Whats your plan?

[mcdaniel]

In that question I mean- What is the most important thing to you? Is it defense? Food? shelter? What are your priorities? I really feel like I need to adress this question for myself and would like to get some opinions. Please include your housing situation if you dont mind (apartment, house, farm, etc).

 

[thebrasilian]

Hard to say since it would be a fluid situation. But with a 4 year old: Protection, food, shelter.

 

[Parhams0508]

My biggest fear is a complete shut-down of whatever we call "the grid." So basically, anything that deals with water, food, shelter and energy (in that order). In that case, I try to learn of ways to acquire and purify water and the cultivation of food first. But, for my family and I, we live in a rental house where the lease will be up September 1, so we basically just store up food at this point instead of grow it, and we bottle water while the pipes are still flowing!

Shelter's a bit different. I kinda fear that if its TEOTWAWKI, someone might try to ascertain whatever we have to pay off debts, including our property; therefore, we're trying to reduce our debt. Plus that extra dough would be nice to have to use for other things.

Ideally, I'd live on a 2+ acre homestead in rural-ish setting. I'd have a nice garden, some chickens, and some goats and sheep, a deep enough well ran by solar/wind, and a super energy efficient cordwood home. But that's a pipe dream at this moment in time.

My wife and I have moved quite a bit, and have had very little space for storage of foodstuffs, so we've kinda focused on knowledge and skills: woodcraft, first-aid, water purification, debris huts, etc. It's like we want to know as much as we can about as much as we can in the event that it might become useful so that we could improvise a solution to whatever problem we face.

As a side note, my overall SHTF plan is to hunker down with a deep larder and large armory, if I feel like we're in a defensible position. Having a 4 month old kinda puts a hamper on putting our rucksacks on and traversing the post-apocalyptic world (if it were to happen tomorrow).

 

[PCShogun]

My plan is to get away from the military bases here in Charleston and get someplace more rural. Guess, overall, its going to depend on just how fast things go downhill.

 

[HOLY DIVER]

i guess i have a plan:get out of this big city i live right in the middle of,if the car works(no emp)load as much food ammo as my wifes suv can hold,load my truck with the same,load my stepsons little honda with cloths,med supplies,shoes,soap,etc and get to my dads place ASAP!if cars don't work(emp attack) any more thats were i'm not sure how much we can pack.my idea is to copy the military each pearson carries 8 30rd mags for there AR enough food to get there(2 day hike moving by the cover of darkness)each person has a camel back and a water purification kit.

 

[LiveFreeorDie]

Your stated reason for intiating the post was because you felt you needed to address this (planning) issue for yourself. SHTF scenarios are complex in that plans are somewhat contingent on what the S in SHTF is going to be; EMP, biologic pandemic, power grid collapse, financial crash, etc., and what immediate force challenges we'll face (if any)-military/police forced quarantines, M/P forced evacuations (read "relocation" to relocation camps), or complete government failure. How long do you think civil society will remain intact when all controls are gone? Not very long! What are your neighbors going to do if everything collapses and how long will it take them to be reduced to their baser instincts? Will they wander aimlessly, attack you for food and weapons, or become an ally. An EMP will fry the electronics in your vehicles so you're probably walking if you want to go somewhere else. Is there any other place you'd rather be and can get to; such as a vacation home or friend/relative with land or a more secure residence? Are you physically capable of walking anywhere and carrying what you think you'll need? Or are you content with hunkering down and staying (and defending) where you are? Can you afford to stockpile and how much can you afford? Can you afford to purchase and refurbish an abandoned missle silo from the government, or like most us will you have to make do with what you have?

Address your fears as you see them, assess your situation and resources, and do what you can. I wish there was a formula for fail-safe EOTW planning, but there's not. Start with the basics however; 1. Water (store it or locate dependable sources and be able to purify), 2. Food. Beyond storing canned goods and dehydrated/freeze dried, can you hunt and process your kill? If you're a farmer or gardner, can you wait to grow food, and do you have the land to do it and could you protect it? 3. Shelter. Whatever it takes. Hopefully, we'll at least be able to utilize our current residences for at least a while. Beyond that, your guess is as good as anybody else's.

