Do you know your neighbors? Because in an emergency, guess who will be right next to you? Them.

If you are on cordial terms with the people on both sides of you and across the street from you, you’re head and shoulders above most of us. Few Americans even know their neighbors’ names.

In many neighborhoods it seems impossible. And in some places, there are little nagging problems that have grown, or are currently growing, into large problems.  Or our particular neighbors just do not seem like the kind of people we would like to know.

But we should get to know them anyway.

It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable. But think how much more difficult (more…)

Woops… forgot.

You need a Plan first.

Does your local living group have a Plan in case of emergency?
Oh no! you say, not a Plan!
What a pain!

Yeah, most plans are. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The most basic plan is simple.

Just decide:

1. Where everyone should meet in case of a disaster or emergency.

2. What each person should do if it’s impossible to get to that place for one reason or another.

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It seems as though a person could just sit down at their computer, spend a few hours looking at different websites  and gaining knowledge about emergency preparedness, and then order a bunch of stuff and then they’d be done and ready and prepared.

But it doesn’t work that way. There are levels of knowledge, each deeper and wider than the next. I don’t know anyone who has all the knowledge. And I’ve known some very competent people.

So you can’t wait until you have all the information and techniques and insider secrets that takes years to learn. You have to start preparing now, with the knowledge you have. You will make mistakes. You will get some things that you will shake your head at someday and wonder how you could have thought that was a good idea. (more…)

Even with all the gyrations of the stock market, most people in the United States do not think it is time yet to start preparing for a future emergency event. Things are bound to start looking up. It’ll all blow over.

Most visitors to this site don’t think it’s time, either. And this group is way ahead of the curve, because they’re at least reading about possibilities. But when it comes to actually starting to store things… well, it’s expensive, it’s a bother, things may not go that far downhill… there are a thousand reasons not to do it.

I recently came across the most eloquent reason for doing it now. It is impossible to argue with.
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Do you think that the bump upward in the stock market means everyone should forget about preparing for an emergency? Certainly I don’t. Apparently many people do. It is kind of amazing. We can see the relative number of people who are concerned about emergency supplies by looking at the stats for this website.

The results have left me with my eyes wide and mouth open… do people really think that emergency situations depend on the stock market? Yes, they do, if our stats are even vaguely accurate. Although there have been a number of very kind people who have gone out of their way to thank us for our site, there was a (more…)