Every once in a while, someone stumbles on an old article of mine – “Why We’re Giving Up Prepping” and doesn’t realize that it’s actually an April Fools Day joke! I am 100% in this mindset to stay, and would never stop prepping, not ever (which is why I wrote this article as a follow up to my April Fools Day Joke).
But being forever-a-prepper doesn’t mean that I approve of absolutely everything that goes on in the prepper community, and I’ve found over the years that when it comes to the prepper community as a whole, it can feel a lot like a double-edged sword.
Let me start by saying, I’m talking about the prepper community at large with this article and not about the More Than Just Surviving community specifically. With MTJS – I do feel like I’m living in something of a bubble – where our attempts at being as down-to-earth and practical as possible about prepping, survival, gear, and the like are taken quite seriously by you – our fabulous community. So (and yes, I know this will sound incredibly biased) I honestly don’t believe the dislikes I have about the prepper community at large apply to the More Than Just Surviving community at all. Every once in a while, though, I go browsing around some other prepper sites, or a stray comes this way and leaves a flowery comment for us without really understanding the MTJS community at all, and it reminds me of just how lucky we are to have our community the way it is, with so much of the good and not so much at all of the bad.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the prepper community at large very much. A lot of good comes out of it. A lot of excellent, useful information and knowledgeable people are a part of making this community what it is. I wouldn’t even know how to start trying to figure out how to quantify all the benefit I’ve reaped out if it to date – impossible I think considering how much help and support I’ve gotten over the years! But that doesn’t take away the fact that there are also things I am not at all a fan of that go on in the prepper community.
Enough of a disclaimer, though. Let me know if you agree about these likes and dislikes – and if you can think of any others yourself.
10 Things I Love About the Prepper Community
1. How knowledgeable preppers are.
Knowledgeable preppers are the #1 most amazing thing about this community! It’s unreal the extent to which some people’s knowledge in this community goes (Not sure which insurance types are worth getting? No worries, many other preppers have thoroughly researched the answer). Considering nearly any bit of information can help you if an emergency situation happens, it makes sense that really knowledgeable preppers would be all over the place, but still I think it’s a really special thing to have that not many communities can boast.
2. How creative preppers with finding useful solutions to problems.
I can’t explain to you how many times weird random issues have come up (Issues with gnats in your kitchen?), and how quickly and easily just asking preppers about these regular daily-life frustrations leads to insightful and even creative solutions that I haven’t found recommended frequently on the net. Why are preppers like this? Obviously, the emphasis on adaptability and creativity comes with the turf – but it’s one thing to think you could be creative when a SHTF situation happens, and another thing to actually be creative enough to think up solutions to new problems. I think a lot of preppers actually deliver the goods on this front – more that might be expected considering creativity and adaptability are not at all easy traits to develop.
3. How preppers continue to strive to learn new things always.
There are a million and one different ways to go about this whole prepping thing, but no matter what kind of a prepper you are, you understand the value of knowledge in preparedness and you’re always willing to learn more. It’s not easy stuffing your brain full of new things or changing how you do something because someone’s pointed out there’s a better way – but I do think preppers do an excellent job of continuously learning and trying to discover new things that could help them with their preps, then doing their best to apply that new knowledge. Considering most people are happy with the knowledge they have and don’t really care to learn more, I think this is a huge boon of our community.
4. The way preppers look ahead to the future, and don’t simply fixate on the present.
I never have to explain to a prepper why it’s important to think ahead, plan for the future, and make sure you sacrifice at least a little today to make sure you have a better tomorrow. Do you know how uncommon that is in our day and age?
5. The fact that preppers aren’t instant gratification junkies.
Again, it’s so rare in our day and age to find a group of people who aren’t fixated on getting more cool stuff now. I know it may sound ridiculous, but talking to people who are constantly getting new renovations and upgrading homes and the like can be exhausting when you’re working toward bigger, more important goals. It’s huge peace of mind to be a part of a community that agrees with you on where priorities should lie. Making your future better is the most important goal for a prepper – and this is a given. Huge weight off my shoulders to not have to fight to explain every day.
