Why hide these things? Well, aside from protecting what’s ours, it’s also about avoiding unplanned visits from folks looking to “borrow” our equipment for their needs.

Among all the things we’d want to keep out of sight, backup power systems are especially important to secure.

So, let’s go over some types of backup power setups and practical ways to keep them hidden from the watchful eyes of neighbors and anyone else passing by.

One Critical Step To Take After A Crisis

In an crisis situation with a working backup power system, you’ll need to be extremely cautious about both noise and light. After all, a post-crisis world is bound to be quiet and dark, so if your place is lit up or making unusual sounds, it’s going to signal to neighbors that you have power—and they’ll likely come knocking.

Keep your curtains tightly closed and avoid making any loud noise. Blending up some end-of-the-world margaritas or cranking up the TV for movie night might not be the best move.

Take a walk around your home to make sure no light is slipping through, and be mindful of how far any sounds might carry beyond your walls.

Generators

One of the biggest drawbacks of generators is that they’re easy to move—and, unfortunately, easy to steal. Many come on wheels, which makes them convenient but also means they’re vulnerable, especially since they need to be run outside where they’re exposed to potential theft.

It’s easy enough to store a backup generator in your garden shed or garage to keep it out of sight, but that doesn’t solve the problem when it’s time to use it.

Generators are loud. Even quieter, inverter-style generators make enough noise to let everyone nearby know you’ve got power.

Related: Modular Backyard Power Plant Review

The best way to keep your generator discreet is to build an enclosure to reduce the noise, with ventilation to allow exhaust to exit. While there’s not much you can do about the exhaust fumes, you can at least muffle the sound significantly.

These enclosures are easy to build with basic materials, and you don’t need specialized skills to get it done. Plenty of plans and videos online can guide you through building a sound-dampening enclosure.

That said, even with an enclosure, it will be hard to hide that you’re running a generator entirely. Be smart about when and how often you use it to reduce attention. While no setup will make it totally silent, reducing the noise enough can help keep curious neighbors from zeroing in on where it’s coming from. Alternatively, you can build your own silent “power plant” for cheap.

Solar Power Systems

Concealing a solar power setup isn’t easy since solar panels need to be outside to capture sunlight.

One option is to bring the panels out only when needed, but this won’t work if the south side of your home—the ideal spot for sunlight—is in view of neighbors. Another approach is to position the panels indoors where they can still catch sunlight through windows. While this setup reduces efficiency, it keeps the panels hidden.

You’ll also have the hassle of moving the panels throughout the day as the sun moves, so it’s not an ideal solution.

The battery bank, however, can be kept indoors without issue. Since solar setups are quiet, there’s no noise to tip off anyone nearby. Just keep in mind that any lights or sounds from using electronic devices can still give away that you have a backup power source.

Hydroelectric Power

If you’re lucky enough to have a stream or river close enough to harness hydroelectric power, you’ll still want to find ways to keep it discreet. It’s tough to stop people from following waterways, so any generator on the open bank is bound to draw attention.

One of the best ways to keep a hydroelectric setup under the radar is to divert some of the water flow from the source to your generator and then route the water back downstream. This can be done by using large PVC pipes, which you can bury underground along with the hydro-generator itself.

The power cables will need to be buried as well, ideally in conduit to meet local codes and keep everything safe and secure.

Wind Power

Wind turbines present a real challenge when it comes to keeping a low profile. Since they need to be set up high to catch enough wind, hiding a wind turbine effectively isn’t easy. One approach is to only set it up when absolutely necessary.

If you do need to put it up, you might be able to use your house or surrounding trees to shield it from view, though this will only help to a certain extent. Wind turbines, while a great source of power, are also on the expensive side, making them a critical component to protect in any long-term homesteading plan.

Though some backup power systems are tough to keep out of sight, it’s still worth taking the time to find ways to keep them as discreet as possible.

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Depending on the environment, a person’s survival without water could be much less. Because of this, we need to prioritize the storage, collection, and purification of water as a major consideration in our stockpile of preparedness supplies.

One of the first questions that people have when it comes to the storage of water is:

How Much Do I Need for My Family?

Water Requirements Per Person

The general rule of thumb is that we need to store one gallon of water for each person for each day. This means that a family of five would need five gallons of water per day after a disaster or emergency where access to the municipal water supply is cut off.

One gallon covers the water each person needs for drinking, cooking, and sanitation.

It’s not that simple, however.

Related: Off Grid Water Heaters

The average American uses around 100 gallons per day, which means that in an emergency, we would have to cut our water usage by 99 percent.

This is a massive adjustment to our daily living situation, which many will struggle with. During a disaster, grid-down situation, or full-blown apocalypse, every drop of water must be used with care and never wasted.

To mitigate this, we should try to select foods for our stockpiles that require little to no water in their preparation. As you build a stockpile of emergency food, ask yourself how much water will be needed per day to prepare it.

You may get by with one gallon per day, but if your stored food requires more water to prepare, you’ll have to increase your daily water storage requirements.

Pets

Do not forget about your pets when you are planning your water storage.

Consider your dog or cat another person and budget a gallon of water for them as well.

For smaller pets, you’ll have to use your best judgment when it comes to providing water for them.

How Much Water You Should Store?

When it comes to how much water you need to store, you’ll need to assess how much safe, cool, and dry space you have available for water storage. If you live in an apartment or condo, the amount of space you have available will be a massive factor in the volume of water you can store.

The first step is to determine how many days you want your stored water supplies to last, then consider how much water you can store and manage in your available space.

Related: Watering Mistakes You Must Avoid This Summer

This is where plans for people who want to keep a year’s supply of water on hand go up in smoke.

Ask yourself if you could store 1825 gallons of water weighing a little more than fifteen thousand pounds in your home. I’m guessing that most reading this will not.

Pick a number of days of water that you can reasonably store, then have a plan to gather water from other sources to supplement your water storage.

Storing the Water

For this scenario, let’s assume a family of four with a dog. This means they’ll be storing five gallons of water per day. A good starting point is to store two weeks’ worth of water, which is a goal that many of us can achieve.

(Five Gallons) x (Fourteen Days) = (70 gallons)

There is also an issue with the weight of this water. Each gallon weighs 8.34 pounds, so the two-week supply will equal 583.8 pounds! That’s a lot of weight and a lot of water.

I like to store much of my water supply in 5 or 7-gallon jerry cans. This allows the water to be easily transported or loaded into a vehicle in case of a bug out. I also use a 55-gallon plastic drum to store a large quantity of water for emergencies.

Related: How To Store Water In Your Car For An Emergency

55-gallon plastic drums are great because each one represents eleven days’ worth of water for five people.

They are also readily available online and through local retailers and can be stored vertically or horizontally.

All your stored water needs to be kept in separate locations around the home so that if there is damage to an area of the house that has some water storage, your entire supply will not be at risk.

