Bugging out?.....Have you considered Time management?

Today I would like to mention something I have yet to see in a survival thread.

The issue of “Time Management”

So what do I mean by time management and how does that fit into or have anything to do whatsoever with survival? Well I’ll tell you, but first let me explain my own situation and how it affects my daily life.
Some who may have spoken with me in the past know that I am an American Expatriate living in South East Asia. Needless to say 99% of South East Asia is 3rd world country living conditions. Surprisingly enough the level of hardship one experiences is highly dependent on what a person is willing to put up with, NOT how much money you make.

I personally enjoy the bare minimum, not so much because of cost but because I enjoy spending my money on things I want and not on bills. The one problem I do have an issue with and one I have had to spend several years acclimating myself to is “Time Management”.

You see, everything I do is comparatively speaking a pain in the ass compared to life in the States. If I want food I have to go to the market, because I have no refrigerator, so I have to cut and prepare my food every day. No quickie frozen meals or pre-sacked items.

If I cook I have to start a fire and cook with coconut coal constantly fanning the flames to keep it hot enough to cook my food evenly. If I want rice I have to clean the rice first and pick out the rocks that may be in it.
If I want to eat beef I have to first boil or pressure cook it for an hour just to soften it up enough to be edible.

If I wash clothes it is by hand, outside. First soak with a bar of soap, then scrub, then rinse, then hang, and hope it doesn’t rain. I have to wait until midnight for water and then I have to replenish two 30 gallon drums, 6, 16 liter buckets, and one large Ice chest. I have to carry the water back and forth for the next 4 hours. That means I get to sleep at four in the morning at the earliest. This is all on top of taking care of my 6 year old daughter and my Odesk job as a freelance graphic artist.

Pretty much everything I do depletes much more time than it did in America. In America most issues that take time have been solved, and are significantly shortened. People have grown accustomed to having to work less and consequently have more time to spend doing other things-usually leisure.
That’s why I wanted everyone to consider Time management in the event they decide to bug out. Because depending on the situation, you may find that if you are ill prepared to handle the things that “MUST” be done, you are going to be sore out of luck before things get better.

The really isn’t for those people planning on bugging out to a farm house that has similar accommodations as their normal home. This is for the bug out man or woman putting it all out on the line and really roughing it. I just wanted to make sure everyone considers how much planning you have to do in the event you are living in a less than refined situation.

Do you have to hunt? How long will it take to check your traps, to skin your food, to clean your fish and prepare it for dinner? How about gathering wood, and starting a fire, or cleaning up after yourself.
Mending clothes that have torn making repairs in other places, Re-baiting traps and fishing lines, Making traps and improvised mechanisms and most of all acquiring, and purifying you water.

Washing your clothes, your dishes, drying your clothes, cleaning your firearms, scouting locations and the list goes on. It is a matter of fact that the majority if not all of your day from sun up to sun down will be spent performing some kind of laborious or monotonous task that will test you patience to the limit; moreover you will be doing this every single day until you have the opportunity to stop. Getting out and doing this for a week at a time is no sweat. Doing it for months or even years at a time will be something you have to get used to.

Time management is an abstract concept in regards to survivalist life style and one I didn’t want people to over look.
So the next time you consider what you are going to do when bugging out ask yourself, “Do I have enough time in my day to accomplish all my tasks successfully?” And then work accordingly.
Thanks

P.S.
For those wondering how I do all this and still play on ATS, the answer is simple,…I half ass A LOT, and I sleep only 3 to 4 hours a day.

As I have said in numerous survival threads, I feel the best way to cope in this sort of situation is to live as folk did hundres of years ago. Read some history books and try to understand what it was like. They managed quite well without all the modern gadgets.

My wife and I belong to a Viking association in France. Okay, it is fun to run about with big swords, jumping out of long boat and running wild, but the real up-side of it is that you learn skills that many modern people would not even think about. However, in order to time manage your day and achieve everything, you need to be a well structured group. Share the chores out amongst yourselves. Yes you can survive on your own, but it exuasting after a few weeks, trust me.

Find yourself a commune and work together. Ad the old saying goes, united we win, divided we fall.

How true.

What is this bugging out? Do people feel danger is so immenent that they need to get away to the middle of nowhere?

I'm so sick of listening to those people. I'm glad you know all about time management, but I mean, if our situation is so dire, and with the way these opressive governments have been shutting down the internet, I feel as though I should get as much of it as possible before its gone for good.

Don't ya'll want to spend a little more time together before TSHTF

Lets not all hide under rocks just yet k

reply to post by siren8


Hey, bugging out just means going camping or testing ones survival skill, it doesn't have to mean escaping government oppression anything like that.
It could also mean escaping natural disasters and being forced to migrate to a different location.

