12 Big Mistakes for Newbie Preppers

One of the biggest mistakes for newbie preppers is listening to people trying to sell them the latest survival gadget.

Just had a hot water line break under our slab. Went six days without a shower. We boiled water everyday so we could clean up an do dishes. So don't take water or anything for that matter for granted. Always have a plan

After watching many people speaking on prepping there seems to be no mention of importance of tools, the availability of fixing your stuff. Now I realize not everyone can be a handy man. However the guy who can build / fix is miles ahead others. The old timers who were self reliant to do everything were resources that are a thing of the past. In short how to use your hands with knowledge. Thank you

I am so blessed that my partner is totally on board with prepping. We bought a house last year, and I'm starting to plant things, and had my grandmother teach me how to water bath can last year! My partner was into competetive shooting before we got together, so I'm going to have him teach me how to shoot and get my concealed carry license. He's going to help me till up the yard and make my dream urban homestead happen!

Wasn't too difficult to get my wife on board... we are both early GenX with grandparents who went through the depression, and were preppers before prepping was a thing. After the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through in '08, and our whole region was without power for a couple weeks, all I had to do was plant the seed of "what if something like that happens again, but worse?" That put the ball in her court to think about, so it wasn't being shoved on her, and she is now just as much in the mindset of "what if".

So your say not to get the chainsaw bayonet attachment for my AR?😬

I can admit, I went overboard on tactical preparation. I've only recently begun to practically prep, is amazing the things you overlook.

So many crazy people, I was in the woods during the eclipse. With 2 dogs one slept, the other was just being himself.

You absolutely can live without a gun, until you need a gun. I've never needed a gas mask in my life but when you need one you need it more than water.

Supplementary to storing stuff: While it's good to group Like with Like to keep them together and findable, not everything is best stored this way. You might want a screwdriver and won't want to go out to the garage or workshop to get it, so keep a spare of everything you might want easy and rapid access to near where you might want to use them. For example, I keep screwdrivers in my workshop, but also a few general purpose screwdrivers inside in my spare room so I can get them easily.

It's amazing how often people see these celestial phenomena that happen all the time, generally on a schedule that someone thousands of years ago figured out way before we got here, that they think is going to kill them and everyone they know. My auntie called my mom to ask her why "no one" was talking about this eclipse, ignoring the fact that she had taken her grand-babies to go get eclipse glasses at the school store the week before.

Dollar Tree for bandaids and ointment , alcohol and peroxide.

Storing things that have a limited shelf life like some foods and meds: Keep them in boxes that have the month and year on the outside where you can see them, as well as a list of what's in the boxes. Then you can be systematic in what you use, and also use them before they expire. Many items suffer from summer temperatures, so if you can arrange storing in a place that won't get hot then you would be protecting your investments. All preps require a lot of storage space, and being organized needs even more space, so not everyone will be able to do these things.

Sharpie for marking the food preps is a bonus.

Mora knives are cheap and excellent

A little off topic but I had to fuel my pickup today. I drove 2 hours south, to get to Nevada, and put 42 gallons into the pickup. It cost me 178.00 at 4.25 a gallon but that was a while lot cheaper than the 5.79 a gallon here in NE California. My Grandpa taught me years ago that in many instances it is better to pay and cry once verses buying and replacing over and over. Not the case for everything but for many tools.

a few very common items I often see over looked is personal hygiene items scissors nail clipers shaving razor ect nothing worse than having to hoof it with a ingrown toe nail/hang nail or ripping a over grown finger nail while working on something...also avoid strong unnatural perfume soaps stick to natural mild scents

No one ever mentions a 6~8 foot hose and a water faucet tool to get water from hot water heaters.

Good talk ! Three of my favorite points were buying cheap, buying gimmicks, and relying on gear more than our skills. It's extremely appealing to get the one tool that "does it all," but I often find that those type of tools usually have many weak points. Any point of movement is a point of failure, so the more moving parts, the more likely something is to go wrong. As far as buying cheap, I've definitely made that mistake in the past (and sometimes still take a chance), but have learned not to go cheap on the important things. A good rule of thumb: "Two is one, and one is none." Relying on gear more than your skills is pretty self-explanatory, but if there's anything you buy for a survival purpose, make sure you try it out a few times before you really need it. You'll learn real quick what you need, what you don't, and what you need to learn more about.

Some needs to talk about what happens when your out numbered and they take your stuff