Take my neighborhood for example. There are eleven homes on the street. I’ve talked with the homeowners of all except 3. I know the answers to the questions above on all of these neighbors. Even from the 3 I haven’t got to talk to. (thanks to the other neighbors who were ‘willing to share’ this information about them.

In an emergency, knowing this information could mean the difference between life and death.

By getting to know, really know, your neighbors, you can start to sort out the ones that might cause a problem during an emergency, those who are more likely to think the way you think or perhaps those who have skills that may helpful to you should the need arise. For example, one of my neighbors is a retired nurse. When visiting their home recently, I noticed she had more certificates on the wall than you could shake a stick at. This told me two things right off.

1. That she had the drive to obtain additional education to achieve some nursig goal she had. People who do this generally are not slackers.
2. That she was probably a pretty darn good Nurse.

My Wife confirmed most of that later on in follow up conversations with her. So if someone around my home gets hurt bad, I know who I’m calling right after I dial 911.

Now if you have no social skills, then trying to find this information out isn’t going to be easy. If you can’t hold a conversation with someone then don’t even think about digging a little deeper into their personal life.

How to go about collecting information on your neighbors

I’ve actually started files on each house in my neighborhood. I also have maps of the subdivision plus Google Earth pictures I printed off of the area.

But the real meat of the files comes from talking with my neighbors. Like I said above, you have to have some socials skills or you’ll come off as a nosy sociopath! You don’t walk up to them and start firing questions at them. You should honestly be trying to make friends with them at first. You can get the info you need a little bit later.

If you ring their doorbell and start off by saying “Hey, I’m Sam down the street. Do you have any guns? How much food do you have stored? If the SHTF, are you bugging out or staying behind?, don’t be surprised if the slam the door in your face.

Through general conversation, I’ve been able to collect all the data I need for the immediate households in my area.

I get my foot in the door by taking them some vegetables from my Garden, just waving and saying “HI” if I’m out in the yard while I am, being helpful when I can or at neighborhood get-together. In fact, throwing a party at your house is one of the best ways to get to know the people who live around you. It will cost you a little bit of money, but the information you can obtain from an informal backyard BBQ can be invaluable.

People like to talk about their self. All you have to do is be a good listener and guide the conversation with your questions without being obvious.

As mentioned above, a neighborhood BBQ is another way of meeting and greeting your neighbors. Everyone loves free food and I can’t think of a way to get people talking faster than giving them some good ole ribs and a cold beer. Heck, after a couple beers some people will give you their SS number, CC number along with the PIN!!!

Your goal should be to constantly keep in touch with your neighbors. If a new family moves in, take them a cake, cookies, fresh Garden produce – anything to welcome them into the neighborhood. Make them feel welcomed and they’ll soon be trusting you with information you need for your new file.

STFU = Shut The F&%k Up

If you’re the type that likes to blow and go about everything you have or you have that know-it-all mentality, you’re best off staying to yourself. The goal here is to find out all you can about your neighbors, not go blabbing about what all you have or what you’re planning. There are a lot of things that you should not want some of your neighbors to know about yourself but if you can’t keep your mouth shut, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by staying home and counting your ammo again.

This also goes for your Wife and/or Kids. Recently, the head of MI 5 of Britan ended up with a lot of personal information about his personal and professional life on Facebook. All thanks to his Wife who posted this information on her Facebook page. Things like his job title, their address, photo’s of the couple and their family and other stuff that could have been used against him or his family had it got into the wrong hands.

Remember, loose lips sinks ships! You and your family should practice STFU when you’re around others. Sure, you can give them some vague or non important informaton, but keep the important stuff to yourelf.

Blend In, Don’t Stand Out

This is a pet peeve of mine. Depending on who you listen too, there is a Japanese (some say Chinese) saying that goes “The nail that sticks out the furthest gets hammered down”.

Part of your urban survival plan should be to blend in.  You want everyone to think you’re just like them. That you think like them, that you live like them.

If you run off at the mouth telling everyone in the neighborhood that you’re a “Survivalist” (or you write on a survivalist blog) and that you have weapons and food cached, who do you think will get the finger pointed at them when the SHTF? Or when there’s any trouble in the neighborhood? If you can’t help but show off your M1a, M16 or your Custom Sniper Rifle, do it at the range, not in your neighborhood.

This also goes for what you wear. Whenever I see some wanabe badass wearing a SOF or “Kill ‘Em All Let God Sort Them Out” T-shirt, I immediately think what a easy target they’ll be. You’re telling people that at the very least, you may have guns and ammo at your place should they need it.

If you also drive a lifted 4×4 with all kinds of bumber stickers or other graphics on it portraying guns or anti-Government sayings, consider yourself as sticking out.

It’s my goal to blend in to my surroundings. ‘Hide in plain site’ as they say. I want to look, act and be thought of as the average Joe Taxpayer.

