What makes someone a REAL prepper?

[montanabill]

I put the 55 gallon new water barrels in my basement.. They cost $100 here where I pick them up and bring them home...
I have the camper 12 volt water pump to pressurize the house for a while....then the simple solar pump that will work in my well to refill the barrels...
My roof catchment is only good for about 1000 gallons a year....when the snow melts.

As far as the cold keeping the riff raff out, take away the government handouts and get rid of the drug importers and the cold will finish off some of the rest..

Not too many tent cities where I am but folks are putting wood stoves in campers and motorhomes....

As far as gardening after the fall, we have some rich lowlands adjacent to lakes and rivers that will be useable....with 24 hour guard..

 

[EastenerWesterner]

I can pick up 55g plastic barrels for $5-20 each. IBC 25-75.
I get $50 IBC’s at very sketchy “natural insecticide bottling facility” You can buy their product at any home improvement store.
Sketchy because behind locked gates and you would see people scattering like cockroaches if you yelled immigration.
Buy them there, because they held a blend of cinnamon, peppermint and other natural oils blend is pretty nontoxic. Smell pretty good as I am rinsing them out too.

 

[TENNGRIZZ]

Mental preparation on making very Cold , Hard Brutal decisions that by modern post Vietnam Standards will seem most uncivilized.

 

[zoomzoom]

Biggest issue with full IBC tanks, tractor FEL can’t lift them. About half full is the max and you better have some weight on the back of the tractor on uneven ground. Math wise 1200lb loader would lift 144g of water.

Not sure what kind of tractor you have but have you considered pallet forks on the 3-point instead of the FEL? My tractor can lift more off the 3PH than the FEL. tractordata.com can tell you the 3PH and FEL lift capabilities for your tractor.

Oh, and you can fill your FEL bucket with dirt or whatever for a counterweight.

 

[montanabill]

Mental preparation on making very Cold , Hard Brutal decisions that by modern post Vietnam Standards will seem most uncivilized.

Read "one second after" for a story about those kind of decisions....
I maintain there will have to be a division of responsibilities between the camp and nurturing and the war chief.... Decisions will have to be made in a split second.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Not sure what kind of tractor you have but have you considered pallet forks on the 3-point instead of the FEL? My tractor can lift more off the 3PH than the FEL. tractordata.com can tell you the 3PH and FEL lift capabilities for your tractor.

Oh, and you can fill your FEL bucket with dirt or whatever for a counterweight.

You are correct that the 3pt can lift 2x the loader. But you loose the tilt to place tanks on uneven ground and the lift height to place tank higher to get gravity feed (I have 1 on a stack of pallets)
The strongest 3pt fork I came across were rated for 2000lbs. That’s 240g of water

 

[Dave2001]

I live on a bIG lake, i bought a LARGE BERKEY water filter system just to have if water coop stops, also just invested in whole house generator system!

 

[UserNameTaken]

How to tell a Real Prepper from a Survivalist?

Survivalists know how to spell...

 

[lonewolf]

some preppers only prepare for short term events expecting things after a short period of time to get back to normal. me I prepare for things to never be normal again.

 

[joel]

One gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds . That likely means toting enough water to keep a family survivable for much of a distance is not practical . I hope everyone already has their outhouse built . To flush a conventional toilet once will mean about 30 pounds of weight flushed down the toilet . -- On hand I have my outhouse as well as a solid rubber tire cart with a board already cut and waiting to be used when the time arrives to fit into my cart providing a flooring for my water jugs , I have two 6 gallon containers that will fit into the cart , for fetching water from the spring or creek . That is near 100 pounds of water per trip .

Three gallons is 24 pound in my toilet & a dry toilet is the cleanest & quickest way to change over & it needs no water, just sawdust and /or high scented oils from plants.
The compost should be spread on the pasture, not the perennial vegetables.
You can do the dig a hole & cover like a cat in summer, but it gets cold & windy behind the barn in winter.

