Overwhelmed!!

Getting ready for the past eleven years and the first thing that I did was to move the hell out of California and into the woods of Oregon. I believe that I am ready but............."To be ready is not"... Ponce

 

Same here, though my DH builds more cabinets for me, he just shakes his head when I bring in more groceries. I would love to have a "root cellar", but I would really be pushing it and when I order my water filter, I will have to have it delivered to a different address so I can hide it. It's not easy, but we do what we have to do and work with what we have. Good luck and just make a plan and trudge along, you will be better off than a lot of others.

 

It's easy to get overwhelmed. REALLY easy to get REALLY overwhelmed. :gaah:

Get a notebook or a calendar planner and write stuff down. Make lists, goals, schedules, measurements, and notes galore. This spares your brain from having to remember everything and the panic that you might have forgotten something important. I only recommend this to every newish prepper because it saved my sanity when I was newish. And its a format that allows you to track progress and share data with your spouse.

 

In the beginning I often had this feeling. I think it’s a quite normal reaction when one starts to read into the subject of survivalism and prepping. For me the most troubling outlook is the combination of the population explosion, the depletion of non renewable resources and Peak Oil in combination with a society where short term planning and Just In Time thinking dominates the long term result can be very problematic. I don’t fear an immediate collapse, of course this could take place but I don’t buy into the classic survivalist story that everything will fall apart over night with enormous consequences and anarchy straight away.

If you truly fear a Collapse leave the Survivalist stories alone for a while and read Mary Kaldors “New and Old Wars”, one of the best books there is about modern state collapse. This is one of the main problems concerning survivalism and prepping: The scenarios imagined are not grounded in the events that we can see in the real world.

You never get fully learned when it comes to this subject. But eventually you have to come to the point when you own the process yourself. You have to a look at this subject from your climate, your setting and your situation. There is no solution that fits very person in every setting.

 

We all felt that way until we had the basics covered - deep breath. You will never be "fully prepared" but you are already better off than most. Just decide that you will be better prepared as time allows in the future and make it your gola to never be less well stocked than you are now and all will be well....

 

Darlin, just keep plugging at it. Water: Food: start with the simple edible stuff.. beans, pasta, rice, then move to the staples, flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt (lots of salt incase ya have to salt fish or meat if there is no refrigeration). Get a sourdough starter so ya dont have to mess with trying to keep yeast updated, it goes useless fairly fast. Keep plugging at the food end of it till ya think ya have enough (I have found that moment only comes briefly - then ya think of something else that'd be nice to have). Look at the way your family eats- what they eat. Try to shoot for 2 lbs of food per person per day, to start with. Move to water and toiletries and hygiene, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo etc. and meds anyone takes, try to lay in a 2 month supply first- then another month and another. Share with your dr what you are doing, most will accomodate you. Dont look at it all at once and say- "MY GOD I"LL NEVER GET THIS DONE" just take one step to start with and just keep plugging at it. You can only DO what you can DO. You cant plan for every eventuality, just START.. a little at a time- the rest will fall into place. You'll be surprised at how things come to you after you go to bed at night- ideas.. so keep a pad and pen at your night stand. You WILL get through this- we all have and continue to do so. We are all here just for your success and eachothers. Among these people is a HUGE wealth of knowledge. Don't hesitate to partake of it. Ask questions. You'll get answers

 

I think a lot of beginners to prepping, make several mistakes right off the bat. They go out and try and buy everything they think they will need and besides becoming broke all of a sudden realise that they really don't like to eat half the stuff they bought. Try and stock up on things your family already likes to eat and is used to. If none of you like rice for instance, don't buy 500 lbs of rice. Most people also buy gadgets rather then the real deal. Gadgets will not in most instances help you survive.

I also think that first you need to really take a look at your surroundings. Will you be able to survive where you live ? Or will you need to get to safer ground ? If you think you need to get to safer ground, then you really need to make that your priority now, and not at the last minute. There are a lot of really good deals to be had on land right now due of course to the economy. Before going out and buying much of anything, you may want to really take a ,honest look at this. After all, if you know you would have a very hard time staying where you are right now, how on earth would you get a 5 year supply of everything you need moved in a hurry ?

