10 General Purpose Prepper Axioms
Posted by Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 76 comments
1) Anything we do to prepare is better than doing nothing.
2) It’s never too late to start prepping. The best time to start prepping was a year ago, the second-best time is today.
3) No matter how prepared we are, there is some set of conditions that will exceed our capacity to manage. We can’t foresee or prepare for every eventuality – we do the best we can.
4) To paraphrase George Carlin: Anyone prepping less than you is an idiot and anyone prepping more than you is a maniac.
5) Five key skills for prepping: off grid cooking (especially beans and rice), water treatment, basic first aid, austere hygiene/sanitation, and manual repair/tool use.
6) You need to be able to properly and safely operate your disaster preparedness equipment: propane stove, gas/solar generator, water filter systems, off-grid heating devices, emergency radios, fire extinguishers, medical gear and especially firearms.
7) Community can and will be developed during or after an emergency. Skills can and will be developed during or after an emergency. However, you can’t add to your stockpile during or after an emergency. (Generally speaking - unless you are looting/marauding. And this is not to say that community and skills are not important!)
8) Prepping for most likely (Tuesday) and prepping for most severe (Doomsday) are both valid approaches and not necessarily mutually exclusive. If you are prepared for a serious year-long emergency, then you are likely prepared for dozens of lesser disasters as well.
9) There is a difference between disaster preparedness and basic adulting. Having a spare tire, a flashlight, an umbrella, health insurance, an emergency fund, etc. is basic adulting which is a prerequisite for prepping, but not part of disaster preparedness. Likewise, financial hygiene — including basic investing, career development, living below your means, staying out of debt, and planning for retirement — is a requirement for prepping.
10) Just because something is unlikely does not mean it should not be considered, discussed and prepared for.
instapoh@reddit
There was no mention of the adage "cash is king". I have tried to instill this on my children, with very limited success. Then the hurricane/flooding of last year hit. My daughter found herself with no cash in an area with limited power and almost no internet. Combined with empty cabinets, made for a hard time for her. No debit/credit card worked. Cell phone coverage was spotty. She was able to get food by walking into the street for a weak signal and venmo some funds to store.
Since then, she has a basic cash load out. Not a lot, but still enough to get food and gas, even at an elevated price if needed. This isn't a big expense, and can save a lot of headache later. People talk about having an emergency fund. Great. Keep a portion of it in cash. Just an idea
-NotAHedgeFund-@reddit
Honestly, this is one of the few times where I would agree. A small chunk of cash (3-5 days expenses) makes sense. Anything more than that seems silly to me. Smaller scale issues mean you can probably use card somewhere, larger/longer scale issues mean you probably need to leave the physical area or cash isn’t even worth having over something with more intrinsic value.
adm-foster@reddit
My thoughts on cash is to have enough to get you through to the other side, or last long enough that it has no value.
Spuckler_Cletus@reddit
“Two is one, and one is none.”
Probably one of the most common prepping rules that I observe being confirmed in my daily life.
dachjaw@reddit
While I understand the point of this saying (you should have backups), the mathematical part of my brain rebels against it. If two is one and one is zero, it follows that three is two and four is three etc. in general, n = n - 1.
Therefore, no matter how many flashlights, knives, etc that you have, you still have zero.
ladyangua@reddit
Yep. Every time I repeat the mantra, my autistic son points out it all reduces down to zero.
ExampleFeisty8590@reddit
One might say that "on a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero"
fight club/zerohedge
Socalcruiser1@reddit
Just get (2) of the most important things and don't over-think the issue.
Hom3ward_b0und@reddit
This is proof by reduction.
2eggs1stone@reddit
"no matter how many flashlights, knives, etc that you have, you still have zero." Words of wisdom right there.
_JohnGalt_@reddit
See i got these headlamps with Li-ion batteries stashed away right... And I just saw on reddit this video of some dude's headlamps blowing up. So now I'm thinking having 8 means you burned down your house, and now you have 0 headlamps.
UnofficiallyDone@reddit
I have a headlamp on my head all day everyday at work and I've never seen one do that.. Don't know whether to be suspicious or scared
BobFromCincinnati@reddit
That's what I whittle the end of all my flashlights into points. Now instead of having three flashlights and three knives, I have three knives, and three flashlightknives.
SetNo8186@reddit
If you have two, and one goes missing, you at least have one. But, if you barter one and get something for it, you still have the other - which now becomes of interest because if the first one wasn't really important then is the 2d one? If you live where you get all four season you might, on the Gulf Coast I dont see much reason to have expedition weight merino wool undies.