 

[montanabill]

If things get tough the real people have more persistence...Call it what you want, I kind of like the term self reliant.

I prep for short term winter power or water outages by having many many garbage bags.. Line the toilet bowl with two layers and use till full then take outside and stack till spring,,
If it doesn't look good the outhouse gets activated for the hardy souls.

Just don't try to heat up the outhouse by throwing some burning newspaper down the hole.......there have been instances of the methane collecting then lighting off.
Could be a urban legend but wow if it did happen.....

 

[Neb]

If things get tough the real people have more persistence...Call it what you want, I kind of like the term self reliant.

I prep for short term winter power or water outages by having many many garbage bags.. Line the toilet bowl with two layers and use till full then take outside and stack till spring,,
If it doesn't look good the outhouse gets activated for the hardy souls.

Just don't try to heat up the outhouse by throwing some burning newspaper down the hole.......there have been instances of the methane collecting then lighting off.
Could be a urban legend but wow if it did happen.....

There may be some validity to that thought.

I was told I could not have a toilet in the same room as a service entrance due to trap going dry and methane escaping.

Ben

 

[Magus]

I was told I could not have a toilet in the same room as a service entrance due to trap going dry and methane escaping.

More details? interesting.
Has anyone noticed that in older homes the bathroom is next to the kitchen?

 

[RJ2019]

More details? interesting.
Has anyone noticed that in older homes the bathroom is next to the kitchen?

Easier to run all the plumbing to one part of the house.

 

[Magus]

great idea!

 

[OldSchool]

With a 600 square foot house or a 23' motorhome... direct plumbing is a plus. Probably a bigger plus with 1,400+ properties.

 

[TexasCharm]

Fun thread! I thought I was going to get to use my ignore button again... but it looks like the troll waddled off.

Not much to add, everyone has their own ideas and levels of prepping/surviving. We have people in Houston still that get mad after days notice of a hurricane, when the power goes out and they can't go to Jack in the Box for food because there is no power to run their card.

Fortunately we live way out from Houston and most of our closest neighbors are of some level of like mindedness.

We have water nailed down, we've "prepped" and mostly, at this point, play games of survival. What do we do if ...

Garden, chickens, meat, hunting, protection.. .. much like everyone else

 

[Cabin Fever]

With a 600 square foot house or a 23' motorhome... direct plumbing is a plus. Probably a bigger plus with 1,400+ properties.

I figure when the SHTF, the use of indoor plumbing will be a thing of the past unless you have solar to run pumps and wells. And even solar doesn't last forever.

Like many, we'll be able to flush toilets with a bucket of water because our septic system is 100% gravity. With that said, we still have an outhouse, too, just in case.

 

[Cabin Fever]

I was told I could not have a toilet in the same room as a service entrance due to trap going dry and methane escaping.

Ben

I never heard of that. One of our toilets are about 8 feet from our back service door to our mudroom. We spent 11 weeks on a driving trip to Alaska last summer and the water in that toilet was almost at the same level as when we left.

 

[Neb]

I never heard of that. One of our toilets are about 8 feet from our back service door to our mudroom. We spent 11 weeks on a driving trip to Alaska last summer and the water in that toilet was almost at the same level as when we left.

In door plumbing was an update to this place. It had one toilet located in the basement. Not bathroom mind you. Just a toilet in the corner.

When I updated my service entrance from 60A to 200A the electrician told me the toilet would fail the the electrical inspection.

Ben

 

[montanabill]

With a 600 square foot house or a 23' motorhome... direct plumbing is a plus. Probably a bigger plus with 1,400+ properties.

I have had the 23 ft trailer and the 600 sq ft cabin.....(you got me there OldSchool) now living in about 2600 sq feet with gravity flow septic tank..
A out house is the first thing to slap together after things crash but having something inside for the old or sick will be nice when the temps are low and the wind is blowing.. Or the bad people are around.
Easy enough to keep something in the toilet trap to control fumes..