 

Right off the top, a replay of the Spanish Flu of 1918 or an EMP (solar or manmade) could result in a total collapse of the world as we know it today. Both occurred within the last 150 years. Both would likely be far more devastating today than in the past.

 

Take a deep breath and learn as much as possible. After reading this forum and others it will be a big Aha moment for you and things will fall into place.

I was raised by preppers, so I was grandmothered in, so to speak. Storing, canning, dehydrating will benefit you greatly. Prepping is like an insurance premium, you pay for the protection. Take it a day at the time. Good luck.

 

Just relax and take smaller steps.. I've even got my hubby helping and I thought he would never see things my way! I just bring up the fact that with all the disasters that have been happening and the price of gas going up, food going up, buying stuff now while it is cheaper and on sale and having it when times are tough.. He even told me "good job" when I got 12 empty one gallon containers(Hawaiian punch they even had nice handles) from the school to put water in for storage.
You'll get there.
I too had grandparents that lived thru the first Depression and told me many stories of what they "had to make due with" and most of my family used to garden and farm.
When you start it does seem over whelming but you can achieve quite a bit if you do it little by little.

 

Your definitely not the only one feeling overwhelmed. I must say I am always. Just slowly keep chugging along, everyday I realize that my family is too big. Or that I might not have gas to put in my beloved tractors.

Ahh I need to get a gasifier and make some bio-diesel.

 

I am Just starting out my self.

I realized that you can only do what you can do

There is no way you can be prepared for every posisble situation , but you can get the basic stuf down and work towards your goals.

Do one thing at a time and finish it then move onto the next item

 

Hey, don't be discouraged -- you're on the right road. But remember, it's easy to concentrate on "stuff" and forget knowledge and skills.

We've been preppers for years and fortunately for me and the better half, we read or hop on the computer to research topics of interest far more than watching the brainless boob tube; in fact, we don't get TV reception (confession........as a treat following a hectic business day, we're gonna pop some pop corn tonight and watch "Meet the Fockers" tonight on DVD ).

My point is, "stuff" is very important, but what you store between your ears is just as important IMHO.

 

Totally agree with HM. You can get stuff, but you have to know how to use it. Preferably, how to use it well. Get the stuff you can while you can, and spend other time learning (i.e. until next payday, lol)

We're behind the eight ball on food storage in my house. Big family, sometimes economical issues causing us to dip in, etc. but I've never sold tools or books for food or bills. Consequently, we've got a good deal of tools for repairs and gardening as well as books on lots of subjects (work and leisure) as well as cookbooks and gardening books. We know we 'can' build up from what we have and what we know, it's now into doing it. That, and building up the stockpiles to make the process more comfortable. You'll get there.

 

Overwhelmed

Overwhelemed, the qualitys exibited by those who survive and those who don't are pretty simple .

One person senses a problem headed his way and either gets out of the path, or acts to deal with the problem.

Victums remain in the path and are afraid to act for fear of making the wrong decision.

The Astronault , John Glenn was once asked in an interview what he would do if he had only 30 seconds to choose between two switches. One switch would cause his spacecraft to immediatly explode. The other switch would prevent it from exploding when the 30 seconds ran out. If he did not know which switch dissarmed the explosive charge and which one would immediatly set it off, what would he do?

John Glenn instantly replied, " I would wait 29 seconds and throw a switch" !

That is the diffrence between a survivor mindset and the adverage person.

:usaflag:

 

After reading your log my wife and i alked about this we were the same way three years ago,relax take a deep breath,and start at the begining,dont by junk, buy good quailty products,make lists of what you will need ,food,water,first aid,tools,clothing,shoes,you will be okay,if you dont know ask find a prepper group,get involved,ton of info out there good luck ar15 bob

 

I feel the OP's pain... I am relatively new at this.

It is unbelieveble how much peace a well planned list brings... Like others have said MAKE A LIST with a SCHEDULE and stick to it.. there is somehting about being regimented that helps.

Start with the basics... Rice, Beans, Pasta and expand from there..

Also, dont try to buy 5gal buckets and 50lb bags at a time... if you are on a budget, 2ltr bottles are excellent storage containers and they hold ~4lbs of beans.

 

Slow and methodical.