15 Necessary Things Preppers Can Do For Free

When it comes to prepping and survival, it can be expensive. I mean, you're looking for the basic necessities to live. And in a modern world, a lot of times there are things that we don't have that we need if the grid goes down. And there's a lot of people that are on budgets, you know, which because we're on budgets because we're spending too much on prepping. Or you're a college student and you just don't have the money. Or I get messages a lot from kids that are in middle school or high school that are saying, hey, my family's not really into prepping, but I really see the danger. What can I do? So we're going to look at 15 things that you can do for free that's going to be at no cost, but honestly are just as important than making the purchases and spending the money. Now first and foremost is your mind is your most important tool. And so doing research, learning new skills, getting out there and figuring out some things. We have a free resource on the internet to be able to research and study. You can learn how to make a fire. You can learn candle making. I mean you can learn how to repair leather or even how to sew or make kydex holsters. I mean it the sky's the limit. There are so many different things you can do. And so pick out some skills that you want to learn. Some of these skills can actually help you to have income if there is a grid down situation. You know, maybe you have books laying around that you just haven't read. Read those books, study, and get your mind sharp. Get your mindset ready. And guys, it'll just put you way ahead. Next is practicing existing skills. Fire starting is a big one. We just had a fire starting clinic with our prepper group Sunday night. We had a lot of fun. We got fire steels out that I was letting each one strike them. We were batoning wood. We made a nice fire. We put together some Vaseline and cotton balls and went through a lot of different things about fire making. And that is a very important skill to learn. One of the top skills. Also, you know, right now ammunition. It's really hard to get and when you find it it's expensive. And so dry fire practice. You know, get your firearm out. Make sure it's unloaded. And just pull that trigger and get down that trigger control. Take your filter straw. Go down to a creek or get some water that's not so clean and test out your filtration system. I mean there's so many things that you can do to test out your gear. Test out your knife sharpening skills. Take your knife and start cutting. Do some different tasks with, you know, feathering. With just getting wood strips. You know, just using your knife and getting used to how it works. How it feels. Are there hot spots in your hand when you're using it? So having knowledge is one thing. But having the skill to use something is totally different. Organize your gear. Go through your packs. Make sure that you have things in there that you need to. I'm notorious for stealing out of my pack and I'll look for a multi-tool and I get my pack and I've taken it out. You know, make sure that your packs are complete. They're organized. You know where different things are and it makes sense where they are. You know, your front pouches need to be where things you need to get to quickly. And then down into your pack, you have things that you need on an occasion. Making sure that you have your security gear together. Just make sure that everything is in one location and you know where it is. If you have medical supplies, make sure that they're intact. Those kits are full and that they're ready to go. And along with that, make sure that your items are maintained. Cleaning, repair, maintenance, those things. I just went through a bunch of my tools and started cleaning them. Make sure they had a light coat of oil on them to preserve them. I had a small leak in the roof of this building and there was a small toolbox I had opened up that I used frequently and there was water coming in and going into one of the little compartments. I had some files in there and it really rusted over before I noticed. So taking those out, I cleaned them up. I put rust remover on them and you know just taking care and maintaining those things. Make sure that your firearms are maintained. If you have a concealed carry or you're carrying a firearm on an everyday basis, lint and things like that can get in it and it can malfunction the gun. I've had that experience before. Going through and making sure that you know your packs are in good working order. Make sure your zippers are working, that your straps are complete. I mean there's so many things you can do. So just go through and maintain and then repair any kind of gear that you need to take care of. Inventorying your items. Knowing what you have. You know making sure that you have a complete set of tools and you need to inventory that to know. Recently I got on eBay and I bought some tools. Looking for USA made tools. Vintage tools because they're just so just solid. And after I purchased a number of tools, I went out into my shop and I found some of those same tools out there. So having an inventory is knowing what you have and knowing what you need to purchase in the future or what you don't need. Organize your food. Make sure that you have the things you need to sustain yourself with a well-balanced diet and being able to rotate your food in and out. You know one thing is really easy to do is to have something at the back of the pantry or in your food preps and you know you're using the things at the front. It's a natural thing to do. So make sure that you have some kind of organization to be able to rotate that food in and out so you'll know what you possibly need to buy to fill those holes. Also you want to make sure that your food is secure. Sometimes rodents and things like that especially if you have it stored away in a garage or some kind of outbuilding. You can have some pest problems and so you want to make sure that those things are taken care of. Make sure that things are sealed and just do a general overview of what you have. Prioritize your wish list. A lot of times we have things that we want to buy that we're thinking ahead and we end up buying them when in all actuality we have things that are missing that are vital to our preps. You know if you want a new firearm and you're all about getting it and believe me I understand. We seem to buy the things that are more sexy than we do the things that are needed. A lot of guys that'll go out and buy ammunition firearms and holsters they want a new kydex holster but yet the medical side of their preps is hurting and they could take that money and really make themselves into a good situation with medical possibly with water or even food. Make sure that you have a balance with what you're purchasing and the way to do that is to prioritize your wish list. Look at the holes that you have and once you go through a lot of these items and you inventory them then you'll know what you need and then