This is the list from earlier post outlining some thoughts.

The basic human needs for survival / preparedness and to have relative comfort are:

1. Knowledge, knowing what to do with the things you have.
2. Water that’s clean and drinkable
3. Shelter, could be your home, a tent, or proper clothing for your area.
4. Food, canned goods, freezer stocked up, garden growing, dehydrated or freeze dried.
5. Energy, be it heat to cook your food or warm your shelter or electricity for lights & radios.
6. Security / Self Defense
7. Low or No Debt
8. Trade Currency, i.e. cash (or Barter items), to acquire the things you need from others.

Today we’ll talk about number 7 on the list and that’s the advantage of low and ultimately no debt. If you’re a follower of some of the investment gurus out there like Dave Ramsey or others, you know their teachings concentrate on staying out of debt. What’s the old saying, the debtor is slave to the lender. It is true that until that debt is paid back, some portion of your earnings has to be allocated repaying the debt or the phone calls are going to start and ultimately the loss of some possession. At the very least if it was money borrowed from a friend or family member, then there is always going to be the hurt feelings and strains on the relationship.

Let’s go back to the earlier scenario we talked about in previous post, what if you lost your job or your spouse lost their job. For most people that’s a serious personal disaster. But if you had no debt, no credit card debt, no home mortgage or no car loans to pay, how serious would a job loss in the short term be for you? On the other hand a big house mortgage payment, two new cars in the driveway, several credit cards with sizeable balances owed, add on some student loan debt, and you have the average American family debt load.

I’m sure there are other well known advisors on personal finance other than Dave Ramsey but he’s the one I’m most familiar with and his teachings make a lot of sense. He preaches living within your means, living off a budget, and staying out of debt. From the standpoint of being a prepper I can see distinct advantages to this type of lifestyle. For example if I have decided I want to start storing food so I have 30 to 60 to 90 days in my house, if I use his budget guidelines, I can lay a plan to make my purchases over time and achieve my goal. If I’ve decided I need a generator or solar panels then I create a line in my budget spreadsheet to save the money for that purchase. I save the money and pay cash, no purchases with credit. Some of Ramsey’s resources are free on the Internet others you need spend a little and attend the classes, or you can purchase one of his books or DVD’s. (Check your local library). I use one of his budget forms in an Excel spreadsheet that we modified the categories for the additional things we found important to budget for.

Not only does being out of debt benefit you and your family if there are no major disasters in your lifetime, it’s one of the commonalities for events. If nothing major happens, wouldn’t you be better off debt free and able to purchase the things you need and want as you can afford them and improve your preparedness. The advantage to being out of debt should things really get bad is you would be able to keep the things that you own, no worries of repossession if you didn’t have an income for whatever reason to keep up the payments. If the Poop hits the fan on a higher level you’d be better prepared to deal with expenses as they come up.

As a side bar, do not neglect adequate insurance coverage for you home, automobile, health and life, they are investments that should be studied and made wisely. A bad localized storm that knocks a tree down on your house could be a major financial set back or an irritation and inconvenience depending on if you had adequate insurance coverage or not. Insurance can enable you to keep what you have if something goes wrong and not end up in huge debt because you didn’t invest the time and money.

Today’s topic is covering security and self the defense. Two very broad topics that will need more in depth discussion, but for our purposes this will be a thought provoking piece.

So we’ve got our food, water, shelter and energy supplies being addressed but what if there is a relatively large-scale event and your local law enforcement’s ability to come when you call 911 is not there. It really does happen sometimes and you should have the ability to protect your self your family and your property in case help is not on the way immediately.

Whether you’re a homeowner or apartment dweller, good quality locks and deadbolts on your doors is your first line of defense. Quality locks and or blocks for your windows are the next things to look at upgrading. It’s true, locks keep honest people out and criminals will break in if they want to bad enough. Good locks will slow them down, especially if they are kept locked. A couple of years ago there was a television show that documented how criminals would select and break in to people’s homes. On several of the episodes they were able to enter the house through an unlocked window or unlocked back door, didn’t have to actually break in at all, so lock those locks. Even while your home they should be locked.