If you have bathtubs in your home, it is a good idea to have a bathtub water bladder. These are widely available on Amazon and are essentially a plastic bag that sits inside your bathtub.

You can fill this water bladder in advance of a known natural disaster, such as a hurricane, or immediately after an emergency while there is still pressure in the system. The average bathtub can hold between 40 and 60 gallons of water, and keeping one of these water bladders on hand for each tub is a great way to supplement your water storage.

Other Water Sources

Pay close attention to all the available water sources in your area.

You must also assess the cleanliness of these sources and their viability for emergency water. Rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, etc., are great options, but if the water is filthy, it may not be of any use to you.

Collecting rainwater is something that can go a long way to extending your water storage capability. This water will not be good to drink without filtering and boiling but will be fresh water that you can use.

Filtering

Along with stored water, you need to consider adding water filters to your supplies. There are many options available in the water filtration space, and it can be confusing to decide which ones you should be getting.

Smaller hollow fiber filters are perfect for inclusion on a bug-out bag, but someone in the group needs to carry a more robust filter. Reverse Osmosis filters are a very popular option because they can remove most contaminants from water, including fluoride.

Recently, several ultraviolet options have come to market. These claim to kill bacteria and viruses using ultraviolet light. Personally, I do not use these filters because I do not like trusting my health to anything that needs a battery.

Related: How To Can Water

If you have a backyard and access to rainwater, you’re already better off than a lot of people. All you need to do is set up this cheap DIY rainwater harvesting and purification system, capable of storing and filtering 165 gallons of water that would otherwise just go to waste.

Determining the amount of water you need to keep your family healthy and hydrated after a disaster is no small task.

It requires good forethought and careful planning to ensure you have enough to meet your daily needs.

Whether planning for a multi-year disaster or simply wanting to be ready for a 72-hour emergency, water will be a keystone component of your preparedness planning.

This article first appeared here.

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The post This Is How Much Water You Actually Need first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

There may not be much time to stock up before prices skyrocket, since it looks like we are headed in the same direction.

Fuel

Fuel prices seem to skyrocket without needing inflation to propel them. Oil companies will take any excuse to ratchet up the cost of all fuels, and hyperinflation is one of those excuses.

Storing large quantities of fuel may not be practical for everyone, but storing jerry cans is always a good idea. Always remember to stabilize the fuel before storing it to extend its life span.

During the week, I rotate my small fuel storage by emptying the next jerry can into my truck’s gas tank and refilling it with fresh gas. The tricky part is picking the day when the price is the best.

Power

Hyperinflation is skyrocketing electric bills, so if you want a reliable 24/7 power source in your backyard, you should definitely have the Modular Backyard Power Plant. You’ll become energy independent and never have to rely on the power grid or be at the mercy of the power companies in the case of a blackout.

This Backyard Power Plant runs two chest freezers, a moderate-sized refrigerator, lights, satellite TV, satellite Internet, a desktop computer, a water pump, and many, many other items.

Having your own reliable source of energy can definitely save your life in a crisis.

Paper Products

COVID taught us that panic buying would empty store shelves of the most unexpected items. It never occurred to me that toilet paper and paper towels would become so valuable that they could almost be considered currency.

Remember what we saw during COVID, and keep a healthy stockpile of toilet paper and paper towels on hand.

Seeds

The best way to combat rising food costs is to grow your food, but you can’t do that unless you have some high-quality heirloom seeds for your garden. Now is the time to think about buying seeds in case the inflation that we see spirals out of control into a full-scale economic collapse.

Seeds are also a fantastic barter item that will significantly benefit others more than many supplies we would usually save for bartering.

Dry Goods And Canned Food

Most of us have food stored away, but when we rotate out the older items, we still have to replenish them.

Hyperinflation is going to make the price of a lot of these products excessively expensive, so stock up while the price is still somewhat low. It is probably a good idea to start buying a couple of extra canned or dry goods each time you go shopping.

Related: What Is the Best Canned Meat?

Food prices are skyrocketing, and there is no sign of prices easing anytime soon. If you have been falling behind on food storage, now is the time to think about rectifying that.

Tobacco And Alcohol

These items are best stockpiled for barter, not personal use, especially tobacco.

It is essential that anyone who wants to be prepared for the potential economic collapse break any addictions or unhealthy habits that they may have to substances like tobacco or alcohol. In order to barter with people desperate for their vices, keep a carton of smokes and a few bottles of alcohol on hand.

There is also the fact that people who are experiencing alcohol withdrawals can see these withdrawals become life-threatening. Keeping some alcohol on hand can help to stabilize these individuals until the crisis is over and supply chains are restored.

Meat

Meat prices have increased at the grocery store as well. To combat this, stock up when prices are good, and vacuum seal the meat for long-term storage in the freezer. You can also make pemmican or jerky to preserve it for long periods of time.

Take advantage of all the hunting opportunities your area provides and fill the freezer as much as you can.

Ammo

I think it is safe to say that the prices people are forced to pay for ammunition are almost criminal. When hyperinflation hits, the cost of ammo is going to skyrocket. The problem with ammo is that it’s a resource we need to expend to practice the safe and effective use of firearms.

If you have the means, it is a good idea to take up reloading your ammo and stock up on reloading supplies. Whether you purchase your ammo or reload, now is the time to stock up.

Medical Supplies

Some people need to take regular medication to treat chronic conditions, and if you don’t have good insurance, these costs will add up more and more as inflation gets out of control. You should try and keep a three to six-month stockpile of any prescription medications that you need.

Related: 6 First Aid Skills You Should Know Before A Crisis

It is also a good idea to stock up on over-the-counter pain medications. Recently, my country’s supply of over-the-counter pain medications completely dwindled. In hyperinflationary times, these types of medicines could be too expensive for many people due to supply chain issues.

Gold And Silver

The advantages of gold and silver during hyperinflation are significant. Gold, silver, and other precious metals are not tied to fiat currencies, so they are not affected by the failure of those currencies since they are precious metals with a long history in the human race.

It is good to stock some gold coins as a hedge against inflation. Still, silver is better for the smaller day-to-day transactions we would be making in the event of an economic collapse caused by runaway inflation.

As of the writing of this article, silver was hovering around $20 USD while gold was about $1750 USD. Imagine trying to buy a few grocery items with a gold coin it would be too overvalued for that type of purchase, whereas a silver coin would be closer in value.

There is nothing we can do about hyperinflation. What we can do is accelerate our preparedness to counter the effects. Take measures in your lives today to make what is probably coming in the future more tolerable.

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Regardless of why you are without hot water, it is more than a minor inconvenience. We need hot water to clean ourselves, wash dishes, and launder our clothes.

The good news is that there are many projects that you can build to provide a constant supply of hot water in those times when getting it from traditional sources is impossible.

