Why Invest In Precious Metals?

If you have read my post on Money When It Hits The Fan, you know the importance of investing your dollars in assets with real value (those assets being anything that will enable you to trade them for the items you find yourself in need of in the event of an economic collapse).  You also know that it is important to invest a portion of your prepping money into supplies that you will be in need of such as a well equipped bug out bag.  However, it is a good idea to also invest a small portion of your allotted prepping funds into precious metals such as gold and silver.  This is because in the beginnings of an economic collapse many people will want to get their hands on these precious metals thinking that by doing so it will enable them to purchase whatever they need and protect them from future monetary losses.  This will open up a great opportunity for you to get the items you are lacking for your own self-sufficiency.

The statement "gold has never been worth nothing" is true, however in the case of an economic collapse, it will tend to lose its value as the crisis wears on.  By studying the Great Depression, you will learn that as time passed people lost their interest in precious metals and focused on obtaining the goods that they could use to barter with in order to fulfill their needs.  Because of this having a small stash of some type of precious metal whether gold or silver will most likely benefit you in the beginning stages of just such an event.

By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail - Benjamin Franklin 

How To Become A Prepper

Becoming a prepper is not a difficult task, it simply involves preparing for some future event that might occur.  The first step is to determine the most probable scenarios that might play out in your life.  These scenarios could include anything from simple storms to economic collapse or even a grid down episode such as an EMP.

Once you determine the events that are possible, the next step is to decide what preps would be needed in the case that such an event should happen.  Write out a detailed list of supplies that would be needed making sure to think through every possibility that could occur.

Once this list is complete and you are sure that every possible necessity has been written down it is time to begin purchasing them.  You do not have to purchase every item all at once.  It is a good idea to begin small and build your preps up slowly.  The exception to this rule is that if you feel that one of the situations you are preparing for may happen very soon you might want to speed up your purchasing.  

The main reason to start out purchasing your preps slowly is because bringing home too many items at once can be overwhelming.  You must consider where you will store everything without the preps becoming a burden to your household.  This can take some time to plan out and prepare the storage area.

When considering storage for your purchases, be sure you have a place that is safe for storing them.  If your purchases include guns and ammunition, you may want to purchase a safe to keep them out of the hands of anyone who would desire to steal them.  At some point you must consider the possibility that in the case of any bad scenario playing out, there will most likely be marauders who will desire to take your preps.  Preparing for this type of a situation should also play an important role in your prepping.

Be sure that you control your prepping habits and that your prepping habits don't control you.  It is very difficult to enjoy the process of preparing for the worst when your preparations are in control.  This is sometimes a difficult task and many beginning preppers lose the battle at first.  However, with time you will be able to gain the upper hand and take control of the situation.

However fast or slowly you decide to prepare for your worst case scenario, be sure that you enjoy the experience and think out every possible situation that could come about so that you are fully ready to survive through it when SHTF.

- A prep a day can keep ill fate away

How To Start A Fire With A 9V Battery & Steel Wool

Knowing more than one way to start a fire can be a lifesaver.  If it everything went down hill and SHTF it would be extremely important to know as many fire starting methods as possible.  This is one of many methods that will allow you to start a fire quickly and easily in an emergency situation.

To begin with you will need a piece of super fine steel wool and a nine volt battery.  Pull the steel wool apart a bit and place some tinder on top of it.  Be sure that you have plenty of tinder as well as kindling at your disposal (It would be a bad day if you light the fire and couldn't keep it going because you neglected to be fully prepared to build your fire up).

Continue adding your tinder until the fire has become sufficient to burn the kindling. From this point add kindling until you can begin placing your fuel wood to the fire.

As you can see in this video, starting a fire with steel wool and a 9V battery is a fairly simple task.  This method of starting a fire will allow you to easily make a heat source for keeping warm and cooking your food.

- To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail