Survival4Chicks

Dog Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — More than 700 banks, or nearly one out of every 11, are at risk of going under, according to a government report published Tuesday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said that the number of banks on its so-called “problem list” climbed to 702, its highest level since June 1993.

The number of banks under scrutiny by regulators has moved steadily higher since the recession began. Just 76 financial institutions were on the list in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Banks that end up on the problem list are considered the most likely to fail because of difficulties with their finances, operations or management.

Read more…

Healthy Herbs

Donna Jackson is alive today because she knew her Second Amendment rights and she knew how to use a gun.

If you intend to cook anything after the SHTF, you’ll need a way to heat it, right?  If we’re in a TEOTWAWKI scenario, likely your electric stove won’t be electrified and eventually your gas stove will run out of gas (either natural gas or propane from the tank in the yard).  Then what?  You’ll have to cook by some other means.

Camp fire:  Campfire cooking is probably the oldest method of cooking foods, dating all the way back to the cavemen and still used today by family campers everywhere.  It’s also one of the easiest.  Simply place a ring of rocks or bricks (bricks are best for their evenness if you can get them).  Then build your fire inside.  You can place a simple grate over the fire for “grilling” or place a kettle on the grate for boiling, or place a skillet for frying.  You can also use a spit to roast meats and wild-caught game.  It’s best to practice ahead of time so you don’t ruin precious supplies later on.  If you haven’t already, give campfire cooking a try the next time you and your family take a camping trip – it’ll be great practice for later on.  Try getting a collapsible camp oven (Coleman makes a great one at a reasonable price) to use on the campfire for baking breads, biscuits, just about anything you’d normally make in a traditional oven.

Camp stove:  Propane camp stoves simulate the same cooking experience as a traditional gas stove, found in most kitchens and are great emergency items to have on hand.  The biggest drawback, however, of camp stoves is that they too will eventually run out of propane which will render them useless.  If you plan on using a camp stove, be sure to stock up on LOTS of those little propane canisters.

Wood cook stove:  This is my favorite by far.  We recently installed a wood stove in our house.  We have a gas fireplace but realized that we can’t cook on it and of course we’d run into that pesky problem of no gas.  We opted for a wood stove that is primarily used for heating but whose top gets hot enough to cook on.  We watched for sales and found great deals on cast iron skillets and a dutch oven.  While we have natural gas in-floor heating in addition to the gas fireplace, we haven’t used either since we installed the wood stove.  So not only has this stove helped us prepare for even worse times, but it’s saving us money in the meantime.  So far I’ve used it to make yogurt, beef roast, chili, stew, soup, and even bread (using my little Coleman camp oven).   Just like cooking on an open campfire, it takes some practice.  You need to work at regulating the temperature to cook with the wood stove but, speaking from experience, it is doable.  And if you’re anything like me, it’s a thrill!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve squealed with excitement when something turns out!

Fireplace:  Another old timer’s favorite is cooking with the fireplace.  If you plan to do this as part of your TEOTWAWKI preparations. be sure you have a wood fireplace else your plan will fall apart.  Then practice, practice, practice until you figure out what works best.

One additional note: be sure you have all of the tools you’ll need ahead of time.  These might include:  a chainsaws, axes,  and hand saws to cut wood, fire pokers, hangers for pots and pans (to hang them over the fire), cast iron skillets (your Teflon won’t last long on a wood fire!), pot holders, small shovel to shovel out the ashes, and matches.

What will we do without our coffee?

First and foremost, if you want to make sure you have coffee after the SHTF, be sure to add it to your list of items to stock up on.  The old timers also saved their coffee grounds each day.  When their supply of fresh coffee ran out, they began reusing the used grounds to leach every last bit of flavor and caffeine out of them and stretch their supply of coffee.

But once it was totally gone, they used the following in place of coffee:

Beans

Peas

Barley

Corn

Dried potatoes

Rye

Wheat

Toasted bread

Dandelion roots

Burnt sugar

Personally, none of the above sounds very appealing so I’ve added lots and lots of coffee to our stores!

