The Champagne is long gone and most of your friends on social media have already stopped going to that gym membership they took out on that first weekend after the New Year. Still don’t have a New Year Resolution? Have no fear – PST is here. Our editorial board has whipped up a useful list over some “this-is-still-good” turkey sandwiches and leftover fruitcake. If that interests you, take a whiff of our 11 New Year Resolutions for the Resolutionless Prepper.
1. Print out your digital photos and store them
If you’re like most people still on the grid walking around today, you probably have thousands of pictures floating around in cyberspace, such as on Facebook and Instargram.
However, these little bits of data actually in some computer server in a high-tech warehouse in a desert in Utah. This means you probably won’t be able to access your pictures when things really start going bad. They will be lost forever.
You don’t have to do this all in one go. Try something absolutely achievable like 100 pictures a month of your most important pictures.
2. Learn Self-defense
Face it. This world has lot of bad people who wouldn’t think twice about hurting you to get something you have which they want. And, its not just the bad guys you have to worry about. The world also has a lot more good people who will turn into bad guys when their families are hungry.
Whether it be practical pistol shooting, jaw-smashing Krav Maga, or no non-sense Brazilian Jiujitsu, learning to defend yourself is a skill which will never go out of style. Or you learn UFC-style cage fighting and learn MMA for self-defense.
Don’t discount empty-handed martial arts like Judo or sports like boxing over practicing your weapons of choice. Your two hands are the only weapons you can be sure you have will ready with you 100% of the time, even if you’re caught showering or peeing.
Get a leg up on things. Get your family involved. If you have a kid, get your child involved in self-defense and martial arts as well.
3. Eat healthier
Having a nice layer of adipose tissue (read: fat) is good to have in case a global famines and food shortages eventually catch up with the industrialized world. Sure tell yourself that. It’s also a good excuse to be lazy.
What you really have to do is start eating healthier. When you are healthier, you think better. When you think better, you make better decisions. When you are healthier, you can also act better. You survive better.
Eating healthier also means opportunities to start eating whole nutritious foods, rather than all that processed junk you can find on supermarket shelves. Here are some specific diet-related action points you can commit to doing for your New Year Resolution:
- Chuck out modern junk like microwavable mac and cheese into the trash. Your microwave won’t work when the power is out. Why not try make your own pasta from scratch. Flour can keep pretty well.
- Minimize soft drinks. They are the world’s worst poisons (okay, they’re just really bad for your health). If you can’t eliminate them totally, limit them.
- Eat fruits. Do you eat fruit? Lots of people who live modern lifestyles forget to eat good old healthy fruit. Try have a piece of fruit every day, or maybe every meal.
- Eat more leafy green veggies. Yup. grandma was right. The more scientists study nutrition, the more we realize what our bodies really need are green leafy veggies and all their wholesome fiber. Your gut microbiota, or all the good bacteria in your intestines need good old fiber from greens, just like the bulk of food our human and subhuman ancestors ate.
- Cook your food yourself. That’s right. For those of you who cook at home for most of their meals already, pat yourselves on the back. For those who don’t, learn how to cook and cook healthy. Start out by trying it at least once a week.
3. Save “money” in the piggy bank
The end of civilization is near, but while we wait for it to eventually come cold hard cash can buy supplies and gear you need to survive the after the collapse or the SHTF. If you are against government-issued currencies, or bitcoins and other forms of monies are not your thing. How about stock up on Post-Apocalyptic Currencies. Post-apocalyptic or Post-Collapse currencies are stuff that are easily stored, don’t lose their value, are easily traded and whose value doesn’t go down if you more of them?
4. Start a Prepping or Survivalism journal
Like any skill or long-term project, journaling makes things so much more structured and sustainable. You’ll also find yourself a lot more motivated if you have a notebook. Preferably, chose a notebook made out of real paper, instead of something on your computer or smartphone. Sorry techies. Chart your progress in writing. It would be great if that journal had a waterproof bag or something, just in case you have to take it on the run.
Don’t know exactly what to write? You can also use that notebook to make lists of inventory and other stuff you learned. You can write down your training schedules for replacing old food stocks and period training exercises.