Thinking about getting ready is the first step, and in doing so you're already ahead of 95 percent of your neighbors.

 

[Tigerstripe]

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[Enjay]

Right now I'm putting sustainability of my resources at the top of my list. And I include protection as one of my resources.
Water, protection, food, and shelter are my main concerns. We have a mortgage and live in a small suburban neighborhood on 1/3 of an acre that has a city address and county taxes. We're looking into drilling a well, we've planted some fruit bushes and two apple trees this year, we'll see how well the apples do in the lowcountry. I'm working on gardening year round and still figuring out what grows well in our yard and when to plant it. If nothing else I know I can grow beans, peppers, southern peas and greens without too many issues. We added a doberman puppy to our home defenses and we learned how to reload and are expanding our die sets. We allow the kids to help us with the process and we discuss with them this is what we think this caliber is good for, and this one isn't good for X why? type things with them.
They really enjoy helping us prep. We all love the family time, and we include them in as much of our prepping as possible. We put a movie on the laptop and sit around the kitchen table talking and prepping food for the dehydrator or for canning, sorting casings, cleaning guns, etc. Besides keeping them off the video games and building stronger family ties, it's fun and they pick up a lot that we didn't even realize that we were teaching them.
Does anyone else have a defensive plan with ideas on how to make your home more defensible and assigned roles for family members? Now that the kids are older we're revising our strategy and assigning the kids more active roles. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

 

[Parhams0508]

Right now I'm putting sustainability of my resources at the top of my list. And I include protection as one of my resources.
Water, protection, food, and shelter are my main concerns. We have a mortgage and live in a small suburban neighborhood on 1/3 of an acre that has a city address and county taxes. We're looking into drilling a well, we've planted some fruit bushes and two apple trees this year, we'll see how well the apples do in the lowcountry. I'm working on gardening year round and still figuring out what grows well in our yard and when to plant it. If nothing else I know I can grow beans, peppers, southern peas and greens without too many issues. We added a doberman puppy to our home defenses and we learned how to reload and are expanding our die sets. We allow the kids to help us with the process and we discuss with them this is what we think this caliber is good for, and this one isn't good for X why? type things with them.
They really enjoy helping us prep. We all love the family time, and we include them in as much of our prepping as possible. We put a movie on the laptop and sit around the kitchen table talking and prepping food for the dehydrator or for canning, sorting casings, cleaning guns, etc. Besides keeping them off the video games and building stronger family ties, it's fun and they pick up a lot that we didn't even realize that we were teaching them.
Does anyone else have a defensive plan with ideas on how to make your home more defensible and assigned roles for family members? Now that the kids are older we're revising our strategy and assigning the kids more active roles. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

+100,000,000

Might I suggest rabbits or chickens for protein? Extra eggs given to neighbors might belay their fears.

As for protection, I would see how many of your neighbors would enjoy a more sustainable lifestyle. Since your family is living it, I think that your neighbors might find preparedness more reasonable than what's displayed on their cable televisions. Having more people involved in preparedness in your community will definitely bolster your own family's chances of survival.

As for personal protection of your home and property, you might see about reshuttering your windows with steel type shutters that are painted a passive, "urban camouflaged" color as to not make them stick out. You would also need to reinforce your doors as well. James Wesley Rawles' book "Patriots" is a great place to find resources in fortifying your home.

 

[Enjay]

Thanks for your suggestions Parhams.
Unfortunately someone in the neighborhood raised a batch of meat chickens last year and it did NOT go over well since they were crowing for a few weeks before they butchered them. It was music to my country ears but the neighbors that have annexed to the city complained so no more chickens. We do plan on raising rabbits, but I don't have much experience with them and am still in the information gathering stage.
We have wood for the windows but I hadn't thought about metal shutters, Thank you. One of the half-ideas I had to help secure the big picture window we have is appliances. We have a fridge, freezer, washer, dryer and stove that are all metal and I've thought we could pull them out and stack them in front of the big window and fill them with bricks, rubble, even dirt would help make them less penetrable and heavy as heck to move quickly. If people become a problem I'd rather lose machines than my family or control of my house.