May22010
Survival Survey: How do you apply the “Rule of Three”
THE RULE OF THREE
One is none.
Two is one.
One of my survival nightmares is digging feverishly to free the wheels of my Tahoe from the muck of a swamp, only to have the handle of my “Made in China” shovel break in half. The Rule of Three says to have three of any essential item, and it makes a lot of sense. With three shovels in the back of my Tahoe, I’ll be all set!
image by hfiguiere
I’ve been applying the Rule of Three to my water storage this week. I have four (that’s three + one) ways of purifying water: bleach, a WAPI, a SteriPEN, and water purification tablets. I have three layers to my water storage: 2-liter soda bottles filled with water, cases of individual water bottles, and a couple of 55 gallon water drums.
So, I’m wondering, how are you applying the Rule of Three in your efforts to be better prepared and self-reliant?
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(15) Readers Comments
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gulland
We plant 3 varieties of tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, carrots, lettuce, etc. in the garden. We've already had one batch of cilantro fail.
We have 3 spare sets of Black Berkey filters on hand.
We use 4 ways of preserving our food; dried, canned, root cellared and frozen.
Alternative cooking methods include lightweight backpacking stoves, propane car camping stoves, Dutch oven, charcoal grill, and propane kitchen range.
Gulland
kdonat
My concern is opening food buckets (6 bucket wrenches) and possibly canned goods (6 manual can openers).
The extras are for charity situations or barter. Ways to cook: solar shield oven, canned fuel (sterno/chafing fuel), 91% alcohol, fuel tablets and portable stove, scout buddy burners (tuna cans filled with cardboard strips and wax)
Firestarters: leftover birthday candles and crepe paper (especially the candles you can't blow out), waterproof matches, BIC lighters (several), magnesium striker, magnifying glass.
Barbara
An old 60's British disaster movie called Threads has a scene where a protest rally is going on. One of the protesters is (in mockery, I suppose) selling hand can openers. He gets swept away by the mob. Later in the movie, after a nuke disaster, the prime character is reduced to smacking canned goods open with a rock, for lack of a can opener.
I have several ways of doing just about everything, and a dozen different can openers, of course. (The old military- style "P38" openers have a hole for stringing on your ID tags, or just your key chain for civies. Good for kids.)
Dustin
Rule of 3s has a few incarnations…
Cannot go:
3 minutes without air
3 hours without shelter (protection from exposure)
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
3 months without hope (dissociation)
Have 3 ways to do anything – not 3 of the same tool, but 3 different methods. e.g. Matches, firestarter, knowledge how to construct a bow drill.
You do not need 3 shovels, but a come-a-long, shovel, and hi-lift jack serve as 3 ways to extract a mired/stuck vehicle.
Keep multiputpose in mind, too… 3 long-handled shovels may be nice, but a military entrenching tool, short-handled spade, and non-metallic trowel can all to the same thing, but also be ideal for other applications.
TheSurvivalMom
Dustin, your comment about the shovels got me thinking. If my shovel breaks, there aren't too many tools that are as effective. You do mention a couple that would be good back-ups, but sometimes you just need that long-handled shovel. Now, if I had back-ups of additional handles, I could repair my shovel, but I think there are certain, essential tools that you do need more than one of. To avoid cheaply made tools, garage sales and estate sales are GREAT ways to find tools that were made decades ago, and "they don't make them like they used to!"
I'm inspired to write another article about this, so thank you for that inspiration!
Dustin
Agreed – I would not deliberately try to plant a large garden with an e-tool, but you can use an e-tool as a trencher, seat, crude axe, hammer, etc.
I also try to avoid a lot of tools and fancy designs with too many modern elements incorporated – the new garden tools with lots of plastic, resin molded handles, and such may be lightweight, but they are designed to wear out after a season or too, usually. In this regard, buying good old stuff is MUCH better than cheap new stuff.
Another item that is hard to find like they used to make is a good set of work gloves!
rightwingmom
Faith! The BEST "Rule of Three" for prepping!
Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
(Just my 2 cents)
Bible in three forms: traditional book, IPhone app (or equivalent), and Kindle.
I'd like to place a hiker's Bible in every BOB.
Our local Bible Bookstore (Lifeway) sells very nice leather hiker Bibles for only $10.
mama4x
amen!
Nancy
Here is a little twist on the rule of 3. I am very into having my prepper stuff organized in groups. Like items with like items. But consider if someone enters your home and robs you. If you have all of your like items together, that means that whatever they are after, they will get all of that item or items. I have started dividing my stock into at least 3 seperate locations in the house, garage, or basement. This is especially important for cash, ammo, jewelry, or other valuables. (In a TEOTWAWKI situation, even canned meat, rice, beans etc.) If it is all in one drawer, box under the bed, etc. then you have done all the work for the robber. Once he finds it, it is all gone.
L P
I have a twist on the 3-rule that I call the Three-Fer rule. In one form or another, it states that any significant item purchase should have three uses. (Kind of a "one is three" approach.) The biggest expense we had, that conformed to this rule (which may be more like a heavy suggestion in some cases…) was our travel trailer. In a nut shell, it serves as a portable BOL, a temporary home for kids and friends that may need a place to stay if jobs go bye-bye, and a great way to get away and relax. In fact, getting away helps sharpen our thoughts on things by leaving day-to-day baggage behind. Three in one. It has many other purposes as well, but those satisfied our rule for major expenses.
The truck that pulls it seats 5, has a padded and insulated shell with vents, and runs on diesel. In a pinch, it can abandon the trailer and get us just about anywhere, in most weather.
Diana
for the "food cooking" posters.
What happened to good old firewood?!? I don't care where you live, you can find wood. Tastes better than sterno too…
A good pair of loppers can cut branches up to 1 1/2 inches in diameter and can shorten branches to fit any fire place, charcoal grill or fire pit.
TheSurvivalMom
Diana, a wood fire is definitely an option for cooking food. Where I live, though, we don't have access to much wood, believe it or not. We're in the suburbs, and the only wood around here are small-ish trees, none of which would make good firewood without drying out for several months. I think a lot of us city-dwellers would love nothing more than to live somewhere like you do!
galen066
Check around your local supermarket, light industrial area, or almost any dumpster for old shipping pallets. These are often discarded, but are good seasoned dry wood in good lengths and thicknesses for a good fire. Most pallets these days are pine, but you still find ash, oak and maple pallets from time to time. A few minutes work with a hammer or pry bar and a saw, and you have enough firewood for at least one meal.
Big Wall
Even better yet, as far as pallets for fire wood go. I work for a very large pallet company. We give away, for FREE, 2x4s from broken down pallets. They are usually in stacks about 4x4x4 and again we give them away for free. I'm sure other pallet companies would do the same thing so give them a call.
Sean
Look into making a "Rocket Stove". I've had great success with one, and because of the heat and efficiency of them, you can bring a litre of water to a full boil in about 6 minutes or less, using nothing more than kindling.
As a test of my first one, I took a six inch long piece of 1×4 and split it into kindling, and was able to boil water with it. There are various "how-to" video's all over the web, just google "Rocket Stove".