and protect my family.

Thank you in advance!
 
This is too broad of a subject to easily cover. I know this sounds dumb, but just starting is the first step.

The first thing you need to decide is what you are preparing for. It does you no good to prepare for nuclear war if that is not what you see in the future. If you are preparing for financial crash gold will not be worth much until things rebound, you cant eat or stay warm with gold.

Start buy buying things that can serve more then 1 role. For guns instead of buying a shotgun for small game, a rifle for hunting, a pistol for carry, a military style rifle for protecting against the rushing hoards buy a good all around gun like a 10/22 that can fill most of those roles in a reasonable way until you can afford to upgrade.

With food and house supplies just add a little extra to each shopping trip. Pick up 2 of things you use a lot of each time you go. Look for sales and buy a thing or two of stuff you will use in a case when on sale. It will add up quickly.

Just some basic thoughts to get you started.
 
most important at this point is food and food rotation. Violence is way down the road but food is going up all the time. Set up your pantry so you can rotate what you buy and keep buying.

jj
 
Focus on the basics. Food, water, and a way to protect your food and water.

Food: Buy extra canned food (or any food that has a good shelf life and high caloric content) everytime you go grocery shopping. Keep track of when you bought it and rotate through it.

Water: Bottled water is cheap, but if you are planning on needing more than a couple weeks worth, you may want to look into collecting rainwater and getting a filter.

Protection: I'd start with either a shotgun or a handgun (A good shotgun is cheaper tho)

IMO precious metals are only good if you have the basics covered, so I wouldn't worried about those.
 
Looks like you're getting some pretty solid advice so far. I'd add that you need to look at your life and simplify. Don't spend a dime that you don't absolutely have to - cable bill, phone, extra lattes? Next - look at all the extra crap in the garage and get it sold before the rest of the sheeple figure out the jig is up. Knowledge is mostly free - start studying to be self sufficient in food, warmth, and self protection. Acquire practical skills that will be useful to others. Only you will be able to accurately assess the situation you're in, and what to start acquiring first. The 10/22 and a couple bricks of ammo is a great start, then food and water I would think.

Are you rural or urban? Are you staying put, or will you have to haul supplies elsewhere?

I slightly disagree with the timeline - I'm not sure how long we have until the violence starts. The collapse is already in progress - it's not an event, it's a process. Things will deteriorate pretty quickly at some point. By my estimation, we are already long overdue. I figure it could get drastically worse any day now, but I have an optimistic streak that hopes for as much more time as possible. Hard sayin' not knowin'.

You're off to a good start.
 
OK, thanks for the replies,

Matt, you mentioned "protect your food and water" what is the best way? are you talking some kind of storage containers? I have a small food room about 5' by 15'. I would like to get a couple of cases of MRE's for goot Q (get out of town QUICK) and just to have on hand. Not sure where in Portland I can buy? or online? any ideas?

another question...If I have to stay in town and in my house is there any books or online resources that offer ideas for defense of my home or perimeter of my property? (in case of looters or armed gangs) Not trying to sound like a nut but I am really starting to understand the severity of our country's situation and the many scenarios that can and may follow.
 
Looks like you're getting some pretty solid advice so far. I'd add that you need to look at your life and simplify. Don't spend a dime that you don't absolutely have to - cable bill, phone, extra lattes? Next - look at all the extra crap in the garage and get it sold before the rest of the sheeple figure out the jig is up. Knowledge is mostly free - start studying to be self sufficient in food, warmth, and self protection. Acquire practical skills that will be useful to others. Only you will be able to accurately assess the situation you're in, and what to start acquiring first. The 10/22 and a couple bricks of ammo is a great start, then food and water I would think.

Are you rural or urban? Are you staying put, or will you have to haul supplies elsewhere?

I slightly disagree with the timeline - I'm not sure how long we have until the violence starts. The collapse is already in progress - it's not an event, it's a process. Things will deteriorate pretty quickly at some point. By my estimation, we are already long overdue. I figure it could get drastically worse any day now, but I have an optimistic streak that hopes for as much more time as possible. Hard sayin' not knowin'.

You're off to a good start.

sadly I am in the city. I am thinking to stay since I have little ones. I am still thinking about stocking up the trailer in case I have to go to plan B and get out of the city. Not sure how to know when that time is though. any thoughts on that?
 
