# How did it start for you?



## Go2ndAmend (Apr 5, 2013)

At some point, I assume most everyone here turned from someone with a casual interest in survival to to being a full-blown prepper. I'm just wondering what journey was taken by you all. For me, I always had an interest in wilderness survival and firearms. I started building personal survival kits, which grew to vehicle/boat kits, which grew to home preparedness for short-term emergencies. I am now on the path of self-sufficiency for an extended period. What was your journey?


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

George Orwells 1984 which came out when I was in high school, 

My prepping was pathetic back then but since 1999 very hard core.

I was. Prepper when prepping wasn't cool

Oh and I was country when country wasn't cool too


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

I don't consider myself to be a prepper.

I have guns because I like guns, and stock ammo so I know I'll have it if I want to shoot.

We went through an 8 day power outage last year, so I stock food and water just in case.

My "thing" isn't so much prepping as self-sufficiency. I'm tired of playing corporate America's games, and have decided to get them out of my life. So we are looking for enough land that we can grow our own food, have some chickens and a goat or 2, produce what little energy we need, and just live a peaceful, more simple life. Rather than stockpiling food, we will use simple _renewable _food sources, like permaculture and intensive "Square Foot" type gardening.

Funny thing is: this approach will make us prepared for just about anything, while creating a better life when nothing is hitting the proverbial fan.


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## shotlady (Aug 30, 2012)

i like being self sufficient.and i like not being part of the problem. growing up ranching and farming you just always had for a rainy day and if you work not you eat not. i went full blwn training, considering variables for like 1.5 yrs now


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## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

I was raised by my Grandparents who both lived through the Depression. We were not exactly affluent. We had a garden, many of my clothes were hand sewn, and tht old man had worked the oil fields his entire life and could build or fix damn near anything. There were so many important lessons imparted on me, even when I thought I wasn't listening.

My wife also grew up in a large family that struggled week to week but had a Dad who always put food on the table and a roof over their head. Her Mom is a national treasure of self sufficiency and a stubborn streak a mile wide. I have the greatest Mother in Law EVER. I just wish she would relocate down here, but I did mention the stubborn streak, right?

I guess I have always had the mentality, even when it was just something I did without thinking about it. Prolonged military service tends to ingrain certain mind sets. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized this needed to be a primary consideration rather than just making sure the pantry could carry us for longer than a couple fo weeks. It's a hard thing to accept that the country that you've left flesh, blood, and bone on more than one operating room floor for is fundamentally shifting to no longer being the country who's founding principles you once raised your hand and swore to defend.

I carry a large degree of concern for less than "SHTF" scenarios as well. Society is in decay and once hard working proud people are giving up hope. The middle class is shrinking. I also realize that past injuries are catching up to me, and that someday my body will ultimatlely betray me with regards to doing the heavy lifting of establishing a truely secure situation for my family. There is much to be done before that happens.

My family will never be modern day refugees.


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## 9UC (Dec 21, 2012)

Prepadoodle said:


> I don't consider myself to be a prepper. I have guns because I like guns, and stock ammo so I know I'll have it if I want to shoot.....My "thing" isn't so much prepping as self-sufficiency.......Funny thing is: this approach will make us prepared for just about anything, while creating a better life when nothing is hitting the proverbial fan.


As I've mentioned before, What I do did not start as and is not for "prepping", it's called CYA. I was exposed to it by my parents. During good months of work during the summer, my mother put back extra food stock and house hold products to cover the thin pay checks of a construction worked during the winter. I started it for myself during my early years in the military when my first "married" pay checks were around 400 per month. I still think of it as covering my back side if a major non planned expense occurs. I added guns and some ammo to the CYA for self defense and security while using the camper for cross country trips and that developed into a hobby. I have increased my stock on ammo enough so that at least I can practice since I got caught with only two boxes when the first shortage occurred several years ago. After finding this site, I have done some change, most minor and when I discovered that I'm not willing to do the freeze dried "entrees", I had to do a restart. As I've never really had the support of DW on more than a couple months of back stock, even on the ammo, I've decided to ease into the meal in a jar canning.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Prepadoodle said:


> I don't consider myself to be a prepper.
> 
> I have guns because I like guns, and stock ammo so I know I'll have it if I want to shoot.
> 
> ...


