Yes, you can be a prepper too!

You probably already have some of the items you need right in you     own home. Look around and see what items you already have that will help you to be more self-reliant. Do you have a bbq pit, camping gear, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc? Do you have an area to grow a small garden? A patio or a small section of your backyard. Look around and see what areas of your home you can turn into a food storage area. An extra closet, room, basement, garage or any area to put an extra shelf  or two.

 

Start out by purchasing an extra can or two of food when you go grocery shopping. If you buy a few items a week, it can ad up in a short period of time. Get a membership to Sam's or Costco. My husband doesn't like shopping, so I gave the other membership card to my daughter.

 

I have always been a prepper and didn't know it. I've always had extra food set aside for a rainy day or for some unforeseen circumstances. A tornado, earthquake, power outages, unemployment. We have rotated through our food storage a few times since we really started prepping. Family members needing a place to stay until they could get back on their feet, unemployment, helping a friend who was in desperate need and helping the local homeless shelters. We are stocking back up after a bout of unemployment. The food storage we had was a blessing during this time. We used up everything but some of the long term storage foods and we're very thankful we didn't have to open those, as good jobs came along just in the nick of time.

 

Our grandparents, great grandparents and so on down the line, knew how to make it through the rough times and through the seasons, by preparing and storing food for months in advance.

 

You can prep too! Buy what you use and use what you buy. It's not hard and can be a lot of fun. You can learn new skills to be self reliant and to barter with, in the future. There is a wealth of information out there, surf the internet or go to your local library. Go to used book stores and thrift shops as they may have lots of resourceful books also.

 

I was overwhelmed when I first woke up to the fact that our world was not what it seemed, and any day, some disaster could raise it's ugly head. I cried for 3 weeks straight. My first thought was, there is no way I will ever be able to deal with any of this. The world as I saw it for the first time without those rose colored glasses was not pretty. I was scared to death and the task ahead was daunting. I was ready to stick my head back in the sand and try to forget that I ever woke up to this information. I now had this knowledge and didn't know what to do with it and I couldn't get it out of my head no matter how hard I tried. I was petrified for quite awhile and didn't do a thing with the information I now had. I thought of my friends and loved ones and how things would be if I didn't do something for them and myself. I didn't think I could live with myself or face my loved ones in the future and tell them I could have done something, but didn't, because I was too scared to move. After much fussing and fighting myself about this, I just jumped and started right where I was at.

 

I didn't have much money when I first realized I needed to do something other than sit and worry about the future of the world, so I did the only thing I could do at the time. I read and read and read till my eyes @@ glazed over and my face turned blue. I read anything I could get my hands on about the world, prepping, and being self reliant. I took tons of notes on almost everything I read. I made binders of all the information I thought I might need then and in the future. I have binders loaded with information from birth to death, and everything in between. Then I made a plan and went to work, taking inventory of what I did have and what I could use to be more self reliant. I started looking at things at the thrift shop and yard sales with a different eye. Items I had always passed over before, large popcorn tins, canning jars, storage jars, binoculars, camping gear, wool blankets, old radios, oil lamps etc.. When I previously shopped, I would always look for shoes, purses, clothes and anything pretty that caught my eye. Now I look for anything I can use to help me be more self reliant. Think outside the box when it comes to prepping. Look at items and say to yourself. Do I need this? Can I use it in the future? Can I use it for something other than what it was originally intended to be used for. Will it help me in my long term goal of prepping? You don't have to go to Cabela's, Bass Pro, or the survival stores and pay big prices to get the stuff you need. It's springtime and the yard sales, are just getting started. It's amazing, the stuff people sell at their yard sales or just set out at the curb. The time is now to get out there and get the goods, while the getting is good, before someone else beats you to it!

 

It is awesome some of the preps that other people have and sometimes I wish I had all that they have, but then I do a reality check and realize it's all good in the end. Everyone does what he or she can do and what they have been dealt with in this life. Most people have a certain reason they are prepping. Some people have been doing this all their lives and is the only way they know how to live, some people have bigger families to prep for, some have more money or more time to prep. Whatever your situation, you can prep for yourself and your family. There is nothing wrong with being prepared for the future. Our ancestors did it and they managed, they survived and they thrived, otherwise we wouldn't be here, would we :)

 

We are now in an apartment and it is a challenge, but I feel we can overcome this obstacle. I can't sit here and wish that I had a house in the country and ten tons of preps. I have to do what I can for myself and for my family and I have to do it now. Time waits for no one. My children are older and are on their own, but I still prep extra for them. We are using our extra bedroom as a food storage/prep area. We have shelves on part of the walls and use this for some of our preps. The other part of the room is in use as storage also but has totes, boxes, furniture etc....Our spare room is a combo garage/shed/basement/attic. The closet in the spare bedroom is full of preps - toilet tissue, paper towels, paper plates, medical supplies, shampoo, seeds, totes and other items too numerous to mention that we will use now or in the future. In our bedroom we put the bed up on bed risers and put boxes of dehydrated food underneath. We also have 5 gallon jugs of water lining the bottom of our closet. The outdoor closet is full of tools, camping gear, charcoal, hibachis and gardening items. Our BOB'S are packed and close by incase we need to get out of here in a hurry. We also have a BOB for our dog. I have extra food, snacks, toys, blanket, bowls, water, an extra leash, collar, nail trimmers, his papers and flea treatments/heartworm meds in his own little BOB.

 

I've made many mistakes since I starting prepping. One mistake I made was putting water in milk jugs and putting them in a corner of a room and forgetting about them. I figured they would be fine for awhile. Well they weren't and I had a mess when I finally checked on them to rotate the water. The plastic had degraded and all the jugs were almost empty. The leaking had led to mold growing in that corner. Another mistake I made was purchasing 50 lbs of wheat and not packing it in mylar bags right away. I put the bags of wheat in a large tote and forgot about it. A few months later I went to pack up the wheat and found tons of bugs in the tote. So out the door it went and another costly mistake down the drain. I was upset with myself for those mistakes but I continued onward.

Prepping is not just about having food storage which is a great thing, but it is also about mental, spiritual and physical prepping too.

 

If your feeling hesitant about prepping, don't be. Anything you can do today to help yourself, your family and friends be better prepared for whatever the future will bring, will help you immensely and you will be better off than the majority of people who do nothing. I feel better knowing I'm prepped/prepping to help my family and friends through any kind of personal, natural or man-made disasters. I can sleep better at night and I have a feeling of peace knowing I'm doing the best I can for the ones I love.

 

Take that first step to be prepared for yourself, your loved ones and your friends. You'll never regret it.

Don't put off till tomorrow, what you can do today.

You can be a Prepper too!!

 

M.W. MO

How to VOTE for the best Preppers Outreach Contest Entries:

If you think this entry merits one of your 5 allotted votes, then post a comment below. Do NOT post a comment if you do not want it to count towards one of your 5 allotted votes. If you want to award an entry more than one vote, you’ll need to leave a comment for each vote you want to cast.