Why are you preparing?

Seanf999

Why did you start 'prepping'?
What are you preparing for and why?
Or are you just doing it for a fun pastime to go out hunting and meet new people etc..?

Kevhog1988

im not prepping for a shtf sort of situation. I am more interested in self sufficiency

ShadowFox

Where I live was prone to power cuts and raising a family with no means to heat the house or heat bottles is something that you only let happen once . Then the bad weather that's been hitting us over the last few years made me prepare more which I was glad of when I was injured and out of work long term the preps we had helped get us through tough financial times. SHTF doesn't mean the sky is falling it means power cuts frozen or burst pipes illness injury job loss anything that could effect you for a day a week a month whatever it is or how long it lasts your better off being a little prepared than waiting on someone else to look after you

Kevhog1988

ShadowFox wrote: »

Where I live was prone to power cuts and raising a family with no means to heat the house or heat bottles is something that you only let happen once . Then the bad weather that's been hitting us over the last few years made me prepare more which I was glad of when I was injured and out of work long term the preps we had helped get us through tough financial times. SHTF doesn't mean the sky is falling it means power cuts frozen or burst pipes illness injury job loss anything that could effect you for a day a week a month whatever it is or how long it lasts your better off being a little prepared than waiting on someone else to look after you

This makes better sense than my post!! I like your idea regarding the job loss etc. particularily poignant as i work in construction

liam24

The canary islands volcano will wipe out the south coast.

sheesh

liam24 wrote: »

The canary islands volcano will wipe out the south coast.

thats one of mine too!

really started looking at the prepping thing during the Economic collapse, things were a bit grim, after reading about the Argentinian economic collapse I figured something might need to be prepared.

Other than that I do a bit of outdoors type stuff and you need to look at what you need to have with you in the short term just in case. It is an interesting pastime It does get you thinking about where stuff you use on an every day basis comes from (like toilet paper and soap) and what would do if you had to go without.

maniac2000

I don't mean to step on any toes nor do I mean any disrespect but im struggling to see the point of prepping. I hear of people having spare phones in their cars or knives being carried everywhere they go etc but this to me just seems like major paranoia. I don't see any real reason to prep and perhaps im wrong or short minded but I haven't heard many good arguments as to why prepping is a worthwhile idea. Perhaps somebody in a very remote part of the country where if we had some adverse weather that they would genuinely be affected would have a case but can somebody tell em why you spend all that money on equipment, food etc and I don't have anything against it being a past time or interest that's fine but im talking about the genuine believers that they will someday need to run for their bugout bag and spare phone in the car.

aaakev

maniac2000 wrote: »

I don't mean to step on any toes nor do I mean any disrespect but im struggling to see the point of prepping. I hear of people having spare phones in their cars or knives being carried everywhere they go etc but this to me just seems like major paranoia. I don't see any real reason to prep and perhaps im wrong or short minded but I haven't heard many good arguments as to why prepping is a worthwhile idea. Perhaps somebody in a very remote part of the country where if we had some adverse weather that they would genuinely be affected would have a case but can somebody tell em why you spend all that money on equipment, food etc and I don't have anything against it being a past time or interest that's fine but im talking about the genuine believers that they will someday need to run for their bugout bag and spare phone in the car.

i think ShadowFox summed it up nicely to be fair

ShadowFox wrote: »

Where I live was prone to power cuts and raising a family with no means to heat the house or heat bottles is something that you only let happen once . Then the bad weather that's been hitting us over the last few years made me prepare more which I was glad of when I was injured and out of work long term the preps we had helped get us through tough financial times. SHTF doesn't mean the sky is falling it means power cuts frozen or burst pipes illness injury job loss anything that could effect you for a day a week a month whatever it is or how long it lasts your better off being a little prepared than waiting on someone else to look after you

obsidianclock

maniac2000 wrote: »

I don't mean to step on any toes nor do I mean any disrespect but im struggling to see the point of prepping. I hear of people having spare phones in their cars or knives being carried everywhere they go etc but this to me just seems like major paranoia. I don't see any real reason to prep and perhaps im wrong or short minded but I haven't heard many good arguments as to why prepping is a worthwhile idea. Perhaps somebody in a very remote part of the country where if we had some adverse weather that they would genuinely be affected would have a case but can somebody tell em why you spend all that money on equipment, food etc and I don't have anything against it being a past time or interest that's fine but im talking about the genuine believers that they will someday need to run for their bugout bag and spare phone in the car.

