How do you think your life will change if SHTF ?

[Biggkidd]

I'll go first.

I don't think my life will change much. I don't work. I don't take any RX meds. I live two miles down a locked gate road with no other house within two miles. Only the locals have a clue I'm back here and that's likely less than 100 people in total. Who would think someone lives down an old logging road that's obviously hardly ever traveled? I'm roughly 75 miles from any large cities and well off major / main roads. I have most everything I need but a steady supply of fuel for things like running the water pump, it's gas. The house has cistern water, but the critters and crops get creek water. I can convert the pump to run on alcohol (most any small 4 stroke) and I can make alcohol. I know because I've done it. Chainsaws or any two strokes maybe a little harder, may not be possible. Diesel will be an issue at some point too. But all of my diesels are old enough and mechanical with no computers to run on many combustible liquids. Most of my stuff will run even if there is an EMP / solar flare / CME.

I've been stocking consumables for years, although I'm not sure you can ever truly have enough.

I can and have grown food and feed and I have farmyard animals plus wild game if it comes to that.

Oh and I'm also off grid, have been 16 years now.

The only thing I'm missing that I can think of is people. It will take more than one to make it long term. But I will have some folks who've been invited because they will be assets IF they can get here after the ball drops.

But there's likely thousands of things I haven't thought of......

 

[ssonb]

When you do meet friends you will not be competing with a smart phone for conversation.

 

[lonewolf]

wont change much, I'm a recluse now and dont have much in common with most folk.

 

[Magpie]

Same here. I'm not as remote as some of you but definitely could go for ages without seeing anyone. I miss covid, tbh. Got so much done around the place, everyone was home, so no driving. My husbands work phone didn't ring at stupid o'clock either. I can work online, if the internet went, well, so be it. Eventually, we'd run out of stuff, but we'd have enough time to adapt. There's not much game about here so I would get some rabbits, but not too many changes other than that.

 

[Amish Heart]

Well, I think we'll find out in our lifetime because I think we're in a slow roll into it right now. I'm sure my life will change drastically, because husband will not survive a total collapse without medical. And I think everyone's life will change, even if you're not living within the system right now, just because most people in the world are living in the system. Kinda like covid was...even if it didn't cause you to panic, it caused everyone else to panic and react, and that effected you.

 

[lonewolf]

Well, I think we'll find out in our lifetime because I think we're in a slow roll into it right now. I'm sure my life will change drastically, because husband will not survive a total collapse without medical. And I think everyone's life will change, even if you're not living within the system right now, just because most people in the world are living in the system. Kinda like covid was...even if it didn't cause you to panic, it caused everyone else to panic and react, and that effected you.

Covid didnt affect me, and people panicking didnt affect me either, I was in personal isolation even before the lockdown and didnt have anything to do with other people , I dont have anything to do with people in normal times, they arent worth my time and effort.

 

[lonewolf]

BTW the thread title is wrong, its not IF SHTF, its WHEN!!

 

[Tirediron]

I guess it will depend on what shtf is, I am 5 miles from a large village, 20 from medium towns, 75 or so from the stampede city. I hope to have a bit of a fuel supply, we have a loose knit community plan, for a shtf event, so pretty well set, I have a lot of consumables ,Oil, filters etc. I have plans to keep food cold if needed, a deep spring box about a 1/4 mile across a field at an old homestead site.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Tell me more about making alcohol. How much acreage will you need to grow the grain to make the alcohol that will power your small engines? How does one convert the engines to use alcohol? Thanks.

 

[Cabin Fever]

I guess it will depend on what shtf is, I am 5 miles from a large village, 20 from medium towns, 75 or so from the stampede city. I hope to have a bit of a fuel supply, we have a loose knit community plan, for a shtf event, so pretty well set, I have a lot of consumables ,Oil, filters etc. I have plans to keep food cold if needed, a deep spring box about a 1/4 mile across a field at an old homestead site.

I have lots of oil and oil filters, but I don't that gasoline will be available anywhere. I remember the filling station lines after 9/11. Stations ran out of gasoline.

 

[lonewolf]

filling stations around here-there is only one close by- will be empty within 24 hours, so will the corner store.

 

[UrbanHunter]

This might be the wrong place to be wishful thinking, but if I had $$$$ I would love to have a solar barn, with battery storage, inverter for micro grid, and an electric tractor. They make them now, very expensive, but in a post SHTF world I bet one would be priceless...
https://agriculture.newholland.com/en-us/nar/products/tractors-telehandlers/t4-electric-power
Just wishing but... I agree that all things petro would dry up quickly.

For me I think that transportation would switch to foot and bicycles. Food would be grow your own. Community would be the hard one, there are benefits and risk associated with social exposure.

 

[Biggkidd]

Tell me more about making alcohol. How much acreage will you need to grow the grain to make the alcohol that will power your small engines? How does one convert the engines to use alcohol? Thanks.

It takes about 5lbs of grain (corn) to make about a 1/2 gallon of fuel grade alcohol and about 2 weeks overall. That's 5-10 ears of corn most times depends on ear size. You first have to ferment the grain then distill it to a minimum 160 proof but over 175 is better and 190 is better yet.

An older gas engine and small engines run at roughly a 12.7:1 air to fuel ratio. To run alcohol you have to fatten that up to about 6.5:1 air to fuel. So you have to increase the jet size by about 1/3 to 1/2. Start small and work your way up.