I’m nothing special Uncle Sam, go get the guy wearing the SOF T-Shirt and driving the Hummer with the picture of a M16 with the catch phrase of “Come and Get It” below. Yeah, he’s the badass you want to take down Uncle Sam…not me, I’m just your average Joe…

I hope this has given you people living in the Cities or towns some food for thought. Sure, we don’t live in the ideal area to survive, so we have to make the most of it!

Our First Survival Steps At Becoming Self Reliant – Eliminating Debt

It’s my belief that one sure way to prepare for any upcoming disaster or global crisis is to be as self reliant as possible. This means carrying as little or no debt as possible. Back in 2005 we got on the Dave Ramsey plan to become debt free. Now we have very little debt. That we do have will be paid off this year. We have no credit cards. We both have debit cards and only use them rarely. It’s cash for us. I’ve heard all the excuses for having a credit card. None are valid. I’ve been able to do anything with my debit card that I was able to do with my credit card. Plus, you simply get better deals when paying with cash. Like it or not, people will bargain with you when you’re holding a wad of cash, even the big box stores.

Part of our long term plan is to leave as little paper trail as we can. That trail is getting smaller all the time. There may come a day when we don’t want to be found. Having debt and other recurring bills along with all the accounts that go with them can lead anyone to you door. Plus, when you have debt, you have to have some way to pay for it and most of the time that’s called a JOB! A JOB is something that most of you go to each day. You have to go back and forth on a predictable route and generally at a predetermined time. Just another reason to become debt free and learn to live using cash and bartering as a means to obtain what you need.

Also, when you’re in debt, you’re basically a slave to whomever you owe money to. Why would you want that for yourself and your family? Especially in this day and age when uncertainty abounds? Get out of debt and stay out of debt. If you need a solid plan, get Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. It will teach you what you need to know. Just a reminder though, it won’t work if you don’t work at it!

Survivalism Is All About Becoming Self Reliant

When you’re self reliant, which should mean you’re prepared for any number of emergencies, you can handle just about any situation that comes up. Think about it. If your home is ran off of Solar or Wind power or you have a generator large enough to run your home and there’s a power outage, you’re sitting pretty with electric while others go without.

Not only will you be prepared in case of an emergency, but when you use alternative energy sources, you’re cutting your electric bill and eliminating another trail to your door step.

I’m not there quite yet, not in my current home. But I have been able to do things that have cut my electricl bill down to 30 or so dollars per month. I also have two generators I could use in a pinch if I have to. One is propane and the other is diesel. I have a small solar set up that runs my shop and in the event we ever lose power in Summer, we’ll be sleeping in there because the little window A/C unit cools my shop nicely!

When we find the land to build our next home, it will be Solar and Wind Powered. If it’s a mile from the nearest electrical line, more the better!

Just as survivalism is more than being armed to the teeth in a hardened bunker, being self reliant means more than just living off the land growing your own food and using the Sun and Wind to power your home. To me, being self reliant means not having to depend on anyone, or any government, for my basic needs. This includes food, water, power, finances and security. I’d love to tell you that I’m there, but I’m not. I’m working on it, but it may take a few more years. But I will eventually get there and you can to.

Do You Really Need All That “Stuff”?

I’m constantly amazed at all the material things people think they “need” in order to survive. When I talk to people about becoming self reliant and the things people can do without, I get that funny look from them. I’ve seen people horrified at the thought of giving up their credit cards, their big homes, new vehicles, toys such as jet ski’s, boats, big screen HDTV’s, monster sound systems and other stuff. They simply can not think of life without these items!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you need to move to the backwoods and live in a one room cabin like a Hermit. I like my toys also, but mine are paid for. If I had to leave them in a hurry, I could and would never look back. Granted, leaving the nicer things in life would be harder on my Wife and Daughter than it would me, but they would handle it.

I’m also not saying you have to give these things up and live miserably. But if you’re in debt because of these things, you need to get rid of them until you’re debt free.

As I’m reading the ‘back to the Earth’ and self reliant magazines, I find it funny the things people think they need in order to ‘live off the land’. It’s like they think you need a half million dollars worth of stuff just to begin. Of course, some of this is the magazines fault as they need the advertisers of these overpriced and worthless ‘must have’ items. The editors and writers for those magaiznes have sold out for the almighty dollar and have forgotten why their type of magazines were started for in the first place.

You don’t need a $500,000 home and land to start. You can get started where you live right now, even if it’s an apartment in the middle of Manhatten. You don’t need 100 guns. A $200 shotgun is a good start. You don’t need a $40,000 tractor or Utility Vehicle. A wheel barrow, shovel and pick work nicely.

Becoming self reliant means letting go as much of the material stuff that is dragging you down as it means living a simple life without having to depend on  others for the basics of life.

If the current state of the Government, both Nationally and the World, has you concerned and you’ve been thinking about “starting” to become self reliant and preparing your family in case of a National or Global crisis, then I challenge you to start now by taking a good long look at your situation to see what you can start cutting out and being less reliable on others. You don’t have to do it all at once, but you do have to start!

Because, it is my opinion (and has been quite some time), there is no difference between a Survivalism, Emergency Preparedness or self reliance. There all the same thing!