How our Preparedness Needs to Change as a Result of This Election – Part 2

So in the last blog post, we started talking about how our preparedness needs to change as a result of this election.  The main thing that we discussed was Food Security.  In this second blog post, I want to address four further areas of Security that really need to change or augment as a result of this election.

Financial Security

Streams of Income

What is a stream of income?  It’s money that comes in on a regular basis from a job, a side hustle, or an investment. So having defined how many streams of income do you have?  Most people have one – their regular job.  Have you considered adding a side hustle?  This is the time to do it!

Not only is it true that the more streams of income you have the less you need to worry, but adding to your income now will help in a bunch of other ways as well – which I’ll talk about later. The problem with a side hustle is that it takes time to develop and to increase your income to the point that it makes a difference.  And then when you have enough money that it does make a difference, then for a time a decent part of that money will need to be invested back into your business because a stagnant business will end up deteriorating.

Get Out of Debt

Having to pay out less money will increase your financial sufficiency.  The less that you have to pay out every month, the better your financial situation will be.  And if you lose one stream of income, it will be easier to keep everything else in check if you don’t have any debt. If you have no debt, you can save money now.  Which allows you to have more of a cushion if something happens.

But what if you have debt?  Start to pay it down now.  Want to how?  Dave Ramsey has a method called a Debt Snowball.  You list all of your debts in the order of smallest to largest.  Once you do that, you take any extra money that you can (plus the minimum payment due) and you put it on your smallest debt and pay it off as quickly as you can.  Once it’s paid off, you apply the extra money you used and what was the minimum payment from the first debt, and you apply that to the second smallest debt.  You keep doing this until you have all of your debt paid off.

Home Security

Is your home ready to go?  I don’t mean do you have food and toilet paper stocked up.  I mean, the building that you live in, is it ready?

Home Maintenance

Have you been keeping your home maintenance up to date?

Have you had your furnace and air conditioner checked out this year?  Are your air filters for your AC and furnace new?  Were they changed this quarter?  Have you cleaned out your air ducts or your clothes dryer vent?

Have you replaced the filter in your vent hood this year?

What about your chimney cleaned out in the last two to three years?

When was the last time that you checked around your toilets and sinks to make sure that there is no water leaking out around them?  Have you checked to see how the grout and caulking are around your tub and shower?  This will prevent water from getting into the walls.

Have you replaced the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors?  Have you tested them as well?

What about outside?  Have you looked at your downspouts and gutters lately?  What kind of condition are they in?  It’s fall, have you cleaned out your gutters?

How does the foundation look?  Are there any areas of it that look like it’s starting to be problematic?

If your house is kept in it’s best shape, then you’ll have less to worry about if things get tough!

Tools

Do you have the necessary tools that you need to make rudimentary home repairs? Hand tools will always work whether there is electricity or not.  Simple things like a ladder, a GOOD hammer, a quality hand saw, clamps, saw horses, wrench, screwdrivers, a drill, drill bits, a tape measure, pliers, a level.  This tool kit has most of those tools.  I’ve owned it for more than two years, and it is a great quality set.

Power tools are also helpful.  A circular saw, a reciprocating saw, a drill, sander, chain saw, oscillating multi-tool, angle grinder, and a nail gun all could come in helpful if you truly have to do it yourself.

Garden Tools

What about the tools that you would need to build something – do you have those? How about garden tools that you may need?  I have a whole article on 10 Outdoor Tools for Self-Sufficiency.

Physical Security 

There are things that you can actually do to make your home physically more secure.  But I want you to understand the things that you might do now to make your home more secure could work against you if the SHTF.  Check out this article to see how you should adjust your home security if the S should HTF.

Security Camera

A security camera real or fake can deter a burglar from targeting your home in more “normal” times.

Motion Sensor Lights

To go along with having a security camera, having motion sensor lights.  This way if a kid wants to cut through your back yard, you’ll know.  Someone tries to break in through a window.  You’ll know before they can get to the window.  Someone wants to steal from your garden – they’ll get a nice surprise.

Harden your doors

Have you ever heard of hardening your doors?  A while ago a company called Armor Concepts sent us a door hardening kit.  We’ve installed it, and even though we have glass windows on either side of our door, the door hardening kit makes it much more difficult if someone were trying to break it in.  When you compare it to our other non-hardened door, it is more difficult to open normally (if you tried to break it in, it would be next to impossible!), but that provides us with greater protection and a greater sense of security.

Harden your windows

Windows can actually be hardened as well.  There is a glass security film which when applied to the inside of the window (or glass in a door) will do a couple of things.  First off, it makes your window VERY difficult to break into.  If a burglar takes a swing at a window with this security film, your window shouldn’t break or even crack unless it is hit repeatedly.  One other upside of using this film is that it blocks 99% of the UV radiation that would be coming in through the window.

Fido

While having a dog will deter a burglar, a dog will also keep you safer!  I have a friend who lives near the downtown area of our city.  It’s not what I’d refer to as the safest area of town.  When she goes outside in their front yard, she always takes their large dog outside with her.  He gives her a sense of security while also providing actual security because he won’t let anything happen to her.  If things do ever go sideways, having a dog could be one of your most precious resources!

Neighborhood Security

Did you know that your neighborhood has the ability to either make your home more?  I’m not about where your neighborhood is located either.  Do people walk their dogs in your neighborhood? We see people out walking their dogs ALL THE TIME around our house.

Do other people do yard work?  We have a lot of that going on around our home.  It’s really fun to see everyone outside.  Do families go for walks together?  I love watching family’s out pulling little kids in their wagons.  Do neighbors talk to each other if they see each other out?  Oftentimes the people out on walks do stop and talk with others that are also outside.

All of those things work toward making your neighborhood a safer place!  It’s also the place that should consider starting to put together a survival group.

As you get to know your neighbors, which you should absolutely try to do, you’ll learn a lot about them.  This will help you get to know who can fix your garage door.  You’ll find out who has that rototiller that you didn’t buy yet – and whether or not they’ll let you use it.  You’ll find out who can be a real pain in the rump and who is the kindest person on the block.

All of these things will help you, but you need to take steps right now to really get to know your neighbors!  If things get hard, you’ll need these people.  If things stay do-able, you’ll be glad to have friends.  It’s a win-win!

So What About You?

Do you have any other areas of security that you think that we should be covering or augmenting?  Are you changing anything else in your everyday life or your preparedness efforts?  Share with us in the comments below so that we can all be better prepared.

Together, let’s Love, Learn, Practice and Overcome.