The Doomsday Prepping Crash Course (7 page)
Read The Doomsday Prepping Crash Course Online
Authors: Patty Hahne
Dealing With the Dirty Job of Waste Disposal
As a general rule, we don't give much thought to disposing of our garbage or our sewage in the modern world that we live in. We simply haul our trash to the curb and when we wake up the next day, it has magically disappeared. When we use the toilet, we simply flush and never give another thought as to where the smelly stuff actually goes. All we care about is that it does, in fact, go away. When something eventually does go wrong with this process, it's a very big deal and we run frantically looking for the nearest plunger to prevent a messy spill.
Well, what if you hauled your garbage to the curb and no one came to pick it up? What if you flushed the toilet and nothing happened? Both of these scenarios are very real possibilities if a doomsday event were to take place. If civilization were to break down for one reason or another, the chances of your garbage man diligently showing up on Tuesday morning to haul your trash off would be very slim. You need water to flush your toilet and if the city water lines that supply your home with fresh water are cut off, you won't want to use what precious water you have on hand for flushing the toilet.
This presents the question: How will you dispose of your solid waste products after doomsday? Well, many preppers plan to dig holes far away from their living quarters and bury it in the ground. The idea of burying paper and cardboard doesn't tend to make people feel squeamish but the idea of burying human waste sure does.
The important thing to keep in mind is that in order to maintain a healthy living environment that is as free from disease as possible, it's important to maintain sanitation. Garbage that consists of paper products can be burned but human waste is a different matter altogether.
In a doomsday scenario that lasts for a prolonged period of time, you’re going to want to limit the exposure that you and your family have to human waste as much as you possibly can. This may mean using a portable latrine that consists of a plastic bag to catch the waste and then burying the bags. It could also mean constructing an outhouse with a deep hole to catch the waste. Regardless of which method of sanitation you choose, you should do all you can to keep the waste as far away from where you live, eat, and sleep as possible.
With sanitation in mind, it's a good idea to stock up on plenty of plastic garbage bags. There are so many uses for these items that the more you have on hand the better.
Money Saving Tip:
Why not make the most of a recycling opportunity while you are prepping for doomsday? Every time you go to the store to shop for groceries, you probably bring home several plastic bags. If you're responsible with them you probably already take them to the recycler but maybe you shouldn't. These bags are free so why not save them to use after doomsday arrives.
Ask your friends to save their empty plastic shopping bags for you and in no time at all, you'll have more bags than you know what to do with. They're easy to store since they can be tightly compacted so you could stash hundreds, if not thousands of these bags away with your prepping supplies and they won't cost you a dime!
Don't Underestimate the Importance of Cleanliness
Surviving doomsday will mean that many of your modern conveniences will have to be sacrificed. If you're accustomed to taking two showers a day, you're going to have to give this luxury up. Water will quickly become a precious commodity which may make it difficult to maintain the same level of cleanliness that you are accustomed to.
Of course, you're going to want to stock up on soap and other personal hygiene supplies but you'll have to be resourceful about how you choose to use them. Maintaining cleanliness will be very important when it comes to keeping everyone you are surviving with healthy.
Keeping in mind that you'll likely be rationing water, you can and should stock up on a large supply of anti-bacterial liquid hand sanitizer. This product can be used to keep your hands free from germs without you needing to dip into your precious water supply.
Money Saving Tip:
When it comes to using hand and bath towels, you don't want to have to use precious water to wash them every time you use them. A better solution might be to stock up on industrial sized rolls of paper hand towels. These rolls can be purchased in bulk at stores like Costco and they only cost about $35 for a case seven 800 foot rolls. That's about $5 a roll which works out to less than a penny a foot! Now that's cheap!
Don't Forget to Stock Your Bug Out Survival Caches
Depending on the nature of the event that brings doomsday upon us, you may find that bugging in and trying to survive at home just won't work. This may be especially true if you live in a metropolitan area where a lot of marauders are trying to steal people's supplies.
Major natural disasters tend to bring on riots and riots tend to bring out the worst in people. These people will be all amped up with panic and rage and they'll often do things that they normally wouldn't do. People get caught up in the chaos of a riot and like sheep, they'll do what others are doing just for the sake of following the crowd.
Likewise, you shouldn't underestimate the great lengths that people will go to when they are put into a situation where they are forced to watch their children go hungry. Faced with this scenario, people who would normally be placid law abiding citizens will do virtually anything to secure food and supplies. This includes resorting to violent measures so that they can take the supplies that you have so diligently stocked up on.
If the danger to your family becomes too intense, you'll probably have to bug out and leave your home. Hopefully you will have taken the advice about having a good evacuation plan to heart and you'll be prepared to bug out and get your family to a safer location.
If you do find yourself having to bug out, your chances of surviving will be much greater if you have several small bug out caches hidden in strategic locations. These caches can be hidden virtually anywhere. You can store these supplies in places ranging from storage units to underground waterproof containers. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
There are two types of bug out caches that you should consider having. The first is a small hidden supply of emergency supplies that you can get to on foot or by car on the way to your planned bug out location. Think of these caches like little mini marts that you can rely on to restock the supplies you'll need while traveling to a more permanent and safe bug out location. These caches might contain items like, food, water, weapons, tools, fuel, first aid supplies, and clothing.
