Living Life in Rural Iowa

I'm really frustrated with the state of our country right now. A lot is going on and we are being held hostage by a pandemic.

This pandemic is serious, but there were a lot of important people who downplayed the seriousness of this virus. That was a mistake, but a lot of people were comforted and stopped from being properly prepared. We kept hearing that this virus wasn't that bad and it was similar to having influenza. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't want to catch influenza. I have helped three loved ones through influenza and they were pretty miserable.

I don't want to catch COVID-19 either. Again, it sounds pretty miserable. I have read survivor reports that it feels like influenza and pneumonia combined on steroids. To me, staying home when I can, keeping my work environment clean and safe, only going to the stores when I have to, and being aware of my surroundings sounds like the best thing to do right now. I certainly don't want to catch it and I …

We are getting a wake-up call as a nation and a world right now. Many of us are experiencing a new kind of reality at the moment. Some of us are working at home. Some of us are still working away from home. Some of us are not working, not getting paid, and aren't sure when we will be again.

Some of us still remember the recession and dot com bubble from 2008-2009 that hurt many people. People lost their homes on shady mortgage deals and no income. Small businesses collapsed due to a lack of work. Construction companies went belly up when the home building came to a halt. A lot of people were hurt when that happened.

That kind of reality is scary. You are not sure what you should do and can do right at the moment except hunker down at home and hope you don't run out of money. You need to keep a roof over your head, water running, and the power on, but you need money for all of that. Some people already struggle with this. However, with the current situation that we are in, times …

Generally, most people are not prepared to be home for extended periods. We are mostly on-the-go people who have jobs outside the home and have our kids in school. We have our days planned for that and don't always consider that school or work could be shut down for extended periods.

When something does happen that you have to be home for long periods, you may wonder exactly how you are going to handle that. You have to balance your needs with your family's needs as well as keep everyone as healthy as humanly possible. You may still need to go to work or work from home. Your kids may have been given homework to do over the break or be asked to use a virtual classroom for schooling.

You have this. Trust me. You can do this even though it may seem overwhelming. A self-quarantine (or social distancing) may only last for two weeks or it may last for two or more months. You need to get some things in place.

I am a huge believer in routines and schedules. I don't adhere to strict s…

There is a lot of insanity going on right now. We have dismissed other pandemics as minor things, but we have been literally slapped with this current pandemic due to the mass media and the advancements in social media. As more information comes out, we are starting to see how this one could affect us more than we originally thought.

Colleges are moving to online classes. Schools are restricting or canceling activities as well as classes. Major sports arenas and groups are canceling major events and delaying seasons. We are also starting to see events being canceled where there would be large groups of people.

To say that this is concerning is an understatement. While I am happy to see this pandemic being taken seriously, I am a bit disturbed to see the overreaction of people on a personal level.

As a prepper, you should be prepared for this. You should already have food and supplies at home. You should have supplies at home like masks, gloves, cold/flu meds, vitamins, and more. I can un…

In this day and age, we are used to being able to go anywhere and be entertained. Even as adults, we struggle to deal with our downtime. We fantasize about being home for a whole week with nowhere to go and nothing to do but don't know what to do when it happens.

When you are told that you cannot go anywhere for a week or longer, the first thing you may want to do is panic. (Unless you are a prepper and then you are ready for this!) However, panicking will not get you anywhere except to create more chaos and confusion. You need to be calm and focused.

First of all, if you are in a quarantine whether it is self-quarantine or a mandated quarantine, you should plan to be home for a minimum of two weeks. Most people will only plan to be home for one week, but you should at least double that time. To be safe, I would plan for four weeks just to err on the side of caution. If you or your family ends up sick, you will need to be home for as long as it takes to recover and recoup.

Next, you …

If you have been around the prepping world for some time (and it doesn't have to be a long time), you will run into various opinions and ideas on how to do a myriad of things. Many people know how to do technical skills and their ideas are usually valid. Many people have great ideas for organizing, stockpiling, and more. Usually, their ideas are tailored for them but will work for other people too.

However, the problems start when preppers start guessing on what will happen after a TEOTWAWKI or an SHTF. We all have ideas, but very few of us have actually lived through that particular scenario. Unless you are Selco Begovic, Fernando FERFAL Aguirre, Jose Martinez, or others who have bonafide experience with real-life SHTF, you are probably just guessing at what will happen after one.

This is where Prepping Elitism comes into play. Many people think their opinions and fantasies about what will happen after an SHTF is superior to what others think. They will attack others in groups and …

If you have been here for a while, you know I occasionally post a What The Prepper Buys post. These posts give you a glimpse into what I put into my stockpiles as well as how I save money doing it. I actually had the chance to go shopping recently to get what I needed for the house and thought I would put this together.

Why should you prepare for pandemics? I like to compare it to being prepared for anyone who could be sick. You always want to be prepared for likely illnesses that could happen in your home. Pandemics are just the step above that. With pandemics, you are preparing not just for an illness, but for possible quarantine and being hyper-aware of any germ that can enter your home.

My purchases for this trip came from Dollar Tree. We all know that Dollar Tree stores are different from store to store. Similar to Dollar General, they carry a lot of the same things, but they also get what they get from the corporate warehouses. Some of the things I was looking for were not in stoc…