Quite a few of you guys and gals have been practicing survival skills for years and years! Not me, I only just recently woke up to the need to prepare and learn for a different kind of world.
My bet is that everything I'm wondering about probably has already been covered to death. Can anyone send me links on things like distilling water, sanitation (proper disposal of human waste specifically), and things like how would a family of four keep up with laundry and showering for say a couple weeks all the way up to a month.
Please keep it simple and/or show pix! While I am no dummy I am not educated beyond highschool so the really technical stuff eludes me. (I am not going to rig a helicopter out of paperclips and rubberbands...lol)
Maybe what I'm looking for is Ebooks rather than links to threads about these subjects..? I dunno but I am willing to read til my eyeballs fall out.
Thanks for any help!
Jules

Mods when I went to post this thread the forum software informed me that there is already a thread with this topic but when I tried to go back it had already posted my thread. If this is a duplicate I apologise and please delete.
Please direct me to the thread in question if you can. I will attempt to look for it on my own.
Jules

Thanks Ed I did send a U2U.
Has everyone who reads and uses the survival forum always been a life long survivalist? Is anyone here a late bloomer like me?
Did anyone have a lightbulb moment or were you taught as a kid all the things you believe and know regarding preparation and survival?
Jules

Cant answer for the rest but I pretty much was raised that way. We didn't call it survival back then we called it getting threw day to day. I have always gone out hunting and fishing and trapping. As long as you are doing that you also pick up tips of things to do if you (Add nightmare wilderness scenario here).

My brother and sisters as well as my mother were all bread winners. We would all eat what we shot or caught. We sold the pelts to make money so we could actually eat food we didn't have to gut first, as far back as I could remember as a child we had a garden.

My mother didn't believe in welfare. the closet we ever came was help from the local churches. We would always pay it back or pay it forward when things got better. I was raised with a very strict ethics code that I still live by today and raise my own kids by.

My stint in the Army taught me what It was like to be a true survivalist. I guess if there was a single moment when I started thinking of my self as a survivalist it would have to be a few weeks after I started SOTIC . A most rewarding and the single most challenging time in my life to that point.

All thow that was easy compared to watching my wife give birth to our two children.


[edit on 30-9-2007 by angryamerican]

I'm with Angry on this, I was raised poor, and survival was just keeping food on the table and a roof over our heads.

Most survival is just finding a way to make do with what you have, not what you wish you had. And some rough times in the past to toughen you up for more rough times to come.

Jules I am just now getting interested in survival type stuff, so don't think you are alone in that! I have recently started reading up on it, more out of interest than anything.

Cshacker thanks for explaining the distilling process... peeing was a surprise. lol

Ed: laffin!! I'll try again

Novise can I ask what is the motivation for your recent interest?

Here is a recent situation that illustrates the WHY of my sudden desire to learn:
Just yesterday it snowed all afternoon. Yep, snow in September. I still had to do grocery shopping so I went to Wally's and did my thing.
I looked around and what I saw kind of scared and alarmed me; it was sureal. The other shoppers appeared to be asleep to me. Just wandering the aisles, buying crap. Wearing flipflops, buying frozen pizza, chatting on their phones, ignoring their kids, etc.
The contents of my cart: canned food and milk. A new first aid kit.
Emergency candles and backup oil for lamps. Batteries, extra pet food. Warm clothes for the kids. Get my point? These people are scaring me. Everyone appears to be in a stupor and it made the little hairs on my arms stand up. I can't tell if I am paranoid crazy or if zombies have taken over.
Jules
Does this make any sense??

Originally posted by julesmac8

Just yesterday it snowed all afternoon. Yep, snow in September.

Ah so I now know what part of the country you are in.

I still had to do grocery shopping so I went to Wally's and did my thing.
I looked around and what I saw kind of scared and alarmed me; it was sureal. The other shoppers appeared to be asleep to me. Just wandering the aisles, buying crap. Wearing flipflops, buying frozen pizza, chatting on their phones, ignoring their kids, etc.
The contents of my cart: canned food and milk. A new first aid kit.
Emergency candles and backup oil for lamps. Batteries, extra pet food. Warm clothes for the kids. Get my point? These people are scaring me. Everyone appears to be in a stupor and it made the little hairs on my arms stand up. I can't tell if I am paranoid crazy or if zombies have taken over.
Jules
Does this make any sense??