 

[Amish Heart]

An electric tractor would need a long extension cord. Ha Ha.
That's the joke in our non electric world.

 

[Hooch]

..well..
When I moved here 9 years ago..this area had alot less people.
That has changed.
I have changed alot in 9 years.
Water, winter and unprepared people will be challenging.
I think alot will be different ..good n bad.
I'm going to prepare as best I can ,
I will embrace changes, challenges and new routines with grit determination and a good attitude.
Looking back on my life so far..I am so grateful for all the experiences. I wouldn't be who I am today without all the crap I had to slog myself through and in retrospect..what a gift it had been! So, be it challenging or good times..I'll take it. It's all part of my souls journey.
I trust the Universe has a plan for this whole world n all that is. I will roll with the punches untill I cant. When it's time to check out , I'm ok with that.
While I still have to help myself prepare n learn.. I've come to the conclusion that I set myself free of sorts..I'm here for the ride.
..

 

[Haertig]

I expect my life would change massively. I will not be eating fresh vegetables and meat to any great extent. I will be eating crap out of cans and other long shelf life stuff I have stockpiled. That will sustain me, but I won't be looking forward to delicious meals anymore. I will no longer have daily communication with my children with cellphones and internet going away. One lives across town, but it would be a three day walk to get there (for me, only two days for someone in better shape). I would never see my daughter again because she lives several thousand miles away, and across an ocean.

It would be a totally wretched life IMHO. Some people anxiously await a life like this. I don't.

 

[Amish Heart]

I would not anxiously await a life like SHTF, but I don't plan to eat crap food, either. I know how to grow, raise, and cook well.

 

[12icemaker]

The history of France Just after the end of WWII before the full implementation of the Charles de Gaulle Socialist regime would be a good comparison but instead of the "collaborator" trials it will just be the conservative "insurrectionist" trials.


No government checks of any kind, no postal service, no monetary system, no banks, no way to buy things, no legitimate police or government officials. No property of any kind documental title system,
no authority by any agency or force to detain anyone, nothing but vigilante justice for murder, rape, theft,>>>>>

No distribution system, so the communities of this country need to get together in town halls and be ready for the biden insurrection against the people of this country to get REAL around November of this year.

The people need to look at their elected officials and determine if they, the churches, the police, fire, medical and schools are up to closing the community off and defending the rights and safety of the citizens and fulfilling their needs for up to a year.

 

[Haertig]

It helps to live in a place with a long growing season too if you like fresh food. I don't consider canned - even home canned - to be fresh. Some of it is OK or even good, other things are not (to my taste). For example, canned tomatoes will never, ever, rival a fresh tomato in my book. Ditto for canned corn vs. fresh corn. Vastly inferior, but they will sustain you.

 

[Amish Heart]

Even people that grow gardens may not grow and eat seasonally. Something can be grown in every season, but not many do it. Typically people do eat their home grown food fresh, it's the excess grown that is preserved...freezing, canning, dehydrating, freeze drying. Nothing wrong with having cabbage, broccoli, lettuces, spinach, brussel sprouts when a fresh tomato can't be had. Some vegetables, like butternut, spaghetti, and acorn squash last for 9 months in my basement, but I grew in the summertime. Potatoes last a long time, too, and were grown earlier. Even apples. My green tomatoes I pick in Oct before the first frost last in my basement, redding up slowly, till Dec 1.
But too many people are used to seeing a variety of everything in the grocery store in every season, although the price would be higher when out of season. And too many people are accustomed to eating out all the time. I have been disappointed in the quality of what I eat sometimes when eating out, moreso now than a few years back. Better food to cook it at home, and I know what I'm eating.

 

[Tirediron]

Almost everyone is at least second generation grid addicted, even here on the forum . I spent the first 6 years of my life without grid power, my brother rigged a am radio to run off of a 6 volt truck battery, we finally got a propane fridge the last couple of years. but that is way different than post shtf. if we make it past the idiots dying off, and the attempts at raids, a fairly healthy society should evolve.

 

[Caribou]

I have lived in large cities of millions, small cities of 6,000 to 12,000, in a log cabin that was the only house on the island, and on boats where I didn’t even see land for weeks at a time. I moved between these situations seamlessly. Whatever befalls me I expect to be able to adapt.

I do worry about the wife. She doesn’t expect things to ever change. When they do change she will think the government will fix things soon. Adapting is not her strong suit. It will all be my fault.

 

[Sourdough]

If the SHTF in the near future, I would die. Likely in less than 90 days.

To have the slightest chance, I need to completely recreate a survival plan, in a new location.

 

[Haertig]

I have been disappointed in the quality of what I eat sometimes when eating out

You can say that again! It is the rare exception when I go out to eat and come away saying "Wow, that was better than I could cook at home!" But there are some things that can be made in a restaurant that I simply would not cook at home. Things with a lot of of rare ingredients, things that require special preparation, things that require deep fat frying, etc. I consider most restaurants to be social outings, not culinary outings. But with the prices they're charging these days, their desirability as social outings is rapidly falling by the wayside. I can't complain too much about that though - it's great for my wallets bottom line. Our food bill is massively less than it used to be when we were younger. And we are eating much better quality stuff too. Thinking about going to a Burger King now turns my stomach. But when we were young, that was something we did about twice a month.