Bet your life?

CJ Haughey

Getting too caught up in buying swiss army knifes and other jazz too much for the very odd power failure or bad weather is excessive to be fair about it in this country.
We are not living in the wilds of Alaska, the remotest person i know in the remotest part of the country is only 1 mile from its nearest neighbour.
The most anyone needs to prepare for in this country is a prepaid visa card and phone credit.

maniac2000

CJ Haughey wrote: »

Getting too caught up in buying swiss army knifes and other jazz too much for the very odd power failure or bad weather is excessive to be fair about it in this country.
We are not living in the wilds of Alaska, the remotest person i know in the remotest part of the country is only 1 mile from its nearest neighbour.
The most anyone needs to prepare for in this country is a prepaid visa card and phone credit.

This is what im getting at exactly. I know Shadowfox summed it up nicely but as I already mentioned I wasn't disputing this sort of scenario but the SHTF paranoia is bonkers to me living in Ireland where we are not as remote as some people would like to believe.

ShadowFox

CJ Haughey wrote: »

Getting too caught up in buying swiss army knifes and other jazz too much for the very odd power failure or bad weather is excessive to be fair about it in this country.
We are not living in the wilds of Alaska, the remotest person i know in the remotest part of the country is only 1 mile from its nearest neighbour.
The most anyone needs to prepare for in this country is a prepaid visa card and phone credit.

How are you going to use your prepaid visa if there is a power outage or the ATMs go down in your area . What use is phone credit if you can't charge your phone . A friend was stuck in her home for a week with the floods in the UK a few years back. Mother nature is unforgiving personally I'd rather have stuff and not need it than need it and not have it . But you prepare your way we will prepare ours

gavindublin

Maniac2000 is definitely zombie dinner!!

maniac2000

gavindublin wrote: »

Maniac2000 is definitely zombie dinner!!

they need to catch me first :P

maniac2000

Like I said before im not trying to piss on anyones party with my comments im actually quite interested in the whole idea of prepping but more so if I lived in Alaska or somewhere extremely remote where the money would be well spent.

best of luck with it and thanks for the replies

CardinalJ

It depends on what you perceive prepping to be. If you think that you'd need to live in Alaska to prep, you're probably thinking of people with monthly stockpiles of food, fuel and guns.

i live in Dublin city in an apartment so I just have supplies of food for a few days without power, as it's the most likely thing to happen. If someone lived up in Wicklow they could have totally different potential issues to me. For example in the storms of last February there were people in ireland without power for 2 weeks.

Some things that you'd read on the forum would be bananas for me to start doing, a winters supply of fire wood for example, but if you live in the country side it could be how you heat your house.

Shows on the discovery channel etc, warp peoples idea of what 'prepping' is, I suppose.

Tbh I Think the worst thing that will happen to me is that the tunnel bringing water from roundwood to stillorgan collapses. If that happens, I'm totally unprepared, but I doubt many people without their own well would.

ShadowFox

CardinalJ wrote: »

It depends on what you perceive prepping to be. If you think that you'd need to live in Alaska to prep, you're probably thinking of people with monthly stockpiles of food, fuel and guns.

i live in Dublin city in an apartment so I just have supplies of food for a few days without power, as it's the most likely thing to happen. If someone lived up in Wicklow they could have totally different potential issues to me. For example in the storms of last February there were people in ireland without power for 2 weeks.