6. How many “veteran preppers” don’t just hoard their knowledge – they share it happily.
It’s an amazing thing watching preppers help other preppers. Even more amazing watching preppers who have been at it for a long time coach less experienced preppers with regards to what they’ve learned in the past and how they’ve tackled some of the problems life’s dealt with. You technically don’t have to share knowledge to learn at all, you can just hoard knowledge, but that’s not what frequently happens in this community. People do help out, even when there’s no advantage to doing so. I appreciate this so much.
7. How no one rests on their laurels – they’re always striving to be better and have better preps.
Again, part of the turf considering you can never be too prepared and there’s always something else you can do to further your preparedness. Still, it’s amazing to see how time and time again, those who are so much more prepared than even the rest of the prepper community will strive to get further and further with their preps. I don’t think that kind of continuous growth happens in many communities at all.
8. How good preppers are at durable DIYs and giving incredibly useful DIY related advice.
I know there’s a huge DIY community online. I know that most of the DIY communities do a good job showing you how to get the most bang for your buck, but I think preppers do their best to DIY things slightly differently from the norm in that they’ll value longevity and durability over aesthetics every time. And that’s important to me. If I have a DIY question, I know it can be answered within the prepper community in seconds. Whether it’s natural remedies DIY’d at home, home repairs, or pretty much any other type of DIY under the sun, if you’ve got a question, you’ll get an answer from anyone in this community that automatically takes into account cost and durability. That’s pretty awesome.
9. How pretty much any topic under the sun is up for discussion.
When this blog first started up, we did a lot of articles on prepper stockpiles, a few on wilderness survival, and quite a number of gear reviews, then we expanded our first aid section, now we’re taking a look more into security topics, and we’ll probably continue to add new and interesting sections to this blog over the years (maybe one on gardening once we have a house again!) and still will never be truly “done.”
No prepper has ever minded this juggling back and forth between topics (though some have expressed boredom in us doing too much of one thing, the reviews for example, but tough ’cause we like doing reviews). So long as the information is accurate and somehow relates back to the topic of prepping, which I’d like to argue that nearly everything under the sun does, it’s not weird or out of place at all to be discussing so many different topics. You can talk about nearly anything through the scope of preparedness, so many different hobbies and interests (lock picking anyone?) and it will always be completely up for debate and easy to open up a conversation about. Amazing for people who like to jump from one topic to the next, learning a bit about everything, like Thomas and I do.
10. Taking self-sufficiency seriously is a given in this community.
It’s nice to have a community that values the same things you do, and while self-sufficiency is valued in some other communities, on the whole in our society, it plainly is not. This is another one of those things were I’m just so grateful to not constantly have to be explaining to others – why is it important that I’m as self-sufficient as possible? Well unfortunately, if you don’t feel there’s something inherently uncomfortable about having a complete lack of self-sufficiency it’s really hard to explain. No explaining needed in this community since we all have that unease about being too dependent on others and the government.
5 Things I Hate About the Prepper Community
Again, I actually feel the More Than Just Surviving community does phenomenally well in the “things I like” section, and rarely, if ever, do we get a few stragglers who pass through our community who end up committing any of the following “things I hate.” It’s more about the prepper community at large – though even there, these things don’t happen everywhere, and certainly not all the time. Either way, let me know if you feel me on any of these.
1. The overly hyped up doom and gloom messages that frequent the prepper community.
You knew this was coming, so it had to be #1. Ebola anyone? Yes, it was a threat. Was it as much a threat as many in the prepper community were hyping it up to be? Hell no, and many of you figured that out right off the bat. I hope all the rest have figured out that this was too over-dramatized/hyped up considering no one is talking about Ebola anymore. It is so frustrating watching “hot topics” like these hijack the industry, cutting off our circulation of practical and useful information and replacing good articles with TEOTWAWKI is tomorrow b*llshit. Sorry, but I can never approve of this type of hype, considering all I see it as is…
2. How the hype distracts many preppers from practical prepping.
Distraction. That’s all this doom and gloom hype is. The same threats that were most pressing, urgent, and likely to take place yesterday are the same ones that are pressing, urgent, and likely to take place today. You know what those are: power outages, natural disasters, economic bubbles bursting leading to large-scale job loss – that kind of thing. Yup, they’re boring things to prep for. Yup, it’s a lot more frightening to die of Ebola than it is to die due to a natural disaster. Does that mean the hype is worthy of distracting you – wasting your precious time, effort, energy, and even money on? No. I can’t think of a time when the answer to this question would have been, “Yes.”