Even better, these are things that you can construct today and keep on hand for those times that you need them.

Endless Hot Water Without Electricity: Wood Stove Water Heater

There are a few ways to convert a wood stove into a continuous hot water source. The easiest way is to use a wood stove with a water heater attached. This comes at a cost though, and making one yourself can often be less expensive.

You can make a wood stove out of an old propane tank, or steel drum, or fabricate one out of sheet steel. There are even ways to turn an old ammo can into a wood stove.

Related: How To Purify Water Off Grid

A wood stove’s chimney gets extremely hot, and that heat energy is wasted as it radiates into the air. Wrap flexible copper plumbing pipe around the chimney to take advantage of this wasted heat.

To do this, fill the pipe with sand and wrap it around the chimney in a coil. Once it’s shaped, remove the sand and solder plumbing fixtures on each end. Cold water enters the bottom, and hot water exits through the top.

Alternatively, you can create a zig-zagging copper pipe pattern around the stove. This method requires more soldered joints, making it harder to build. However, using a larger diameter pipe allows more water to heat as it travels around the stove.

You’ll need a way to store the hot water, like an old hot water tank. Wrapping the tank in insulation will help keep the water hot.

Once everything’s set up, fire up the stove and let the water flow through the plumbing. Just be careful not to let the water sit stagnant. If it does, it could boil and create steam, causing the fittings to burst.

Wood Stove Hot Water Tank

If you have some fabrication skills and access to stainless steel, you can build a custom water tank that will hang off the side of the stove. Alternatively, a stainless-steel tank placed on the stove will also work quite well.

You’ll have to ensure that the water inside these tanks does not boil because that will generate steam and create a lot of pressure, leading to the tank bursting.

If you go this route, you’ll need to ensure that all welds on and inside the tank are sanitary welds so as to not contaminate your hot water.

Endless Hot Water Without Electricity With Rocket Stove Water Heater

A rocket stove water heater works like a wood stove heater, but the copper water pipe coil is built into the stove’s body. Like the wood stove, you’ll need an old hot water tank to store the heated water.

Rocket stoves are more efficient than regular wood stoves. This makes them a great option when fuel access is limited, giving you hot water without electricity.

Solar Water Heaters

You can use the sun to heat water in several ways. This works great in warm climates or during the summer. However, if you can set up a solar water heater inside your home where it gets direct sunlight, you can even use it in the winter.

Building a solar water heater is easy, especially if you have basic construction skills.

One great option is to place a coil of PEX pipe, painted black, in a box with a plexiglass lid. Attach fittings to the inlet and outlet of the pipe. These fittings will let you connect hoses and valves, giving you hot water without electricity.

Solar Drum Heater

You can also use 55-gallon drums painted black and placed on your home’s roof as a solar water heater. Since the drums will be elevated, they will provide water pressure as gravity pulls the water down.

You’ll need to ensure that your roof can handle the extra weight, and you’ll probably have to build and install a platform to hold the drums.

Fire

Sometimes, the old ways are the best. If you have fire and water, you have endless hot water. You can hang a pot over a campfire or make a fire pit with an elevated grate on top of which you place a large pot full of water.

As long as you have fire, the water will be heated, but you won’t be able to plumb it into your home’s plumbing. Failure of the grid shouldn’t keep you from a steady supply of nice hot water. These projects are worth investing in now so that you’ll be good to go when the grid goes down.

Even though your access to this heated water will look much different than when we have unlimited access to electricity, you’ll be the only one on the block with unlimited clean, piping hot water.

This article first appeared here.

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Getting off-grid and self-sufficient may seem like the most difficult part, but once you are off the grid, there are challenges that most homesteaders do not want to think about.

Everything Takes Work

The great part of modern life is that everything has been designed and engineered to make our lives as simple as possible.

Water flows freely from the tap, electricity is only an outlet away, and any food or supplies you need are close by and readily available. In some cases, Amazon will deliver the goods you need on the same day, and you do not need to get out of your pajamas.

Once you are off the grid, there is going to be a lot of extra work that you need to put in to get the necessities of life. You may be able to get running water, but this will involve pumps and pipes taking that water from the source into your home. Realistically, many off-grid homesteads will need water to be fetched daily, which is the first of a long list of daily chores.

Food is grown, raised, harvested, or hunted, and if you do not have enough, then you will either starve or you’ll have to drive into town to buy more supplies.

Gardens and raising animals take a lot of work, and hunting is very time-consuming. And these activities are critical to your survival. Everything that is around your off-grid homestead can be broken or destroyed. You can’t call in a handyperson or contractor, so you need to be able to fix everything.

This takes knowledge, tools, supplies, and skills that can take quite some time to develop or acquire.

The Work Is Hard

When was the last time you swung a hammer all day? Have you spent an afternoon hauling bricks or boulders? Or digging in the dirt for days on end? The truth is that 99% of people reading this do not have the physical fitness needed to truly live an off-grid life.

The manual labor of off-grid life requires a level of physical fitness that you can’t get from your 30-minute Peloton workout or daily gym session. Being able to run a marathon doesn’t mean that you can haul five-gallon jerry cans of water every day or chop firewood.

The only way to get in shape for off-grid life is to focus on functional fitness that imitates the types of tasks that you will be doing off-grid.

No Sick Days

When there is a list of chores that need doing, you don’t get to lay in bed with the sniffles or if you are too sore from the previous day’s chore list. You need to be ready to go every day, and if you get hurt or sick, your survival can be in jeopardy.

The healthcare system effectively treats common injuries that most of us encounter throughout our lives. However, when you live off-grid, you become your own healthcare provider.

Nurses and doctors can efficiently address issues like broken bones, deep cuts, or burns at the local urgent care center. When you live off grid, these medical mistakes can put your life in serious danger.

Included is ensuring that your water and food are clean and will not get you sick. One sip of bad water will make you ill and could potentially kill you. The same goes for undercooked or spoiled food. Maintaining robust physical health is critical to off-grid life and needs to be carefully considered.

Power Is Always Going to Be a Problem

Most homesteaders will have some sort of off-grid power when they decide to live off-grid. Whether it’s solar, wind, or hydroelectric, these systems require care and maintenance that you have to do yourself.

Also, the batteries in these renewable systems have a shelf life, so there will be a time when the batteries need replacing.

During a long-term SHTF situation, you cannot access any replacement batteries. The same is true of solar panels; they, too, have a shelf life, and when they die after SHTF, there will not be any way to get replacements.

Mental Health Issues

Even if you are living off-grid with your family, you will miss the social interactions of modern life. It is easy to stay connected to friends and family through texting or social media, but when the grid is removed, these connections require much more effort.

We need these social connections to support our mental health, and when they are removed, people living off the grid will start to feel very lonely and could become depressed.

