Missed the other parts? Find them here: Check out Part 1 Part 2 is here. Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 And here’s Part 7 Dear Diary, It’s me, Jessica. Diary, you will not believe who I ran into today . . . Savannah. You remember her.  She was that bully at school who disliked me for no reason. But hold on a sec.  I want to write down the rest of what happened with Justin and Janet and the kids before I forget . . . The next morning, after the rain stopped, they were back on the road. It was still cool and damp, but the clear sky and rising sun were promising. Janet noticed that even ..read more

Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course As many of you know, I’m undergoing a major surgery on my ankle this week that requires tendon grafts, screws, and bone saws. It’s a lot more extensive than I ever expected, but I want it to be fixed right so I can eventually get moving again. As an active person, the past year’s limitations have been very difficult. Preparing for surgery has been interesting (and a little bit expensive.) I have been prepping my house for the aftermath, during which I have weeks of bed rest and more weeks of non-weight be ..read more

Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course It was a terrible spring storm. Lightning, thunder, high winds, and suddenly, the power went out, casting my office in darkness. I went to pick up the phone to call my then 10-year-old daughter, who was home by herself for an hour after school. No dial tone. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. The phone system at the office was so elaborate that it didn’t work without electricity. This was back in the days before cell phones, so I had no way to reach my little girl. It was the year that her big sister had an aft ..read more

If you missed the first part of The Widow in the Woods, you can find it here. Part 2 is located here. Here’s Part 3. Find Part 4 here. And Part 5 is here. Beth was suspicious of the old woman, but then she had never really gotten along well with other women. She wondered if the woman had been making people sick, or if their luck had simply run out. She would watch the old gal like a hawk and take special care with what she ate in the future. Luke wasn’t doing well, and Beth wasn’t about to join him in his decline. Before things in the world had collapsed, Beth had met Luke Hill in a bar, a rea ..read more

EMPs (Electromagnetic Pulse) are a trope that is often used in prepper fiction. We often think of an EMP attack as the worst-case, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario that is just around the corner. There’s little doubt that it would change everything, but what’s the truth? Here’s what an expert has to say about EMPs Nobody knows this better than Dr. Arthur T. Bradley. Dr Bradley is a NASA engineer and the leading expert on EMPs in the preparedness community. He’s the author of Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness and the must-have Disaster Preparedness for EMPs and Solar Storms. I ..read more

Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course There are tons of charts out there that will tell you how many calories your family might need when you rely on your food pantry, and they can be very helpful. But sometimes, translating that into actual meals is a little bit tricky. After all, you don’t want to end up eating canned peaches, tuna fish, and french-fried onions for dinner. It’s important to create meals, not just stash food. Here’s a way to work on building your food supply so that you’re sure to have balanced meals that your family will en ..read more

Looking back, there were warning signs. First, let me tell you what life used to be like before the Venezuelan economic collapse. I usually wake up early in the morning, without too much complaint. When I was working in an oil facility 58 kilometers away from home, I had to be out of bed and ready for the bus at 5:20 AM. My wife took me to the bus stop, where the corporate bus would pick me up at 5:45. We were in the office by 7 o’clock. Then, work all the day with one hour and a half for lunch, most of the times without leaving the company facilities, in the restaurant for employees. Then wor ..read more

Editor’s Note: This article we published over at TheFrugalite.com seems particularly important right now. If you are being hit hard by current economic factors, it’s time to take control of everything you can. Getting yourself on a budget and sticking to it is an important step toward personal financial stability. We can’t control the overall economy, but there are many things within our own budgets we can control. I hope you find this advice useful and inspiring! ~ Daisy When it comes to sticking to a budget, it can get pretty difficult. Especially if it’s something you’re not used to. That b ..read more

Missed the other parts? Find them here: Check out Part 1 Part 2 is here. Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 And here’s Part 6 Dear Diary, It’s me, Jessica. It is official. We are out of toilet paper. Despite rationing starting about a month after the power went out, we could only make it go so far.   Mom stood with the last empty cardboard roll held on her index finger.  Dad and I stopped eating our breakfast as the news sunk in.  The kitchen was suddenly very quiet.  Dad broke the silence,  suggesting we hold a service for the roll, he would give eulogy.  I rolled my ey ..read more

Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course Hey – you, with the shovel.  Stop building that bunker. I want to ask you a question. Also, you – the folks with the shopping cart full of shelf-stable food. Hold on a minute. How much time do you spend learning? And by learning, I don’t mean some required on-the-job training or skimming over an article here and there. I mean a time that you set aside on a regular basis, whether it is weekly or daily, to focus all of your attention on something you need to learn. Many people, once they get out of sc ..read more