To pass some common sense testing, gather the supplies you need for your situation. Flip flops in Canada might be excess to your needs and having a second pair should have already kicked in some analysis. None can be good.
monty845@reddit
But remember, you don't need two of every item, just enough coverage that you don't have a critical singe point of failure.
BaldyCarrotTop@reddit
It mostly applies to consumable items.
If you have a bar of soap, and it is down to a sliver when disaster strikes, you basically have no soap. But if you have two bars of soap, and only one is being used, you always have that one unused bar.
Same thing goes for propane for your grill. You are SOL if the tank is almost empty when disaster strikes. But if you have two tanks, and one is always full, you always have that one full tank.
Far-Respond-9283@reddit
This is how you end hoarding.
Doogetma@reddit
“1000 is 999 and 999 is 998 and…”
UnofficiallyDone@reddit
99 flashlights and knives on the wall, 99 flashlights and knives...
BrobdingnagLilliput@reddit
Three is more
Stop at four
dinkydinkyding@reddit
Community is everything during emergencies and disasters. You probably already know who your immediate community is. If you’re like me and you’ve been prepping for a while, you already have contacts for basic survival within your local area. I’m hoping my network can develop some off grid communication systems soon!
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
I would agree if you have a vetted mutual support group that trains and drills together.
However, the commentary around here is to have a BBQ with your neighbors. These casual relationships do not translate into effective teamwork in an emergency.
And if you want to build real, disaster preparedness focused, teams you are going to need to share a dangerous amount of information about yourself along the way with no guarantee of success.
Hot-Profession4091@reddit
That is advice on how to meet people and to ensure you’ve at least met your immediate neighbors. It’s not a place to stop.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
My point is there is no place to start. You can't develop meaningful partnerships without exposing yourself.
To oversimplify, the risks of saying "Who wants to be on a prepper team with me?" do not justify the likely potential negative outcomes.
Unless the people you already know (family, friends, church, whatever) are already in a prepper mindset, this effort is long, hard, likely unsuccessful and potentially dangerous. The people who preach community already have it so therefore it's easy and simple for them.
I am not doubting the effectiveness of teamwork, I am doubting the achievability for most people.
AlexaBabe91@reddit
I agree with you 100%. I've slowly started to be more friendly on my daily walks and have gotten the names of a few neighbors here and there. But even if we had a BBQ, without some secret signal from them, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable blurting out "you into prepping?" to anyone. I'm also more introverted so there's that.
In a different sub, someone mentioned joining buy nothing/share groups or general-purpose emergency preparedness groups in your local area as ways to stealthily start meeting likeminded people. I think I'll try this approach rather than trying to get my immediate neighbors into the fold. My own family thinks I'm a crazy prepper lady, I don't have much hope of getting Dan down the street to see me any differently. Just my 2c.
Hot-Profession4091@reddit
No wonder you doubt it. You’re insufferable.
BelAirBabs@reddit
Many people have criticized your axioms. I feel they were posted in the spirit of provoking thought. I enjoyed them.
Open-Attention-8286@reddit
My mantra whenever I'm feeling inadequate because I'm not as far along as someone else: "Start where you're at."
That one came about because some guy at the gym was sneering at me for only walking a short time on the treadmill. I had been in a wheelchair for a few years and was finally able to walk unassisted, so in terms of fitness I looked pretty pathetic. I didn't even have to tell him anything, one of the other guys called him out for bullying, and one of the things he said while lecturing the guy was "Everybody starts where they're at."
It applies to just about everything. Including prepping. People sometimes get overwhelmed trying to be 100% ready for the end of civilization when they've only been prepping for a week. It's ok to start with a couple extra cans of soup, if that's where you're at.
My other one is "Focus on what you can handle. Then look for ways to increase what you can handle."
My third is "Knowledge weighs nothing." On the post I made about extracting salt from plants, there were a lot of people pointing out that you can just buy salt. And yes, buying salt is easier. But what harm did it do to you to know how to extract salt from plants? None. You can do both, buy a lifetime's worth of salt AND know how it could be extracted from plants. It's not like they cancel each other out.
BelAirBabs@reddit
Commenting on 10 General Purpose Prepper Axioms... I appreciated your comments.
OnTheEdgeOfFreedom@reddit
Pretty good. I have minor issues:
5) Not every emergency requires off grid cooking, and beans and rice are NOT the end all, be all of disaster cooking. Cooking beans and rice in particular is very energy intensive and there are situations where it's just not a good choice. In a market crash I don't need beans and rice and the high cost of energy for them, but I might want a garden with vegys that require minimal cooking. In a wildfire I don't need austere sanitation; I'm not stopping to practice safe sanitation in a burning wood. I'm getting to a hotel as fast as possible outside the burn zone. The plumbing there will be fine. (Bottom line, your point 5 sounds more like doomsday planning than anything else.)
