Prioritizing

It's easy to flip on the news and see whatever current disaster is in the news and freak yourself out into preparing for that one very unlikely scenario. Right now, as of this writing, it is the Japan earthquake/tsunami/nuclear plant meltdown/severe cold/no food situation. A quick StartPage search (mypreferred search engine, for reasons we will get into A LOT later in the progression of this blog when we start talking about digital security) revealed to me that there is a Nuclear Power Plant 30 miles northwest of my location (St. Clair County, IL) on the New Madrid fault line. It would be easy to convince myself that I need to save up iodine tablet and b12 and blah blah blah... but really, what's more likely? An earthquake AND nuclear meltdown or the loss of my job? It's important to not get carried away. Be practical and evaluate your local conditions.

For example, here's a way to approach what takes priority. I've already stocked against a potential job loss but I live close to a flood plane outside of St.Louis and we've had a particularly heavy winter. The likelihood for flooding this spring is higher than it would normally be. So, my focus for spring of 2011 is to make sure I have the ability to get up and leave should this become a problem. A bug-out bag, or a bug-out cooler or a stocked bug-out location at a family members or friends are things I should be trying to put in place. In your area, the circumstances may be different. Think about the things that could effect you and prioritize them based on likeliness. This will help you organize your next preparations.

Since I cannot tell you what situations are most likely to affect you personally, this will be a short post. Things to consider when prioritizing this list of most likely scenarios is:

Your lifestyle. Is it excessive? By this, I mean are you living beyond your budget? Is your financial situation fixable (even finances are involved in prepping... it does you no good to max out your credit cards buying food and water and then have a hurricane take it all away and leave you with no means of purchasing food and water wherever you evacuate to)? Do you go out a lot (this could increase your likelihood of being mugged, what can you do to prepare for or prevent that)? Are you a hermit? Are you paying for things that you don't necessarily need to pay for?

Your career. Is it stable (someone in IT will have a more stable job than someone in say, banking... as of the time of this writing). Do you have the capacity and/or time to get or create an additional income? Do you have stuff you don't need and have been meaning to get rid of that you could sell to create an additional 'rainy day' savings?

Your location. Do you live in the city, the burbs or something more rural? If you're in the city, what's the crime rate? What's the history of riots like in your area? What are the economic conditions in your area? Are you in a company town that is facing a potential closure? What sorts of natural disasters do you experience on a seasonal basis? A yearly basis? Are their other disasters in your area's history? What are the energy considerations like in your area?

Once you've prioritized a list of most likely scenarios, think about necessities vs. luxuries. You can organize your list of what-to-get and what-to-do's around this so you don't overwhelm yourself and start developing simple plans of action based on this knowledge.

If you find this overwhelming, that's ok.  There is a simplified and very effective method for preparation that sounds very silly, but actually works.  Just prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse.  I know, it's ridiculous, but think about what that includes:  food & water incase you have to hide indoors... which is the same in case of a flood, civil unrest, joblessness, a blizzard, power outage, etc... weapons to defend yourself, the same as mass civil unrest, power outage, police state conditions, etc... medical equipment to protect yourself from infection like a pandemic, biological terrorist attack, etc... And frankly, it's a lot more fun to plan for a zombie attack that try and plan for each and every possibility in your area.  It makes the process of learning about preparedness more entertaining and less stressful.  Check out Zombie Squad if you think this could work for you.

Good luck if you choose to accept this mission. This message will self destruct.