4 Things to Do For Your Survival in 2017

4 Things to Do For Your Survival in 2017

Another year has passed and, thankfully, we’re all still alive and well. Most of us, at least, because people die every day and there’s nothing we can do about it.

What we can do is make sure we increase our chances of survival even further by uncovering holes in our survival plans and fixing them. If you’re already an intermediate prepper and looking to get even better at doing it, here’s a few things you may want to consider to take prepping to the next level.

#1. Add even more supplies to your bug out vehicle.

Your BOV is most likely your car. Do you have food, water, blankets and a flashlight in the trunk? That’s a great start, but there’s so much more you could add. One addition to my car’s stockpile that I added this Christmas was a GPS system.

Since I don’t really need one day to day and since I already have one on my phone, I probably won’t use it a lot, but it’s good to know I have a back-up.

Next, jumper cables. There are good jumper cables and there are bad jumper cables. Highly recommended in case your car’s battery dies or if you need to help someone else.

The little things. There are many other items that will be useful in an emergency while on the road or bugging out:

• keep a couple of space blankets
• a first aid kit
• trash bags
• a compass
• an emergency radio
• a flare gun
• an emergency whistle
• and, of course, some extra self-defense weapons

#2. Practice your skills.

Instead of spending more money on gear, why not practice for free? Here are just a few of the things you can do without spending any money:

• starting a fire
• using those jumper cables we talked about
• changing a flat tire
• practice bugging out with your BOB on your back
• practice using your HAM radio walkie-talkies and any other devices

#3. Partially shift into survival mode.

It sounds fancy but this really is just homesteading. What I meant to say was, you can start doing things that will not only benefit you post-collapse but right now as well. That way you’ll save money and get the extra motivation to continue to prep.

Let me just show you a few of the things you can do to save money and be more prepared at the same time (besides the obvious ones, such as starting a garden and raising chickens):

• harvest rainwater
• grow your own medicinal plants
• learn woodworking to make your own furniture and fix things on your own
• make your own soap and shampoo
• if you already have a garden and small animals, you can scale up your endeavors and sell excess produce for a profit (which you can then re-invest in preps)
• start a permaculture garden (a special kind of garden that needs little human intervention and is hidden in plain sight; a miniature eco-system if you will, similar to what you find in a forest)

#4. Tweak your EDC.

I think the everyday carry items don’t get enough attention. Once you have the essentials, it’s time to tweak it by adding higher quality gear, smaller items, and adding and removing things as you see fit.

I think the most important EDC items you could add are the ones specific to your situation, because the way you figure out what they are, is by thinking about the kinds of emergencies you could run into.

Do you go through a dark alley every night? Do you lose your keys often? If so, you should probably re-evaluate what you carry on your person every day and adjust.

Last but not least, if you usually check your gear and stockpile around New Year’s (instead of during daylight savings), may I suggest you keep an excel with what you have, with the things you still want AND a rough price for each? This will help you to better plan your budget.

A little overspending for a 72 hour kit is understandable, but in the long run, you really need to be careful with your budget. Large amounts of food, medicine, ammo, expensive gear, those can empty your pockets FAST, so the best thing to do is monitor the prices and, the moment you see a good discount at any of them, you should act fast.

If you have a wishlist with dozen or even hundreds of items you want, you’ll literally start seeing weekly discounts to some of the items you want.