9) I would feel better about this point if more folk in the US could manage what you call "basic adulting." This isn't to claim that a lot of folk aren't behaving like adults - that's a different argument. But your list of "basic adulting" requirements puts it out of reach of a huge number of Americans: poor folk, predominantly. For those folk, prepping *is* being able to arrange an emergency fund. On the other hand, if they live near a river but are poor, maybe they can arrange sandbags and sand in case the levee breaks, but real "financial hygiene" might be forever out of reach regardless of what they do. They'll still prepped. But you're making it sound like it doesn't "count" because they don't have a 401(k).
I get where you're going but this excludes too much, and if it was to be a candidate fr a sticky here I'd want to see some adjustments.
yogaforwoman@reddit
What do you think will be the biggest challenge for preppers in the next 5 years? Also, am I the only one who thinks most prepping books all sound the same and miss the real threats we’re facing today? What topics do you think actually need to be covered?
yogaforwoman@reddit
Don't know why it went in bold, sorry :(
DirectorBiggs@reddit
The one I've lived by for well over 30 years:
A person who is ready never needs to "get ready".
My martial arts teacher Dr Muang Gyi told me this one also 30+ years ago:
Strengthen your strengths and weaknesses weaken.
A few that I came up with to share with fitness clients which while not necessarily prep specific are really good axioms for a long healthy life:
Sweat is the fountain of youth, visit it daily.
A person does not age while smiling.
nakedonmygoat@reddit
A person who is ready never needs to "get ready".
I can attest to that. I'm a hurricane prepper, and the last two times a hurricane came, it was just *big sigh* then get out the appropriate gear. I wasn't one of the ones cleaning out the store shelves or participating in a panicky gridlocked evacuation, and after the storms I wasn't one of the ones lining up for handouts at distribution points. The way I see it, those handouts are for people who are too poor to prep. I have my faults, but stealing from the poor isn't among them.
Instead I was at home watching DVDs and enjoying my various quiet hobbies. And since I did my homework years ago, I knew that the nearby university has its own power plant, and that they have a hotel with a restaurant. So when I needed a break from Mountain House, I treated myself to a nice dinner and glass of wine.
In an extended power outage situation, it's nice to know where you can go for an hour or two to forget that your home is now a campsite without the amazing view you would get if you were actually camping.
monty845@reddit
Having a basic level of prepardeness makes sense, but so does topping off/filling the final gaps when you know something particular is coming.
At the ordinary disaster level, you wait until it looks like a hurricane is coming before you board up your windows, you don't just board up at the start of the season. Though you should have the gear you need to board up.
At the end of the world as we know it level, a lot of people don't want to devote their lives to starting a farm now, just in case everything collapses one day...
bhuffmansr@reddit
BrobdingnagLilliput@reddit
Replacement for #7:
The best time to build community is a year ago. The second best time is today. The worst time is during an emergency.
Seriously, people, make nice with your neighbors NOW.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
I'm not opposed to this advice. But my sense is that we'll all be involuntary teammates with the people within a quarter mile of us regardless.
Again, not a bad idea to know your neighbors but casual relationships do not translate into meaningful partnerships in an emergency.
As for skills, if we accept common wisdom here, we'd be spending all of our time learning primitive and survival skills. Your community does not need a dozen gardeners, it needs 2 or 3 gardeners and ten people who can follow directions.
In an emergency you are going to meet all kinds of people and learn all kinds of things.
BrobdingnagLilliput@reddit
Corollary to #6: If you haven't tested it, you don't have it.
BrobdingnagLilliput@reddit
Caveat to #1: Money is a prep. Spending it unwisely is anti-prep.
fortogden@reddit
An average human contains 150000 calories.
BallsOutKrunked@reddit
Half the posts on here are people saying that having a charged cell phone or a spare tire is a prep. I mean, sure. Me making sure I keep my dental cleaning appointments and stay up on my prescriptions is a "prep". So is buying groceries so that I have food for dinner tonight. And at the same time, that's not prepping, at all.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
Top post on the recent "what did you do to prep this week" was a guy who said he took his dog to the vet and did some yard work. Pretty low bar.
BallsOutKrunked@reddit
I think that's reddit in general. For the most part this place is full of people with too much time on their hands, not enough ambition, and certainly not enough velocity moving through said ambitions. So cheering on "self care", low-bars to entry, and participation trophies by another name is what reddit is all about.
If it involves hard work, sacrifice, and toil that is just too antithetical to the reddit hive mind ethos.
eccentric_1@reddit
There are a few axioms that might best apply after SHTF.
