Procrastination. It is such a bad word it really should have only four letters. Preppers are not procrastinators by nature, but it has been known to happen, especially when there are so many big items on the preparedness “to do” list.
Neglecting to prepare thoroughly and expeditiously can, and likely will, get you killed during a SHTF scenario.
There are many tasks you may be postponing and shouldn’t be, but here are ten survival things you shouldn’t postpone any longer.
1. GET YOUR TETANUS SHOT
Vaccinations are never fun, but neither is lockjaw or dying of suffocation. If you haven’t had your tetanus booster within the past ten years, it is time to make an appointment with your doctor to set up an appointment or go to the nearest health clinic for your shot.
When you think of what you need to do to prepare for when SHTF, getting vaccinated is more than likely not on the top of your to-do list. You may not think it is important now, but what if you step on an old rusty nail or get even a small slice on your arm from a piece of wire, wood, or metal that has been contaminated by feces? Or, what if you get an insect bite or animal bite that breaks your skin and tetanus bacteria infects your wound?
Tetanus lives everywhere in the dirt or on wood, or anywhere that has animal fecal matter around, so it could be life-saving to prepare for this now while you still have the chance.
Some people are not capable of receiving this vaccine because of a life-threatening allergic reaction to the dose or having a severe reaction to their last dose, such as: brain or nervous disease, seizures, or a high fever.
Disclaimer
The information in this article is provided “as is” and should not be mistaken for or be a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your physician before trying any of the advice presented on this page. Always seek the help of a professional when delivering a baby. Neither the author nor www.dailypreppernews.com or the company behind the website shall be held liable for any negative effects of you putting into practice the information in this article.
Related: 30 Survival Items To Get In The First 30 Days Of Prepping
If you or a loved one cannot receive this vaccination, here is how to attempt to fight tetanus naturally, if need be:
- use hydrogen peroxide to thoroughly clean your wound
- soak your wound in boric acid water and Epsom salts
- make some colloidal silver and do your research to see how much you should take daily (my family takes 1 tbsp a day)
- consume more vitamin-C
- take cod liver oil
- make bone broth (boosts your immune system)
- massage lavender oil in olive oil on your neck and shoulders for less stiffness
- take garlic to help fight infection
- get fish oil (cleans your arteries and heals your heart)
- take olive leaf extract (fights infection)
- consume grapefruit extract
- calcium and bromelain (reduces muscle pain)
- one capsule of milk thistle daily for a liver cleanse
- glucosamine sulfate with MSM (optimizes joint function, protects cartilage and connective tissue)
- take oregano and echinacea
2. GATHER PROOF OF IDENTITY AND ESSENTIAL DOCUMENTS
If you haven’t already, you need to gather all your family’s IDs and make copies of them. Make sure to have at least one ID that contains a picture of each of your family members. This way, if you and your loved ones are trying to reach each other’s destination, you will be able to show a picture of him/her to people that you’re passing by to see if they have seen them and what direction they were headed. Also, keep at least two photos of your children in your wallet and make sure the pictures are current.
You should also keep copies of everyone’s birth certificates and social security cards. If there are any allergies, medical conditions, or current prescriptions being taken in the family, you should make at least one copy of their medical records.
Do not forget to create a list of contact information for both yourself and extended family and friends. Keep this information in your bug-out bag, so if your children are forced to go on without you, they can try to find their way to a safe space with family or friends.
Gathering all your family’s documents and making copies might sound like a hassle, but you will be thankful for doing it in the end.
Related: Preparing Your Homestead for Evacuation
3. STOCKING UP ON BABY NEEDS
If you are a mother or father already, you already know how crucial it is to be stocked up on all your baby’s essentials, so your baby does not go without. Most parents forget to buy extra baby products until the last minute due to the busy life of being a parent. Can you imagine waking up one morning to the world-changing completely, you hear your baby screaming in the other room wanting a bottle, you run out to the kitchen, open the cabinet and see an empty cupboard?
It’s time to start putting a container of formula back each time you go out to buy a can of formula (if your baby is formula-fed, of course). Let’s say you get a can of formula every other three days, if you buy an extra container to put back to stock up every time you go get one, you would have an extra three cans a week. Keep those in your stockpile and you will have 12 cans of formula within a month to save back.