It's a good idea to have these caches hidden along all of the possible evacuation routes that you have in your bug out plan. Then, no matter which route you end up taking, you know that there is a safe spot for you to stop and restock your supplies.
The other type of bug out cache consists of the supplies you will have stored at a more permanent bug out location. Maybe this is a cabin in the woods or maybe it's a hidden storage container that you have buried on some rural property that you own. This second type of cache should have the types of items that you'll need to survive for a longer period of time. The idea is to stay at this location and survive until order can be returned to the town that your home is in.
You may be thinking that there's no way you can afford to stock both your home and your bug out location with all the things you'll need to survive doomsday. If you are, you're not alone. Let's face it, not everyone can afford to purchase a piece of rural land to keep on hand as a bug out location.
One possible solution to this problem is to have what preppers call a "bug out trailer". The idea here is that if you determine that things are beginning to be unsafe where you are bugging in, you can load your bug out trailer with the most essential supplies and take them with you to your long term bug out location.
This could be to some remote land that you own or it could be to some remote public land. If you don't have the luxury of bugging out on land that you own, the next best thing would be to have a pre-determined place in the woods that is on public land as your planned bug out location. The important thing is that you have some plan in place to get your family to a safer location that is far away from those with bad intentions.
Once you arrive at your long term bug out location, you'll be far away from the hordes of people who intend to do you harm and take what is yours. If you've prepared properly, you'll have the items you'll need to survive at your bug out location and you can wait for things to cool off while keeping your family safe.
Be Prepared To Seal Your Windows and Doors
Many people who are into prepping believe that the very cause of doomsday will be some form of chemical warfare such as a dirty bomb. Others believe that a pandemic virus will bring doomsday upon us. Regardless of which group is right, one thing is for sure, all preppers should have enough plastic sheeting and duct tape on hand to seal their doors and windows.
Plastic sheeting can be purchased inexpensively at most major hardware stores. When you go shopping, you'll find it located in the paint department. What you're looking for are the large plastic drop cloths that painters put down to protect the carpeting while they are painting. This plastic sheeting comes in very large rolls which makes storing a lot of it quite easy. It's much cheaper to buy these large plastic drop cloths than it is to buy smaller pieces of plastic window insulation.
During a major event that calls for protecting the air in your home, you can cut this sheeting into pieces that are just big enough to cover your doors and windows. Then, you can use the duct tape that you have stocked away to attach the plastic to the perimeter edges of your doors and windows.
Keeping Things in Perspective When It Comes To Prepping
After reading this book you may be thinking that there are so many things to prepare for that you'll never be able to get it all done. The most important thing to keep in mind is that even the most diligent preppers never really feel like they have prepared well enough. This goes hand and hand with the very nature of being a prepper. Preppers are constantly thinking ahead and planning for what might happen in the future.
Instead of letting yourself become overwhelmed to the point that it paralyzes you into not doing anything at all to prepare, start eating that elephant one bite at a time and get started prepping today. Make yourself a list of the items that you want to include in your emergency supplies cache and little by little start chipping away at the list. If you are diligent and you stick with it, before long you'll look at everything that you've managed to accumulate and wonder how on earth you were able to do it.
If you don't think that you'll ever be able to stock up on everything that you want to put in your emergency storage, think about the last time you moved. Chances are that as you were packing everything into boxes and loading it into the moving truck you were amazed at all the junk you had collected over the years. You didn't realize it at the time but because you were acquiring this junk a little bit at a time, you were able to accumulate much more than you probably realized that you had. This same phenomenon is what will help you reach your prepping goals.
Start prepping today with a good plan in place and before you know it, you'll be ready for doomsday!
Help Spread the Word about This Prepping Book
If you enjoyed this book, you might also enjoy my other book called
Build the Ideal Bug Out Bag: The Ultimate Guide to Preparing a 72 Hour Survival Kit for Surviving Comfortably
.
It’s also available at Amazon.com!
I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading this book and that you found it helpful in some way. If you did, I would really appreciate it if you would take a minute to "like" it as well as rate and review it in the Amazon store. Thanks so much!
If you have any questions about this book or prepping in general, you can send the author an email or visit her website.
Email:
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Website:
http://preppersillustrated.com
Table of Contents
The First Step in Prepping Is the Most Important
Getting Your Priorities Straight from the Beginning
Having Good Plans in Place Will Pave the Way to Success
Avoid Frustration by Starting With the Easy Things First
Properly Storing Water for Emergency Use
Collecting Water When Supplies Run Low
Filtering and Treating Water to Make It Safe to Drink
Preparing to Help Your Animals Survive Doomsday
Making Use of the "One Extra" Method When Shopping
Save Money by Learning the Art of Couponing
Stocking Up on Medication and Medical Supplies
Remembering To Take Your Vitamins after Doomsday
Get the Upper Hand by Storing Bartering Items
Leverage the Power of Buying In Bulk
Get Back To Basics and Learn To Preserve Food Now
Learn How to Obtain Food in a Post Doomsday World
Turn Your Survival Food into Meals That Satisfy
Becoming Prepared To Defend Yourself and Your Property
Preparing Your Body to Survive Doomsday
Planning for Your Post Doomsday Transportation Needs
Heating Your Home without Electricity or Gas