Such as:
Polite society is 9 meals thick. After people have missed about 9 mesls (roughly 3 days with no food), expect anarchy. People may kill you for your food.
You can't eat paper and coins. Food and water are the truest currency when functional society falls.
Build community, help your community. Teach people to barter skills and items with you rather than show up at your door empty handed.
Trust is earned, and hard to reestablish if broken.
A lone wolf is a dead wolf. Travel with a pack that's prepared for trouble if it shows up.
Boil and filter that water if it didn't come from your supply.
I'm sure there are others.
roberttheiii@reddit
"Get a hobby"...that isn't prepping. Or "get a job"
Not trying to be a smart ass, I just think my jobs and hobbies have taught me skills that would be valuable in a time of need. Examples include but are not limited to: working construction, home improvement (DIY type stuff), welding for fun, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and offshore sailboat racing.
IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit
I'm gonna push back on that one, because I've definitely seen people say things along the lines of "why include a satellite phone in your prep? if SHTF it won't work" as if there doesn't exist a huge gradient of disasters personal, local, or temporary disasters, most of which won't instantly disable all technology at the same time.
I think there's a level of planning for doomsday where you get so focused on specific scenarios that you actually end up unprepared for the more mundane ones.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
This is why smart preppers think about conditions, not causes. For example, prep for a week long power outage regardless on if the cause was a hurricane, blizzard, cyber attack or whatever.
I'd like some specific examples that speak to your point. My sense is that most doomsday folks are ready to shelter in place for months or longer in the event of a catastrophe. This level of preparedness works for all kinds of lesser (smaller area, shorter duration) scenarios. What might I be missing?
IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit
My example is real and from this sub. Someone was talking about getting a satellite phone for their rural property, a seemingly reasonable prep, and someone else actually replied that there was no point, since it won't work if SHTF! As if the end of all technology is somehow more likely than the end of one technology.
That one is pretty extreme, but I think there are more nuanced examples on this sub and the other prepper subs to be over prepared for the worst and under prepared for the shitty. And especially underprepared to thrive, not just achieve caloric sufficiency, in shitty scenarios.
VegaStyles@reddit
For 3 i have a great book series. The shtf omnibus series. Its rsthers low but it hits on the everything that can go wrong will go wrong and i liked it.
incruente@reddit
Even the first one seems problematic.
"1) Anything we do to prepare is better than doing nothing."
It's possible to do many tasks poorly. If I put a revolver and some ammo in my underwear drawer "to prepare", never train with it, never lock it up, I'd argue it was better for me to do nothing at all. I've wasted a little time and a chunk of cash, not made myself safer, and probably made my situation worse; if I have kids in the house, I've DEFINITELY made the situation worse.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
Ok, " Anything reasonable and responsible we do to prepare is better than doing nothing."
Happy?
The idea here is that small steps are still steps, every effort counts and small gains can lead to big wins.
fedfuzz1970@reddit
Many, incapable of original thought, rationalize by criticizing the good faith offerings of others.
incruente@reddit
Many, incapable of mounting a legitimate answer to the concern or concerns raised, resort to cheap, baseless ad hominems, u/fedfuzz1970.
incruente@reddit
Doesn't really matter if I'm happy or not. I'm simply pointing out that, if you want to treat or use these as axioms, or think others should consider doing so, they should probably be about as good as you can muster. Number 4, for example; seems more a joke than an axiom. Number 5? More of a list of arbitrary length. Number 9 seems to at least suggest that plenty of things which are "small gains" somehow "don't count" as prepping.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
#4 is a joke but it speaks to everything about prepper forums like this one. If I'm not prepping up to your standards then I must be an idiot and if you are prepping harder than me you must be a maniac.
#9 just makes the necessary distinction between being an adult and being engaged in the practice of disaster preparedness. In a recent "what did you do to prepare this week" post the top commenter said they took the dog to the vet and did some yard work. That is literally what passes for prepping now. So these small gains are required for responsible adults and collectively are pre-requisites for disaster preparedness.
Feel free to make your own list.
incruente@reddit
Humor is all fine and well, but it hardly seems to belong on a list of "axioms".
Okay. I'm simply pointing out that this objection seems to contradict the "anything, no matter how small" sort of attitude of number 1.
I do.
Prestigious-Fig-5513@reddit
No possible benefit to having an additional capability?
incruente@reddit
It's foolish to consider only benefits and not costs.