For mothers that cannot breastfeed or choose not to, the formula is an absolute must. If you cannot afford to purchase extra cans of formula to just put back, you should make your own formula.
Related: How to Teach Your Kids About Preparedness
Below is an amazing recipe for homemade raw milk formula for babies that you should print out for when SHTF:
Ingredients
- cow’s milk (whole raw) – two cups
- homemade liquid whey – ¼ cup
- lactose – 4 tbsps.
- Bifidobacterium infantis – ¼ tsp.
- good quality cream – at least 2 tbsps.
- cod liver oil (high-vitamin fermented) – ½ tsp.
- high-vitamin butter oil – ¼ tsp.
- expeller-expressed sunflower oil – 1 tsp.
- coconut oil – 2 tsp.
- extra virgin olive oil – 1 tsp.
- nutritional yeast flakes – 2 tsp.
- gelatin – 2 tsp.
- acerola powder – ¼ tsp.
- filtered water – 1-7/8 cups
Directions
- In a Pyrex measuring pitcher, put two cups of filtered water in, then remove only 2 tbsps. which will give the 1-7/8 cups of water total.
- Over a medium flame, put half of your water into a pan.
- Next, you will want to add your lactose and gelatin to the pan and stir while letting it dissolve.
- After the lactose and gelatin dissolves, you need to remove the pan from heat and add the rest of your water.
- After your mixture has cooled down for a couple of minutes, you will need to stir in high-vitamin butter oil and coconut oil. Don’t stop stirring until it melts.
- Grab a blender and mix the rest of your ingredients together.
- Blend for approximately three seconds after adding your water mixture.
- You can now pour your homemade formula into a glass jar or glass bottle and refrigerate it.
- Voila! Your baby is ready to eat!
Stocking up on diapers and wipes is also a very wise choice. With as fast as infants and toddlers go through diapers a day, it’s safe to say you will run out of these essentials quickly. Learning how to make your own cloth diapers would be the right route to take, especially because you won’t ever run out this way.
Even if you are currently not a parent, anything can happen when SHTF. Prepare for the unexpected. You could become pregnant during a world disaster, so it is best to educate yourself on these baby essentials now. Maybe even stock up little by little each month and put them back for when a disaster will occur. If it’s not you that becomes pregnant, it could be your sister, daughter, or other female loved one.
Stocking condoms and other types of birth control are also highly recommended.
Related: Everyday Carry (EDC) for Kids
4. ATTEND A FIRST-AID CLASS
There are so many opportunities to join a first-aid class, but this is one task that a lot of us have yet to do and keep putting off. Learning how to treat burns, cuts, bandage wounds, and knowing how to care for various medical emergencies could save a life.
Hopefully, you will have a nurse or doctor in your group but there is a chance you will not. If one of your family members are out hunting for food and cut themselves with their hunting dagger, you will need to know how to accurately treat his cut before an infection would begin.
After your first-aid class, get your first-aid kit out and teach your spouse and children what each item is used for and how to use it. Who knows if that could be you on the ground in too much pain to tell your loved one how to care for you. It’s best to teach them the basics now while you can.
Related: How to Build a First Aid Kit – Prepper Edition
5. MAKE A TRIP TO THE DENTIST
As silly as it sounds and as much as you don’t want to, going to the dentist now could save your life when SHTF.
Dentists are known to detect health issues before they become too serious. However, if you neglect your dental hygiene and have a gum disease that goes untreated, chances are it will lead to heart disease. Therefore, you should call to make an appointment to get your gums checked and to make sure you are still cavity-free with no dental problems what-so-ever.
After you go to your check-up, start educating yourself on dental care so you can prepare post-SHTF. Did you know that one simple abscessed tooth could kill a person? You will not be able to run to your nearest dentist office after SHTF, so you will need to know not only the basics of dental hygiene but also for emergency dental care.
While gaining more knowledge in dental care and hygiene, you should look up ways to make your own toothbrush and toothpaste. As a prepper, you should already be stocked up, but eventually, you will run out, so it is best to find recipes now while you still have access to a computer or phone. Don’t forget to switch out your toothbrush after every illness you experience so the germs can’t re-enter your mouth after you overcome the sickness. The fewer illnesses passed around during SHTF, the better.
