If you search the internet, you will find many suggestions on how to prepare for the unexpected. Some of this advice is good and some isn’t.
Despite all the good recommendations, people continue to make mistakes when preparing. Many of these mistakes are so major that they completely defeat the purpose of getting ready for a crisis situation.
The purpose of this report is to share with you the top 12 mistakes people make when preparing so that you can avoid them. By following this advice, you’ll put yourself in a much better position to handle whatever comes your way.
Here are mistakes seven–nine…
MISTAKE NO. 7: FAILING TO INCLUDE HYGIENE AND SANITATION IN YOUR PLANS
Once the grid goes down, sanitation will become a huge problem. Toilets won’t work after a few days, garbage trucks won’t come around, rats will show up and, eventually, disease will run rampant. The last thing you and your family members want to deal with in a crisis is illness.
Assuming you have bugged out, you’re going to need a makeshift toilet. Things to remember are to not place it near your food or water source, nor uphill from your campsite. It should be at least 200 feet away from your resources.
Among the waste disposal systems you can construct in the wild are a cat hole, a straddle trench and a slit trench. You can search the internet for these systems and others for more details and instructions on how to construct them.
Personal hygiene is also an important matter to deal with during a crisis — it is crucial to do everything possible to prevent infections and diseases.
Be sure to clean your hands after handling anything that might carry germs. Keep your hair trimmed and clean so that it doesn’t attract parasites and fleas in the outdoors. Even more challenging will be keeping your clothing clean.
Take very good care of your teeth, brushing regularly. Keep your feet clean and your nails trimmed, and treat any blisters that form from walking as quickly as possible. Try to get the proper amount of sleep and rest.
Finally, purify your stored water before you use it for drinking, bathing and cleaning — even if you have no reason to suspect that it might have become contaminated. Better safe than sorry, as contaminated water could make you sick or even kill you.
MISTAKE NO. 8: FAILING TO KEEP YOUR PREPARATIONS QUIET
While it’s smart to stockpile as much as you can in order to better deal with the coming crisis, it’s not so smart to talk about your supplies in anything other than vague terms.
If you let it be known that you have stored all sorts of nonperishable food, water and other essential supplies for a crisis, you’re going to get a whole lot of unwelcome visitors once that disaster occurs.
Neighbors will remember that you’re the person on their block who can get them through a crisis. It’s very possible that a friend may even turn on you if they and their family are desperate for food and water.
Among the precautions you want to take when gathering supplies are to buy your survival food from a company that packages it discreetly, and keep that food and other supplies out of sight within your home so guests won’t notice it.
Once a disaster strikes, if you’re hunkering down, stay inside as much as possible. Wandering around the neighborhood can get you hurt. And with you out of the way, your family and supplies are an easy mark for marauding gangs.
Don’t trust anyone new that you meet. They might be great people just trying to survive like everyone else. On the other hand, they might try to lull you into a false sense of security. Their real goal could be to get close to you so they can take what you’ve stored.
Buy the quietest generator you can find so that no one outside your home can hear it running. Using it during the day is fine, but try to avoid using it for your lights at night. If the grid is down, your home will stick out like a sore thumb if your lights are on.
Heating up freeze-dried food is fine, but do as little full-fledged cooking inside your home or out in the wilderness as possible. You’ll probably need to do some, but keep it to a minimum because the smell will attract hungry humans — and hungrier animals.
Finally, if you need to barter with people you don’t know, keep them in the dark when it comes to the extent of your supplies. If they learn that you possess supplies in addition to what you are offering in a deal, they may just hunt you down and take what they want.
MISTAKE NO. 9: FAILING TO INCLUDE SURVIVAL BOOKS IN YOUR STASH
You won’t remember everything you’ve read from 4Patriots and other sources about the many aspects of preparedness, so you’ll need books on the subject — including field guides.
An internet search will turn up a lot of good resources. Among the books you might want to consider are:
- The Prepper’s Pocket Guide
- SAS Survival Handbook
- Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide
- 100 Deadly Skills
- Living Ready Pocket Manual — First-Aid
- How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It
- When All Hell Breaks Loose.
Now, the more books you have in your survival stash, the heavier your bag will be and the less room you’ll have for other stuff. Unless….
What if you had an e-reader with a survival library on it? That would certainly save a lot of room — although you’d have to figure out a way to keep it charged if the grid went down.
Here are a few other books you might want to consider downloading:
- How to Stay Alive in the Woods
- Wilderness Survival
- Outdoor Survival Skills
- U.S. Air Force Pocket Survival Handbook.
[Managing editor’s note: One way to kick your prepping into high gear is by stocking up on survival food kits. Food4Patriots survival foods are the perfect way to boost your readiness for any type of disaster. This food has a shelf life of 25 years to give you long-term peace of mind. Click here to learn more.]
