Those who are just beginning their preparedness endeavors may be a bit intimidated at how many preparedness supplies, survival books, tools, and skills training they need to acquire in order to be “prepared.” At one point or another, every prepper has made mistakes and been intimidated by the number of preps they need to have, and still, they continue to accumulate needed items because they know it must be done. This notion is comparable to the squirrel storing acorns (one at a time) for winter.
Recently, I posed a question on my Facebook page asking my fellow preppers what one piece of advice they would give a newbie prepper. The tips provided below are from different preppers scattered over America, who were kind enough to give their two cents worth on the subject. In this author’s opinion, the advice provided is both insightful and full of seasoned experience.
These 12 tips can help get the beginner prepper on the right track to meeting their preparedness needs:
- Do something every day, no matter how small.
- Read “One Second After.”
- List goals and develop plans.
- Study, learn these skills to be self-sufficient: Gardening, canning, hunting, water purification, and self-defense.
- Read Rawles’ book, “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It.” And do all the suggestions provided.
- Don’t overload on Internet survival. Choose this site and 4 or 5 others. Beyond that, they all start to sound alike with hints of tin foil hats. Once you have your lists, get started. No matter what you hear there is no 1 best gun and you can spend the rest of your life on bug out bags. It’s like eating an elephant, 1 bite at a time. Basic food and water for 1 week is a good start. Priority will be water filter and sanitizer.
- Whatever you do, DON’T go into debt to get prepared. Find some other way. Sell something. Trade something. Work extra hours. Pay in cash when possible.
- Have back-ups for your back-ups.
- Break [preparedness] down into smaller chunks: water, food, security, health/hygiene, barter and break each of those down by levels of prep – makes it not so overwhelming.
- NEWBIE, START RIGHT NOW! don’t wait. and then do SOMETHING every day, whether it’s buying/gathering, or reading.
- Don’t announce it to the world. But it’s hard because you want to tell everyone, but most people just think you’re crazy with a tinfoil hat!
- Research the Homestead Basics Library to start learning.
Special thanks to those who participated and provided these insightful tips: Karen Hanshaw Dinsmore, Donna Archambault, Dana Crocker Barnett, Ken Wanks, Frankie Hanna, Kevin Ayres, Sharon Iezzi, Angela Hamon, Heather Wrocklage, Tammy Medeiros and Gloria Pondela.