What would you do differently?

[Guest]

For all of you that are long term preppers/ survivalists, if you could go back in time and start over, what would you do differently? What would you tell someone just starting?

My mistakes were getting into the tactical end too heavily at first, and not developing a basic plan of preparation and action. If I had it to do over, I would have started with the basics and build evenly from there, based on level of importance. Beginning with;

1) The ability to procure clean water, simple food storage, heat and basic hunting and defensive firearms. My first order of business should have been the ability to generate clean water. For me, plan A is a generator to run my well in a power outage. Plan B is a small hiking filter. Plan C is boiling, which requires fire making knowledge. My second order of business should have been filling 5 gallon buckets with mylar bags containing basic dried foods such as flour, rice, beans, pasta and sugar. I believe 6 months worth of stored food is a good goal for southerners. Third would have been building a basic arsenal to include a pistol for personal protection, .22 or shotgun for hunting and a rifle for self defense or hunting. In hind sight, I would have gotten the following guns in this order- Ruger LCP .380 or similar pistol with accompanying CCW, Ruger 10-22 stainless steel rifle and an AR-10. If the AR-10 is out of financial reach, I would opt for a 30/30 lever gun. As for ammo, 1 box of .380 is plenty to see you through a lifetime of defensive shooting. 1000 rounds of .22 and 500 rounds of .308/30-30 would feed and protect you for a very long time. Since I don

[Grand58742]

Outstanding question. And I think you hit the nail on the head with the "getting into the tactical end" comments. I'm guilty of that myself.

If I had to say something I'd do different...would have started studying firearms much sooner and instead of buying whatever caught my fancy, would have standardized a long time ago. Also would have realized how much drinking affected my life and would have stopped sooner. And would have realized my parents are a wealth of preparedness information (although back when they were growing up it was "normal" to can items and grow your own food) that should have been tapped a long time ago.

Some buyers remorse over some items, but not much.

[Bama]

The one thing that haunts me is not paying more attention to my elders and their knowledge . I grew up in a family that grew and stored food my entire life. I am probally alittle ahead of the curve because of it, but I find myself searching my memory for the little things grandparents did regularly that arent in any books. Most of the time it comes to me but it is alot of trial and error. I have retained probally more than most, but small things elude me. If any of you still have your elders around I advise you to ask more questions. That kind of well earned knowledge is gone when they are.

[610Alpha]

The list is too long...but I still have a great resource that I need to talk to more...he grew up in the great depression and is still alive.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

I would have gotten more LTS food earlier. I used to rely on mid term military stuff and I would have gotten more and better water filters.
I should have gotten a smaller place and maybe more land when I got out of the Army instead of believing in the American Dream McMasion Bravo Sierra and all will be well if you work hard instead of getting the nice place watching my wife lose her job and us the house even though I was becoming debt free at that point then seeing other friends n family crash too.
I would have planned ahead and gotten the kids better gear so when they became ready it was ready for them.

[jimmycthemd]

Well, guess I read the right posts thanks to you guys. I just started about 6 months ago with about 3 weeks of food in the house (average) and about 2 days of water. Started with LTS (beans, rice, oats, flower, sugar, salt, etc...) and water. I now have 3 ways to purify water in addition to boiling and have about a little over a month's supply stored (assuming 5 gals/person/day) and 4 months LTS food. I've started a GHB (about 3/4 of the way complete), added a long gun (bolt action .223) and started building up the ammo supply.

I started with the LTS and, once I figured out what a month's supply really was, have been adding a month's supply about every 6 weeks. That will continue until I have a minimum of 6-9 months...preferably a year. I'll continue adding to the water supply in parallel to the food. I'm picking up things little by little for the GHB. BTW, I'm 'financing' all of this by not eating out for lunch at work. That's the only 'sacrifice' I've had to make budget-wise to cut the money loose for all this (except the .223, that was a birthday present from my wife).

I'm not putting this here for a 'pat on the back', but as an example of how much you can accomplish with a small lifestyle change and by taking it little by little. Not even a pimple on the butt of most folks here, but that'll come in time :-)...

By the way...threads like this are invaluable to us newbies!! Thanks for sharing and helping us learn from others experiences!!!!

[1Admin]

Not to flog a deceased equine but I would hate to be just getting started now. Why you ask? Not because I think TS is fixing to HTF but because their is so much BOGUS info out there now.

If I heard one thing over and over again meeting folks and speaking places, it's the need for quality information right now, information that works from people that have actually done it long term. Not "I started preparing for 2012 a year ago and now I'm here to teach you" non sense.

Mistakes I've made? Too many to count.

If I had a "do over" what would be the biggest change? Not relaying on others as much as I did early on. Not planning and thinking of others comfort and security when some of them had no concern for mine. Be quicker to break ties with so called "friends" and even old friends that basically were just throwing me in front of the bus. Being more proactive on dealing with problems in that regard versus trying to let them play out so as not to appear to be "the bad guy" to others. Honestly, I shouldn't have given a %@#% about looking like "the bad guy" and just done what I needed to do. I'm done with that part of my life, I don't give a $@#% about appearing to be "the bad guy."

Just like the forums here, decisions have to be made, the occasional out of line person has to be axed. SOMEONE has to do that. It's not something that's "fun" or enjoyable but it's something that has to be done so things work smoothly.