3. Some preppers rush to point out mistakes instead of rushing to correct, help, and aid others.
Of course not even close to everyone in the prepper community does this. Most preppers are SO helpful, even if they aren’t in a position where they benefit from sharing their knowledge. But the few preppers who do this – rush in and “criticize” (i.e. sh*it on the poster for making an effort) without actually leaving any useful tips or advice for improvement – spoil the conversation for the whole bunch!
If you’ve ever seen this happen, say someone drops by and leaves a comment like, “How stupid,” “This is just wrong,” or “So much misinformation here” and leaves their comment at that full stop, please take a moment to write “NOT HELPFUL” in response to their comment. We need to train people to see how utterly useless it is to point out “something” is wrong without pointing out what actually is wrong, what could have been written better, or what, in their opinion, is good advice to have given instead.
Replying in a way that criticizes without offering any form of help shuts a conversation down and essentially makes the environment toxic. Commenters like this are not helping anyone: not themselves, not the person who started the conversation, not anybody who might stumble on the conversation later – all they’re doing is being an epic a**hole, stopping those who otherwise might have wanted to engage in the discussion from wanting to do so, and discouraging the original poster from wanting to bother trying to help again in the first place.
4. Because of the aforementioned point, how difficult some preppers make it for newbies to start prepping.
Not everybody is at your level. Most in the prepper community remember this, but the bitter few who comment in the overtly negative fashion mentioned above don’t seem to ever take this fact into consideration. They may have an enormously good reason for believing something is factually incorrect, but shutting down the conversation with a, “That’s stupid,” is not only enormously unhelpful, toxic, and frustrating to read, it also does one extra thing that can really damage this community: it makes our community exceptionally unwelcoming for newbie preppers who have just started or have little experience prepping.
Yes, newbie preppers will probably ask stupid questions. They’ll probably regurgitate information that isn’t true or accurate. But no, it’s not helpful for anyone to shut down the conversation and in the process make a newbie prepper feel completely unwelcome. We don’t need to discourage those who have taken the first step toward being more prepared from wanting to continue prepping because they get hostility whenever they try to engage and learn. The world could benefit from having a lot more preppers in it, so if something negative needs to be said (which is often the case), it should actually be constructive – pointing out exactly why what’s wrong is wrong.
5. How some preppers wish SHTF/TEOTWAWKI situations to happen.
Yes, I understand, you’ve prepared for this and you’re happy about your preps. You’re itchin’ for something bad to happen cause it’ll give you a chance to strut your stuff, to “shine” – even considering how much you’ve done to advance your position in case a bad SHTF situation happens.
But if you’re looking forward to a SHTF/TEOTWAWKI situation, you are essentially wishing harm on a lot of people. I know the sheeple are silly and keeping their head in the sand is bad news, but that doesn’t mean they deserve harm. I’m sure you know and even like a lot of good people who are not preppers and would be devastated if the kind of SHTF/TEOTWAWKI situation you’re hoping will take place actually came about. Have a little sympathy, at least for these people, and realize that a SHTF situation happening is a terrible thing no matter how prepared you are for it.
What Do You Love & Hate About the Prepper Community?
What about the prepper community do you like and dislike? Feel me on any of the points mentioned above? Think I left something out? Leave me a comment below.
(And to the trolls, yes, I’m expecting a lot of “This is stupid” comments already – don’t you worry! They’re even welcome on this post, means you read it).
I am 61 and am amazed how young people believe that older people are decrepit .my grandfather was punching cattle on the res on the Colorado river at 85.I have always had long term food storage.I have almost anything you could need.