Some things that you'd read on the forum would be bananas for me to start doing, a winters supply of fire wood for example, but if you live in the country side it could be how you heat your house.

Shows on the discovery channel etc, warp peoples idea of what 'prepping' is, I suppose.

Tbh I Think the worst thing that will happen to me is that the tunnel bringing water from roundwood to stillorgan collapses. If that happens, I'm totally unprepared, but I doubt many people without their own well would.

Another thing to keep an eye on in Dublin ( im sure the rest of the country is the same) all the houses and apartments that have been built at least 60% are empty at the moment what happens to the water supply and the sewerage system when their all full ?? Will it be reduced water pressure or no water. Can the ESB cope with the higher demand for electric or will it be rolling blackouts to homes during office hours to keep up with demand. I was talking to the manager of my local Aldi store a while ago and he told me they have to take in 2 deliveries a day to keep the shelves stocked will they and other supermarkets be able to keep up with demand ?

CardinalJ

ShadowFox wrote: »

Another thing to keep an eye on in Dublin ( im sure the rest of the country is the same) all the houses and apartments that have been built at least 60% are empty at the moment what happens to the water supply and the sewerage system when their all full ?? Will it be reduced water pressure or no water. Can the ESB cope with the higher demand for electric or will it be rolling blackouts to homes during office hours to keep up with demand. I was talking to the manager of my local Aldi store a while ago and he told me they have to take in 2 deliveries a day to keep the shelves stocked will they and other supermarkets be able to keep up with demand ?

They're only empty because everyone's prepping and stockpiling, haha. I know my local aldi is really running low on fresh meat and veg regularly, gets restocked very fast but if a weather event clogs up the roads or ports it'd be a different story.

I don't know how many empty houses/apartments there are around dublin to be honest. Pressure and power were ok during the boom years when builders were firing up developments at a rate of knots and there might have been a few more factories etc.

During the bad winters of 3-4 years ago Dublin held up well enough so I'd be OK for that plus anything a bit worse or harsher. Beyond that I'll be going through bins.

Tabnabs

The following is taken from an excellent thread over on SurvivalistBoards.com by a poster who is living in eastern Ukraine currently. He was asked what would you do differently if you had time to prepare properly:

It is a great question! And very wide.
First of all, best survival strategy is, really, quick evacuation! It is impossible to be prepared to everything. Every bad situation is unique and very hard to imagine what would it may be.
As for me, I know now new important things.

1. Own gun is not the most necessary item. In my situation it can be cause of death.

2. Worst things are:
- non-availability of electricity. It is a WORST thing! You cannot charge your mobile, can’t read important news in internet, can not turn on heater in winter, often can not cook, and, of course, you haven’t light. Yes, there are very many improvised solutions, but most of them are very uncomfortable. In Donetsk there are whole districts without electricity for months (in the most hot places of combats). Most of their inhabitants leave it. No electricity – no life.
- Absence of water. Rockets often destroy pump stations of city plumbing and it has very unpleasant consequences. Worst of it is can’t use toilet. Imagine, there was winter, - 10 degrees, and we have not toilet for three weeks. We use bucket with soil. For cooking we wait in the long line of people to get some water from tank car.
- When banks are closed. All of us have credit cards for salary or pension. But banks in DNR have closed one by one and in winter 2014 there was no one of it. Peoples haven’t cash enough and are forced to go into Ukrainian cities to ATMs. It is long, hard, and danger procedure. My parents cursed all of men with guns after this operation.
- Missiles attacks. Yes, there are not a big numbers of victims – every attack as a rule kills 3-5 people. But rockets destroy electric wires, gas tubes, pump stations and, after all, windows. Explosion may not kill anybody, but it breaks the glass in several apartment houses. And dozens of peoples would cold in winter. There are rather cold winters in Ukraine, temperature often can be -10 or -15 degrees. And without windows flat is almost useless. Besides it, breaking fragments of glass can wound people in room.
- And, after all, no food. No, food is present in a shops, but most of people haven’t cash to buy it.