Confession time…we have three (no, that’s not a typo) indoor dogs.  They’re Vizslas and we love them – they’re part of the family…

Hilda, Belle, and Johnny

…but bathing them gets expensive.

This has absolutely nothing to do with preparedness (let’s face it, once the SHTF the dogs can go dirty!) but everything to do with saving money in the meantime.

Homemade Dog Shampoo

Ingredients:

1 cup dish soap (generic, something cheap, is fine)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

¾ cup water

¼ cup glycerin (I found mine at the Wal Mart pharmacy for just a couple bucks a bottle – one bottle contains about enough to make three batches of shampoo).

A few drops of essential oils (lavender or rosemary). This is optional. I’ve personally never added any to mine because you’d never smell it over the vinegar and dish soap anyway.

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and use!

The vinegar smell is strong but it dissipates quickly and leaves your puppy smelling nice and fresh. I’ve even used it on my own hair a few times. The vinegar strips away built up gel, hairspray and styling products.

By CPPM (Chief Pistol Packin’ Mama)

It’s important, when making preps, to scrutinize every purchase.  We’re all on limited budgets and trying to prep and gather as much as we can as fast as we can.  There’s no money to be wasted – every thin dime counts – especially as stinky as the economy is and as low as the dollar has sunk.

You then need to look at every purchase and ask:

Can this item be used for more than one purpose?

Let me give you the best example I have.  Recently, we were considering replacing our gas fireplace with a wood fireplace.  Good idea, considering none of us may be able to afford or get gas in the coming months.  We were “this” close to plopping down the $8,000 for the replacement when we decided to take a closer look.  We decided against the switch because a fireplace wouldn’t truly be multi-purpose.  Yes, we’d be able to heat the house with the wood fireplace but cooking (especially canning) in a fireplace would be next to impossible.

Instead we opted for a free-standing wood stove with a top that gets hot enough to cook.  This isn’t a wood cook stove like you’d find in an Amish kitchen – it’s a wood heating stove.  BUT we will be able to cook on it.

Better still…we got it for about 1/3 of the cost of switching the fireplace out.

Can I get this item somewhere else cheaper?

Kind of a no-brainer but be sure to do your homework before making prepper purchases.  There are a lot of companies out there selling “special” gear to preppers and they’re charging “special” prices right along with that.  An example are the “preparedness” seed companies.  You don’t need to pay hundreds of dollars for “special” seeds, for example.  What you need to be able to grow a garden and collect the seeds from that garden for next year’s crop are heirloom seeds.  It’s as simple as that.  Do an online search for “heirloom seeds” and you’ll find an abundance of companies that carry them.   Plus, you can pick and choose the veggies and fruits that your family will actually eat rather than being forced into taking pre-packaged lots and end up with thousands of egg plant (or something else your family won’t enjoy or won’t want to eat).

This same thinking applies to everything you might purchase for TEOTWAWKI.  Another great example are MREs.  Folks are going nuts buying expensive MREs.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked them when I was in the Army and they’ve come a long ways in quality since then.  And they keep almost forever.  BUT, they cost a lot of money and you can make your own.  In another post we’ll talk about making your own MREs at a fraction of the cost.

Think and shop!  Use your imagination.

Can I barter or trade to get this item?

I recently found an awesome site that has come in handy for preps.  Check out Freecycle.org.  You’ll be amazed at what people are offering on there that you can use in your preps.  I’ve seen freezers, generators, fencing, gardening tools, beds, wood stoves, you name it, it’s on there.  You just have to watch for it and then be fast in your reply when you say “I’ll take it!”.  You can’t do any trading on the site, per se, but you can shed the stuff you have that you don’t need and pick up other stuff that you do need.

Another one to try for trades is Craig’s List, where you CAN work trades.  Example – “I have an almost brand new overstuffed recliner that I don’t need anymore.  I’m willing to trade it for either two twin beds or one bunk bed (in good, working order)”.

Is the price worth the quality and visa versa?

Weigh out whether the expenditure is worth the so-called quality.  I recently bought a wheat grinder.  I was originally put on to a place that had “great wheat grinders” but they cost around $350.  I did a little digging and researching to compare quality and ended up finding one for $30 instead.  It’s just as good as the $350 version from the other place!