What I hate about the prepper community is nobody talks about realistic bolt holes. Every sq. foot of the U.S. is photographed every 2-3 weeks. You can’t hide, simple truth. If you are urban or suburban you will have 2 weeks if you are lucky. 50-100 miles from a major city you have maybe a month. If you are in B.F. Egypt maybe 90 days. the starving hoards might not find you but when the cold weather comes in North America smoke from a chimney can be seen from MILES away. I see bolt holes advertised all over the country, some in eastern Tennessee or Ky, Va, Ga, the Carolinas ETC…. What are you people thinking? Idaho,Montana, Washington, Oregon, I give you guys a month more. If you want to not only be safe but actually live spend your money outside of the U.S.Get a place to go to where you don’t need to stockpile a bunch of food you really need to be starving to eat. There are stable countries in good climates with strong property rights, low carrying costs where people are retiring to when things are good so you can live not survive. I have found a place above the mosquito line with no need to heat or cool your house. Year round garden (an area so fertile a family of 5 can eat and have extra to sell off of less than an acre) They have been doing it for 100s of years. According to answers.com 90% of the population lives in the northern hemisphere. If you double the population of the U.S. you basically have the population of the whole lower HALF of the planet, about 700 million people. I don’t want to sound like an advertising so I won’t give particulars but I got a nice brand new brick home 1 br 1 ba about 700 sq ft built to north american standards on part of a larger farm with space to have a garden and 2 food forests I will end up sharing with the other 14 homes to be built for $61k and $250 per month to cover land, water, electric and taxes. Almost forgot a view to die for. I don’t need to stockpile food I will be forced to eat later. When SHTF I will be sitting on my patio drinking coffee without a care in the world.
There is a website and publication that’s been around since the late 70s called international living and the closest major city (500,000) is an hour up the highway and 7 of the last 10 years it has been rated in the top 3 places to retire in the world. It’s not in the northern hemisphere and an 8 hour flight from Chicago, 4-1/2 from miami
Some very good points Ed, people really do forget that true privacy in the physical sense is more or less dead- your bolthole sounds pretty perfect.
I agree with most everything I’ve seen here! One item, tho, that doesn’t receive much attention is our physical condition. I know people who have decent preps, know a lot about their weapons, etc., but couldn’t make it up two flights of stairs in a row. No matter what condition you are in, with some help and encouragement, you can improve. I wish you all the best.
For sure, Woodchuck. I just finished reading Robb Wolf’s book, The Paleo Solution. It’s a pretty easy read. In it they describe a small exercise routine which I imagine anyone from 5yrs old to 95 years old could do to improve their physical condition. Seems like it would be quite a bit less boring than simply lifting weights and jumping rope, too. YMMV.
Definitely agree. Health should be a priority for preppers – in my opinion, even regardless of whether or not there’s any sort of societal collapse. From a prepping perspective, not looking after your health is like putting extra hurdles in the path of your own survival! Heart attacks = death just as much as not surviving an emergency situation. Actually much more considering the statistics.
Woodchuck… thanks for your time in reading my post. More information will follow in a reply… Physical conditioning is important, but there is something else, so very much more necessary… I will reply in length at my earliest opportunity.
Okay, there is now enough time to reply to Woodchuck, R, Elise and other site members about ‘physical conditioning’. All of your responses are very positive and there is enjoyment in reading and responding to all of you… even if I am a bit off of the edge of the cliff!
Physical conditioning is one of the more critical components of the survival skills ‘block’, Just as outdoor skills, survival skills and escape and evasion skills, (I. e. skill sets). All of you have, at one point or another, been informed, or read that the British SAS Survival Manual, Canadian and American Special Forces Survival Manuals are desirable to collect and read, I would suggest that you read these, absorb the best from each book and compile a reference manual of your own… a notebook with plastic page protectors, tabs, etc., listing/dividing things like water, shelter, travel,… means of transportation… how to get to where you need to go, by the most direct route, or an alternate route, concealment, etc. But, re-read your compilation of collective information. Just like practicing with a firearm, throwing hatch/axe, fire making, etc., you can’t pull out the book when the real SHTF happens and start your reading experience at that time!
From my personal point of view, age and various physical limitations, ‘physical conditioning’ is important to me, only in the context of endurance. To paraphrase… ‘you gotta know your limits’… and I can no longer jump a building in a single bound, or stop a speeding locomotive! In this case, slow, but steady, is my philosophy. If the SHTF, my inclination, or position would be the ‘rear guard’ that stalls the onslaught of the masses, giving my friends and family the time they need to ‘get the hell out of Dodge’!
What is more important to me and you, is your ‘mental state of mind’… the ability and commitment to self preservation… the outright commitment to ‘remove a threat’ and not regret the outcome, whether it be socially, or in the courts; which includes your ‘situational awareness’! Not everything you are going to encounter is going the be a threat. Your ‘mental state of mind and how you react in times of crisis’ is a half-step above physical conditioning.