And oh, by the way. Stock up on pens.
5. Introduce prepping to a family member or friend
Believe me, not everyone will think prepping is crazy. Couching it in terms like “when things go bad” or “disaster preparedness” helps. If you want to introduce it to your kids or spouse, always try bait them with the fun stuff first. Kids love camping trips and other adventures. Map out your “escape route” and do periodic dry runs with your family or friends. For all the parents out there, be brave enough to face a couple of tears when you pull them away from their phones or video games. To make yourself an effective leader of your pack, you have to start learning how to this now.
6. Join a prepper community
With prepping it’s the more the merrier. Joining prepper meet-ups that would be cool if you have access to one. Or maybe you can find members to join your commune once the SHTF. If you can’t find the time or there aren’t any meet-ups near you, there are a lot of online prepper and survivalist groups on Facebook. It’s always great to meet like-minded people. Of course, with all the people who ignore the signs of times, it’s good to have a support group of sensible people who see that a societal collapse is a real possibility in the near future, if mankind does not play its cards right. (Oh! Climate Change! Oh! Climate Change!)
7. Get to know your neighbors
This applies a lot to preppers and survivalists who live in urban areas. I’m talking about real old fashioned face to face interaction with your next door or local community neighbors. We are so caught up with the Interwebs and all the amazing things online that we forget that when the internet or power goes out, we’ll probably be depending on the people on your local community a lot more.
Without looking like a burglar on the prowl or some weirdo, try get to know the people in your neighborhood. Can you try finding out the names of your closest neighbors? Try set a target. Of course this will depend a lot on how close-knit your local community is.In an highly-urbanized environment where we often live our whole lives not knowing our next door neighbors, getting to know one neighbor a month is plenty. Even knowing someone’s first name is good start.
Not a good conversationalist? Something along the lines “Hi, I live around here, and I see you often. My name’s Steve.” is a good opener. You can follow up with “I’d just like you to know that I live just here, and in case of emergencies you can always come knocking on my door.” Or you can say something about the weather “Nice weather today, huh?” is always a safe one. Remember, non-verbal communication, such as your facial expression and body language, can be a lot more important than what you actually say.
Don’t dive immediately into probing questions about their private lives. Don’t feel bad if they’re defensive. After all, how would you feel is someone you didn’t know suddenly seems to be interested in you. People are generally really friendly, so don’t be put off by the one or two people who on default just play cautious.
Learn to be genuinely interested in people. Learn who you can trust. Learn about what skills they have. Learn who you can depend on. Learn who to avoid. For all you know, they might be able to teach you a thing or two about your immediate community or even about prepping.
8. Take a First Aid Class
If you haven’t yet, take a first aid class. Learn life saving measures like CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver. If you can’t find a live in-person class, learn what you can online. Commit to reviewing and practicing regularly, such as twice a year. You’ll never know when you need it.
9. Make that Bug-Out Bag (BOB)
If you don’t have that bug-out-bag, you better make that your priority for the year. Be sure it has your passports or IDs, a week’s food and water. Clothing. Medicines. Some cash. Important documents. Maps of the locality (“real” ones not just digital ones). Be sure it’s all water-proofed (wrapped in plastic ziplock bags) so it can be drenched in the rain for the entire night without the contents getting wet.
Be sure your family members have them too.
10. Learn to grow food
If you haven’t yet, learn to grow your own food. Once the collapse happens or the SHTF, food growing will be one of the most important skills of them all. And like most valuable skills, you won’t learn it overnight. Start small. With a tiny plot of vegetables or a number of large pots for urban gardeners, there is already a lot you can learn. For example, did you know that a lot of the vegetables you buy in your grocery are suitable for growing? Start out with planting Heirloom seeds to give you a taste of growing your own food.
11. Plan and try mini escapes or bug-outs
All the plans in the world won’t matter if you can’t execute them. Practice bugging out with your BOB from resolution #9. Maybe at least once a year. Try to make the scenario as realistic as possible. If you’ve been canning and storing food. Try them. Eat them. If you plan to live out in a tent. Go camping. There’s a gulf of experience to be bridged by taking plans for a test drive.