Now that we’ve covered principles one and two (Don’t Freak Out and Get Focused), we’re going to move onto principle #3 – Develop a Plan.
Once you’ve gotten focused and know what your goals are, you’ll need a plan for how to accomplish those goals. If you start out without a plan, you’re going to waste quite a bit of time, effort, and money. I suggest that you keep a plan as simple as possible. There is no need for your plan to be complicated. The more complex of a plan, the more likely something will go wrong.
As an example of the prep we are going to focus on, let’s use water. Everyone needs water. Water is essential to our lives. A general rule is that a person in a survival situation can survive for three days without water. Another general rule is that a person needs one gallon of water every day for adequate hydration. So, obviously, water is a core piece of our survival (there are a few others that we will address in future posts, but for now we are talking about developing plans).
Now, without a plan in place of how to go about satisfying this prep, there are many different directions a person could go. Most of them look like really good preps (and they are when the time is right, just not right now). There are water purification tablets, water filters for home and for backpacks, boiling water, catchment systems for homes, and on and on. While all of these different methods serve a great purpose, they all lack one very crucial thing. You still have to actually have water to use them. Running out and buying all of the gear and not having the actual thing you need to use said gear does you no good. You still need water. Start with water.
It is far too easy to satisfy your immediate needs for water without having to buy extra gear and take extra steps. This applies to all sorts of preps. The same processes carry over to everything else. Keep it simple; you need water, get water. There are a few options for immediately acquiring, and storing, large quantities of drinkable water; gallon jugs, packs of bottled water, etc.
My chosen method of storing water is the pack of 16.9 ounce bottles of water. Now I know there are pros and cons to those, but for me, they are the best option. These rectangular cubes of bottled water are uniform in size, easily stackable, easily transportable, easily storable, and small amounts of water can be removed at a time without compromising the whole supply. Better yet, they’re cheap. At the local big-box-store, I can get a 45-count pack of 16.9 ounce bottles of water, tax and all, for less than $4.00 each. When you break it all the way down, there are just under six gallons of water in each pack. Six gallons of water for one person is nearly a week of drinkable water, ready to go. No extra gear purchased, no extra steps to take. Simple and affordable.
The plan also, is very simple. Determine what you need: water. Determine how much you need: one gallon per day. Determine the most expedient and cost-effective way of obtaining what you need: packs of bottle water (at least in my case). Determine a timeline for how long it will take you to fulfill this need: next trip to the store, next pay check, etc. (the more expensive or extensive the prep, the longer it will take to accomplish). Determine how to store what you need: stacked in a corner, closet, store room, etc. Move on to the next step.
The other gear has its place. In future posts I’ll go into different water related gear and how it’s used. But for now, we are just looking at the simple plan for obtaining one particular prep, water. Start simple and stay focused. Right now though the main concern was water for one person, you, to survive. Now that prep can be spread out further to the next stage of preparedness.
In the next post we will look at the last principle – Start Making Progress.