There is a lot of added anxiety that off-grid living will also present us. Everything that can go wrong requires solutions that only you can provide. The success or failure of your off-grid homestead rests on your shoulders, which can lead to stress and anxiety.

There is also the lack of mindless entertainment that we distract ourselves with. Modern life is full of distractions that keep us from spending too much time in our headspace.

The silence of off-grid living will result in having to spend a lot of time in our heads, and if you do not like yourself, you will have a bad time. We must spend more time getting right with ourselves during daily life because waiting until we live off the grid or SHTF will not have good results.

Homesteaders strive to be self-sufficient enough to live removed from the grid and become reliant on no one.

While it is nice to have fantasies about this lifestyle, we also need to be realistic about the challenges we will face.

To that end, if you plan to start an off-grid homestead, consider the dark side before it’s too late.

This article first appeared here.

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However, these kits are often in bags or other containers that are not particularly useful in a survival situation. A DIY Survival Jar is a comprehensive survival kit that you tailor to your specific needs and place inside a container that can hold water.

The reason that you want to place survival gear inside a vessel that can hold water is that water is the one element that we will perish without after as few as three days.

Therefore, if you had to rely solely on a survival kit in a life or death situation, not having a way to carry and store water becomes a serious problem.

Why Build a DIY Survival Jar?

There are so many different ways to put together a survival kit and a wide range of bags and containers that you can use to house them.

The advantage to using a water bottle, pot or cup to hold your survival kit is that you also get a usable container that so many other survival kits lack. Another advantage is that the cylindrical shape slides into backpacks and gear bags easily without taking up too much room.

In many cases, you will find that you can slide a one-liter water bottle in amongst the various bags and pouches of your bug-out bags without even noticing it is there.

Constructing a waterproof container from natural materials is very difficult. While it is a skill that is very valuable to have, you should never rely on skills like this in a survival scenario. It will always be better to have a water container with you than to try to improvise when the chips are down.

It should be noted that a DIY Survival Jar is intended to be a last resort kit rather than part of the equipment you use daily. A kit like this is intended to provide the bare essentials until you can either self-rescue or get rescued.

Container Selection

Because the container that this survival kit is housed in is vital, you’ll want to select an appropriate vessel to improve your survivability.

Personally, I like to carry stainless steel water bottles because they can be placed over a fire to boil water. This allows you to render water safe to drink without requiring chemicals or filters. Another option is a metal cup with a lid that you can secure. This will also give you the ability to boil water while providing a sturdy container to hold the contents of your survival kit.

Suppose you plan on packing methods of filtering water. In that case, a plastic water bottle will suffice as a container to hold your survival kit. One major disadvantage of this, aside from not being able to place over a fire, is that plastic bottles are more prone to breaking than their metal counterparts.

Many titanium options on the market offer significant weight savings over stainless steel but have the disadvantage of being far more expensive.

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Key Components of the DIY Survival Jar

Regardless of what environment you are tailoring your survival jar for, you should consider the survival rule of threes when gathering the contents.

The Survival Rule of Threes is:

• Three hours without shelter in bad weather
• Three days without water
• Three weeks without food

Using this as a guideline, we want to prioritize items that will allow us to build shelter first, then items to render water safe to drink, and lastly, things that will help us gather food.

You should also place items inside the survival jar so that the shelter and water items are at the top and easily accessible.

We also need to keep in mind the size of the bottle and how easy it will be to remove items from the survival jar when required. When you need to use this kit in a survival scenario, you may not have the fine motor skills to fish small items out of the bottle.

Other Items to Consider

You may want to include items to help you navigate, such as a map and compass, and some first aid items as well. Unfortunately, there will not be too much free space to hold a wide range of first aid items.

Gauze and bandaids, antibiotic ointment and some over-the-counter medication like ibuprofen, Aspirin, Imodium, Tylenol and an antihistamine are good to include.

In addition, any prescription medications you are required to take should be included. The key here is to keep these first aid kits as small as possible.

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My Personal DIY Survival Jar

For my personal DIY Survival Jar, I chose a stainless steel water bottle as the container for the kit.

I designed this kit or a wilderness environment to allow someone to build a shelter, purify water, gather food, and signal for rescue. I chose not to include any first aid items because I prefer to use dedicated first aid kits rather than put first aid supplies in survival kits.

Shelter

I kept my shelter kit very simple. With these items, one could set up a ridgeline from which any number of shelters can be set up using the emergency blanket as a tarp.

The fire kit includes some tinder, a Fresnel lens, a BIC lighter, and a spark lighter. This is more than enough to get a fire going in various conditions.

• Emergency blanket
• Paracord
• Small knife
• Fire Kit

Water

I am not a fan of chemically treated water, so I included a water filter that can be used as a straw to drink water directly from the source.

Or the water bottle can be used to hold dirty water, and the filter can be used to drink from the bottle.

Related: 100-Year-Old Way To Filter Rainwater In A Barrel

Food

Food procurement is last on the priority list for short-term survival. Still, a small fishing kit and a few snares can lead to a quick meal if deployed correctly.

Signaling

Getting rescued is the goal of any survival situation. I have included several items that will make signaling for help easier:

• Pen Flares
• Signal Mirror
• Whistle
• Headlamp
• Flagging Tape

Even though you can purchase survival kits from any of the hundreds of online retailers, you will build a better, more complete kit if you do it yourself.

You will also have the satisfaction of successfully taking your survivability into your own hands.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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The post DIY Survival Jar first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

There is evidence of the use of root cellars as far back as 40,000 years, which means there are thousands of years worth of mistakes and lessons learned that we could all use to improve our root cellars.

Why Build A Root Cellar?

Modern refrigeration requires the use of electricity, which makes maintaining the temperatures needed to keep food from spoiling difficult, if not impossible, in a grid-down situation.

However, a properly designed and constructed root cellar will keep fruits, vegetables, and nuts from spoiling without the need for electricity.

While building a root cellar is a significant undertaking, it is a worthwhile investment if your goal is off-grid living or EMP preparedness.

There are, however, many mistakes that we must avoid at all costs when designing and building a root cellar.

Not Enough Ventilation

A root cellar must maintain temperature and humidity and enough ventilation to allow fresh air to come in and stale air to exit.

One of the reasons for the need to exchange air is the ethylene gas that some vegetables and fruits produce. Too much of this gas will cause other foods to spoil more rapidly.

Another reason that ventilation is needed is to maintain an appropriate humidity level.

Too little humidity will dry out the food, and too much moisture will cause mold, mildew, and rot. So install vents high up to remove the stale air and gas and vents closer to the ground to bring in the fresh air.

When installing ventilation, be sure to cover the opening with a screen to keep the critter out and purchase vents that allow you to regulate the airflow.