Like the man said "I don't have a gripe with any man that does his job. But when he don't, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, WE break down. And I ain't gonna have that." Truer words were never spoken.

[Jerry D Young]

I've been prepping all my adult life, and even in my late teens. But when I had the money and opportunity to buy a piece of property and really up my prep level I didn't do it. That is the main thing I would have changed. Got a piece of land to live and a small piece as a bug-out location. I would still have become ill, and have medical problems, but I would be on my own land with my things around me. Sigh. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda.

[tech]

Biggest re-do? Initial thought was changing not purchasing that 65 acre parcel that had a log cabin, stream, well, coal seam and natural gas well...for around 30k. (kick, kick, kick) Wouldn't be in hurricane danger, but would be facing serious economic issues and would not have met my current wife. In the long run, I think things worked out for the best.

Other than that, maybe purchasing more LTS foods, ammo and pm's when the prices were much lower...but really, I can't say there is very much I'd really want to do differently.

[WiseOwl]

I should not have purchased a home as a 24 year old with no credit and contribute to the collapse of the real estate market. Since everything fell through ( worked in a real estate'ish industry) and lost my job, I lost a home I could not afford. My wife and I started all over. We are not debt free but we manage. Wish I would have went to college or developed a skill earlier in life than the last couple of years.

Hope our dream comes through next spring when we make a major move in life.

And I shoulda bought rifles and gear when I had money instead of gambling, partying, concerts, stupidity, etc.

I know with what I have now and what I have acquired I am good for colmoliin.


Love the replies guys

[protus]

i think i would have started getting out of debt a few years sooner. Would have sped up my plans which would have saved me from going thru a TON of the issues ive had to the last few years.

starting getting in shape/staying in shape. vs just getting comfy.

rest of it is all matrial junk that can be bought, not much to go into on that end.

[WILL]

I'd also say I wish I could have skipped all the trial and error concerning gear purchases. Over my lifetime, I've probably wasted over $10,000 on gear that wasn't right for me. I've also spent alot of money upgrading to the latest and greatest when simple, old school stuff would probably have served me better. I think a good internet survival site could have saved me alot of money. Too bad the internet wasn't around when I started. Like 1Admin said though, there's alot of armchair commandos on the internet, so finding a good source is key.

[1Admin]

I should not have purchased a home as a 24 year old with no credit and contribute to the collapse of the real estate market. Since everything fell through ( worked in a real estate'ish industry) and lost my job, I lost a home I could not afford. My wife and I started all over. We are not debt free but we manage. Wish I would have went to college or developed a skill earlier in life than the last couple of years.

Hope our dream comes through next spring when we make a major move in life.

And I shoulda bought rifles and gear when I had money instead of gambling, partying, concerts, stupidity, etc.

I know with what I have now and what I have acquired I am good for colmoliin.


Love the replies guys

Don't kick yourself in the arse too much bro, everyone makes mistakes, especially with money. My biggest one was $30K. Had I sat on that money instead of trying to buy more equipment to sell a month after 9/11 I would have been able to get the addition on my house done about 9 years earlier than I did. I got screwed BIG TIME on the masks, the bottom fell out of the "demand" for them and I sat on about 1,000 of them up till about 2 years ago. I had never dealt with the general public that much before with that business- it was always like minded folks- and I never realized just how shifty, crooked and full of %#$# the average public consumer can be. Let's just say 95% of the problems came from NY area. People that had just a month prior seen THEIR CITY attacked who were screamed, crying (seriously), begging, cajoling on the phone for gas masks, attempted to return them or cancel orders the minute MTV and the media said "don't buy a gas mask or stockpile antibiotics." This was DURING the anthrax attacks. I learned a LOT that time about "last minute buyers" of prep goods that are from the general public. The mistakes I made in feeling sorry for people that were too stupid to take care of themselves will NOT happen again. America has been warned numerous times and even a child of understanding gets that.

Took me years to get over that loss both financially and emotionally. Sometimes when you think you are doing the right thing, being the boy scout, etc. is when you are going to get NAILED.

We all make mistakes, its what we do AFTER that defines who we are.

[WiseOwl]

We all make mistakes, its what we do AFTER that defines who we are.

This is a good statement. This is how I live. This is how I grew up and became a man after my troubles and when my first son was born. It took us 5 years to get half way where we need to be, not where we want to be.
Luckily through these last couple of years of thrift and coupon'n, we have became very frugal and smart with our money which we continue as life goes on. I have learned so much in the last 5 years, it trumps everything prior. And this was pre-"preparedness"....I was preppin before I knew what it was.......now just waiting on the spring to see where we go home wise because all of this gardenin practice over the last few years is ready to get put to use.

I am ready for the "mini" homestead--will still work a 9-5----so we can do it all by ourselves. And go through the same trials and tribs that you guys go through.

Luckily I have had a place like this to come to and learn and talk about all things -- not just tinfoil 2 days from now talk---- real talk.

[MustangGal]

I would have researched fencing better. We thought we were buying the "good stuff" and it is the good stuff for its intended purpose, but a goat can destroy welded wire - and I think they get a kick out of it too!

Mostly, I am pleased about how things are going, but I owe much of that to the people on this board. Are there things I would have done differently, sure. But, overall, we are in a decent place.

We possibly avoided a huge mistake, thanks to the folks on this board. I really appreciated you all being willing to share what you thought about our place and if we should stay or sell it.