Related: 25 Tips For Dental Emergencies Post-SHTF
6. PREPARING MENTALLY
While thinking of different case scenarios to happen during TEOTWAWKI, you may think you are ready…but are you truly ready? Are you just thinking of the basics such as stocking up, and planning an evacuation plan? That’s the easy part of prepping.
As a human, it is in our nature to help others in need and to help care for everyone. When SHTF, you can no longer think of everyone else and need to put your own first. Everyone had the same opportunity as you to prepare for different types of SHTF scenarios.
If you give in to a family and give them a jar of your canned food, guess who will be back for more? That jar you just gave away is also a jar of food taken right out of your kid’s mouth. On the other hand, what if you stand your ground and tell the family no and they pull out a gun? Will you be ready to protect your family and shoot first? If not, your family could lose you, all the food supplies (lead to starvation then death), possibly raped and murdered. You must always put your family first in a situation like this, no matter what.
You need to start preparing yourself mentally and think about every possible scenario you can think of and how you would react. Get with your family and whoever else you will have in your group and over-talk to make sure everyone agrees and will be on the same page.
Related: Prepare a Mental Foundation for Self Defense
7. WORK OUT
If you are a very busy individual, working out will more than likely be postponed because of your schedule. When you think of preparing for when SHTF, staying in shape is more than likely not on the top of your list.
Exercise has so many amazing benefits (releases endorphins, builds stamina, increases the likelihood of living longer, etc.) and is extremely crucial to your health.
There are hundreds of reasons you should start working out more before SHTF. Some examples include:
- carry more equipment for a further distance
- outrun punks and win in hand-to-hand combat
- strength to carry buckets of water from your watering source to bugout location or home
- be able to walk 100+ miles, depending on if you were home or out running away
- holding your kids while walking them to bugout location or home
8. EDUCATING LOVED ONES
You may be postponing teaching your loved ones’ survival tactics because you want to take care of everyone and let them know they can depend on you. As much as they would love to not have to worry about anything because you will be taking control and keeping them safe, what if something happens to you? While there is still time left, you need to teach your loved ones’ the basics.
There are so many different tactics they will need to know to survive but the most important: food. Does your child, spouse, sibling, parent know how to shoot a gun? If not, now is the time to engage in target practice. Show them how to re-load and how to clean the gun afterwards.
Now that you feel comfortable enough to let them shoot on their own, hunting comes next. Teach them everything they need to know about hunting and take them, so they can get hands-on experience before their life depends on it. Once your loved ones are familiar with hunting, you need to teach them how to butcher.
After you have educated them on meat for food, move on to the plants and berries. Take your loved ones out in the woods and show them what they can eat and not eat. Make sure to quiz them on it later so you don’t have to worry about them not knowing the difference between the poisonous and non-toxic berries and plants.
9. EXTRA CLOTHES FOR YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES
As a prepper, you are already aware of the importance of stocking up. But, did you think about getting extra clothes in different sizes for you and your loved ones?
If you haven’t already, you should go check out clearance sales or yard sales for clothes that are a couple of sizes smaller than your current size. When SHTF, you are going to lose weight by not eating as much and more physical activity.
For children and teenagers, make sure to stock up on sizes for them to grow into and several pairs of shoes for each individual because they will be living on rugged terrain and ruin the shoes more frequently.
During the wintertime, go get cheap summer outfits and during the summer, make sure to stock up on warm snow gear for everyone. You never know what season we will be experiencing when SHTF, so it is best to get all the extra clothes now, so you don’t have to worry when the time comes. If SHTF during the winter, you don’t want to be walking around in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. We must always be prepared.
Related: How to Make Your Clothes Last For Years
10. EDUCATE YOURSELF
Even if you are one of the most experienced preppers, there is always something new you can learn. Buy or download books, magazines, DVDs and become more knowledgeable in new survival tactics to enhance your skillset and then share your knowledge with your family.
Go to meetings where you can discuss the basics of prepping and the lifestyle. Join online prepper forums so you can make new friends that share the same interests as you and share your beliefs, ideas, and how you would handle SHTF situations. You could broaden your prepper knowledge more than you could imagine and feel accomplished helping others, as well. Who knows what information they gave you could have benefited you and your family by saving your life or if your information to them could have saved their life.
