I've been trying to convince my family to prepare for the coming hardships we will all face. They mostly just write me off and act like I'm paranoid or I don't have faith in our God. It's exactly opposite, I trust only in God. He has been talking to me for years through gut feelings, dreams and other signs telling me of the difficult times ahead. Most of them don't have enough food to last more than a week. None have a alternative source of heat, no water purification, no seeds, no cast iron cookware, no extra sanitary items, no extra first aid items, no alternative shelters. Sometimes it pisses me off to have them just blow me off, but mostly it makes me sad to know that they will most likely suffer more than they should. It's not like I am well off monetarily, I'm actually struggling with money right now. But my wife and I made it a priority to get items for the inevitable rather than the typical comfort items that'll be useless in the near future. People who claim to be "awake" and aren't prepared for the worst case scenario are naive at best. If your not doing the best you can NOW to prepare, you and your family will surely regret it in the near future. Proverbs 22:3 explains it best. Do I believe there is a plan Patriots are carrying out? Yes, but that doesn't mean we all won't experience hardships at least or bloodshed at worst. I pray to God I'm wrong about the hardships I expect, but I know it is foolish to not prepare for them anyway. I apologize for the rant, just needed to vent some stress. God Bless you all.
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My fiancé and I have been doing the same. Luckily we are in an area that sees hurricanes often enough, so everything we buy has dual purpose. Water, food, first aid, etc. Brothers ask if I'm scared. Of what? I have what I need to last me a good while, food, water, etc. I have a generator with stabilized gas. Solar for after gas runs out. And a hand pump well for fresh water. I aint scared. They are.
Wife and I discussed our preps...she said "I think we need more firewood" Only days later a big windstorm drops 20 trees in our yard. I think god must have heard her, but dang-it, I am tired of cutting, carrying, stacking, and splitting firewood.
Haha, God is great. I've been cutting and splitting wood all summer. I have to carry it up a steep grade to my house. We have 5x more wood than we would normally use. Just a few months ago, a massive white oak fell. We got most of our supply from that single tree.
I got one of those utility wagons to pull behind the riding mower, it's been a great tool to have when moving firewood...
I wish I was able to do that. Much too steep here for anything other than a horse or mule. But thank God I am still capable of getting it done.
I don't get it either. People won't even prepare a short term emergency box when they live in flood and hurricane prone areas, let lone prepare for what we see coming.
Yep. Smart thinking and plain truth.
I agree- back in March 2020, when they said “2weeks to flatten the curve” I started getting basics like you mentioned- because I thought it was coming soon. Glad it didn’t, because since then I’ve been slowly getting more cases of water, canned goods, batteries, a crank radio, first aid supplies, etc. I keep adding, and thinking of other things to get. I know I probably still don’t have enough- but at least I’m thinking that way. Good post, maybe it will light a fire in those who haven’t started.
I live in an apartment and have a small solar generator. Has anyone ever used one before? Also my heat is electric. Any suggestions on how I could prepare for my scenario in regards to heat? No fireplace. What about a small space heater? Those can really heat up a room, but not sure about the small generator. I have about 5 months of survival food. I am going to get a filtration system. Get more water, toilet paper etc. I have medical supplies. The one thing I worry about is I am on oxygen. I have a couple of tanks in case electricity goes off. I have a portable with 3 batteries but those only last about 2 hours each. My main oxygen generator, I think would take up to much electricity if it were to go off. I have an emergency radio, flashlight, a string of lights that are all solar generated or plug into a USB plug. I am not a camper, I have no survival skills other than I survived Breast Cancer and surviving the treatment alone says a lot about me I think. Unfortunately, everything is electric in my apartment. So that is concerning. Anything anyone could suggest would be greatly appreciated. My family has not prepared either. I to am on a budget and I bought that survival food. That will take care of me and my dad. I am trying to acquire more because I have a bunch of nieces and nephews. Trying to buy things that might occupy their time if electricity goes out. I live about 20 minutes from there and I am not sure if I should go there or what. They don't want to think about anything and act like everything is ok and basically told me to quit sending them information. So I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I love my nieces and nephews deeply and don't want to see any of them starve. Please any advice.
I obviously have zero information about your personal health situation including how many liters of oxygen you require each day for normal existence. The very best thing you can do each day, in my opinion, is to take whatever steps are possible to try to get yourself off that supplemental oxygen so you are independent from that if SHTF. Obviously you don't want to be on it and I don't know if you can heal yourself from whatever is going on but if I were you and if you haven't yet done so I would at least TRY a regimen of high dose vitamin C for a period of days or weeks (we may have months or even years still before everything falls apart). Humans cannot make their own vitamin C and most people are deficient which compromises your immune system and makes healing more difficult.