There is a reason behind the madness of continuous ‘military practice maneuvers’, practiced worldwide by the military, both in urban and rural environments. How you reacted, what were the end results and a final analysis of what could be changed to improve the ‘next-time response’.
Reader ‘R’ was curious as to my background for sources of information. A majority of my adult life has been involved in a quasi-governmental role. Nothing important… I was more likened to and still referred to as ‘The Little Dutch Boy, that put his finger in the leaking dike’… actually I’m more like the guy with the shovel and broom, following the circus parade of elephants. I was not one of those lucky people that sat in a protected office/bunker, doing table-top exercises, with little stick figures, toy tanks, or pretend boats and planes. I learned from getting dirty, sweaty and covered in mud!
Here is my advise to some of you… Listen, don’t talk over the voices of people who have experienced the worst. Don’t ask them, ‘but what IF’, ask them ‘what’ they might have done differently, ‘what’ they could or should have been prepared for by being aware of their situation… ‘ask’ them to show or help you with their firsthand experiences fleeing/concealing/staying in place, to keep themselves from harms way. Listen, absorb, evaluate and then act!
I have spoken with/interviewed many a displaced person, both from ‘hot and post’ war zones/crisis’s. They have a story to tell about their means of survival; some of them were very physically fit, but had no real mental/moral resolve or commitment other than to preserve themselves. Other were more emotionally equipped to deal with the realities of hostile environments and how not only to survive themselves, but to also help others. I will be one of the second type examples of humanity.
Then, you always encounter those who now-a-days are referred to a ‘snowflakes’. In my generation, we called them ‘cupcakes’, and still do! Some will survive and many more will parish, because they always want somebody else to do their ‘dirty-work’. The last person on my list and the most likely to have an unpleasant ending to life, will be the bullies… you can only take so much and then you, or the crowd returns it 100 fold!
Enough of my gibberish. Preppers have both good and bad attributes, as the article outlines. Make a conscious decision about what your needs are, how to obtain your goals… whether to stay in place, or leave… how much you need to survive, etc. There are so many good sites out there, that are not there the preach TEOTWAWKI/SHTF and scare the living ‘stuffing’ out of you. It can be an earthquake, a drought, 4 feet of snow in 8-hours… whatever. Just be prepared in a mentally rational manner, have provisions, be able to run up and down a few flights of stairs, be situationally aware and do like we did in the past… Keep Calm and Carry On!
This – “Just be prepared in a mentally rational manner, have provisions, be able to run up and down a few flights of stairs, be situationally aware and do like we did in the past… ”
Spot on!
Running the gauntlet from TEOTWAWKI to everyday unexpected needs, seems to be more common these days. (Young adults can’t tell the time from an analog watch… just need that fancy cell phone and tablet for all the answers… except when the battery expires… and can’t get MY fingers dirty, either). Just like everyone came to the cookout, but no one had any matches. I really liked that comment left on this site. You don’t have to spend millions to be prepared. Just build your stockpiles slowly and remember to rotate your stock regularly.
You don’t need the $200 knife or flashlight. Work on the ‘KISS Principle’, but research and buy wisely. All my flashlight are LED’s, (usually C3-C4 variety bulb) and the same battery size, regardless of their purpose. Any other type of illuminated devices are also of the same battery size. ‘Standardization’ is the word, I guess. Look for the batteries that are most commonly stocked on store shelves and readily available in your area, if there were to be panic buying situation, you know the sizes you need, not a plethora of guesswork sizes.
Also, remember that phrase of, ‘2 is 1 and 1 is none’. In other words, I have one of each item, stored in two different locations… (most of us have a home basement or cellar with four corners, so use two of them), if you lose one, I have another stored. Lose 1 and I have lost it all.
Working for people who spend time in their 10th story ivory towers, Monday morning armchair quarterbacking, or have little or no practical knowledge of what actually happens in the trenches, is also more common these days. I can’t begin to tell you how many highly educated people write mandatory policies about how YOU have to use a company shovel or rake, but could not identify it by a picture, or know how to use it,.. (it’s not in my job description… that’s your job). Try to sort out what writers are saying and for which crowd they are writing for.