Originally posted by TheLoneArcher
My wife and I belong to a Viking association in France. Okay, it is fun to run about with big swords, jumping out of long boat and running wild.

Oh my god, there is a place to do that? I'm looking it up right now!

reply to post by snowen20


There are hundreds world wide. I am pretty sure there would be one not too far from you.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


Thanks for the idea, sounds fun.
By the way I agree with you on the philosophy of getting back to the ways of centuries past.
I suggest everyone go help out on a Farm for a few weeks just to see what butt kicking work is like.
I knew this guy named virgil who was a cowboy, that man worked literally 20 hours a day and never complained. Im talking hard work too.

Originally posted by snowen20
reply to post by siren8

 

Hey, bugging out just means going camping or testing ones survival skill, it doesn't have to mean escaping government oppression anything like that.
It could also mean escaping natural disasters and being forced to migrate to a different location.

But to willingly bring a small child into that situation is just cruel in my opinion. I don't speak for you, but I want to provide the best quality of life possible for my family. For me that means electricity and running water.

As well, this type of survival will be harder to keep up as you age and run out of money to buy your food.
This is why preparation is key..would you rather be in a warm cabin with food stores, clean water and a garden or would you rather be in the OP's position?

reply to post by snowen20


If you go to this site:

www.documentarywire.com...

and look up, I think it is called the worst jobs in history. It is hosted by Tony Robinson of Black Adder fame. It gives you an insight of what life was like.

It is not an easy existance, simply becuase we have become too soft. Also, a good book to treat youself to is the SAS Survival Guide by Lofty Wiseman. He was the chief survival instructor at Hereford for 20 years. He really knows his stuff.

reply to post by StripedBandit


If you are referring to me, and my family situation, I can assure you my child is well taken care of and even attends a prestigious private school, speaks three languages and eats me out of house and home.
As for electricity,....Im using a computer now sitting in front of a large fan and listening to an ipod.
millions upon millions of people live as I do and we are perfectly fine, my neighbor has a 42 inch flat screen television, how the hell did that happen?

im not sure if this is what you meant, but I noticed many people are very very ignorant to life outside their own country and often times make incorrect leaps in logic. Im not saying you have done that but Im speaking generally.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


Actually I purchased lofty wiseman's SAS survival guide at a shopette when I was in the Army it is good and i take it with me when ever I go on hiking trips and camp out. It is invaluable.

reply to post by snowen20


Ah, a fellow vet. Welcome brother.

I hope you wear your Vet's Badge with pride.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


It's in everything I do, just look at my signature.
Once a soldier always a soldier.

I think I may know what the OP means.

If you have had the experience of confronting a flat tire in scorching heat, when you have an appointment on a tight schedule, you know how one kink in the line of events can ruin all your plans. And the knowledge that you are falling behind makes you push even harder and faster, thus causing even more mistakes.

Or at the end of autumn, having gathered all the cattle before the first big winter storm hits. Climbing back into the cab of the pickup, and noticing that you've got no electrical power. Nothing. No lights, no horn, no nothing. The battery is completely dead, the starter has shorted out again, so that the radio won't work either. You pick up your coat and anything useful in the truck's tool box as you begin the 5 mile walk back to the paved road, just as the sun slips below the horizon, the wind picks up, and the first few snowflakes begin to fall.

Those times when one little problem is magnified into a life-threatening event, simply because you don't have any safety nets, not social network, no perfect gadget to fix the situation. Sure, you can improvise, and you almost certainly won't die. Almost certainly. But having to McGuyver something together will still make you hours late, and eat up any gains or profit, or merely time off, that you were planning on.

.

Great thread! I am incredibly intrigued by the path you have chosen, what a world it must be. I will keep the information you have provided in mind as i am sure it will come in handy when Shtf! Or... my next camping trip.

reply to post by dr_strangecraft


100% on point!
Thank you.
Thats what I meant in my own daily experiences. Spend 2 hours hand washing clothes and as soon as you hang them it begins to rain. Which in turn means they will not be dry by the time you have to go buy your food at the market, which in turn will make you late in everything else basically turning your day in to a proverbial cluster ****.

reply to post by snowen20


You can take a man out of the Army, but you cannot take the Army out of a man.

For those who want to give it a go, one weekend, turn off your electricty and water. Just see what difference it will make to your life. Trust me, it is not as easy as you may think.

reply to post by snowen20


Both my boys are now serving. My eldest is in the Royal Logistics Corps, jumping up and down on mines, and my youngest is in the Welsh Guards.

I tell you, it has really made a difference to their characters.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


Well i was a lot older than the other people in my platoon, almost ten years older in some cases. All my changing happened before I entered service. It did allow me to see a different side of myself though, that I never knew existed.