Again, I don't know your personal circumstance and this is not meant to be a judgment of you or what you've tried so far but just encouragement to consider trying something else if you haven't yet.
https://vimeo.com/507515300/b9a3175b26
My oxygen dependence is not from lifestyle choices. Without getting into my personal health to much, it cannot be reversed. My lung is not bad, it is blocked so I am essentially only working with one lung. I am not a big person and took off 30lbs from my small frame. I have noticed a difference but the problem still remains. I am eating healthier, supplementing etc. I am taking about 1000 mg of vitamin C and I can up that and stock up. I don't need the oxygen if I am just sitting but activity I do. I pray this doesn't go on much longer. I am in a blue state. We were able to vote to limit our Governors emergency powers so we are not in full tyranny or anything like that. I live more in a red area. However, while I see a lot of flags, I still see to many people wearing masks and noone fighting to get their kids unmasked. I have not noticed any shortages at the grocery store but I do notice that certain things are no longer available. I get meat from a farm now. Not any in my area had to order on line. I have seen at least 4 specialists, one of the top 10 in the country. However, with all the lies we have been told who really knows. If the med beds do in fact exist maybe that is a hope for me.I don't trust doctors anymore so trying to readdress this issue again, I feel would be useless at this time.The only thing I have is prayer right now. I do not have a supportive family at all. I try to prepare my family but noone wants to deal with it. So I can only do what I can do for myself at this point. I really don't know any of my neighbors in my building. A lot are foreigners, here on visas to work for a fracking company near by. It wasn't like that when I first moved here. It concerns me a little but I can't be suspicious of everyone. Many work strange hours so we just don't cross paths.
Can anyone suggest any heating sources?
In my particular stock, I accumulated about 600lbs of rice, 150lbs of dry beans for protein and 100+lbs of salt among many other things. I figure those will stretch longer and are more budget friendly than survival food. I would also look into buy a burke water filter and or a Sawyer water filter. The others who offered advice had some good suggestions too. I will be praying for you.
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/prepper-supply-checklist/
This website has some good ideas. In your case it is probably not safe to have an internal propane powered heating unit because of the oxygen cannisters (if someone is more of an expert on this than me pls chime in) but you can employ the other strategies of choosing one room to stay in and having tools and materials in place to cover windows with thick blankets.
I don't know if I can offer much help but as for your question about heating solutions, it may be worthwhile to get yourself some good merino wool thermals, this of course doesn't require any energy and is going to make any efforts you make more effective. I concur with u/CarrieDodson17 about trying to get off oxygen if that's possible but I too don't know enough about that sort of thing.
You also want to practice with your generator so that if the time comes you aren't caught off guard.
https://theprovidentprepper.org/best-alternative-heat-sources-to-use-during-a-power-outage/
Is your solar generator sufficiently able to recharge batteries for your o2 concentrator? If possible, look into getting a portable concentrator that can run off dc batteries, then get several deep charge batteries for it and aim to get enough recharging capability to keep it going indefinitely if necessary. Any ways you can find to lessen dependency on the concentrator and grt the most use out of each charge - maybe pulse mode, or lower volume setting, depends of course on your needs. Pray for wisdom on how best to help your family - I will as well.
No my solar generator is only enough to charge a laptop, something small like that. I cannot afford anything more as I am on disability. I do have a portable one and the batteries are specific to the model I have. The only way it charges is by plugging it in either in an outlet or the car. The most I can get out of them will be about 7 hours total. I will definitely keep it on a lower pulse mode. My solar generator would never charge my big concentrator. I wish we knew how long the electric could be out. I am really starting to be concerned about freezing to death. No electric, no heat. All I can do is pray and I will pray for everyone on here. My siblings refuse to listen to me and told me to quit sending them stuff as they are not reading it.
Hm... could you get a prescription for some o2 tank(s) to keep as backup? On the heating front, as others mentioned, being able to dress warmly, in layers, is a good first step. You may be able to acquire a kerosene or oil heater that will at least keep a room warm for 24 hours or more on a fill -- sometimes these are available on Craigslist or other sources, used.
Thank you for praying for everyone here -- that is an important role, and one we all need. I will pray that your siblings come around, and take good steps to care for their children.
I prefer to be cold quite frankly, probably not that cold but I was without power for 3 days during an ice/snow storm and I chose to stay with my cats and I survived. I layered up, slept under the covers, had a flashlight and read a book. That was before the oxygen. A kerosene heater is a good idea and I am going to check that out. I do have a couple of large o2 tanks. Between that and my portable I hopefully will be ok. I will stay positive and of course I will pray for everyone. Take care and thanks for the advice.
All good. God bless
I know we are headed to a climax and I don’t see how we get through this without at least a small period of restriction. We may, but I don’t see it. That said, I’ve been stocked my whole life and more so now from covid shortages. No one can take care of my family but me and my husband. Hopefully we can help our neighbors also.
It's a tough line that, wanting to help your neighbours but not wanting them to totally rely on you to the point of sabotage.
I think I am screwed.
Don't think like that! God can make a way.
I also have two cats in which I have no intention of abandoning. They are not outdoor cats and it will get pretty cold here should things go to shit.
Thanks for posting. Keep your chin up and take care of yourself, you'll probably be picking up the pieces so you need to be physically, mentally and spiritually strong. Security is especially important as there are going to be some desperate people.
Same. Prepped on a budget too