Go out and test what you have bought, or read as many reviews as you can before making a financial ‘commitment’ on anything. Good excuse for a weekend camping or overnight backyard adventures for the kids… to ‘test drive’ the items… (age appropriate of course). Also a good test for the durability… (small smile and smirk, here). If an 11-year old knows how to break it overnight, so will the elements in an emergency situation.
As to firearms, ammo, and the like… everyone has a different opinion. and the wind changes direction constantly. Buy a quality firearm you can ‘control’. Take the appropriate lessons from a professional, not the ‘know it all tin-can-pinker’ who learned it all from Hollywood. SAFETY is the first rule. Learn how to use your firearm and practice… (it’s called muscle memory response). It only takes 1 well-placed shot to defend yourself or your family… not all 15 rounds in the magazine to remove a threat. My take is this… if you are that concerned about depletion or unavailability of ammunition types, look at what the police and military carry…If there is a SHTF scenario, you can always strip ammo from them. Also, look at what can be used for small game hunting, including a simple, but good quality piston=type air rifle.
Okay, time to move onto mowing the lawn and doing other expected marital duties.
Bill,
Great comments and suggestions. I was really into reading your comments until I got to the part about stripping ammo from LEO or military personnel, then I froze up. I kept rereading that statement!
Did you mean dead bodies? Reason I asked is no sane LEO or Armed Military person is going to give up any ammo at all unless their dead in a SHTF situation! Please advise on your meaning. It would seem to be dangerous to go near them after an active shooting incident, plus any survivors or OPFOR would police up casualties, any extra weapons, and left over ammo, Yes?
Broadwing,
Hey thanks for the nice comment,
Well, of course, only dead bodies! There will be a lot of dead bodies out there when the SHTF really, really happens. Not every incident, especially in a chaotic SHTF/TEOTWAWKI scenario, will weapons and wounded immediately be ‘policed up’. If you pardon the comment… you’re just recycling the ammo and weapon use…
And, no,,, you don’t want to become involved in an active scene, nor interfere with authorities of any level. I am talking about all-out proliferation… you know, what we have been prepping for. Also, if ‘on-the-move’, you can only carry so much with you, so adapt and scavenge whatever you can carry. That is what the stripping statement is about.
Trust me, if the deaths involve any type of ‘NBC’, even some of the ‘first responders’ will become fatalities and the balance of people will run in panic, trampling man and beast to run away in fear of the unknown. The human animal basically knows two things: self preservation in the form of fight or flight. Of course, then you too need to be worried about exposure, contamination and cross-contamination, and the like.
GI’s stripped weapons and ammo from the enemy in every theater of war we have been in. Not just for souvenirs, but for survival, so when our own troops ran out of ammo they could defend themselves… not to mention, every caliber has its own sound signature, so sometimes it sounded like the enemy was shooing at each other,.. confusion on the field of battle.
My vision of this statement is an extreme mass casualty event… thousands dead and even more fleeing the area, leaving everything behind. There will be no time to bury the dead, or even treat the more seriously wounded, Indigenous populations have stripped items, including foodstuffs, clothing, ponchos, etc., with little respected for the dead…
Hope this answers a question or two.
Excellent response! I’m guessing you’re ‘former’ military from your responses. Thanks for sharing your insights!
‘R’, thanks for your time in reading my post. More information will follow in a reply… Physical conditioning is important, but there is something else, so very much more necessary… I will reply in length at my earliest opportunity.
Definitely agree with Broadwing, great suggestions! Thanks so much for taking the time to type this up :)
DISLIKE # 6, I didn’t see it listed but I dislike how for the past 37 years there are people trying to make a buck who have said silver will be $100.00 an ounce within ten years, so buy, buy, buy. What they sell you is way above spot silver prices. Well I’ve had silver bullion since 1985, it hasn’t hit anywhere near $100.00 and if I live for 20 more years it still won’t happen.
DISLIKE #6 Prepper web sites and blogs that tout products and link you to nothing but Amazon.com, or advise the most expensive items all the time. Give me some option referrals. Granted everyone needs to make a buck for referral links sales, but some items are cheaper other places, like Walmart? Not all of us in the Prepping community have money trees growing in our back yards. Anyway $200.00 for a knife or flashlight just doesn’t make sense. Get a K-Bar or Mag light, like a Timex, they take a licking and keep on ticking.
What I like is what you like……smart preppers shop around looking for the best sales and value. For thier dollar or pound.
