Tips For Survivng This Brutal Winter.

I wanted to start this thread as a way for us to share tips on how we can help others, and discuss different techniques to survive this abnormally brutal winter. It could be anything to either keep warm, or household help and needs, but please keep it either free or inexpensive, and possibly easy to do.

My pipes froze a few days ago, and it was a surprise as I have the proper things that should help avoid this, and I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought. So I checked out this helpful site www.thisoldhouse.com... that has almost anything that you can think of, and has helpful videos.

Though I was a few days late, I saw that if unavoidable you can shut off your water, as to prevent waiting for the pipes to thaw, or pipes breaking. Duh! I didn't even think of that, but I did prepare when I noticed one pipe freeze after another, by filling my bathtubs, and washing machine. Making sure that everything was clean, especially dishes, knowing that cooking is largely dependent on clean dishes, especially if water is hard to come by, and water containers, which I always have on hand in a SHTF scenario.

So please, lets share some other great tips, and help our fellow ATSers. I know that it can come in handy for either yourself or a friend or family member.

Peace, NRE.

Cuddles.

Lots of cuddles.

Also, if you have to commute, either yourself or with children, always keep an extra blanket, socks, look, whatever you would take with you to either sleepover somewhere for the night, and a snack. Water, they sell warmers for feet and hands at gas stations of large stores for $1.00 or less per pack, spend the 10 bucks and get extra for the car. Especially for kids.

Food and water, it doesn't have to be a full meal, but something for kids to do if you have to wait. Nothing is more frustrating then trying to calm a kid down when your already in a hectic situation.

Here's some suggestions for snacks for the kids, and yourself.
Juice boxes.
Bottled water.
Ziploc of cereal.
Granola bars.
And for goodness sack a travel pack of aspirin, you know just in case.

Peace, NRE.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Thanks for making this thread. Hopefully a lot of people will comment on it. Staying warm in the winter months is essential. Currently, I am living in south western New York by the Pennsylvania border. The weather here over the past year has been totally abnormal to our usual seasons.

Last year, the spring came late and turned immediately into summer. Our summer nights were cold, mostly. The fall seemed to come a little late this year. The tree's leaves fell off often before they changed color. The colorful tree's that are usually around all month or longer, we visible for only a short period. We had an "Indian Summer" in November. Now its suddenly become winter like conditions. This week is the harshest week we've had so far regarding temperature. Its 18F right now but the wind chill is 6, so that's what it feels like outside.

My best advice to stay warm is to wear lots of layers of clothing.

Depends on the environment and situations. In your home, you have the advantage of a good shelter and available items to create insulation. In the fields or woods, you need to gather dead plant material to create dead air spaces and insulation. Don't sleep at the bottom of a canyon, especially near a body of water. Simple items carried with you like large black trash bags can be a good way to give you some protection from weather by making one into a poncho. They make gathering leafs and dry grass into makeshift sleeping bags a nice solution as well.
Shelter is your primary concern in a weather situation. Learn how to make a debris hut. Excellent camuoflage and weather protection when done properly.
Dress in layers and get wool clothing.

Last winter was brutal here we had something like 32 inches once...

Learn from my mistake:
IF you DO lose power, make sure you weren't in the middle of doing something, like cooking if you decide to leave the house to go somewhere else until it comes back on. You will arrive to a flaming stovetop or worse, I think I was lucky. Make sure everything important is off before you leave...

and space heaters, space heaters everywhere. stock up on kerosene

reply to post by starshift

good points all of them

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e71fbaa2ca6c.gif[/atsimg]

every winter i plug in my heat tape and make sure the animals haven't gotten under the house and used my insulation wrap as bedding. plus i always leave the water dripping in the kitchen sink when it drops below the teens.

i always keep 10 one gallon jugs of water around so if the power goes out i can have water to flush the toilet and have fresh drinking water as i am on a deep submersed well and not nasty city water.

i also roll small throw rugs up and put them against the bottoms of the outside doors to prevent any cold air from sneaking in.

i have a very nice heavy steel wood stove and i always keep 5 cord of nicely cured locust and hedge around in the event all power goes out. definitely a must in winter environments.

where there isn't doors in between rooms, i staple heavy blankets over them and only heat the smaller rooms i actually use.

in my well house i keep a heat tape and a 60 watt bulb burning and i stack bales of hay against and up the seams of the doors to get maximum RRRRSSSS...LOL

i also have many different styles of sleeping bags and pup tents, that if i absolutely had to i could set up in my living room to decrease my living space to ensure maximum warmth in the event of an extreme situation where it would be necessary.

plus i keep a 350 amp car starter power pack with built in LEDS and dc out fully charged in the even of a total blackout. it will burn for a month solid if i never turned it off.

