Preparedness Principles

Life presents challenges, big and small for everyone the globe over. Does the news of these challenges and sometimes tragedies make you afraid? What if it were to happen to you? Would you be prepared to handle things? Survive? Barely get by? Sink to the depths of despair because you can't feed your family? Do you want to prepare but just don't know the how, what and why's of preparing? Well, worry no more, help has arrived in the form of Barbara Salsbury's new book, "Preparedness Principles".

Here are some of the things that you will learn as you go through this book:


*Why can’t the city or government rescue me? Shouldn’t I be able to rely on my elected officials?

*What is the reality that I will ever need any thing more than a flashlight and an extra can of beans?

*What should I try to get first? Isn’t there just a list to tell me what to get? Why not?

*If I have no space, how in the world can I even think about an entire preparedness program?

*How can I have a preparedness pantry when I work full time and almost always eat out?

*What if I go to all the work and expense to be prepared and never have to use it? Isn’t that a huge waste of time and money?

*Won’t a 72-hour evacuation kit be all I need to have on hand? After all that would just be a small backpack, right?

*Why should I have to prepare a lot of “stuff” if all I have to deal with might be a power outage? I don’t live in a major storm area or tornado area.

*The latest news report of food shortages cause a lot of people to run out and buy huge amounts of rice and flour. What good will that do?

*You think a backpack is not a good idea for an evacuation kit container. Why?

*I have a bunch of camping gear. Is that not good enough to use for my preparedness program?
What is the difference between sheltering in place and having a place to shelter in?

If you cannot answer the above questions, then you need this book.

Chapter 31 is a great chapter. It is titled "Doing Laundry the Nonelectric Way". This is something I hardly ever think about, maybe just in passing. I do have an old washboard hanging on my laundry room wall as a decoration. It belonged to my children's great grandmother, so I at least am prepared in this area even if by accident. I don't have a clothesline and really miss having one. There is just something about clothes that are dried in the sun, so I still have work to do in this area.

Chapter 36, Neighborhood Care-In-A-Crisis is another thing I had not thought about. In case there is a neighborhood crisis, it would be nice for everyone to be on the same page. Barbara outlines what you would need to discuss in the meeting you would have with your neighborhood as you get organized. She has pages that you can copy where you can put your neighbor's information should you need it- cell #'s, work addresses, work phone, family names, out of area contact for that neighbor. Each family is assigned another family to be responsible for. There is also an area on the paper for you to list who is responsible for your family, what their assignments during and after the emergency are, what your family's assignments are and those types of information. On the back of the page is a place to put your family information, description of family members and schedules any special needs your family might have, and contact #'s for your family. All information that you don't want to have to be running around trying to locate when there is an emergency. I will be copying and using these pages.

The appendicies are full of practical how to's. How and where to make shelves. I have long lamented the shelving in my storage room and how the under the stairs area is wasted space. Guess what? There are directions for shelving to go into that space!

Or how about the appendix that has meals made solely from foods in your pantry? How to lay out a small or patio garden so that you get the maximum benifit from them? Or how to use your water barrels effectivly, or a thermos, or making newspaper logs, an oil lamp, a fire extinguisher, how to shut off your gas, or even how to prepare for terrorism.

This is not one of those preparedness books that you look over, get overwhelmed, shut it and put it on the shelf to gather dust. No, I will be using my book to help me organize what I do have, take inventory of what I don't and then use it to help me pepare those things that are lacking.

Preparedness Principles
Trade Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Cedar Fort Inc. (August 1, 2006)
ISBN-10: 0882908065
ISBN-13: 978-0882908069
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #328,423 in Books
Buy the book here.

Barbara Salsbury's website and blog:

Website: http://solutionsforpreparedness.com/
Blog: http://barbarasalsbury.blogspot.com

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Indeed.