That first one is a great one. And well put! Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Agree about the value of items. Thing is, I can definitely justify paying high prices, but only if it’s worth it. And in our age of abundance it feels more and more like high quality is getting cheaper and cheaper, so it’s getting harder and harder to justify $200 for a flashlight. $50-100 I can see myself paying, but there are some limits that are just not worth going over. Definitely always looking for that fine line, but I agree that some just ignore the line and pretend like just because something is better quality it’s somehow worth double the price. Not always true if it’s only a little better.
Thanks for pointing these out, Broadwing!
What about the prepper community do you like and dislike.
Like: 1. people doing skills videos which they share; 2. the willingness to share information.
Dislikes: 1. the failure of some armchair experts to understand that survival is a function of equipment, skills and physical/mental health. These are the guys who endlessly argue about a caliber of a firearm and don’t ever learn how to shoot accurately while walking/running or at night because they never spend the time or the money to get expert instruction. 2. the failure of the “I’ll survive on rice and beans” crowd to understand that they won’t want cooking smells, be able to obtain copious amounts of clean water or have the time to gather large amounts of firewood.
Oh my goodness the skills videos – forgot to mention those! Good point!! Those are *sooo* helpful!
Your first dislike is such a great one. I cannot possibly disagree with you there – see it so often. And don’t you just wish people would test out their plans for even a week in the wilderness or even their backyard before they settled on them?
Hi Elise, thank you for this informative post. I consider myself a new prepper, and I’ve also noticed the doom and gloom. However, while it may be on the extreme side of prepping, I can’t help but feel that they are onto something.
You see, I lived through two hurricanes. The first one, Hurricane Gilbert in 1998, I barely survived. I was 12 years old at the time and my parents were not prepared for it. During in the eye of the storm, I went out to get provisions and got caught in the tail wind. Terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time :)
When Hurricane Sandy came to the east coast in 2012, I was not prepared then either, I went without electricity for 2 weeks. It was bad. I had to move my family to my in-laws. I went home everyday to keep an eye things, cold nights in the dark listening to basketball games on a transistor radio, i appreciated that. But the other parts, not so much. I remembered feeling desperate, alone, and pissed at myself for not being better prepared.
Sometimes, the doom and gloom comes your way whether or not you’re prepared for it. Those that experienced it first hand, don’t want to repeat history and often end-up sounding likely doom-sayers :)
Keep up the good work!
Dwayne
Thanks for the comment, Dwayne!
When I say “doom and gloom” I don’t at all mean things like Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Gilbert. Power outages, natural disasters, bad storms, etc – Those to me are not doom and gloom hypes – instead they are *very* practical things that every person in my mind should prep for. I completely agree with you that there is huge sense in prepping, and preppers 100% have a very good point to what they do.
What I am fighting against, and what I label “doom and gloom” prepping hype is stuff like worrying about Ebola, even though it was never a real tangible threat.
In my opinion, prepping for things like Ebola, nuclear breakout, and zombie apocalypses, if you haven’t yet prepared well for things like job loss, natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, snow storms, etc, is a terrible idea, and just distracts you from what it is actually very important to prep for. In my opinion, it’s a matter of priority, and your priorities should lie in prepping for the likely/probable first and foremost. Yes, an Ebola outbreak *may* have a chance at happening, but not one as great as all the other, less “interesting” things to prep for.
I hope this makes sense. By the way – good on you for trying to be more prepared, and certainly hard times and disaster do have a way of finding us, whether or not we’re ready.
Your #5 dislike: HOW SOME PREPPERS WISH SHTF/TEOTWAWKI SITUATIONS TO HAPPEN.
I find joy in the realization that my preps come in handy in less serious situations, too. Minor inconveniences that would be a problem if I didn’t prep become fun. Power outages, running out of money, car trouble, “no one brought matches to the cookout”, and many other minor events have been smoothed over by my being a prepper. The little annoyances are always going to be orders of magnitude more common than TEOTWAWKI, and are good practice and are most likely the only opportunities you’re ever going to have to use your preps. And that’s OK. You’re ready for The Big One, if and when.
Love this. I totally agree.
I too agree with this one. I love when someone looks over at me in need of a knife because they already know I’ve got one handy. No words needed. It’s definitely a nice feeling.