Us too.
My wife and I were raised by folks who went thru the Great Depression and World War II. We both grew up learning how to make do and do without. It was normal for us.
We had longed and prayed for quite a while to move from South Florida to the country. To a place that had more churches than bars. Finally, in 1995 I was offered a chance by my employer to re-locate along with a promotion. We did not hesitate.
We ended up on the edge of the Okefenoke Swamp, which is quite "country". We lived on what I made, she became a full time farmer/keeper of the animals. Unlike South Florida, the sound of gunshots just meant meat in the freezer. I went a decade without hearing a police siren, that's still a very rare sound today.
Along came Y2K, and we ramped up our self reliant lifestyle. More chickens were added, vegetable garden got bigger, we got ready.
Moved to our permanent location in 1999, rescue dogs came and went via attrition, rescue horses came.
Along the way we paid off the mortgage, bought our vehicles cash, had no other loans, no credit cards since 1985 - now are debt free. ::clapping::

I guess by the standards of some we are poor. Live in a mobile home (we spent the money on land, not a McMansion), don't have any "toys" like boats or sportscars or motorcycles or swimming pools, no flat screen TV's (no TV at all since we cancelled the satelite), no smart phones. The Boss Lady is low maintenance (hates malls too), and I'm just an old soldier so I don't need a lot either.

She is on Social Insecurity, I'm still gainfully employed but will join her in retirement soon. We will be broke, but happy. I've got a 1988 F-150 that hasn't run in 5 years, my plan is to get a part time job at an auto parts store and turn the old girl into the hot rod I always wanted. So maybe, after all this hard work, I'll finally have a toy.:lol:
If the Agent Orange exposure doesn't kill me first.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

I've always tried to live by, it's better to have and not need that need and not have, but I got a little more serious after a major power outage last year. It wasn't the loss of power that was the shock per say but the quickness that things went from normal to people scrambling to find gasoline, (lucky for me I had just filled the tank the night before, and had enough on hand for the generator). I know I am still not as hard core at prepping as a lot, but I try to have enough supplies on hand to ride out quite a disruption.


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## wallyLOZ (May 12, 2013)

With parents and grandparents that went through the great depression, we were brought up to always stick a little something back. Whether that was food or money. We had always kept a small stockpile to get by if the need arose. Katrina sent our preps to another level. We went from a weeks supplies to three. With the current economic/social climate we are enduring, or plan is to bump our stockpiles to three months ( currently at about 2 1/2 months and counting). Next will be for a year's supplies. Once we get there we'll seriously consider a self-sustaining lifestyle. We also have a plan for defense. Details we'll avoid, but we all have our preferred weapon(s), and practice as we can. Our hope is that we'll have prepared for nothing, but as we move along our path, it seems more certian that we will need our preps at some point.


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## pastornator (Apr 5, 2013)

1966... Huge tornado disaster completely wiped out our family. We figured it out and lived by what we could produce or gather. Happened again the next year but our losses were less. Fast forward to 1979 when financial disaster struck my new family. Forced off-grid by circumstances in the middle if Wisconsin winter. Newborn son w/ no insurance coverage. We survived. Got on and off the grid several times since. Now we routinely live from our very sustainable preps and in light of new and larger threats, prep more and deeper.


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## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

I guess around the age of 8. Even though I was raised in the middle of a large city there was several woods around my house in which I spent much of my time. My favorite Christmas presents as far back as I can remember were BB guns, then Pellet Guns then graduated to 22 rifle. I have a personal belief that nature makes differences in every species to insure the species for example I love to go through caves and such and there or other people that I know that are claustrophobic that would die before they would go in a cave. I would bet a lot of people on this site if they looked back would see a lot is do to internal programming from the day they were born.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

I was 8 when dad bought his first railroad tract in Nevada. He said it was for hunting, but he kept making us learn how to live there with nothing or next to nothing.