It makes perfect sense. We as Americans wear raised to think we would be protected as long as were were good tax paying citizens. Some how along the way that has translated into nothing bad will ever happen. If it does the government will step in and feed and protect us so we don't have to worry about being prepared.

It in my opinion is a shameful way to show you love your country. This country was started by ruff and ready people who had been driven out of every civilized country in the world.

We came we saw we concurred. then a bunch of us sat on the couch ate ourselves to death in front of the TV and died.


Its all about The survival state of mind. Most don't have it anymore. they have become dependent on others. People like us refuse to become defendant.

Originally posted by angryamerican
Its all about The survival state of mind.

Even if you have no tools to hand, this is the one tool you should never leave home without...a sharp mind and flexible thinking will enable you to ride out almost any situation

What a relief someone understands!
I firmly believe it's all about "Bread and Circuses". As long as we're fed and entertained we (I use the term loosely for Americans in general) will continue to sit complacently and not be able to stand up or feed ourselves when the time comes.
AA I am in Utah. "Utardia" is my name for Utah I adopted a long time ago when I was a long haul truck driver. (Bad drivers here lol)

I think our inborn survival instincts will become useless as our appendics have become: just hanging around doing nothing unless they burst and need removing completely. Kinda grim but it's what I think.
Jules

Originally posted by julesmac8
I firmly believe it's all about "Bread and Circuses". As long as we're fed and entertained we (I use the term loosely for Americans in general) will continue to sit complacently

the first thing for any survivalist is to realize that something is wrong
and when TSHTF
instead of waiting for the latest OJ update " live at 5 "
the survivalist will be putting their BUG OUT plan into action
thinking ahead of possible " what if " scenerios

but the main thing right now is planning, before TSHTF

FOOD - HEAT - SHELTER - SECURITY

start with these four
and expand on each as you see fit

sometimes, i go to the big mall we have here
and i just watch people go about their business
they take it for granted that " Survivor: China " will be on tv tonight
or their money will still be in the bank tmmw morning

most of these people never heard of CDO's or derivitives

Originally posted by julesmac8
What a relief someone understands!
I firmly believe it's all about "Bread and Circuses". As long as we're fed and entertained we (I use the term loosely for Americans in general) will continue to sit complacently and not be able to stand up or feed ourselves when the time comes.

I think most people understand on a certain deep down level. We are living lives we were not designed for. Here on the ATS survival forums our level seems to be at the surface, not deep down. We not only understand this we know it to be fact. We also know that it cant go on like this. The energy level is getting to great. something has got to give.

AA I am in Utah. "Utardia" is my name for Utah I adopted a long time ago when I was a long haul truck driver. (Bad drivers here lol)

As soon as you said snow I knew right away. My wife told me the other night when I got home from work that it snowed there. I couldn't believe it but the weather is getting crazy so it shouldn't shock me. We watch the weather channel all the time.

I think our inborn survival instincts will become useless as our appendics have become: just hanging around doing nothing unless they burst and need removing completely. Kinda grim but it's what I think.
Jules

To a certain extent I agree with that. But I don't think the instinct will become useless. I figure it is just put aside until needed. but By the time its needed its to late. the time for prep has come and gone. As you said we instinctively want to survive but wanting something and knowing how to do it are two different things In my opinion.

This is just my opinion I could be wrong however I often am.

the first thing for any survivalist is to realize that something is wrong
and when TSHTF


There is most definately something wrong!!
Listen if a suburban mother of two young children is realizing something is wrong you know it's getting kind of obvious at that point. (Survivalists have been preparing for a long time, but most people don't pay them any attention unless they are in the news)

you should have saw me leading up to Y2K

i thought that would have been the best time
for the puppetmasters to pull their NWO stuff
with all the scaremongering leading up to Y2K
it would have been a natural excuse for the " power " to go off
leave the people in the dark for a few days
a little bit of looting and pillaging
and big gov says " we have to declare martial law "

Really, as mentioned, the main thing is to have a "survival mindset". From a practical standpoint the primary considerations of any survivalist are the questions of 1.) Just what is it you are worried about surviving? and 2.) How much in the way of resources and inconvenience are you willing to invest in preparation?

(In the late 70's and 80's I was seriously worried and into Survivalism, so trust me on this.)