I think no sense to be prepared to this many problems. Best way is evacuation. But it costs money, so I was happy that I have some dollar cash.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showpost.php?p=7382039&postcount=35

Iderown

"Why did I start?"
There was politically motivated strike action here in 1974. We lived in Larne at that time and the place near closed down. Filling stations closed, no public transport, very limited opening hours for shopping - and very little on the shelves anyway, electricity off for many hours at a time. Guys wearing masks marching about the streets ...
Daughter was only a few days old. Things were difficult and I promised herself here that we would NEVER be in those difficulties again.

The preparation here involves:
1. Easy switch over of house lighting from mains to battery powered inverter.
2. Maybe 4 months of dried food in stock. The sort of food that we would eat anyway - just more of it. And long life UHT milk.
3. Small generator to power the oil-fired central heating and the likes of the fridge. Some fuel for it.
4. Battery powered TV and satellite receiver - easily bought from mobile home accessories' suppliers.
5. Some camping gas type burners and gas cylinders. Half a dozen bags of coal - we still have an open fireplace in the house.
6. Working on heavy curtains all round so that others would not be aware of the fun that we are having inside!

aaakev

Iderown wrote: »

The preparation here involves:
1. Easy switch over of house lighting from mains to battery powered inverter.
2. Maybe 4 months of dried food in stock. The sort of food that we would eat anyway - just more of it. And long life UHT milk.
3. Small generator to power the oil-fired central heating and the likes of the fridge. Some fuel for it.
4. Battery powered TV and satellite receiver - easily bought from mobile home accessories' suppliers.
5. Some camping gas type burners and gas cylinders. Half a dozen bags of coal - we still have an open fireplace in the house.
6. Working on heavy curtains all round so that others would not be aware of the fun that we are having inside!

take out the comforts like tv and thats the basics covered. I reckon an ibc tank for water and you are set.

TangoDelta

over the years i have lived in different countries for work, and Ireland is no different than anywhere else. In Russia in 1998 there were rumours of collapse of the ruble but nobody did anything and people suffered as a result. Its better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it.

laoch na mona

really tempted to say zombie apocalypse:P:P:P:P

really though I'm just interested in being as self sufficient as possible, my parents thought me how to garden and forage from a young age and we've always had a few animals growing up.

my grand parents were all smallholders so in a way i suppose i'm rejecting modernisation by trying to go back to this lifestyle.

Stovepipe

reasons why:
1: growing your own food is patently useful, educational and cheap. I'm only a very basic grower (spuds) but there's nothing like eating something you grew yourself. The GIY movement is very popular.
2: reducing dependency on oil or gas for heating. Wood is the ultimate renewable resource for burning, without poisoning yourself.
3: I like the creativity of using lifehacks and clever ideas for sustainability and self sufficiency, space saving and so on.
4: I think every house should have a solar panel and/or a wind turbine as standard.
5: preserving food is educational and improves your diet and it's what most families did a few generations ago as standard.We have made sloe gin in the past, which might not be a food group but is lovely to drink.
6: every effort should made to encourage the production or conversion of diesel vehicles to multifuel, so that any diesel should be able to use diesel/biodiesel/kerosene as standard.
7: while our weather is not very extreme, the big snow of 09/10 and the rains and floods hurt a lot of people and left a lot of housing unusable.It doesn't hurt to be prepared for flood damage or having to dig a car out of three feet of snow.
8: being without electricity for longer than a day means ruined food in the freezer. Anyone who's got self-generation will be able to cope.
9: every house or apartment should be insulated to the highest standard possible, to reduce oil/gas dependency
10:I like making things so craft and creativity should encouraged, right from schooldays. It pleases me no end that my daughters do woodwork in school.