Like too many I lost my ways in commerce, and enjoyed the typical life till economy and corp America tossed me a hell of a curve in 09 and I've been returning to my roots ever sense. 

My life focuses in how to life like my dad taught me in the NV desert. With as little as possible.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

Well before the term prepper was coined, and shortly after the realization that my safety security and well being should not be left to others. That realization occurred a long time ago and that was when I started what is now referd to as prepping back then it was simply setting a little back for lean times.

You can imagine my surprise when I found out others were doing the same thing and talking about it on the internet...


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## retired guard (Mar 7, 2013)

I started with in case of this problem I have this solution. Now I have solutions to problems I did not initially envision.


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

I grew up living on the land in the swamps. I was raised with basic outdoor survival, hunting, and fishing skills. My friends and I were the roughest bunch of Boy Scouts you ever saw. As I grew older, and into adulthood, I paid attention to the news, and noticed some writing on the wall.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

I grew up in Florida, so we always had "hurricane supplies".
I really became a survivalist in the mid 70's, while stationed in the PNW.
We had a dumbass Dem in the white house, hostages in Iran, high interest and inflation.
The talk was of pending socio-economic collapse, social unrest, you know, the kind of things we talk about now.
I lived on a small farm with a garden and some livestock, stored water and home canned foods,and tried to be as self sufficient as possible.
I have since returned to Florida and continue on with the same plans.
It is simply a lifestyle. I have learned much over the years, and continue to learn each day.
History does repeat---


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

I was raised in a city - moderate in size but it grew as I did. I had 8 brothers and three sisters and the house was .........crowded? shall we say. I spent as much time away from home as I could and had a brain that always wanted to question and understand everything. I started hiking in the Cascades and Olympic mountains at 7 and learned everything I could about wilderness survival. Everything in my life taught me that I had to be prepared for anything. From marrying an addict to having two kids and a rear-ender that put me in the hospital for six months followed by six more in physical therapy followed by a one day return to work to get laid off. A few years later my wife took an extended holiday to "get clean" and ended up in the hospital and then into rehab. I got the time off work to take care of things and after a visit at the rehab center filed for a divorce. During that process my business ended but my "day job" was good. I nearly lost the house because I wasn't aware that my wife hadn't been paying the mortgage instead of supporting her habit.
I got a divorce, caught up on the mortgage, paid the lawyer and lost my kids. Well, I saw my kids on the weekends but I had to travel 300 miles to do it.
I have been through some tough financial times and got through them with being prepared with back-up money. I learned the hard way that it is better to be prepared than it is to fall completely to the ground. The next 20 years were pretty easy financially and i bought a new home and cars and had a lot of money saved. I invested in some stocks and lost a bit but still came out OK and then, 8 years ago I was in another rear-ender at a stop light and I was taken out. I had no insurance, was fired from my job (can't work can't get paid) and had to rely on my savings, my own car insurance and my 401-K's to pay the bills and keep the house. Since the driver that hit me was uninsured there was not going to be any payouts this time. My loan was for 15 years and it was just about a year and a half into the contract. I did take out mortgage insurance so after six months that kicked in to help.
Once again I was prepared for something I had not planned on. I was in and out of the hospital for pain therapy and management for the first year and I resisted surgery because I was without any symptoms they could connect to what they saw on the MRIs, CAT scans, and X-rays. It was decided that Methadone would be able to keep me pain free for longer than 2 hours at a stretch and I was put on that for "long term" pain management. I found out that meant I was supposed to be on it for life. I started taking myself of Methadone after three years because it was as debilitating as the injury to my back. After just three months I walked into my doctor's office and told her I was off the methadone but needed something that I could use as needed for the pain. After stuttering for about twenty minutes she asked if I had had any withdrawal symptoms and I told her "NO" and we discussed what it was I thought would work. I declined the Hydrocodone and we settled on Tylenol #4 - even though I don't tolerate Tylenol well. About two years later I was tired of cutting tablets in half so I got her to switch it to Tylenol #3.
I have a love of living life and I am determined that no matter what happens I will always actively live life. To do that you have to be prepared for whatever comes your way.