after that go buy that new firearm. Clean and maintain your vehicle. You don't want to cause your own personal shtf because your vehicle is just not running right. Make sure that all your lights are working go through and check it you know make sure that you have your your space clean that you don't have a lot of debris and stuff that you just need to pull out and keep your vehicle lean and clean. What you do keep in your vehicle as far as an emergency toolkit or even your get home bag make sure that it's maintained and make sure that it's ready to go. Repairs. Do repairs that are around the house that you can do with the existing tools that you have. A lot of us keep screws and things like that you know maybe your steps need to be repaired go ahead and do it. Maybe you have security lights that the bulbs out you have bulbs but you just haven't gotten around to it. Get around to it go ahead and get those lights up because light is your number one security tool and it's important to do that. I right now have a security light that I need to put new bulbs in and so that's something I need to do instead of going out and dry fire practicing because that is something that's immediate. You may have a fence or a gate that's broken you know there's a ton of different things that you can do to do repairs and guys we're always needing to repair things. Now number 10 is a really important one and that is to make a preparedness plan and it's not just one thing. You need to have an evacuation plan you need to go ahead and find out your bug out location. If you just get on the road and you're just heading out into the woods you're vulnerable and your family's vulnerable so you need to make sure you have some kind of location but you also need to have the the route that you're going but you need to have alternate routes. How to get there you know what if I have a problem in this area where do I go I may not have GPS so having a good map is great and of course that comes in with buying something if you don't already have one which I suggest you have one. Paper maps are very important. Go ahead and get your location set up so you'll know which way to go and it just makes life a lot easier but you need to have a family plan and talk to your family. I know sometimes with small kids you know you don't want to scare them but if you have a house fire and you haven't told your children what they need to do in case that happens you know you're really putting them in danger and have one area that you can go to and of course you know security plans knowing if someone breaks into your home what are you going to do what are the areas in your house that are defensible what are your kids going to do make sure they know to stay put because you don't want to mistake them for a burglar or you don't want to put them in harm's way. Another thing that a lot of people don't think about is you may have a water source that you're going to depend on in an SHTF situation in case the water goes out and you have some creek or stream or lake go ahead and plan out how you're going to get there and what's the best security options once you do. Also how are you going to transport water do you have a way to transport water water weighs over eight pounds per gallon and so it can be very heavy and so do you have pails or buckets that you can transport that water with if you need to go on foot. Now one thing that goes along with learning new skills is identifying wild edibles what are the wild edibles in your area for us we have dandelions and dandelions make a great source for food know how to prepare them know what to do even acorns even though they have a lot of tannic acid there are certain ways you can prepare them that if you need to you can eat them but one thing that's really easy to do most of us have pine trees around and if you pull off the bark the cambia which is those strips it's that thin skin before you get to the wood that is edible in fact frontiersmen use that to survive during winter time a lot of times you can also take pine needles and make a tea and it's high in vitamin c so you want to know which wild edibles to eat you got to be careful with mushrooms because they can be deadly poisonous but they can also be nutritious canning is another one if you already have the equipment you have the jars you have the pressure cooker or maybe you have different ways to can go ahead and start canning you can even can meats for that matter but that is one thing that if you already have that in line you can go ahead and do that it's something a lot of times we've put off get around your house in the dark if the power goes out you definitely need to be able to at least get to your flashlight but learn how to get through your house with the lights off knowing where things are practicing that whether it's a security situation or again just the power goes out take your bug out bag get your boots on that you're planning to use or some kind of sturdy shoes and go on a hike find out where your hot spots are on your back this bag may be just way too heavy you know even if you go to a park somewhere or a you know national park and you can go on a hike that way but just get outdoors test out your gear see how your boots or your shoes are i mean are they going to give you a lot of problems if you start really hiking in long distances mess around in there find out where everything is and just use that stuff out in an environment and last but certainly not least is if you don't have funds then have a yard sale or garage sale and that'll give you the funds you need plus you can get rid of unwanted stuff a lot of times we just accumulate things so it's nice to be able to just get rid of it and it'll help to give you money but if you're not on that tight of a budget take that stuff down to the goodwill or some kind of charity and give it away to people who can use it so guys that was 15 things you can do for free and honestly those things are vital to prepping and survival just accumulating more and more stuff isn't going to help you if you don't have the skill to use it we definitely need things i mean there are tools that we need and so we need to make sure we have them but i think going through this list whether you're on a budget or not will really help you to be able to fine tune your survival skills it'll get your mindset in the right place you'll know what you have you'll be organized you'll be maintained you'll have repairs done and man it'll just give you peace of mind and if you have other things to add to the list jump down in the comments it's a great place for people to be able to reference those things reading through them and it'll just help the community in general because guys the more that my neighbors prepared the better i'm prepared be strong be of good courage god bless america long live the republic are just as important in having these the oh this is the wrong list we're gonna look at 15 things i'm not finished i'm not freaking finished and finish make a plan and execute the plan