Hey guys,

I’m new to Reddit but not so new to prepping. As a background, I am 29 and have been “prepping” since I first got out of high school. It started due to the people that I’ve been around and my hobbies at the time. I spent a few years as an avid backpacker & camper. My family and some close friends are active/ex military. I didn’t consider it prepping until a few years ago. I’ve done quite well with my prepping (depending on your standards).

I see a mix of people in this sub, some scared and starting out, some with really good insights, and some that are unrealistic or equipment fanatics. I wanted to share a pragmatic approach to starting out or creating a reasonable contingency system. I may be beating a dead horse and if so, tell me to eff of and I will. But if this is helpful - I’d be happy to share more detailed insights. But I’ll start high level:

First step: Assess and acknowledge your current situation. This is one of the most important things that I feel is overlooked. Things to take into account:

• geographic location (rural/urban, climate, terrain, housing & infrastructure). -financial situation (this is often way overlooked and will be critical to your prepping approach)
• personal health and fitness
• peer group (who do I trust and for whom will I sacrifice)
• competency (what skills do I know/have that could get me through a week without internet, car, utilities)
• what natural disasters have occurred in my area in the last decade? How did this affect my community?
• defense/security (what safeguards are in place if someone wanted what I have, and the police aren’t an option)

Step two: educate yourself on the above

This seems very broad and expansive, and it is. However, understanding what your situation is and educating yourself on contingencies is paramount to survival post catastrophe or SFL “shitty fucking luck” as friends call it. Examples below as to educating yourself:

• there have been 3 catastrophic tornadoes in my area in the last decade. What type of situations did that put people in and what kind of contingencies can I put in place

• I’m obese, have some chronic health issues. What can I do to address these issues now so they are less of a liability post shtf.

• I live in an urban area, and much of my life is dependent on electricity and internet. How could I make my day to day less dependent on the infrastructure? How would I travel if I needed to leave my home?

Step 3: take action

This is also very broad but can be broken down into 3 main categories: Plan, Prepare, Practice (repeat these steps in this order as you advance your prep):

Plan: once you’ve educated yourself & done research. Implement what you’ve learned into a written plan. This plan needs to include the supplies, resources and skills that you CURRENTLY have. IF there is a part of your plan that includes items or skills that you don’t possess, make note of this - this is what the prepare phase is for.

Prepare: this is both for material and skill sets. (THIS DOES NOT HAVE TO BREAK THE BANK - Skillsets are free. Use YouTube, google, reddit and books to learn skillsets. Materials will cost, but a pragmatic approach to materials can be helpful:

(IMO) the best way to ease into purchasing materials/equipment is a tailored version of Dave Ramsay’s debt snowball. Purchase the highest priority/cheapest items first. Use your budget to to stock up on cheap items like water, food, toiletries, lighting etc and work your way into the more expensive equipment. Once the cheap items are no longer needed, that portion of the budget can be allocated towards the next highest expense (creating a snowball)

You can also do this based on timetables. For instance (24 hour survival/72 hour survival / 1 week survival so on and so forth)

Practice: create repetition with your plans & make sure that you’re proficient with your equipment/ materials. Knowing how you’re supposed to be able to cook over a Swedish torch and actually being able to do it are 2 separate things.

“You’ll never rise to the occasion, rather fall to your worst day of training”

I know I said a lot of shit in this and some things may need more explanation. Feel free to reach out or let me know if you want me to dive deeper into anything. I hope this helps people who feel overwhelmed by prepping or helps bring organization into your efforts

Stay alive y’all.