I always keep 3 chainsaws fully maintenanced and sharp and have every conceivable tool for cutting dragging,splitting and hauling firewood, plus 30 acres of woods full of available timber to cut at will

if you don't have thermal pane windows you can plastic the outsides and cut foam insulation and cover the windows on the inside to separate the cold from the warmth.

if you have electricity but don't have a woodstove or gas, you can keep pans of boiling water on the stove and keep your oven on and leave it slightly cracked open for added warmth.

stay inside in the warmth as much as possible and stay busy doing art or crafts or anything that will relieve stress. you dont want to suffer and become depressed and always stay aware of your weather conditions. and dont burn your house down around your ears

reply to post by aliengenes


Very good tips. I also bought the insulation foam for pipes after seeing an infomercial selling seals for under the doors and windows for 20 bucks, and bought 20 of them for 20 bucks at Lowes. I cut them the size of the windows and doors, and they already have a slit to open, I just slid them under the door, and under the windows before closing and haven't had a problem since.

Peace, NRE.

I'll suggest a camping stove with plenty of gas canisters.
If you get a power cut and have not got a woodburning stove or open fireplace, this will allow you to make basic hot meals and drinks.
Which are essential for keeping your body temp up.
Also for a car journey take a flask or two of hot drinks, again for the same reason.

I know that there are many people that are having financial difficulties and cannot afford many things, so I would like to suggest chicken/beef bouillon. All that is required is water, and tells your brain that you are having a full meal. This is also very helpful if you are in dire need of food, and were not prepared.

Wood stoves are fantastic as I have one myself, but you can also build one yourself with cinder blocks, and or bricks. I have a thread with all the requirements for such a thing including solar stoves that can be made with shoe boxes or an umbrella.

More to come.

Peace, NRE.

Here is another of my thread that I am sure would be useful this time of year www.abovetopsecret.com... I still make mistakes at times but I am trying by myself, these things are better done with someone, but can be done alone if needed.

Peace, NRE.

reply to post by starshift


reply to post by starshift

Water purification is a great concern in any whether, but its important to stay hydrated and should be at the forefront of any survival plan. Should learn different ways to purify water in any event.
Shelter should be able to built if for some reason you had to leave a place immediately. There are many cheap shelters that can be built in the woods and good resources online by searching cheap survival shelters. The trash bags are a great idea that I didn't really think about and can be used for many purposes.
Heat is important and to make sure that you have heat always have an axe and matches or a firestarter like vaseline and cottonsballs. Food high in minerals like Organic molasses and Sesame Seed to add to a hot drink to keep you replenished. Starshift if you get this message contact me as ats is making it difficult for me to contact you. You sent me a message and although I had 20 posts, they don't let me sign on or send messages, so I created another account. Not sure why they won't let me login after my 20th post. Anyway, I can be reached at mrjmjewels at safe-mail.net. This is my fourth attempt to respond to you.

I sent a message so will await the reply.
Good information you added as well.

reply to post by starshift

Oh by the way if you store cotton balls with vaseline the best way to do it is in a photo cartridge container the round black ones with a top (although I'm not sure why, just read that). There must be a higher meaning to the reason we are not connecting so easily, but I'm sure it's divine to make for a more perfect outcome. Anyway, I didn't receive your message try this one [email protected] Maybe you didn't type in the correct address or safe-mail is just not that reliable so I switched to gmail.

Msg sent.
I like to keep a little vial of tea tree oil in my kit. In addition to it's topical medicinal uses, it's flammable.

always remember to carry extra socks and keep your feet dry as possible when out in cold weather. corn starch helps keeping them dry, also invest in a pair of british military gortex boot liners and just keep them in your backpack, so if your feet get wet and are freezing, you can take your boots and socks off and put your feet in them and you'll be back to toasty in no time you can check them out here:www.cadetdirect.com...
you want to do the same thing with carrying extra glove liners as well. i have found that resting outside in extreme cold weather your body temperature drops and if you carry light extras you can change them out and it will take some of the cold away on your extremities.

the other things are to wear sweat pants with medium flannel undergarments, and to never wear blue jeans or tight clothing. you need to create air pockets with layers to keep the cold away from your body and to wick away moisture. silk underwear are probably the best, but ive only ever used the medium flannels because the heavy's will cause you to sweat...period

invest in a goose down winter coat, there isn't anything that will keep your warmth in better than goose down, ive been stranded in snow storms with mine and its actually pretty comfortable runnin around in the freezing ass weather when you're warm and toasty and you know you aren't going to freeze to death...lol

another very important investment is to buy an american military extreme cold weather face mask and a pair of goggles, these face masks come with a removable insulated filter so you can drink from them and it quick detaches with velcro. here's a link for this product:www.sportsmansguide.com...
they are cheap and you get 10 in a pack, well worth the price and you'll never be without to share with family and emergency survival situations.

I have many many ideas and products i use because you must have the proper equipment if you want to survive. if you need any suggestions feel free to write me, and i'll continue to post if i run into new stuff or remember something of value?