Hello.. I've been diving into the world of general survival and preparedness lately, and I've encountered a situation I'm sure some of you have faced. I'm hoping to tap into your collective knowledge for guidance. I've come across some fascinating and practical survival tricks and tips, from fire-starting hacks to improvised shelters and more. Handle your traffic violation ticket promptly. NJMCDirect However, I'm struggling to prioritize and remember them all. How do you keep track of these cool tricks and ensure you're ready to use them when needed?
Pretty sure you'll get lots of help from this forum, but you might start with my tips... Handbooks Guides & How-Tos - Tips for Survivors | Survival Monkey Forums
Commit the best and most useful to memory through application and the more obscure and potentially useful in the future to a notebook.
Practice EVERYTHING several times, you learn what really works and what was just a good idea that didn't! The ones you prove work in your situation you will remember, so you will be all set!
Tips, tricks, and hacks are good if you were to find yourself naked in the woods, but survival will depend upon having the necessary preps available when the SHTF and the knowledge to use them! I could learn to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but why would I want to, when I have a tinder box, matches, lighter, and fire striker tool!? You are going to have to spend a lot of money and time to acquire the preps and skills necessary to be a prepper! Start with the basics; water, food, warmth, shelter and protection, and build from there! Good luck!
I don't learn so much by reading as I do with doing. Not to bragging but fact, one of the reasons I was invited on so many searches in SAR was that I learned my ropes working at a marina so many years, and I used ropes on many of my jobs. I got good at tracking too because I practiced it even on family outings and in every day life. just yesterday I tracked a sidewinder through the property, wanting to be sure he passed all the way through seeing there are children playing here all the time. Orienteering with a compass is not something for only out camping but making one's self aware of their surroundings, the more you do it the more natural it becomes. It's not unusual for me to take a reading while in another part of town or in a big box store. I have to admit that I'm not that good as I should be at plant identification simply because I haven't lived in that kind of environment to put it to work. I learned fire starting using a drill and hearth from the bush craft forum, academically but it took actually doing it repeatedly to make it sink in. Once you learn the principles of friction fire it gets easier finding materials. Amateur radio was difficult for me, so much of it was academics and I struggled with tests till I could actually put some of the principles to work. I have moved so much in the last several years that I let my license lapse, and the area I'm in is undisciplined and the frequencies are not policed as we did in the mountains, so my interests have gone on to other things. Besides I lost all my radio gear when I sold the property (long story).
Imagine everything you take for granted, not being there. I use the Old West as an example of living without stuff. as a role model.
I think handling traffic infringement tickets in New Jersey will be the least of my TEOTWAWKI survival concerns....but where and how I will find Twinkys in a post apocalyptic world would be of the utmost importance.
The basics of survival are Air, water, food & shelter. Figure out how you'll filter the first two to keep them safe, hunt, fish, or scavenge the third, and cook it as required. Then you find, take or build a shelter. Along the line you figure out that if you can't make fire you can't cook, and if you don't have a knife you can't clean game. Without an axe or saw you can't cut wood. Field sanitation comes into play when you have to find clean water. Barter, purchase or trade will get you much of what you need. Having a skill that others need will make it easier. Having a network of people you know who have skills and who will work with you is priceless. If you know someone you trust who's a radio geek, stringing antennas in the trees and stuff you may not need to get into comm stuff right away, but learn all you can from them now. Same with any tradesmen. Learn what you can from them now and keep them close. You need to have your own niche survival skill that will make you essential to the group, even if it's youth and strength. Somebody has to tote water and dig graves. That's just how it is. Go through a day without power, phone, or other modern luxuries. Work through how you manage to see in the house with no power. How do you refill the toilet tank with no running water. Bathe, cook breakfast, clean dishes... You get the idea. It'll all start to come to you easier when you apply yourself to actually doing stuff. Sometimes you'll be so busy trying to stay warm, dry, or fed that you need a break. Best two options there, that are often forgotten in our online world, are books and people. Reading and conversation will help keep you sane. Some of it is worked out in detail in post-apocalyptic fiction novels and reading them can help give you ideas of areas you need to address, but nothing is better than the actual reality of flipping off a circuit breaker and shutting off a water main to wake you up to the areas that you're lacking. Have an ice cream before they melt and think about how you'll dispose of all that meat in the freezer. Generator? How much fuel do you have? How fast can you eat everything in the freezer. Then what? What about the noise the generator makes? Isn't somebody going to come see what you have? Can you defend it? Have you got enough to share? What if they want more? Did you plan for that? This might be helpful. From Beginning Prepper To Fully Stocked It'll keep you up at night, but as so many other Monkey's have said, hands-on practice, mastering one thing at at time will help ease your mind. Buying a bunch of "stuff" that you don't know how to use is probably not the answer. 100 year old tools if you have someone to teach you how to use them are a great investment. Most old stuff that's stood the test of time and still does its' job will continue to work just fine with care and maintenance. Plume & Atwood Argand burner dated December 30, 1873. Still works. Fuel efficient light and heat for short days.
I am more worried about feeding my Nutty Buddy addiction than mere Twinkies in TEOTWAWKI World. Twinkies and Cockroaches will outlive us all LOL.
With rise of SKYNET (AI) BOTs are going to get crazy bad. Nearing the point where the AI can have flawless conversations on forums and social media.