Home Security Systems can range from simple to sophisticated and in many cases will be determined by your budget. The higher end system can be monitored by an outside agency for a monthly or annual fee. The better alarm systems can even include smoke detection for fire as well as carbon monoxide detection. Adequate exterior lighting should be looked at so that you can see who’s at the front door or back door and can be equipped with motion sensors. More sophisticated security systems now offer closed-circuit camera that you can monitor over the Internet.

If you have a yard, a good quality fence to keep things in as well as out. On larger pieces of property there are numerous barrier plants that could be considered depending on your climate zone. Plants like Thorny Pyracantha, Hawthorn, Holly or the simple Black Berry bush planted on your property line or fencerows would deter people and or animals from crossing easily.

A dog in many cases is a good investment not only for companionship but security as well. If you can afford the cost of up keep, vet and immunizations, and have time to spend doing some basic training, a dog can bring years of pleasure. Their sense of hearing and smell does not need electricity to alert you if someone’s creeping around outside. Big dogs can offer some personal protection if properly trained and the right breed but smaller breeds of dogs can hold their own as well.

If you have never owned a dog, the decision is a big one, almost like the decision to purchase a gun. With ownership of either comes responsibility to invest time in research, training and selection before spending any money on either. If you do decide to get a dog, I encourage you to check with your local rescue groups and animal shelters first before spending the money on a pure breed show dog.

From a personal standpoint your physical fitness is an important consideration should you need to defend yourself from an attacker at some time. Many people choose to study one of the styles of martial arts. Martial arts classes are an excellent way to improve your physical condition to get into shape so I encourage you to check with friends may have taken classes in the past or look for recommendations on who are the better instructors in your area and get out and take a class. Just simple walking a mile or so every couple of days will improve your stamina and conditioning. There other sports that will get you into shape like hiking, backpacking, swimming, canoeing, snow skiing and bicycling to name some of my favorites.

Now let’s talk about weapons for self-defense. Before we get into the specifics of which weapon is better for what, you need to seek training from qualified instructors. I don’t know about your area or town but in mine there are at least a three reputable gun stores and gun ranges within 20 miles of my home. These are the people you need to seek out for information, instruction and price comparisons.

There are non lethal alternatives such as pepper spray and stun type weapons that are legal in most places in these United States for anyone to own and have in their home for self-defense. As always the disclaimer, check your local laws before purchasing. But really baseball bats and golf clubs are not good ideas for self defense except as a last resort, you need a little bit more but some distance between you and an intruder.

In the opinion of many “Experts” the ideal weapon for home defense is a shotgun. A visit to your local gun shop or range can help educate you in the selection and style and gauge that fits you best. The nice thing about shotgun is it can be used for hunting so it really dual-purpose tool we covered hunting very briefly in another post but with a shotgun in most parts of the country you can hunt small game like birds, squirrels and rabbits with one type of shotgun shell and larger game like deer with buckshot.

A handgun or pistol is probably another consideration for home protection. They come in all sizes shapes calibers and manufacturers and before you select one spend some time at several gun shops and do the research. Try out several different styles, calibers and manufacturer’s if possible at a local range before you make your decision. Training is an absolute necessity and should be sought very early in the process on how to handle, clean and safely operate the handgun.

As far as other weapons for self-defense to mention baseball bats, batons, knifes, swords, numb chucks, crossbow, bows and arrows tomahawks, axes, slings, chainsaws sticks and rocks……should we go on….but they’re really not practical for self-defense although that could be used if necessary.

Today will be talking about alternative energy resources that are available and some of the various options I have found. We will take a look at plans for lighting, cooking your food, in wintertime heating your home and if you’re really industrious you might even include producing the energy component required for your vehicle.