Matt, you mentioned "protect your food and water" what is the best way?

By "protect" i mean you need to be able to hold onto what you have if times get tough. Being able to protect where you are living against riot/looters is important (like with a shotgun), but also being able to keep your mouth shut about what you have is probably even more important. People that prepare are usually just laughed at when times are good, but when times are tough they are hated by those that don't have anything. If you mention to a friend who mentions to a friend who mentions to a friend that you are stockpiling food, guess who will come knocking when the stores no longer have food?

Lot of good articles on SurvivalBlog.com about the kind of stuff you are asking, if you haven't already found that site.
 
sadly I am in the city. I am thinking to stay since I have little ones. I am still thinking about stocking up the trailer in case I have to go to plan B and get out of the city. Not sure how to know when that time is though. any thoughts on that?

That is the $64,000.00 question. Ask fifty people - get fifty different answers. None of us knows for sure. We just know it's coming.

If you have people you trust that you can get to outside of the city - I'd arrange to setup a supply base with them. The cities will be the worst - brutal. If you have no choice, and have to stay in town, your best defense is to keep a low profile. Make sure your place looks as un-interesting as possible. Another thing to consider is OPSEC - the less people who know you have a store of supplies - the better. Word like that will travel fast when people are starving.

Edit - Matt beat me to it - still good advice though.
 
By "protect" i mean you need to be able to hold onto what you have if times get tough. Being able to protect where you are living against riot/looters is important (like with a shotgun), but also being able to keep your mouth shut about what you have is probably even more important. People that prepare are usually just laughed at when times are good, but when times are tough they are hated by those that don't have anything. If you mention to a friend who mentions to a friend who mentions to a friend that you are stockpiling food, guess who will come knocking when the stores no longer have food?

Lot of good articles on SurvivalBlog.com about the kind of stuff you are asking, if you haven't already found that site.

hahaha, my little pea brain didn't think of it that way. I thought you meant protect from mold, rats, etc. I see what you are saying now and I could not agree more.
 
Another thought is what happens if tthe currency is worthless? How long before folks are kicked out of their houses? My thought for what its worth is to pay ahead on my bills and hopefully have a 3 to 6 month cusion (house payment in particular) in case the fhit hits the shan. It seems it would give us a few months to figure out our next step, maybe things cool down a bit in that time (doubtful) and we can go from there? I don't know.
 
Another thought is what happens if tthe currency is worthless? How long before folks are kicked out of their houses? My thought for what its worth is to pay ahead on my bills and hopefully have a 3 to 6 month cusion (house payment in particular) in case the fhit hits the shan. It seems it would give us a few months to figure out our next step, maybe things cool down a bit in that time (doubtful) and we can go from there? I don't know.

Really I wouldn't worry too much about this. I think you will have bigger fish to fry like keeping your family fed and safe. Some simple things you can do would be to get alternative sources for heat plus fuel (propane, kerosene, wood, etc) and store water on site. Get a few 55gal food grade barrels and fill the up with water and add some bleach. Having a britta pitcher might help if you have to tap into your stores. Really though, I would try to shoot for 3mo of food first before much of anything else. Then go for 6mo, then a year and so on. 3mo is easy, 6mo takes a little bit, 1yr can be quite a bit of effort, but not unattainable. As for the water, one thing you can do in the interim is to buy a few cases of bottled water from costco as well as get a backpacking style water filter/purifier or one of the Berkley water purifiers. I picked up a first need back packing unit from REI and its great. Even makes the tap water taste better.

A tip we did to help gauge how much food to get was to label everything with a date once we opened it, or kept track of how much of what we ate over the course of a month. For example I would just write the date I opened a jar of peanut butter on the lid then note the date when it was finally empty. We go through about 1 jar a month under normal usage, so that makes 12/yr or 15 if you want to err on the side of caution. A word on 3 months supply, this in our house is mostly made up of store bought cans of food and such. When you get to working on a 6mo supply, you will probably want to go to a place like honeyvillegrain.com or one of the LDS dry pack canneries. The LDS canneries are by far the cheapest and the food from them is pretty decent. Honeyville Grain is a great source too.
 