1. Surviving a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, a man-made disaster like martial law, or the complete collapse of civilised society, a nuclear holocaust, a plane crash in hostile wilderness (from arctic to tropical) all involve different skill sets and levels of preparation, so you have to prioritise the likelihood of various events as you see it. Be prepared for anything, but think about the most likely scenarios and plan accordingly.

2. Building fallout shelters, stocking up on a year's supply of food, buying a small arsenal, converting all your cash to gold, purchasing a retreat in a remote area to "bug out" to.........all these things are expensive and you have to seriously think about cost/benefit vs. probability before potentially compromising your finances for something that may never happen.

In summation, sit down and realistically assess your situation, prioritise the threats and the measures required to overcome them, consider your budget, then plan accordingly.

I'm happy to report that none of the things that worried me in 1980 ever materialised, and age has mellowed me somewhat. I will at the same time point out that I live in a semi-rural area in an older house that can be easily heated by wood with a dug well that could be hand-pumped if necessary on the shores of a lake abundant with fish and surrounded by woods full of game on a dead-end road that could be easily sealed off if necessary (how's that for a mouthfull?). Oh, yeah......if looters should show up here by some chance it will be the last looting they do.

So there you have it. I've mellowed, but not let my guard down. Balance.....

Hi,
i'm new here so hello everyone. I live in the south east of England which doesn't quite give me the same survival advantages some of you guys have -I don't have many places to go and bug out in, if i had to survive in the wilderness then i'ld have to find some wilderness first lol. I also can't keep handy stacks of weapons (or even own one gun) nor can i even go anywhere to learn how to shoot / hunt. However I'm not going to let minor inconveniences keep me from surviving when SHTF!

I've been a 'survivalist' since i released what a awful state the world has got into, haha ok i was probably about ten when i first started making plans for when the zombies invade! Now though i think more about government collapse, a total war situation, becoming a political fugitive and all that sort of thing but thats Worst Case, the way i see it being prepared for that i'll be able to take any minor disaster in my stride.

I have all ways seen my preparedness as more than just waiting for the big one, its a part of my every day life. It's the route towards real freedom i'm following, working towards being able to look after myself without needing anyone to package my meals or tell me what to do, where not to go, what not to see. For me being able to take a little camping holiday with just a backpack with no need for campsites or any of that tourist nonsense is priceless, having the skills to fabricate and fix my own tools, to live my life without being reliant on anyone but myself.

I totally agree with your sentiments in your supermarket story, people are asleep -we're not the first to say it, it's been getting worse for hundreds of years. I look around me when i'm in the high street; most people are incapable of fixing a push bike, consider a plush campsite 'roughing it' and hell most people are scared of seeing children after sunset! Maybe i was lucky to be born poor, to have to think about what i can spend money on -it's let me understand that people CAN live a good life without having to pay some giant company to molly coddle you. It also showed me quite clearly that when the easy life is taken away the people who have got used to it won't be able to survive in the real world.

anyway enough of that.........

My advice to someone who wants to be sure they can survive - Practice while everything is fine, take a REAL camping trip -see how long you can last before having to use certain parts of your kit. Maybe carry food but see if you can resist having to eat it or not using your lighter to start fires. I've found this a good way to test the value of the various bits of my kit. Also although i don't know if it'll work in the U.S. if you want to practice hiding and keeping a low profile try camping on farmers fields or anywhere you might get caught- at worst all they'll do is tell you to f-off and you'll learn from your mistakes.

Second is try to make your kit as flexible as possible, gas canisters won't be on sale after the big one -petrol will still be around for a while (sitting in cars, etc). A camping stove that can use many fuels is obviously then the best choice, if it can use alcohol or something redly available in a long term situation then thats got to be best.

Don't get bogged down in what might happen and ignore what WILL happen, it's pointless having shark repellent in your bat utility belt if your going to forget to bring warm clothing.

oh and one last thing - If you inter grate survival into your daily life it'll be a hell of alot easier if you ever have to do it for real -eat wild food, make tools from other tools, etc, etc.

Even though i've said nothing you don't already know how it helps to know how an English survivalist thinks

Oh and just to correct myself i've been a survivalist ever since i first heard Hank Williams - A Country Boy Can Survive.

Secret Agent Man welcome to the forum, I am fairly new here as well.
You are absolutely correct to practice now so that it's natural later. Excellent points, thankyou

RR98 I absolutely love your attitude. Mellowed but vigilant. It's perfect.

Jules