Being a prepper means that others are going to look at you and think “There's that tin-foil hat weirdo.” But when life throws a few curveballs your way you're going to be thankful that you had the foresight to plan for the future. Just what sort of situations could prepping help you with?

Prepping for a Loss of Income
Start moving towards self-reliance. The more self-reliant skills you have, the better prepared you will be to survive a job loss, a loss of income, or any other preparedness threat that might come about.
Stockpile long-term food. Having a stocked pantry goes a long way should you lose your job or face an economic emergency. Your number one goal should be building up a 3-6 month supply of food so your family doesn’t go hungry during an emergency.

Prepping for Natural Disasters
No matter where you live in this world, you are susceptible to at least one type of natural disaster hitting your area. From wildfires and flooding to earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados at some point you are going to have to deal with the consequences of one of these types of disasters.
Do you know how to shut off utilities inside your home? During some disasters you may have to temporarily shut down power, gas lines, and water into your home. Make sure you know where these main utility shutoffs are, and make sure you have the tools to shut them down when you need to.

Prepping for Crime, Assaults and Home Invasions.
Prepare for social unrest. We live in a time where people are looking for any excuse to cause trouble. Riots, looting, and large-scale assaults are becoming more common — even in areas once considered good neighborhoods.
Make sure you know how to defend your home. Home invasions are one of the most common crimes we face today; make sure you, your family, and you home are ready to face the threat.

Preparing for Fires and Floods
Conduct Monthly Preparedness Drills. One of the best ways to prepare yourself and your family for disasters and threats, as well as discover any holes in your plans, is to conduct periodic emergency safety drills.
Get a Fire Extinguisher. When thinking about survival gear people often overlook the fire extinguisher. Knowing how to start a fire is a great survival skill, but the ability to put one out can save your life!

Preparing for Economic Disasters
Don’t be one of the 60% of Americans who have less than $1,000 in Savings. Whether it’s having garage sale or cutting back on useless budget items you need to start taking your economic preparedness seriously.

Preparing for Social Unrest
After the riots in Baltimore and Ferguson, and a countless number of large scale gang attacks that received very little attention from the mainstream media, there is no denying the chaos that’s spreading through the streets of America and throughout the world.

Preparing for Terrorist Attacks
While these attacks are often ignored by the media, or classified as acts of workplace violence so the government doesn’t have to admit we were attacked, this is one threat that is not going away. In fact, future attacks will likely be bigger, cause more death and destruction, and could shatter an already troubled economy causing us to spiral into a place where nobody wants to go.

The Aftermath: Post Disaster Threats
We live in a world where people are looking to take advantage of bad situations, and with all disasters will come a number of threats that could catch you off guard should you ignore the possible aftermath. From criminals looking to take advantage of people who are already desperate and off guard, to terrorists who are waiting to strike once we are already down, there are people out there who will target people after the initial threat seems to have passed.

At some points in their lives, most people will lose their jobs or experience a natural disaster. Many will experience a home invasion or other threat on their well-being. Some will experience a fire or flood and some will experience the effects of social unrest, which is constantly on the rise and may reach a tipping point.

If there is a terrorist attack or large-scale disaster, we will all feel the effects. It's easy to make fun of the people who are preparing constantly for an  unknowable future, but when SHTF, those are the people you want to be.

To learn more about the prepping lifestyle and it's real-world applications, check out Off Grid Survival.