What would you prep first?

[dizzydays]

[quote="DustyDog"]If you had to start prepping from scratch again, what would you do first? What do you think is the most important thing to prep? quote]

I think the place to start is to get 2 things sorted: 1. Plan of Action 2. List

1. Plan of Action. Decide what you're prepping for and what the action is. I've made a recent choice to ignore end of the world stuff (at my peril, lol!). So that leaves me with likely events which for me would be:

a) job loss = no money/food/provisions/power (that would cover power cuts)

b) a house disaster ie: sinking/flooding/burning down (I'm in mine shaft area) = having to evacuate - list accomodations /bug out bag

c) pandemic = bugging in / medical provisions / water etc

2. Make lists for each of the above ie all the things you might need or need to know/do in your event. I've decided to stop buying tons of stuff and put the money aside instead. In the event of needing fast supplies (pandemic starting/or end of the world event that I haven't planned for) I'm only hundreds of yards from a fairly secluded shop that sells everything, and I've got the list of what to get.Obviously people in different areas have different plans. It's unlikely I'll have a civil unrest problem here, although the holidaymakers can get a bit over exciteable ...but I'd have different plans if I lived in the middle of London say, or up in the snowy highlands. If your events include nuclear disasters or Yellowstone eruptions then you can list accordingly.

Worst case scenario is s**t happens and you're running about like a headless chicken with no clue what to grab or what to do. This is what we're trying to avoid.
You'll probably find it all comes down to basic needs anyway - food/shelter/safety.

[featherstick]

Dizzy, exactly what I am talking about, a great post.

[lonewolf]

first thing I ever prepped was a wooden box and drilled two holes in the sides and put rope handles through the holes, I then filled this with as many different tins of stuff I could get hold of, this went under the kitchen table where I could grab it and throw it in the car if we ever had to get out in a hurry.

[grenfell]

Wealth gives you freedom

if that were true all we'd need to prep is money post SHTF some emergency money would be useful, for when the ATM's don't work, but that will be a short time, after which barter will be the way to go, money will be useless, you cant eat money, good for lighting a fire but that's about it.

I agree that post event money could very well be useless, at least paper and digital. The jury is probably out with regards to coinage , gold , silver may very well hold value and even copper will have some intrinsic value. However , the question is what would be the first thing to prep pre event and in that I would still say money in the here and now. A few spare pounds allows those couple of extra tins to be brought each week building up the physical preps.
Wealth can give you freedom , indeed it could be a strategy to keep enough to simply up sticks to another continent should the event be of certain natures.
That said , I have a feeling that the rich people I know through work may very well on the whole be less physically prepared than some on lower incomes that squirrels away a tin of beans a week. Rich people tend to spend on investments so yes they are financially prepared but other money is spent on sports cars , art work , flashy clothes and so on . The number of the rich with cabbages and spuds in the garden is probably very very low.
So yes ensure some wealth as a first priority but use it as a base for more tangible preps.

[lonewolf]

[quote="grenfell") the question is what would be the first thing to prep pre event and in that I would still say money in the here and now.[/quote]
I think if that were the case the rich would all survive and the poor would all die post SHTF, but I know people who are rich in assets but have very little hard cash, its all in investments and stocks and shares, yet I know poor people who can handle money better than any stock broker or merchant banker..cos they had too. you can have all the money in the world but if you haven't at least put some into actual stocks of food and water you'll die very fast post event.

[Jack the Lad]

Lone wolf it don't matter how much money you have, if you dont have the prepper mentality you are not going to be prepared for anything.
End of the day prepping costs money and the more spare money you have or create the easier it is to prep.

[lonewolf]

Lone wolf it don't matter how much money you have, if you dont have the prepper mentality you are not going to be prepared for anything.
End of the day prepping costs money and the more spare money you have or create the easier it is to prep.

you think I don't know prepping costs money??tell me about it!

[Stasher]

Lone wolf it don't matter how much money you have, if you dont have the prepper mentality you are not going to be prepared for anything.
End of the day prepping costs money and the more spare money you have or create the easier it is to prep.

Well said, that's what I meant.

Also, wealth gives you choices where lack of wealth gives you fewer.

Example,

Poor version, I lose my job and altho I have food to eat as I have stashed, I do not have money to pay the mortgage for the next 3 months, heat the house and keep the lights on so I take a job when offered, 25 miles from home doing work I don't enjoy simply to pay the bills

Wealth version, I lose my job I have food and toiletries because I have been a stasher, better than this I have money to keep a warm house for the next four months. I cash in some bonds after two months, sell my 2 year old car and buy a smaller, more economic one. a few weeks later I am finally offered a job I want to do only 10 miles from home

There are so many ways in life that wealth gives you freedom, freedom to choose

Oh, and 'prep' !

[jansman]

Lone wolf it don't matter how much money you have, if you dont have the prepper mentality you are not going to be prepared for anything.
End of the day prepping costs money and the more spare money you have or create the easier it is to prep.

Well said, that's what I meant.

Also, wealth gives you choices where lack of wealth gives you fewer.

Example,

Poor version, I lose my job and altho I have food to eat as I have stashed, I do not have money to pay the mortgage for the next 3 months, heat the house and keep the lights on so I take a job when offered, 25 miles from home doing work I don't enjoy simply to pay the bills

Wealth version, I lose my job I have food and toiletries because I have been a stasher, better than this I have money to keep a warm house for the next four months. I cash in some bonds after two months, sell my 2 year old car and buy a smaller, more economic one. a few weeks later I am finally offered a job I want to do only 10 miles from home

There are so many ways in life that wealth gives you freedom, freedom to choose

Oh, and 'prep' !

I was in just that situation last year. That job paid WELL. However,I stashed CASH before the event. The mortgage was paid off. No debt-in any form. Oh! I forgot the Milkman, he needs his seven quid.

Wealth /money,DOES buy choice and options.

[grenfell]

[quote="grenfell") the question is what would be the first thing to prep pre event and in that I would still say money in the here and now.

I think if that were the case the rich would all survive and the poor would all die post SHTF, but I know people who are rich in assets but have very little hard cash, its all in investments and stocks and shares, yet I know poor people who can handle money better than any stock broker or merchant banker..cos they had too. you can have all the money in the world but if you haven't at least put some into actual stocks of food and water you'll die very fast post event.[/quote]

As has been pointed out many on here have found some savings can help them through " smaller" events , be it redundancy , localised flooding or whatever. I agree that in a total break down of society investments and even hard cash would hold much less if any value but surely any sensible prepper thinks not only of the "big one"
Also I wasn't saying the rich would all survive. Granted their wealth would give them the opportunity to avoid certain events or relocate somewhere safer but some do become a little detached from reality as "too much" wealth gives them a sense that everything is rosy . In the end I think it's a balance , one needs just enough to allow for the purchase of preps but not so much that one believes any problem can be solved just by chucking money at it.
If anyone thinks money isn't remotely important they need only to look at areas of Africa where the population hasn't two pennies to rub together. How are they surviving? All very well or reliant on aid from abroad?