Everybody makes mistakes, the question is, do we learn from them? Do we also learn from the mistakes of others?
We’ve talked about our mistakes quite a bit here on Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You because we want you to learn from our gaffes.
Several of these we are still struggling with, especially the first one. I’ve gone back and looked at several previous articles we have written, and while we are doing better with some things, we are not doing very well with others.
Let’s take a look (or in some cases re-look) at four things we seem to continue to struggle with, in hopes you can learn from them as well.
Here’s a podcast we recorded a while back about some of our personal prepping fails:
Mistake #1: Under-concentration on skill development
This is a constant issue for every prepper and is a trap that we fall into a lot, if we’re not careful. It isn’t about what you buy, it’s about how to USE what you have between your ears. The best tool kit in the world does you no good if you don’t know the first thing about the mechanics of what you are trying to fix.
Some stuff is necessary… you can’t have a gas heater if you don’t buy 1) the heater and 2) the gas. However, if you don’t learn how to hook it up properly, you’re more likely to asphyxiate yourselves or burn your house down than be successfully prepped for that power outage.
Yeah, we’re busy. We work a lot and don’t love the idea of spending our free time learning to do stuff we find hard. It’s much easier to buy a thing. But it’s not being prepped.
Mistake #2: Not working hard enough on physical fitness
No matter if we get into a short term Stuff Hits The Fan situation or a longer term one, our physical health is going to be tested and stressed. Look, not everybody is an athlete; we get that. Salty sure isn’t. Coming off of a devastating leg injury, he’s been limping around all spring after spending much of the winter on crutches (and/or similar walking aids, depending).
So what were Salty & Spice doing today, before we wrote this article? We were out riding our bicycles for exercise and additionally in Salty’s case as a part of his physical therapy & injury recovery process.
We do what we can, each day, to become a bit more fit or to maintain what we have.
Spice is a maniac when it comes to fitness. She’s an absolute hammer. (Spice’s note: Salty wrote the rest of the article so far. I don’t see it that way. Some things (outdoor things like biking and hiking) I go hard at because I love. Others (I’m looking at YOU, weightlifting) I do the minimum I think meets my long-term health goals.)
Salty? Not so much. He does go to the gym in the winter 5 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes a day of cardio and he rides his bicycle outside in the summer or when the weather allows, so he’s not a total slacker, but (he’s writing this in the third person, which is kinda weird) he knows he needs to do better.
Mistake #3: Ignoring obvious threats to concentrate on less-probable events
A third mistake I see is people ignoring the obvious threats while worrying about things that are very scary but also low-probability events. Preppers need to do a realistic threat assessment, not just prep for what is really scary.
For example, in my life what is most likely to kill me (other than natural causes)? First and foremost, an auto accident. What do I do to prep for this? Well, I wear my seatbelt; drive the speed limit; come to complete stops and intersections and look both ways carefully; wait a second or two after red lights turn green (even with idiots honking behind me) to see if some jerk is going to run the light (this has probably saved me 5 wrecks over the last 30 years), etc.
What’s next likely to kill me? Weather events; so we prep for those. Right on down the line. I do prep for “the big one” but I only do so in a way that makes me more prepared for EVERYTHING.
Mistake #4: Assuming you can “buy your way into preparedness”
You can buy long term storage food, and you can buy water filtration systems. In fact, you can buy (literally) tons of preps
How many “year’s supply of food” ads have you seen? Here’s what I know. I could buy two of those pre-packaged “year’s supply of food” and that would do very little towards ACTUALLY being prepped. Why? Well, you have to have shelter, water to cook the food with, heat to cook, yadda yadda yadda.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy prepping items. By all means do. Buying a “seed vault” is all well and good, but unless you know how to garden and already have the space prepared, it’s probably not going to go well for you and your seeds.
The rubber must hit the road. Not only do you need gardening space for your seed vault, you need soil preps, fencing to keep out critters, you need bird netting, you probably need a irrigation system that doesn’t rely on municipal water.
Look also at firearms. Having a fancy AR-15 with all the toys hanging off of it won’t do you a bit of good unless you are proficient in shooting and maintaining it.
We are a little bummed currently. Our preparedness level took a hit this weekend. We discovered our BOL had been broken into and half of our stashed preps were stolen. I’m not sure which I am more upset about, our BOL security breach or the stolen preps?? Have any of you had this happen, if so what did you do to correct the issue or adjustments you have made??
Blessings,
Big Boy in MO
Wow that really, really stinks. Since our cabin sits out at the place with nobody around for most of the time, we’ve taken decided to simply leave nothing in it worth stealing, and leave the windows uncovered. Anybody can look into the cabin and see it’s not worth breaking into. All of our “keeper” stuff is in a metal shipping container that is MUCH more difficult to break into, especially the way we have it double-braced locked. About the only way anybody is getting in that thing is with a cutting torch. It could be done, but criminals would rather hit a softer target.
Sorry for your troubles, sir!
Multiple (= Don’t put all your eggs in one basket) Caching is a must. It is essentially a container in a container in a container, and in or behind or under a final containing item. Anything can be a container. A house is a container, so is a room, so is a hidden space in a wall or under a floor; so also is any sort of obstacle covering or disguise (e.g., a chest of drawers backed up to a wall cubby-hole, carpeting over a flooring hatch door). An old rusty car (with intentionally flattened tires) placed over an in-ground container. Even “Food Saver” (brand) plastic covering things like batteries, electronics, items that rust) is a container, placed into a sealable water + rat proof container, hidden in a compartment (a container), and covered with obstacles that no one would want to bother with are containers. So, a cache is a container in a container X (many), hidden behind, under obstacles. You can defeat metal detectors in the ground by raking into the dirt 100s of cheap rusty iron washers. throughout an area. Yes, caching can be inconvenient (but not for longer term storage); only for things you might want instant access or regular access to (and that can be stored in a Bug-Out-Bag) and carred with you. But there is nothing more inconvenient and bothersome than having your stuff stolen. Caching is a necessary survival skill, and not just in a house, but also on one’s property; and also, if you had to flee your property, places beyond your property along what you would deem to be an escape route, as well as in any “hide-out” location.
I do recommend never talking about nor writing about your ingenious caching locations. If you must tell relatives/heirs, who may use your location as their Bug-Out Retreat location, find a way to inform them of your “hot spot” in some form of code, and then blink your eye into their eyes to signify that location (and maybe a tool they will need to use to gain access).
I agree 100%. I go to the gym three times a week, store food that I eat, and figure the most likely problem here in semi rural Minnesota is a power failure. Had one in February at ten one evening when the temp was minus fifteen. My generator fired on the third pull and ran all night just fine. Another problem I think is a possibility is a societal breakdown over debt problems. That would be quite a test.
I find the best prepers to be the infantryman who had to live out of his backpack for a year in combat cant get better than that