Keeping Fruits And Vegetables Too Close Together

I mentioned ethylene gas in the last section, which is a gas emitted by certain fruits and vegetables that can harm other fruits and vegetables. Therefore you must keep these foods separate.

Some foods that emit ethylene gas are apples, bananas, blueberries, cantaloupe, citrus fruit, grapes, green onions, honeydew, melons, mushrooms, nectarines, okra, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, peppers, plantains, plums, quinces, tomatoes, watermelons.

Some foods that are negatively affected by ethylene gas are asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, and green beans. kale, kiwi fruit, leafy greens, lettuce, parsley, peas, peppers, potatoes, romaine lettuce, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, watercress, and yams.

Neither of these lists is exhaustive, and before you start filling your root cellar, it is imperative that you thoroughly research the foods you plan on storing.

It is also essential that you plan to manage ethylene gas production inside your root cellar, arranging the shelves and storage areas with ethylene gas production in mind.

Not Being Dark Enough

Light is the nemesis of many foods you will want to store inside your root cellar. For example, exposure to light can cause potatoes to sprout and bleach out the color and nutrients of other fruits and vegetables.

If your root cellar has a window, you need to cover it to keep the light out.

Another option is to cover the fruits and vegetables with burlap to lessen the effect of any light that finds its way into the root cellar.

Not Monitoring Temperature And Humidity

There is no excuse for not having a robust method of dialing in and maintaining the temperature and humidity levels within your root cellar.

A wide range of devices will keep track of both temperature and humidity, and most of them are not very expensive.

Many devices will provide you with this information and track trends in the temperature and moisture over time. There are even devices that will send this data to your smartphone.

As you monitor the conditions inside your root cellar, you can make wiser decisions on regulating the ventilation to achieve the most consistent results.

The bottom line is that if you do not have something that will tell you what the temperature and humidity levels are, you can not effectively protect your supplies.

Using Concrete Floors

The problem with concrete floors is that they keep the moisture held in the dirt below them from entering the root cellar. Concrete also has a nasty habit of holding in heat, which we do not want for a root cellar.

If you are constructing a root cellar from scratch and choose what your floor will be made of, plain dirt is always the better option.

A dirt floor allows the moisture in the ground to enter the cellar and also aids in keeping the air cool.

If your root cellar already has a concrete floor, there is no need to break out the jackhammer.

As long as you are mindful of the conditions within the confines of the space, you can make the necessary adjustments to have a fully functional root cellar.

Going In And Out Too Often

Root cellars work best by keeping the cool, moist air inside where it is needed. It would be best if you kept the door of your root cellar closed as much as possible to maintain optimal conditions inside.

Every time you open the door, you allow heat to enter and cool air to escape. Not to mention that your body heat is also heating the air inside. To reduce the need to go into the root cellar, don’t store other items inside that you need regular access to.

Your root cellar is for food only, and the only reason you should be opening the door is to put more food inside or take some food out. When you need to take food out, plan ahead and take enough for a couple of days to avoid having to go inside daily.

A root cellar is an excellent backup to the modern refrigeration we all enjoy today. It is also a great way to store fruits, vegetables, nuts, and canned goods that you would regularly use.

Building a root cellar and using it regularly will give you the knowledge and skills to maintain your food security during a grid-down situation.

We must take the time to learn from the mistakes of others to construct and use a root cellar that will help guarantee our food security in the event of a widespread disaster or the loss of grid power.

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The post Root Cellar Mistakes You Need To Avoid At All Costs first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

This is where an invisible shelter comes into play.

Goals Of An Invisible Shelter

The goal is to construct a shelter hidden from view that is appropriate to spend a night or two inside while waiting for the unrest to end.

These shelters can be built in urban areas, the wilderness, or forested areas within the urban environment.

What Makes A Shelter Invisible?

Being hidden from view is only a small part of making a shelter invisible. There are several other factors essential to remaining undetected.

• Keep your shelter far enough from any trails, paths or roads so that you will be out of sight, and any smells or sounds from your shelter will be masked or muffled to people walking by.
• There should be some barrier or deterrent to prevent anyone from approaching the shelter location.
• Keep the shelter as low to the ground as possible.
• No fires or cooking.
• No talking. When you need to communicate, whisper into the other person’s ear with cupped hands.
• No artificial lights.
• No unnecessary movement.
• Always have your bug-out bag packed and ready to go. Everything that you take out must be returned and secured when done using it.
• Always have at least one person on the sentry. Their job is to watch but also to listen for approaching people.

Invisible Shelter On Your Property

When a band of looters wants to break into your home, the best option is to retreat and regroup. Hopefully, you have taken measures to conceal your preparations and have hidden caches so that any loss from the looting will not affect your overall survivability.

Having invisible shelters on your property will require an investment of time, energy, and materials long before your front door is kicked in.

The first step is to walk around your property and locate areas where you could construct a shelter large enough to house your family for the duration of the looting.

Fortunately, gangs of thugs that roam around looting are likely to move on to other targets rather quickly, so there is little likelihood of spending more than a night in an invisible shelter on your property.

Some examples would be:

• If you have a large property, you could build a small shelter and then disguise it as a debris pile.
• If you have the time and equipment, digging an underground shelter is a viable option but requires skill and engineering. Hide the entrance to such a shelter under common backyard items such as a doghouse.

The problem with shelters such as these is that they often do not have the escape route options that other shelter locations may offer.

Likewise, creating a hidden refuge within your home, such as a panic room, suffers from the same lack of escape routes.

Urban Shelter Options

Urban environments do not leave a lot of options for seeking shelter from looters. Suppose you are in a situation where you need to leave your home due to looting; it is best to have possible shelter sites located beforehand.

The main issue is that suitable locations may be occupied by either the homeless or others like yourself.

Abandoned buildings are an option to consider, and you should know which buildings in your area are vacant.

Likewise, if you are close to an industrial area, there is a good possibility that you will find many empty commercial buildings that you can use for temporary shelter.

This option is not legal and should only be used in a dire emergency, also if you do find yourself in a situation where you need to use an abandoned building, leave no trace that you were there and avoid causing any damage.

Tunnels, overpasses, or bridges can offer shelter but will be popular options for other people as well.

One of the best ways to plan for building an invisible shelter is to walk around your neighborhood within a block or two radius, looking for spaces that you can access with minimal difficulty that can house you and your family for a short time.

Some examples are fenced-off mechanical areas, rooftops, etc.

Even the space between a hedgerow and a building can provide effective shelter; large trees can sometimes have places within them where you can hide.

Wilderness And Urban Forests

Establishing a shelter in a wilderness or urban forest is the most effective and easiest means of building an invisible shelter.

You should scout possible locations beforehand so that when you need to evacuate your home in the wee hours of the morning, you know exactly where you will go.

