So, the apocalypse has happened, and it's as bad as you feared. Crazy, wild-eyed people are running everywhere trying to grab anything and everything they can find to survive. They hit the grocery stores, drug stores, there's no bottled water to be ... Read More
How to survive a boil notice
A friend in Puerto Rico, Jennifer, tells me that her town has been on a boil notice for 5 1/2 MONTHS following Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Yep, you read that right. Five and a half months. That's almost 170 days without clean running water. She could ... Read More
Down and Dirty With Cloth Diapers
In discussions of infant-centered emergency preparedness, the topic of cloth diapers inevitably gets brought up. "They're good for 72 hour kits because you can reuse them," is what I hear most often. "So good for when the SHTF," is another ... Read More
September Skill of the Month: Primitive Camping
I know what you're thinking. "There's no way I'm going to camp out in the wilderness in a tent!" "I'm too old to pee in the woods. I need a comfy and sanitary bathroom!" "Primitive camping is living out of our RV." Well, those are valid ... Read More
If You Just Moved Here: Hurricane Preparation
A few years ago I read about a woman who moved from the Southwest to New York City, and a hurricane hit two days later. She had no idea what to do. Why would she? She was used to droughts and brush fires, not preparing for a hurricane with its ... Read More
How the California Drought Has Tightened Up my Prepping
In all my years of preparing to work in Emergency Management, it never occurred to me that one of my biggest personal challenges would be a California drought. I was in Sacramento for the Yuba County floods of 1997, when flood waters caused 80,000 ... Read More
Off-Grid Living: Take Care of Personal Hygiene
The vast majority of people want to be clean and hygienic. Daily showers or baths (sometimes more than one!), multiple hand washings, and brushing teeth a couple times per day is the norm. If the grid goes down, we will still want to be clean, but it ... Read More
5 Tips for Correctly Using Hand Sanitizer (From a Nurse Who Knows)
1. Use a large amount. More is better when using hand sanitizer. 2. Slather the sanitizer between fingers, on front and back of hands, up to your wrists. 3. Rub the sanitizer vigorously into your hands. 4. Rub sanitizer under your ... Read More
Survival Sanitation: Poop Party Chit-Chat, an Essential Family Conversation
Pooping…there’s nothing we like better as a society than sharing our defecation experiences. OK, you got me. This is not a subject for “proper” conversation. While we all have to do the “Number 2” to survive, it remains a very private experience. ... Read More
28 Inconvenient Truths About TEOTWAWKI*
Not everyone will survive. Ouch. For many, circumstances will trump preparedness. Preparedness will cost money. There's no way around it. If you talk about preparedness, you'll be ridiculed. If you keep your mouth shut, you'll miss out on ... Read More