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

Like most of the previous posts, I was raised with a wooded spoon in my mouth. We never did without, or so I thought. I had a shirt on my back, roof over my head, and food in my belly. Life was good, but back then, all our neighbors were in the same boat. When my father passed on in the mid 70"s from a heart attack, he had 1500.00 in cash on him at the time!! I thought....mmm, maybe I should sock some away for a rainy day.That was pretty big money at the time from my eyes. After getting rid of my youthful ways, which was about 3 yrs. ago, started to slow but sure build a nest egg. Provisions not money. Long, long ways to go to be where I want to be, but on my way. I always preach to my only daughter, better to have and not need, than need and not have. P.S., my brother served, we had a lot of mil canned goods in the pantry, terrible tasting stuff as I remember, but better than nothing.


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

1989 Quake in the SF bay area,we started putting together a couple of car kits together figuring that we would have to walk home under and over a few ruined freeways to get home.it kinda snowballed from there.


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## Mic (Jul 19, 2012)

I started out with firearms. Then my concern over the political/economic future of our country gave me concern. So, the idea of prepping became something my wife and I think is important.
Unfortunately, we aren't very serious about it. We're making small moves to have a good stash of guns/ammo/food/water/some barter items.
I have some land (10 acres) that I have plans for becoming an eventual homestead site, so we can live a little more independently.

All of these things lead me to slowly move in the direction of prepping, but as of right now, if the SHTF, we'd be SOOL. My only comfort comes from the fact that at least we see this and are slowly moving in the right direction.


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## Doomsday (Jun 25, 2013)

Back in the 80’s working as an engineer I had several millwrights assigned to me. One of those millwrights would hide food all over the work site. Finding his behavior curious I began talking to him. Found out that he was one of the survivors of the Bataan death march. He told me stories of survival and cruelty that I could not imagine. He said that he would never go hungry again. His stories change my way of thinking.


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## jordanwong1998 (Jul 29, 2013)

delete, thanks.


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## TMCertified (May 8, 2013)

It all started when I stumbled across Doomsday Preppers. I watched one of them and got a good kick out of the "crazies" I showed my wife and we watched another, then another, then another. Next thing I know we bought the season on iTunes. We started looking at our situation (we also have 5 kids ages 9 to 2 and one with Autism) We realized while we did not want to go as extreme as some did on the show, we certainly were completely unprepared for even a hurricane let alone if the "Tomatoes Hit The Wall" (We hate the SHTF saying haha so we made our own) So we bought 5 acres of land, got a Glock 19 today. Got my rifle and shot gun picked out. We have 50 lbs of beans now stored in Mylar bags and 5 gal buckets and 25 lbs of rice and working more and more every day on being 100% self suffecient. We decided to make this our retirement plan. Surprisingly my wife has because the main pusher in our family doing this which I think is great.


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## KingM (Aug 1, 2013)

I've always had a sense of the fragility of civilization starting with a strict religious upbringing, but also reading about things like the fall of Rome and the Black Death.


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## MericaAtheist (Aug 3, 2013)

Ever since I can remember I've been TEOTWAWKI, epically when The History Channel would play Mayan apocalypse marathons constantly. I didn't realize prepping was an option until the beginning of 2012 when I saw the episode of Doomsday Preppers with a kid my age. After quite a bit of research I realized the people on that show were dumbasses, but prepping was a necessity. Through prepping U have learned to take nothing at face value, which lead me to atheism, libertarianism, and just an overall awareness of my world.


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## Drakenk (Aug 5, 2013)

Well I learned the difficult way that it is better to be ready than, it is to drop absolutely to the floor. The next 8 years were fairly simple economically and i purchased a new house and cars and had a lot of cash stored.


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## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

I never have liked being inconvenienced or uncomfortable. I have always tried to plan not to be. As a child in childish ways and grew from there. Each time prepping to avoid something I did not like. The earliest adult transition in my thinking occurred when Francis Gary Powers was shot down. It made me sick to hear and imagine what his capture was like. I was eleven. I noted that while I worried about him everyone else worried about going to war. I have always been different that way.


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