Look at areas of dense foliage that block the view of anyone passing by. As long as it is difficult to look over them, you can clear a place out of sight from passersby to pitch a simple low-profile tarp shelter without anyone being able to observe you.

You can also cut entrance and escape routes through the thick brush and camouflage their entrances with brush rendering the shelter area invisible.

Each of your family members’ bug-out bags needs to have a shelter kit that should have a tarp, paracord, and tent stakes.

The location of your invisible shelter will be entirely dependent on your area and the environment in which you live. Regardless of where you live, you need to follow a few fundamental rules when constructing a shelter you intend to keep invisible.

• Your tarp needs to be earth-toned or camouflaged to blend into the environment.
• When pitching the tarp, keep it very low to the ground. You should have enough room for yourself and maybe one other person along with your gear. Only leave enough headroom under the trap so that your body does not touch the tarp material.
• It may be difficult to use natural materials to camouflage a tarp without causing the material to sag, and this takes time that you may not have in abundance. It is better to keep your shelter out of view than to spend hours camouflaging it.
• You can dig down into the ground in dryer seasons and climates to create a depression to hide from view further.

Final Words

While it is possible to construct a shelter that is effectively invisible without any prior preparation, it is far better to do a little work beforehand to make it easier to vanish from looters.

Remember that what makes you truly invisible is more to do with what you do in and around the shelter rather than the actual shelter itself.

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The post How To Make An Invisible Shelter first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

While generators, battery banks, and other off-grid power sources can keep refrigerators running, they quickly deplete fuel and battery capacity.

To preserve these valuable resources, it would be beneficial to create a refrigeration option that doesn’t rely on electricity.

Refrigeration Before Electricity

The electric refrigerator is a relatively modern innovation, and commercially available models have only been in homes for about a century.

Before that, the simple icebox was the most common method of keeping food cold, and even during ancient times, people used ice houses to preserve food.

The problem with using ice is that it may be hard to come by in a grid-down scenario, which is where evaporative cooling comes into play.

Evaporative cooling has proven to be an effective method of keeping perishable foods from spoiling throughout history in areas where ice is not readily available.

The two elements required for an evaporative cooler are wind and water, which are far easier to obtain than large quantities of ice or snow.

Zeer Pots

The Zeer pot has been in use for thousands of years in one form or another but was resurrected from history by Mohamed Bah Abba in the 1990s.

Abba developed the pot-in-pot refrigeration system, using two unglazed clay pots. These pots are different sizes; the smaller one should fit inside the larger one leaving a gap of about an inch or so.

The inner pot is where the food you want to keep cold goes, and the outer pot serves to contain the sand that will fill the gap between the pots.

How the Zeer Pot Works

The Zeer pot can keep the inner pot cool because of the process of evaporative cooling.

For water to evaporate, it needs to absorb heat to turn the liquid water into vapor. As the water vapor absorbs this heat, it will be replaced by cool air that will settle in the inner pot.

The reason why the pots that make up a Zeer pot must be unglazed is to allow moisture to seep through the walls, which has a similar effect that sweating has on humans. Likewise, the moist cloth that is draped over the Zeer pot also aids in the cooling process.

Much like how a breeze can help cool your body when your clothes are damp or when you are sweating, the wind blowing across the Zeer pot is an essential component of its ability to keep food cold.

How to Build a Zeer Pot

Constructing a Zeer pot is a very simple process and requires readily available materials at your local hardware store. The entire build process takes very little time to complete. In my case, I constructed a Zeer pot in less than twenty minutes.

Materials and Instructions

• One large unglazed terracotta pot
• One smaller unglazed terracotta pot
• Sand

#1. If there are drainage holes in the bottom of either of the pots, you will need to seal them.

In my case, I decided to use plumbers’ putty, but you can use anything you have on hand to keep the sand and water from leaking out of the bottom. Of course, whatever you decide to use needs to be waterproof.

#2. Pour a layer of sand into the bottom of the larger pot.

The goal is that when you place the smaller pot inside, the tops of both pots will be at the same level or that the inner pot is slightly higher than the outer pot.

#3. Place the smaller pot inside of the larger one.

Centre the pots as best you can and make sure the inner pot is not below the level of the outer pot, as this will mean that sand may fall into the inner pot.

#4. Pour sand in the gap between the pots filling it to the top.

#5. Pour water on the sand until the sand is saturated with water.

You will need to allow the pot to cool for a while before loading it with food. During this cool-down period, you will want to drape a damp cloth over the pots.

#6. Fill the inner pot with whichever food you wish to keep cold.

#7. Cover your new Zeer pot with a damp cloth or lid.

It is essential that the fabric stay moist to facilitate the cooling effect. Then place the pot where it will be exposed to the wind and remain out of direct sunlight.

#8. Pour water on the sand a couple of times a day to prevent it from drying out.

Limitations of the Zeer Pot

There are several limiting factors for this style of electricity-free refrigeration:

• The Zeer pot is best suited for use in dryer climates. As the humidity in the air increases, the effectiveness of the Zeer pot is decreased.
• You have to keep the wet sand and damp cloth moist for the Zeer pot to maintain effectiveness. This means that you may have to wet the sand several times a day.
• Evaporative cooling requires wind, so in areas where there is no breeze, the Zeer pot will not be nearly as effective.
• There is no way to ensure that the temperature remains stable throughout the day, meaning that there could be periods of time in which the temperature within the Zeer pot rises to unsafe levels.
• Direct sunlight cancels the cooling effects.

If you live in a hot, dry region, the Zeer pot is a fantastic option for extending the lifespan of fresh produce without expending precious resources to generate the electricity required for conventional refrigeration. It is cheap, effective, and genuinely off-grid.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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The post DIY Electricity Free Fridge first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

The problem with water is that most of the freshwater we find in our environment holds the potential to harbour dangerous pathogens.

Therefore, it is critical that we have the ability to purify any water that we find to render it safe for us to drink.

Disclaimer

The water purifier that I am going to detail here has not been laboratory tested and should only be built and put into use in an actual SHTF situation.

This water purifier relies on the water to be heated to a point in which pathogens would be killed, and failure to achieve this will render this water purifier ineffective.

You, the reader, assume all risks in the construction and use of this purification system.

How This Water Purifier Works

The water purification system that I am about to describe employs a two-stage filtration.

The first stage uses cotton balls, sand, gravel, and small river rocks to filter debris and sediment from the water with a layer of activated charcoal to bind to toxins and chemicals.

After this stage, the water passes through a heated copper coil, which heats the water to boiling, killing all pathogens in the water. The combination of both stages should render most water safe to drink.

⇒ Click Here For The Awesome DIY Device That Turns Air Into Fresh Water

What Will the 20 Dollar Water Purifier Remove?

The first stage of filtration will remove a lot of foreign matter from the water, making it look much clearer.