Really I wouldn't worry too much about this. I think you will have bigger fish to fry like keeping your family fed and safe. Some simple things you can do would be to get alternative sources for heat plus fuel (propane, kerosene, wood, etc) and store water on site. Get a few 55gal food grade barrels and fill the up with water and add some bleach. Having a britta pitcher might help if you have to tap into your stores. Really though, I would try to shoot for 3mo of food first before much of anything else. Then go for 6mo, then a year and so on. 3mo is easy, 6mo takes a little bit, 1yr can be quite a bit of effort, but not unattainable. As for the water, one thing you can do in the interim is to buy a few cases of bottled water from costco as well as get a backpacking style water filter/purifier or one of the Berkley water purifiers. I picked up a first need back packing unit from REI and its great. Even makes the tap water taste better.

A tip we did to help gauge how much food to get was to label everything with a date once we opened it, or kept track of how much of what we ate over the course of a month. For example I would just write the date I opened a jar of peanut butter on the lid then note the date when it was finally empty. We go through about 1 jar a month under normal usage, so that makes 12/yr or 15 if you want to err on the side of caution. A word on 3 months supply, this in our house is mostly made up of store bought cans of food and such. When you get to working on a 6mo supply, you will probably want to go to a place like honeyvillegrain.com or one of the LDS dry pack canneries. The LDS canneries are by far the cheapest and the food from them is pretty decent. Honeyville Grain is a great source too.


Hmmmm... great tips, thanks. I do have a couple cases of water already and if things went belly up today the family could survive in house on the food we have for probably a solid month to a month and a half, I know its not much but it is a start. We have a wood stove and a winters worth of wood (3.5 cords, oak/maple) I just need to stockpile some weapons and ammo first though along with food.


one other question for anybody, how do set this thing up so that anytime there is a reply it ISN'T COMING TO MY E_MAIL?
 
what the ****?! outlaw gardening?! WOW... these idiots misplaced their brains and common sense. How do these fools get elected in the first place? I would love to know who sponsered that bill.
 
The bill was just passed in the senate and every one of the 74 dems voted for it... in a 74-25 vote...after it passed, they realized they slipped some new taxes in there, so now I guess they will be altering it and voting again... this is just scary stuff right before our eyes guys...

http://www.naturalnews.com/030576_Food_Safety_S_510.html

what the ****?! outlaw gardening?! WOW... these idiots misplaced their brains and common sense. How do these fools get elected in the first place? I would love to know who sponsered that bill.
 
Barefoot.....This weekend there are 3 opportunities to learn how to accurately shoot a rifle...Project Appleseed has shooting clinics set up at Douglas Ridge near Estacada Or and at Suntargets range in Moxee WA near Yakima and a shoot in Couer d'alene ID(sic)

You will learn basic rifle skills and some long distance skills (range estimation, trajectory, wind etc.) The cost is $70.00 for males 21 and over, free for women, children, military, LEO and elected officials.. Absolutely the best training for the price anywhere..

The most important thing to gather at this stage is knowledge..

the Foxfire series of books focuses on skills mostly unknown and unused these days..but well known and used by our great grandparents....There are some great books on edible and medicinal plants (do a search in this sub-forum, it's been covered).

If you do decide to an Appleseed PM me and I'll see that you have whatever hardware that you need...and maybe some affordable pieces to try out to help you decide on your needs...

W44, Appleseed instructor.
 
Last Edited:
Barefoot.....This weekend there are 3 opportunities to learn how to accurately shoot a rifle...Project Appleseed has shooting clinics set up at Douglas Ridge near Estacada Or and at Suntargets range in Moxee WA near Yakima and a shoot in Couer d'alene ID(sic)

You will learn basic rifle skills and some long distance skills (range estimation, trajectory, wind etc.) The cost is $70.00 for males 21 and over, free for women, children, military, LEO and elected officials.. Absolutely the best training for the price anywhere..

The most important thing to gather at this stage is knowledge..

the Foxfire series of books focuses on skills mostly unknown and unused these days..but well known and used by our great grandparents....There are some great books on edible and medicinal plants (do a search in this sub-forum, it's been covered).

If you do decide to an Appleseed PM me and I'll see that you have whatever hardware that you need...and maybe some affordable pieces to try out to help you decide on your needs...

W44, Appleseed instructor.

Thanks for the info! I will give that some thought, I am not too far from Estacada. Do those go once in a while or is it a one time deal?
 

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