Starting with backup power, let’s recall a common scenario, when was last time the lights went out at your house and you lost power for a short time. Did you have to fumble around in the dark looking for flashlights or candles? An easy project is to build a blackout kit that consists of a box or container of some kind that you keep handy in a closet or cabinet with some flashlights, spare batteries, candles, matches and maybe even oil lamps. If the power goes out for a short time, you can easily get to your emergency lighting. Keep this kit in one place that everyone knows about and it will be handy to pass out to your family members in case of a storm or something else causing a power outage. Adding some glow sticks might be for your kit too since they don’t need batteries. They typically have a shelf life so they need to be checked and rotated on a regular basis. They are good especially if you have small kids, not only for their safe lighting ability but their entertainment value as well. One other sidebar about having a blackout kit is if you have a reluctant spouse this might be a simple way to get them started down the road for preparations and show him or her the value of having taking the time to do some basic preps.

As far as backup power solutions there are solar panels, batteries with inverters, generator sets, both small enough to power a few things or big enough to run your whole house. Even more options are available like wind and water power if you have those resources on your property. You should consider if you chose to invest in these, even if there were no major disaster, would there be a long-term benefit to my family to have some type of backup power supply. Your individual situation and budget will be major determining factors in deciding how much to invest on a particular backup system. Heck, you might even want to become energy independent, go off the grid and not rely on the power companies and their monthly bill.

One other thing to keep in mind as far as backup power systems go, the old saying from the military is “Two is One and One is None” is something to consider. If one of the major components breaks and you only have one, you have none, so have a backup.

Is your home or bug out location all electric? If so how you plan to cook your food in your electric stove or oven has no power? Do you have propane or natural gas? If these power sources were not available what your plan B? Many of us have a propane barbecue pit and some extra bottles propane, if that’s you then you could be set for a short while.

But you not only need some sort of heat energy for food preparation, you may need it to boil your water to make it safe to drink. There are single burner and multi-burner camping stoves available from retailers in most cities as well as the Internet that range in price from a few dollars to $100.00 or more. That could be plan B for heating food water but they still require fuel of some kind. Plan C could be cooking over a wood fire and there are numerous different ways to that.

How about fuel for your car, motorcycle or generator? There is a wealth of information available online and in books on producing alcohol that can be used to power your gas burning equipment. Making alcohol requires a source of heat and a mixture of something containing sugar that can be fermented. That might not be a bad project to start investigating now while the information is available.

How cold does it get where you live? Do you have a fireplace or other heat source that could be used if the power’s out and there is no more propane or natural gas? Wood has been used for heating and cooking for centuries. The house we live in now was built with a big brick fireplace and we installed a Buck Stove Insert shortly after moving in. It is much more efficient than the standard fireplace as it captures a lot the heat that would have just gone up the chimney.  The steel mass radiates heat into the room and a small internal fan circulates heat as well. Kerosene heaters are also highly efficient so if you go this route make sure you have spare wicks and ample supply of kerosene to get you through the winter.

Links to sites for supplies and information covered.

Black Out Kits:

http://www.ready.gov/blackouts

DIY Blackout Kit

Solar Power Links:

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/gridtie.html

https://www.seia.org/state-solar-policy/louisiana-solar

https://www.energystar.gov/about/federal_tax_credits

DIY Solar kits

Make Your own Fuel:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Gasoline

Here is my favorite, Steve Harris. He’s been interviewed on The Survival Podcast several times and he’s a hoot….

http://www.imakemygas.com/

Heating & Cooking Options:

http://www.buckstove.com

http://www.coleman.com/Products/2000/stoves

I’m sure Walmart and other online retailers have similar products at competitive prices so shop around but please only use Amazon to check prices. In many cases you can purchase direct from the manufacture’s own website, sometime at a better price since Amazon charges a 15% commission on most sales.

#Anybodybutamazon, #Amazonsucks, #Amazonisatheif.