Take your time and really think about the following tips and tricks. Some are not as elementary as you might think. Many seasoned survivors ignore these “free” things and later reconsider. Take a look:

* Get to know your neighbors.  Invite them over for dinner, or plan a block party to get to know a lot at the same time.  Strike up conversations when you see each other.  What do they do for work?  Do they have any special skills or equipment?  These are the people that will be surrounding you if a disaster strikes at home.  Knowing your neighbors will help you know which are potential partners and which could be potential threats.  It will also allow you to better help them.  As a side benefit, you may need someone to feed your dogs while you’re on vacation and a friendly relationship with a neighbor goes a long way!

* Inventory your supplies.  How can you know what you need if you don’t know what you have?  Take an inventory of your food, emergency supplies, medical supplies.  You might have more than you think!  Then compare with one of those lists from #2 of what you feel you need and you’ll know where to focus your efforts.

* Gather documents.  Start with this list.  You already have most of these at your house, but where?  If they aren’t in a location that is easy to grab and run with, gather them up!

* Scout your evacuation route.  How are you evacuating?  By car, bike, walking?  Take a little trip along that route.  Here’s what to look for along the way.

* Go for a hike.  A great way to get some exercise and fresh air, hiking can also be coupled with scouting your evacuation route, identifying wild edibles, finding shelter, building a fire, and more.

* Save seeds.  Growing a garden?  Practice saving some seeds.  As a bonus, if you started with non-hybrid plants, your seeds can grow next year’s garden!  Some great ways to start seed saving are with cucumbers, squash, radish, and tomato.  I talked about seed saving from these and even more garden plants on two podcasts here and here.

* Read blogs.  Hey, you’re already doing it!  Way to go!  While you’re at it, check out some of my other favorite preparedness blogs.

* Watch YouTube videos.  For those of you who are visual learners, YouTube is absolutely a gold mine for preparedness information.  And yes, I have a channel there!

* Build a shelter in the woods.  This goes along with your hike!  If you don’t have woods nearby, scout for shelter locations between your home and work, or along your evacuation route.

* Make a meal without your stove.  There is a learning curve to each method of powerless cooking!  Not sure how to start cooking without your stove?  Here are eight great ways to cook when the power is out.

* Shut your utilities off for a day.  You don’t have to actually shut them off, but don’t use them.  Tape your faucets shut and turn the heater or air conditioner off.  No turning on lights, either!  See how you fare without gas, electricity, or running water!  These kinds of tests find holes in your emergency plans faster than kids find that chocolate you hid in your sock drawer!

* No shopping challenge.  This is another excellent challenge for living on what you have.  Don’t go shopping for at least two weeks.  No stops for more bread, milk, eggs, your daily soda break, or shampoo.  How do you do?  What areas of your emergency supplies do you need to strengthen?

Most of these are challenges and they are great preparation for what will come. If you think any of the above are difficult now just wait until the SHTF!

All these free things can be family oriented and that is what makes them survivor gold! There are only twelve ideas and considerations here but go over to Food Storage and Survival to read more. You won’t regret it!