plants

3y

Transportation in general is f***ed. From cars, to planes, to bicycles, etc. So if you know your mode of transport is gonna need some maintenance in the coming year try and get ahead of that or just plan to budget a little extra.

Food prices going up across the board so just keep that in mind. Maybe think about getting cheap dried beans and rice, freezing them, and then storing them in a cool dark place just in case.

Now that climate change is causing weather to be more erratic just make sure that if your power goes out for a week you won't die. This means water, heat, and food. In that order.

Also something to keep in mind, EMS is warning us of a "crippling labor shortage" (wage shortage) undermining the whole 911 system. So you might call 911 in a true immediate emergency and they might say "soonest we can be there is 5 hours, so sit tight". link So maybe now is a good time to hit Walgreens and get some rolled gauze, neosporin, medical tape, bandages, etc. and brush up on basic basic emergency medic stuff. Like, watch youtube on how to dress a wound type beat. And brush up on general medical stuff like the differences between heart attack and stroke, Heimlich maneuver, etc. because again, help just might not come.

I'll try and think of more stuff as the day goes on.

plants

3y

Transportation in general is f***ed. From cars, to planes, to bicycles, etc. So if you know your mode of transport is gonna need some maintenance in the coming year try and get ahead of that or just plan to budget a little extra.

Food prices going up across the board so just keep that in mind. Maybe think about getting cheap dried beans and rice, freezing them, and then storing them in a cool dark place just in case.

Now that climate change is causing weather to be more erratic just make sure that if your power goes out for a week you won't die. This means water, heat, and food. In that order.

Also something to keep in mind, EMS is warning us of a "crippling labor shortage" (wage shortage) undermining the whole 911 system. So you might call 911 in a true immediate emergency and they might say "soonest we can be there is 5 hours, so sit tight". link So maybe now is a good time to hit Walgreens and get some rolled gauze, neosporin, medical tape, bandages, etc. and brush up on basic basic emergency medic stuff. Like, watch youtube on how to dress a wound type beat. And brush up on general medical stuff like the differences between heart attack and stroke, Heimlich maneuver, etc. because again, help just might not come.

I'll try and think of more stuff as the day goes on.

Flaphead

3y

Yeah, my car's still in relatively great shape thankfully, but I'll make sure all's running well before winter.

Bro, I'm so f***ing glad I chose to move away from Texas last year. I had already had my apartment stocked with water and nonperishables out of sheer distrust for my fellow man if s*** had gone left due to COVID, and then the winter storm came and I was already set. I did end up using my car for charging devices, though, which was certainly not ideal, so great call-out to remind me that I need to look into getting a generator of some kind.

Also appreciate your point about first aid - I'm a paranoid f***er and live alone so I do have all of that s*** regularly, but well worth brushing up on wound treatment tutorials and s*** - but that labor shortage does seem to be accelerating with the whole vaccination blowback i.e. Southwest. I'm getting real f***ing nervous about how quickly that's developing honestly. Yet another reason to prepare for yourself I suppose

elmuchachoalegre

3y

Neosporin got an expiration date no? I've always trusted vaseline more and isopropyl alcohol.

plants

3y

Oh man good shout getting out of Texas. That place is a real lesson in terms of how fragile infrastructure can be. And it's good you were already prepped and ready.

To charge small devices I got a Goal Zero thing from REI plus a small solar panel. Not the cheapest solution but again it's all about resiliency and having more than one way to do the same thing. So if the grid is down I have the solar panel AND can use my car to top stuff up. I also have 6gal of gasoline in our shed in the side yard, another just in case type thing u kno.

Also have 2 go-bags ready to grab and run out the house with along with a timeline/destination to go to and meet in case s*** goes down when my wife and I are separated. #JustDoomerThings

Oh also this just sprang to mind but I have two full face respirators with extra filters I can swap in. (Honeywell 5400 series with p100 filters) Haven't needed it yet but seeing how gnarly s*** got in Portland earlier, and how nasty the air is when a wildfire is banging at your front door, it seemed like a purchase that made sense.

Flaphead

3y

Appreciate everything else in this post, but wanted to give a particular shoutout to the Goal Zero mention. Definitely going on my next-paycheck-purchase list. I’ve been looking for something in the lower-size model price range for a minute. Ty!

daisycutterflowz

2y

It's interesting that no one is talking about how the supermarket brands are controlled by near-monopolies. For example, this graphic:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/oxfam-us/www/static/media/files/Behind-the-brands-illusion-of-choice-graphic-2048x1351.jpg

This kind of situation in no way lends itself to competing and keeping prices down. Part of the blame lies with the FTC and DOJ for allowing monopolies to flourish again in the US after the 1980s.