This is the fifth part in a series about Risk Management. Find Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 here.
There IS Such a Thing as FREE LUNCH!
In the Preppermill Prepardness Plan, there is actually such a thing as a free lunch. This is because the similarities in each of the events we’re preparing for and similarities in what preparation looks like. One more table for you. This is a different version of the “Cost to Prepare” table. It shows the commonalities between the bad things that can happen and the specific preparation activities for each.
Note that I removed ‘Power Outage’ from this list. If you haven’t already bought a flashlight, weather radio, and some canned food then you should really take care of that.
As you can see, preparing for one situation (say, a pandemic) also prepares you for many other situations. If you make the following preparations you will be ready for the vast majority of short-term situations. And these situations are typically the most common things that can impact you.
I’ll call these the 5 Basics:
- 30 days of food, household supplies, and medicines.
- A support network of friends, neighbors, and family who can help each other out in an emergency.
- An evacuation plan, and a place to go.
- A first aid kit and basic first aid training.
- Savings in excess of 3 months of living expenses.
If you have this short list, then you are prepared for most things that will come your way. Note that the following things are NOT on that list:
- A survival retreat / bunker
- Guns and ammo
- A generator, solar panels, windmill, etc.
- An alternative source of water.
- A cow, a farm or a year’s supply of dehydrated food.
- A G.O.O.D. (Get Out of Dodge) bag.
- A doomsday / Mad Max post-apocalyptic dune buggy.
I bring this up NOT to say they’re not valuable. But if you don’t have the 5 Basics, then you shouldn’t be spending time and money on the other stuff. Get the basics FIRST then move on from there.
Why? It’s simple. These 5 Basics represent MAXIMUM preparedness for MINIMUM expense.
The Preppermill Preparedness Plan
Here is my basic, one-size-fits-most preparedness plan to Get Prepared for Just About Anything. It’s not completely universal, but it’s intended to give the most preparedness for the most situations with the lowest waste. It’s also intended to give everyone a basic starting point and a roadmap for getting WAY beyond basics.
- Phase 1: The Basics.
- Build up to 30 days of food, household supplies, and medicine for you and your family.
- Have about a week’s worth of water on-hand for you and your family.
- Save 3 months’ living expenses in an emergency fund.
- Develop an evacuation / emergency plan and discuss it with your family.
- Talk to friends and family about preparedness and how you might help each other in an emergency.
- Make a first aid kit. Learn first aid.
- Get some simple items to prepare for nuclear, biological, and chemical problems.
- Get in shape. Get any health conditions under control.
- Phase 2: Prepare for Intermediate-Term Scenarios (30-90 days)
- Build up to 90 days of food, household supplies, and medicine for you and your family.
- Figure out how you’re going to get water if the faucet stops running.
- Expand your emergency fund to 6 months.
- Spend more time thinking about and preparing for medical / health issues.
- Start your Prepper Library.
- Make sure you can communicate and get information in an emergency.
- Figure out how much backup electrical power you’ll need, and start getting it.
- Figure out how you are going to defend yourself and your family if your neighborhood gets dangerous.
- Spend some time thinking about where you’ll go if you have to leave your house.
- Phase 3: Transition to Long-Term Preparedness (90 days Plus). This is where the roadmap gets a LOT less specific, because there are a lot more variables. Quite frankly, it’s going to be very unpredictable if any of these situations last more than 90 days. I’ll keep it in the order of ‘things that can kill you’:
- Figure out where you are going to spend the Apocalypse.
- Find a renewable / sustainable source of clean water.
- Become food self-sufficient.
- Find an alternative source of income, preferably one that will be handy in a long-term survival situation.
- Long-term heat, power, cooking, etc.
- Protecting your home (or your retreat) from long-term security threats.
- Build a survival team. Who are your friends and neighbors you’re going to depend on, and how can they depend on you?
- Phase 4: Building Self-Sufficiency. This is more about skills and capabilities. During this phase, we are shifting out of checklists and into capabilities. It’s basically about keeping your family alive long-term.
- What if the grocery store doesn’t re-open?
- What if Amazon / Walmart / Target / Ace / Etc. stop operating?
- What if there aren’t any doctors or dentists?
- What if the utilities don’t come back on?
- What if you can’t every get gas for the car?
- What if…?
With this Preparedness Plan, you can make sure you are maximizing your preparedness while minimizing waste. Before you go buy that bunker, make sure you have a good flashlight.
Featured Image: shaddim, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