What about replacement parts?

Before making a purchase, keep in mind that you probably won’t be able to buy a replacement part once the SHTF.  Can you stock up on enough replacement parts?  What’s the life expectancy of this item?  Can you repair it yourself if it breaks?

Can you “hide” it or make it look normal?

Ah, discretion in prepping!

You know your neighbor fairly well.  Seems like a nice couple.  But do they have their eyes open?  Do they know the junk that’s headed our way?  More importantly, are they prepared for it?  Do they have their food stores in order?  Or are they going to come and ask you for food?  If they do, you may be able to give them a little to tide them over (and you should if it doesn’t put you and your family at risk).  But what will happen when the gravy train (you) can no longer produce?  Will they come back and demand your goods or worse still, try to take them by force?

Be discrete!  You should never let known the extent of your preps to anyone who doesn’t need to know.  Those who do need to know may be your retreat partners and your immediate family.  That’s it.  Anyone else is someone you may come face-to-face with or barrel-to-barrel with later on.

In a future post we’ll talk more about how to hide your preps and keep up normal appearances but for now we’ll suffice to say “keep it quiet”.

By CPPM

Yesterday I promised more info on how to keep your preps discrete so here goes

First, let me say that even though we’re prepping for the worst (years-long power outages, lack of law enforcement, foreign troops on U.S. soil, etc.) we are still living our lives quite normally in the meantime.  We still have jobs.  We still have income.  We still go buy groceries every week.  Our kids are still in school.  We still get together with friends.

AND we don’t look like preppers.  Awe, come on, you can relate to the image that comes to mind when you think “survivalists”, “preppers”, etc.  Wife missing a few teeth (and hubby too), the kids with greasy hair, guns and ammo scattered everywhere, hound dogs on the porch, dirt on the floor, chew spit on the walls.  LOL!  It doesn’t have to be that way.  You CAN live normally and still prepare for whatever might come your way.

So how do you hide or disguise your preps?

Antiques

Lots of folks collect antiques and so what if you do too.  It’s just that your antiques will actually be put to use when the SHTF.  You may opt for an old-fashioned butter churn rather than an old chest of drawers but hey, it’s still an antique and can be used as a “decoration” in your home. What about an old meat grinder “because it reminds you of Granny”?  You get the idea.

Inventory what you need to get to get by when there’s no electricity and no gas to run the stove.  Make your antiques shopping list around that.  You might also check out Lehman’s non-electric store.  They cater to the Amish.  What don’t the Amish have?  Electricity and modern gadgets!

Clever storage

Not enough room for all those bags of rice and beans and other goodies?  What’s all that dead space under the couch, under the beds, in the back of the closet, in that decorative basket, in that antique chest of drawers, in Granny’s old sewing cabinet, in a decorative bread box on top of your kitchen cabinets, inside the ottoman, and so on.  Take a look around and do a little rearranging, I’ll bet you can find a whole lotta space you didn’t even know you had.

Keep the main areas of your house looking “normal” – normally decorated, normally furnished, and normally occupied by humans and pets.  Use areas of the house that guests typically don’t frequent for preps storage and then be clever about disguising your preps and even your closest friends will be none the wiser – unless you want them to know.

Whether the S has HTF or whether you just want to save a few bucks on laundry, this recipe is AWESOME.  I’ve been using this for about 8 months now and will never buy another expensive jug of Tide again.  A friend shared this recipe with me so I wanted to pass it along to all of my Survival4Chicks friends. It works great and smells WONDERFUL! Even without the addition of essential oils. One batch of this laundry soap costs only about $3. I LOVE saving money, don’t you?!

Don’t forget…the ingredients are all things you can stock up on in advance of the SHTF so you won’t be without laundry soap later on!

Ingredients:

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (found mine on Amazon)

1 Cup Washing Soda (also found this on Amazon)

½ Cup Borax (our Wal Mart carries this but if you can’t find it there, try this)

5 gallon bucket WITH LID

Tap water to fill

Directions:

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

Stir the mixture each time you fill a new container. Fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

Top Load Machine- ⅝ Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)