Develop plans for SHTF situations
Planning is a critical part of prepping. While implementing a plan can be expensive in money, time and resources, developing a plan doesn’t cost a dime.
In our household, we develop and implement our plans in four stages.
- Define a need that we need a mechanism to fix.
- Figure out one or more mechanisms to get the job done.
- Decide which of those mechanisms work best for us with the amount of money, time and resources we have.
- Get to work on it.
Our goal is to try to find the issues most likely to arise that we can actually do something about when the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF).
Needs and mechanisms
Here at Beans, Bullets, Bandages and You, we keep coming back to these two words: needs and mechanisms. We think it is a critically important tool in every prepper’s mental toolbox to understand exactly how those two words fit together.
Yes, I get that this section is BORING. Sorry about that. Hang with me for just a bit and we will get on to the fun stuff. This is important, or I wouldn’t subject you to it.
First, we all know what a need is, but let’s go ahead and talk about what a mechanism is. A mechanism is means by which an effect is produced or a purpose is accomplished.
Needs are easy. We all know “We need some bread and milk” or “the grass needs to be mowed” right?
By expressing our needs, we don’t fix anything. The milk and the bread do not arrive, and the grass does not get mowed, just because it “needs” to get done.
Here’s where a lot of prepping falls apart. Prepping is not done by needs, it’s done by mechanisms. HOW do we get the bread and milk. How do we get the lawn mowed.
Planning is all about mapping out how to get something done, not just understanding the problem.
Sample plans that we have done as an example
OK, it’s time for the rubber to hit the road, let’s take a look at a couple of plans that we have put together and some ideas we have.
Salty is turning this article over to Spice from here on out.
Develop a hygiene plan
Most people know that if you add the water yourself, you can flush a toilet when the water’s out. Did you know that if the power’s out for multiple days so your sewage plant stops working, it may cause the sewer to back up into local houses? If yours is this way, do you know where you can close the valve to prevent this? (Ours sewers aren’t this way, thankfully; ours would overflow into into a creek. That’s bad enough, but at least it’s not into our houses.)
Once that’s dealt with, you have to implement a waste management plan What do you do with the poop?
The Loveable Loo setup is one option, and what we have chosen as our Plan A.
You don’t have to spend a ton of money or keep a huge amount of preps on hand. You don’t have to buy much at all. The Humanure website (humanurehandbook.com) will give you the plans for the seat. That leaves you at $5 for the bucket and a bit of wood … plus skill development building the thing, score double points.
My compost bins, currently used for normal vegetable waste, are made of old shipping pallets and fence wire. No big cost there either. Grass clippings or mowed-and-bagged leaves, or the remains from a paper shredder, can be used for cover material.
I know this isn’t a pleasant topic, but it’s better hands down than having sewage and nowhere to put it.
Develop a plan to reunite with loved ones
Suppose you must evacuate from your home while somebody you care about isn’t there. Communications are down. I know that never seems to happen in the cities these days; but it sure does during emergencies when the cell towers get overwhelmed.
Will you be able to get back together with your people promptly? Does everybody know where you’ll meet? Is there a backup plan for that?
This may sound overkill, but Salty and I have ended up on Plan C a few times when we’ve separated during various adventures and the expected rendezvous turned out to be impossible…and so did the alternate plan…and there wasn’t cell service. It happens.
When you develop this plan, consider potential choke points and trouble spots. If I’m at The Place when Salty is at home, our method to reunite depends in part on how much rain there’s been lately. Almost every route in to The Place can be blocked by high water. If you’re in a more urban area, high water is less likely to be an issue but traffic choke points like tunnels and bridges may be bigger trouble spots.
We could go on, but that’s enough to move forward on …and moving forward is the main thing.
https://beansbulletsbandagesandyou.com/bullets/2019/01/07/plan-reunite/
Bonus idea
Planning and developing the mechanisms to put that plan into action are not something that’s going to blow your neighborhood OPSEC.
These are also stealth preps. Neither spouses nor neighbors tend to flip out, or even notice, if you’re learning to do things instead of watching Netflix.
We had a saying in the military about planning, “Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance.” Or, “P7” for short.