The sand will also help filter out some bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens but not enough to render the water safe to drink. The activated charcoal will bind with chemicals and toxins with the added benefit of making the water taste much better.

The second stage of the purifier is designed to bring the water passing through the copper tube to the boiling point, killing any pathogens in the water.

Therefore, it is essential that the water that exits the copper coil be very close to 100 degrees Celsius at sea level, because this is the only point you can confirm that the process is working.

Building the Twenty Dollar Water Purifier

Most of the items you will need for this build are probably lying around your home or garage, with the only pieces needing to be purchased being the flexible copper pipe and the activated charcoal.

I was able to put this together in less than an hour, and the process was relatively straightforward, requiring only basic tools and knowledge.

Tools Required

• Drill and drill bits
• Saw
• Scissors
• Epoxy

Materials

• Sand and gravel
• Cotton balls
• Activated charcoal
• Flexible copper pipe
• 2×4’s and screws
• Alcohol stove
• Soda bottles

Instructions

1. Cut the bottom off the soda bottle, then drill a hole into the cap that is large enough to provide a tight fit around the copper tubing.

2. Wind the copper tubing into a coil. The tighter the coil, the more effective you will be able to heat the water to boiling.

3. Bend the upper end of the coil up at 90 degrees.

4. Bend the lower end down slightly to facilitate filling a container with clean water.

5. Place the cap onto the copper pipe.

6. Epoxy the cap to the pipe to prevent leaking.

7. Build a frame to hold the coil high enough that you can place a stove underneath it.

8. Attach the upper end of the coil to the frame. Either use metal stapping or screws. It must be secure enough that the first filter stage will not rotate or spill when full of filter media and water. I was able to accomplish this with only a few screws, but you may need to use other more secure methods.

9. Place the stove underneath the coil.

10. Place cotton ballsin the neck of the soda bottle.

12. Place the activated carbon, sand, and gravel into the soda bottle in layers.

13. Light the stove.

14. Pour water into the first filter stage and check the temperature of the water coming out of the other end.

15. When the water coming out is boiling hot, you can place whichever bottle you wish at the outlet to capture the clean, purified water.

Points to Note on the Twenty Dollar Water Purification System

• You can use a large can to hold the coil and stove, which will increase the amount of heat that will be put into the coil.
• The copper coil could also be wrapped around the stove pipe of a wood stove.
• In my case, I did not coil the copper as tight as I should have, but I could still get good results from the system. So I would suggest coiling the copper as tightly as you are able.
• Adjust the position of the stove until you get the best results.
• To prevent kinking in the copper tube, fill the tube with sand and seal off both ends. This will provide support for the tubing walls, preventing them from collapsing during the bending process.
• When fabricating the copper coil, it helps to have some sort of form to coil the tubing around. Pick a cylindrical object of similar diameter as the stove that you are going to use. PVC or ABS pipe, water bottles, or canned food are all excellent options.
• If you do not have an alcohol stove, you can make one or use whichever stove you have available. Do not use a wood-burning fire because it will not give out a consistent level of heat.

Related: Is It Legal To Harvest Rainwater In Your State?

The two-stage water purification system that I have detailed here is a good option for an emergency situation where all of your other water filtration and purification options have been rendered useless or no longer available.

However, while it will work well in theory, it is worth mentioning again that there is no laboratory evidence as to the level that it will purify water. Therefore, I make no claims as to its true efficacy.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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Fortunately, with a bit of imagination and a rummage through the recycling bin, you can construct many new projects for your backyard that are functional while looking good.

Old Tire Planters

When the tires of our cars and trucks need replacing, it is tempting to have the tire shop take them off our hands, but there are a couple of ways to repurpose them in the backyard as planters.

Old tires can be placed on the ground and filled with dirt to be used as a simple planter. Alternatively, an old tire can be hung from the wall or fence and have plants planted inside it to make a more unique and decorative planter.

Soda Bottles

Soda bottles are often returned for a few cents, but they can also see new life in your backyard.

Mini-Greenhouses

Building a full-scale greenhouse requires a lot of space and materials and is often not appropriate for the average suburban backyard. However, there is another option that may not be as efficient as a full-scale greenhouse, but can replicate the effect of a large greenhouse on a much smaller scale.

You can turn a standard soda bottle into a mini greenhouse by simply cutting the bottom off the bottle and placing it over a plant that you want to house in your new mini-greenhouse. Be sure to thoroughly clean the inside of the bottle and remove the label.

Insect Traps

You can create an insect trap by cutting the top off a soda bottle and turning it upside down into the bottom. Then, all you need to do is place bait in the bottom of the trap, which can be apple cider vinegar and dish soap, brown sugar and yeast, or dish soap and a light source.

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Then, all you need to do is hang it in an area where you have a flying insect problem and leave it for the insects to fly into and become trapped.

Milk Jug Bird Feeder

Empty gallon milk jugs can make lovely hanging bird feeders and an excellent project for children to build. There are as many variations as your imagination can come up with, and this basic design can be modified and improved to suit the size and type of birds you want to feed.

Moreover, building a basic milk jug bird feeder is a very straightforward project, and all you need is a milk jug, some wire, dowels, and birdseed.

1. Firstly, thoroughly clean the inside of the milk jug with soap and water.

2. Cut openings in the sides of the jug large enough for the birds to access the birdseed inside.

You can cut one hole or four holes. It’s up to you.

3. Cut or drill holes large enough to fit the wood dowels just underneath the large openings that you cut.

4. Pass lengths of dowel through the hole and the hole on the other side, leaving enough sticking out for the birds to perch on comfortably.

5. Make two holes in the top and pass some wire through to make a hanger.

6. Fill with birdseed and hang in an area where birds are likely to feed.

You can use your imagination to develop different designs for this style of DIY bird feeder.

Repurpose Pallets

There are many different ways to repurpose old pallets in the backyard for innovative projects. What I am about to detail below are only a few ways that old pallets can be given new life.

As Wall-mounted Storage

There are many ways to repurpose pallets, but one that you are not likely to have thought of is to hang a pallet from a wall and use the slats to hang garden tools on.

You can also disassemble some of the boards on a pallet to make shelves and cubbies. Your imagination is the only limiting factor in what you can do with a pallet mounted to a wall.

As Furniture

With a bit of DIY know-how, you can make furniture by either disassembling the pallets and repurposing the wood or joining the pallets together to make tables, chairs, benches, or storage units.

Make sure to take the time to sand and adequately protect the wood if you want to use pallets as furniture.

As Fencing

If you have access to many pallets, you can stand them up on their side and join them together to make an effective garden fence. They are especially good for creating a fence around a garden area or an enclosure for some animals.

Rubber Boots into Planters

Rubber boots will inevitably succumb to the abuse inflicted upon them and begin to leak, leaving us with soggy feet. So instead of discarding these worn-out items of footwear into the nearest trash can, take them out to the garden to be used as a unique planter idea.