Prestigious-Fig-5513@reddit
When has man thrived without also having weapons to hunt, conquer, and defend?
incruente@reddit
Even assuming that the answers is "never" (it's not, at least not in any way that can be proven), that carries with is a pile of incorrect implications. There are many weapons the average person call call upon even if they own none. If they do own one but are incompetent in its use, as in the presented scenario, they are far more likely to injure someone innocent than to use the weapon effectively and appropriately.
Hunt? Please. The VAST majority of people do not hunt, nor conquer, nor defend themselves with weapons that they own. CAN you do these things? Sure. SHOULD you? Eh. I have no desire to gesture vaguely at the past and assert a need to "conquer", u/Prestigious-Fig-5513.
Prestigious-Fig-5513@reddit
Fascinating. If I might pry one final time, for what are you preparing? For me, I look at history and gather that at some point self reliance and that of a local community won't only be back in vogue, it will be necessary.
incruente@reddit
I prepare for many things. I don't prepare to "conquer" anyone or anything.
444BGpioFXneer444@reddit
I'm making a parallel currency from old soda cans. The aluminum "wedding ring" caps.
PrisonerV@reddit
The only note I would add is that unlikely and never ever happened are two very different chances.
It is unlikely my house will flood. Prepping for an EMP is prepping for never happened. I consider the later a waste of time and effort better spent somewhere else.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
Big difference between something that hasn't happened (yet) and something that can't happen (at all). Many people talk about EMPs and nuclear war as if the occurrence is simply impossible. It's not.
Is it more palatable for one to say they are prepping for a CME (which has happened) instead of an EMP? The end result (wide spread, long lasting grid outage) is similar. Hoe about a coordinated nationwide cyber attack on the grid?
Or do we need to experience the effects of an EMP attack first before it can be added to the list of acceptable events to prepare for?
Or perhaps you put EMPs in the same category as z0mbies and @liens?
PrisonerV@reddit
I would argue that efforts are much much better spent on unlikely over these incredibly rare or even none existent chances. EMPs and total grid failures are right there with ali€n attacks. Resources and time are better spent. Just think of some of the major weather events in the last 10 years.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
You do you. Granted, no one has unlimited resources but if one is concerned about an EMP and has the means to prepare then go for it. The peace of mind is worth something.
And this does not have to be an either/or scenario. Either you are prepped or a hurricane or an EMP...? I would argue if one is prepped for a year long grid down event then any hurricane or blizzard is covered as well.
ommnian@reddit
I am concerned about an EMP/cme event, but I don't think it's realistic for most people to adequately prep for one.
Part of the problem is that nobody really knows what the effects would be. Will my computers - turned off, in a basement - be ok? How will my solar system be? Will the panels, inverters, batteries, etc function? Will it be possible to make them functional again? How about our generator in the garage?
There are LOTS of competing opinions on ALL of the above. And the truth is, that nobody knows.
So, I prep as best I can, assuming they will, but still having backups and theories at least for how to survive without them.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
Yes, people debate about the EMP effects on phones and cars but my take is this: Does it really matter if your phone still lights up or your car still starts? The grid is going to be down which means no cell service and no operating gas stations.
My primary solar generator and even the panels are stored in faraday bags. Will they still work? I don't know... I hope so. Anything connected to the grid has a chance of getting fried.
So my preps are not specific to any cause but rather to a condition of an extended grid down event. Could be a coordinated Chinese cyber attack. Could be a CME.
Yeah, we prep as best we can and hope we never find out if it was enough.
Traditional-Leader54@reddit
You had me for a second because I thought you were going to say that just because something hasn’t never happened before doesn’t make it unlikely to happen. There’s always a first time for everything.
As far as EMPs they absolutely have happened from solar flares it’s just that the last one was in 1859 (Carrington Event) which was before there was a grid for it to take out. I agree it’s an extremely low probability occurrence so no one needs to be too alarmed about it but the impact of such an occurrence would be deviation.
When performing risk analysis, Risk is calculated as Probability x Impact. In the case of a major Solar Flare induced EMP the Impact is catastrophic even though the probability is quite low. That being said a 55 gallon steel garbage can, cardboard and aluminum tape isn’t really all that expensive and could make a huge difference. I agree though that there are other priorities that should be met first.
Hot-Profession4091@reddit
7 is not untrue, but also off the mark. No, you can’t easily add to stockpiles after a disaster strikes, but you give the impression that community building before is a waste of time.
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
I specifically said "this is not to say that community and skills are not important!" - how does that give the impression that it's a waste of time?
120mmCigs@reddit
Nothing about staying healthy, physically and mentally?
Virtual-Feature-9747@reddit (OP)
Only ten spots on the list! No, that's a good point.
One could consider fitness part of just living a good life and not specific to disaster preparedness.
Odii_SLN@reddit
And basic adulting really