Well budgeting, learning to repurpose items, prioritize, scrounge for free and inexpensive items and food.
hello from texas
- Thread starter LexiRae
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Well budgeting, learning to repurpose items, prioritize, scrounge for free and inexpensive items and food.
LexiRae
Active Member
i love lists. perfect. i just started tearing apart my kids’ sandbox to use for a raised garden, i have a few guns, food for maybe two months, water etc. how would you prioritize? more food? i do best with a goal lol
tmttactical
A True Doomsday Prepper
We prep one bite at a time. In my case, wife and I are retired and on Social Security. We stock up on food, when it is on sale. We buy a few extra cans of food each month. We paid off all but one debt and that ends in two years. Prepping is a marathon event, not a sprint to the finish line. Yes I am also one of those talking about monoculars --- no katana, too close and personal --- research to save money and get what is the best for the price point. List and then budget items. AND yes a few more batteries always helps. We got most of our batteries free, when we bought a tool at Harbor Freight. There are ways to save on most purchases, just keep your eyes open for sales. House brands vs. Name brands, is an example.
Hi LexiRae, welcome from a Texan living in Germany. You already have a good start, 2 months food and guns to protect it. 2 things...Why are you kids at the grandmother and you did not go with them and why don't you take your food, flashlight and guns to go and protect your kids and mother in a better neighborhood before you get attacked from the gangs or cannot even get the gasoline to get out of there??? Make a few pictures in your mind, get a few scenarios together and make a decision as to where you should be if this gets REALLY out of hand. If you stay where you are, do you have a safe room with strong doors and be able to back up into it if gangs do start roaming the streets and robbing every house since the cops are not coming and are overloaded themselves...can you shoot well? how much water can you store in smaller containers? how much ammo do you have? are you able to shoot through a wall or door with your caliber? can you get a table and set it on its side and make it thicker with more wood and even some metal to hide behind in your safe room so the bullets cannot get you while you are shooting through the door? how good are your locks? do you have a fire extinguisher in case someone sets your house of fire after you chased them out with bullets? do you have an escape route planned? how much food and water and clothing is already packed in your car so you could just grab the guns, get into the car and disappear? have you tested this scenario? try to get the hell out of dodge and see how long it takes to get you stuff into the car and be leaving...do you have a BOB? (Bug-out-bag)? how heavy? practice carrying it for a few hours daily and get your boots well worn in if you have no car, no gas and need to walk out of town or to your next friends house, how far is this friend? are they prepped? how far is mother? can you walk so far? first aid kit?
Get the idea? sit down, make lists of to-do, read lots of stuff here, practice getting out fast and think about another place without the gangs...God bless and good luck, Gary
Get the idea? sit down, make lists of to-do, read lots of stuff here, practice getting out fast and think about another place without the gangs...God bless and good luck, Gary
Brent S
Top Poster
My lists always start with a water filter. Not exciting or flashy but can keep you from getting sick when you need it most. Second would be having a backup location to go to if things get worse.i love lists. perfect. i just started tearing apart my kids’ sandbox to use for a raised garden, i have a few guns, food for maybe two months, water etc. how would you prioritize? more food? i do best with a goal lol
LexiRae
Active Member
i started picking up smaller items when i find a good deal a few years ago. i resell for a living so i happen upon some great things at estate sales etc. and i buy one bigger ticket item a year out of my tax refund. i had my eye on a henry big boy rifle for this year but my priorities are changing by the minute. my prepping felt like a marathon until the virus hit. now i feel like it’s time to sprint lol
LexiRae
Active Member
gary, thank you! your message gives me a little boost of confidence bc i have covered most of those scenarios. i’m actually headed to get my kids today bc my inlaws aren’t taking this issue seriously yet. i sent them bc i wanted them around less people and they drove into the city and took them bowling. my own mother lives one street away from me. it took me 3 years to get her to move closer and i’ve finally gotten her to consider moving to the hill country with me. if we have to leave, we will go to my aunts in canyon lake. have two bobs that ive practiced with. i can’t keep my car stocked bc of my neighborhood, lost my esee 6 already bc of someone that broke in to my car, but i essentials in the garage ready to load up. other circumstances in my life have forced me to get acquainted with my guns and i would now call myself a good shot but i picked up a shotgun for home defense just in case.