All you need to do is fill them with potting soil and plant whatever seeds you wish inside them. The leaks that make the boot no longer appropriate for keeping our feet dry will allow for drainage of the plants’ soil.

Dresser as Planters

Another unique planter idea is to use an old dresser as a garden planter. All that’s required is to open the drawers so they resemble a staircase, installing some boards inside so that you can only place the dirt in the area protruding from the body of the dresser.

Be sure to line the bottom of the dresser drawers with landscape fabric to help keep the dirt in while allowing for drainage.

Milk Crates

You can repurpose milk crates in all sorts of ways in the backyard or the garden. Of course, one of the more obvious uses is to use them as storage boxes, but you can also use them to make seats, tables, and planters.

With a few components such as a couple of axles and wheels and a makeshift handle, you could also turn a milk crate into a DIY wagon.

Securing milk crates to a wall or fence with the open end facing out will create a good and sturdy shelving unit.

Finally, there are many more ways to repurpose old household items to make new and creative projects in your backyard.

Once you complete a few repurposed backyard projects, you will definitely find yourself having second thoughts before throwing anything away again.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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In this article, I will provide advice and tips on how to increase the security of your home. I have decided to break the topic down into sections based upon what I see as the worst offences in home security.

OPSEC

Operational security (OPSEC) is paramount in the military as it should be in your home. I feel that this is where a lot of families fail and should take more careful consideration.

In the military information is distributed on a ‘need to know’ basis. Individuals outside of your household and family unit do not need to know all of your movements and the inner workings of your home.

Fortunately, there are some simple steps that you can take to lock down your family’s OPSEC.

Social Media

#1. People post far too much on social media. The most obvious and grievous offence is posting that they are away on vacation and leaving their home vacant and ready for pillaging.

Do not post on any social media that you are away from home, instead wait until you return from your trip to post photos.

Social media is a major source of intelligence gathering for the criminal element as well as our enemies abroad.

#2. Be careful of the pictures and videos that you take and post of the inside of your home. This includes live video streams like Zoom or Skype. What you are in effect doing, is allowing would-be thieves to create a complete inventory of the valuables in your home. If you have to video conference do so in a way that the background is a blank wall.

#3. On that note, do not post anywhere online the expensive jewelry or electronics that you have bought.

#4. Also, never under any circumstances post or indicate on social media that you have firearms or other weapons in your home.

You should not disclose to anyone the presence of firearms or other weapons in your home and ensure that your children understand this as well.

Confidentiality

#5. Keep all door/alarm codes and passwords strictly confidential and known to only those who are required to know them. This includes Wi-Fi password access to your network, which can become a major security risk especially if you have smart home devices.

Never use the default password for your router, instead create as strong a password as possible using an online password generator.

#6. Make sure that your children understand what things they should not disclose to their friends and classmates. Children are the weakest link in your family’s OPSEC and they are going to have to be constantly reminded of the rules.

#7. When you do leave your home vacant for any period do everything in your power to make it appear occupied.

Set timers for lights, leave a vehicle in the driveway.

Also, make sure you have a friend or family member collect your mail and papers.

Physical Security

There is nothing that can prevent someone with ill intent from eventually entering your home. The best you can do is make your home unappealing to break into and as difficult to enter as possible.

In the military, we would have multiple layers of defence and deterrents and your home should too.

#8. Control who has keys to your home. Sometimes we need to give contractors access to conduct their work. Some deadbolts can be re-keyed in seconds by the homeowner. This allows you to provide a key to a contractor and upon completion of the job the deadbolt can be re-keyed denying them access.

Another option is a deadbolt with a keypad where you can set a code for contractors or family members to use that you can revoke at any time.

#9. Get a dog and train the dog to bark every time there is a knock at the door or the doorbell rings.

My chocolate lab scares the crap out of every delivery person who comes by. I have watched people on my surveillance cameras decide to not approach the front door when they hear the barking from inside. The size of the dog is not as important as the volume of its bark.

Putting a beware of dog sign out also helps to deter would-be intruders.

Secure Your House

#10. Install the best deadbolts and door locks that you can afford.

Do not use any locks that are Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capable since these locks can be hacked and opened with the right equipment.

Also, install door latches and locks that can only be accessed from the inside.

This way anyone wishing to invade your home while you are inside, will have to effectively bash the door off the hinges to fully gain access.

This will give you time to escape or for law enforcement to arrive. One tactic the army always instilled in me was to always have a way out.

#11. Install motion lights around your home to eliminate any areas of shadow that intruders can use to conceal their activities. This is why military bases have floodlights illuminating the perimeter.

#12. Install security cameras around your home covering every entryway. When something goes bump in the night you can check the cameras rather than exit your home putting yourself at risk.

#13. Home alarm systems are great, but you need to advertise to criminals that the alarm exists.

The sign and stickers your alarm company includes with the system should be clean and visible from the street.

When I worked in private security I watched would-be thieves, avoid doors with alarm stickers, and test the locks on doors that had no alarm stickers.

Situational Awareness

Being aware of your surroundings is probably the most important action you can take when it comes to not only your security but the security of your home.

In the military being detail-oriented was very important as well as being constantly aware of one’s surroundings. We had it constantly drilled into us to always be aware and to never slip into complacency.

#14. Keep an eye on your neighbourhood. Get to know who your neighbours are and the types of vehicles that are usually parked in the area or driving around. This way if a criminal element is scoping out homes in the area you are more likely to notice because they will seem out of place.

#15. Do not blindly approach your front door when coming home. When you are unlocking the main entry door with your back turned you are very vulnerable to attack. Take a look around before unlocking your door.

#16. Never open the front door to strangers. As soon as the door is unlocked and opened a crack it only takes a swift kick to gain entry.

If you have a storm door you can use this as a barrier between you and the stranger. Some security cameras have two-way voice communication which you can use to talk to people who come knocking.

Be Really Careful About This

#17. One tactic that criminals often use is to impersonate a police officer, city worker, or personnel from a utility company. Society has conditioned us to be trusting of people in uniforms and I can tell you from experience that wearing a uniform and walking with a sense of purpose, has granted me access to many areas I was not authorized to be in.

The same is true of anyone wearing a high-vis vest carrying a clipboard. Always check the credentials of anyone knocking at your door. If a police officer is at your front door politely ask to see a badge and then call the local detachment to confirm that they are a real police officer. The same works for city or utility workers, always call and confirm their credentials.

None of us should live in fear but having a healthy level of awareness and a security mindset will only serve to keep you and your family safe and secure from potential home invasion or burglary.

These tips and suggestions are only a few that come from years of training and experience as a soldier and I am confident they will serve to secure your home.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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The post Home Security Tips From A Military Expert first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.