Things tend to take on a smoother, more successful, and reliable pattern when they’ve become routine. That’s not to say that you’re taking things for granted, more that they’ve become a part of your everyday life.
And that’s just the way that the most effective and successful prepping is likely to develop and take hold – when it becomes a way of life.
The big advantage
There’s one big and fairly clear advantage in building your prepping into everyday life. You’ll stay several steps ahead of the game if you’ve started your prepping in the unhurried calm of day-to-day life rather than leaving all your planning until the very last minute when disaster is imminent – and the best prep in the world is then unlikely to amount to much.
Avoid that stress by seizing the moment now, when all around you is the uneventful calm that’ll help you prepare, plan, and lay down your supplies and provisions, advises the Mountain House website.
Building on what you already have
Another bonus to get onboard when you build prepping into everyday life is the realisation that you already have the basis for many emergency supplies.
Have a root around in your kitchen cupboards or pantry and you’re likely to find packets and tins of non-perishable food and other long life food supplies. Rifle through the kitchen drawers or take a look in the garage for the torches and supplies of batteries you’re likely to need when the power goes down. Check in a rarely-used backpack at the back of your wardrobe you might even find a map or two of your local area.
The secret will lie in looking afresh at all the bric-a-brac and clutter lying around your home that can come in handy in any emergency.
Step by step
With prepping now firmly a part of your everyday life, you can build up the stocks and supplies you’re going to need just a little at a time – take it step by step rather than imagining you can think of everything you’re going to need all in one go.
Whether it’s adding to your stock of non-perishable and long-life foods, handy tools and pieces of equipment, or those odds and ends that might serve as useful accessories in an emergency, you’ll be surprised by how much can be built up over time.
Create a bug out bag (also known as a grab bag) – or buy one that is ready stocked.
Think about the others in your household, children and pets. Make sure they have their own supplies of whatever they need.
Seasons come and go
Thanks to having built your prepping into your everyday life, you’ll have noticed how your environment changes over time – the seasons come, and the seasons go, with each one bringing its own unique challenges if you find yourself in a crisis situation.
In the UK, for example, winter is likely to prove an especially challenging time – so we’ve written separately about prepping for those harder times in particular.
Situational awareness
But don’t limit yourself to a keener awareness of the changing seasons – improving your situational awareness of everything that is going on around you will make prepping all the better for it and leave you more prepared than ever for the unexpected.
Developing that situational awareness could prove such a critical talent that we’ve devoted one of our blogs on the 7th of July 2021 to that very subject.
Practice
Although you’ve been building up your prepping and preparedness over time, into your everyday life, that doesn’t mean you have to wait until everything’s done before you put into practice or simulate some emergency situation you may need to confront.
Practice now, since the prepping itself is a job never done.
Build your prepping into everyday life – it’s likely to go smoother and more easily, not to mention your preparedness becoming all the better for it.
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