LexiRae
Active Member
you rock! i have two filters in our bug out bags and some purification tabs. we will head to my aunts in the hill country or to the bay at my inlaws. the problem i have is that i’m the only one in my family or friends that has ever considered the possibility of shit hitting the fan. they think i’m paranoid lol
Glad to hear if I could help even a bit from 6000 km away. The shotgun can be a very good house protection weapon. Don't let those self proclaimed legends tell you different. The looks, sound and damage of a shotgun is more than been proven before. Many shotguns were carried and used in Vietnam.
ONLY...use birdshot for the house protection...Slugs and Buckshot will go through the walls and get an innocent person in the house if you miss, birdshot will not open up with a normal length barrel unless it gets out much further than the distance in ANY room in your house and it will make the biggest hole in a human you could imagine. Make sure the local people see you walking around the house in the windows with a pistol or around the yard with the shotgun. They will go to another house which they think or know is not so well armed. Make all those involved well practiced if they are old enough. Teach them to load and unload, feed a round, load a magazine and the safety/fire switch. Let them shoot if possible. Use earplugs AND hearing protectors at the same time for a special reason...If they shoot and hear how loud the gun is, they will close their eyes and maybe miss. With the ear protector/plugs combo, they will not be so sensitive. The first round fired is not as important as the first round
on target...have fun and be prepped...Gary
Aren't we all a bit paranoid? Cool huh? I am not paranoid,,,I KNOW they are out to get me-----ha ha...GP
Brent S
Top Poster
I’m not scared of anything. I’m very well armed.....
Roninsensei
If it’s sharp, I’m your guy....
An esee6 is a tough expensive loss. Have you replaced it yet? Are you open to the idea of other knives? I can find sharp well made kit for fairly cheap. Machetes, tomahawks, knives if it comes with a blade I’m the guy. Remember that one is none and 2 is one.
Arcticdude
Top Poster
Welcome to the forum Lexi
KateMTx
A True Doomsday Prepper
I just got a shotgun - a mossberg and it wasn't expensive at guns go and I know I'm comfortable with it (or at least as comfortable as I will likely ever be with any guns). I didn't consider the possible unintended effects of the larger shot sizes. I am going to buy ammo tomorrow (fortunately still available here in my town) so I will take this into consideration. Someone else told me you should use buckshot for defense though.
Anyway, LexiRae, I know prepping can be overwhelming starting off when there are people talking about all kinds of fancy toys. Hell, I get flustered sometimes when people are discussing things I'm not familiar with and I go google it and it's thousands of dollars. But I tell myself I have to start with the basics. I agree with @Brent S on the water filter - water is one item you will not live without. In a SHTF situation clean water may be hard to come by.
#4 buck is ideal for home use, doesn't penetrate walls like #00 buck, has a denser pattern than #00 buck, will penetrate heavy clothing better than birdshot.
#4 Buckshot explained: https://ammo.com/bullet-type/4-buck
#4 Buckshot explained: https://ammo.com/bullet-type/4-buck
tmttactical
A True Doomsday Prepper
Buckshot for defense depends on the range and location of the target. Outdoor target, okay. Inside house target, not recommended. Over penetration is a real thing. Even buckshot from a 410 (low powered shotgun) will penetrate thought several walls indoors. At close range, bird shot can be very lethal and not over penetrate. Myth 1: You don't have to aim a shotgun --- FALSE. At close range (distance in a house) you do have to aim, as the spread will be very small. myth 2: Racking the slide will scare of eh bad guys. Has not proven to be true, most shooting involving a shotgun, the bad guys did not flee at the sound of the slide being racked.
The comments here are getting closer to the truth and reality of a standoff. OO Buckshot will not even penetrate a leather jacket a 50 yards, but it has a 10 foot wide pattern and will get 5-6 persons standing near each other with a .38 caliber lead ball and really get their attention though. I have shot with rifled slugs from a .20 ga. Mossberg at 50 gallon barrels at 200 yards. Yes you must definitely aim anything if you wish to get the first shot on target. At night time, if you have no sight AND!!! are absolutely sure that the target is the enemy (no family in that direction) you must remember to close both eyes, trust your ears and direction of sound, shoot at what you hear. Very difficult but possible. Several shots with a pistol. A short burst in a flat figure 8 with a fully automatic. Two to three shots with a shotgun. After shooting, immediately fall flat to compense for any shots coming from a falling person, dying person or someone with a bullet proof vest...Gary
