I’ve been at this whole prepping thing for about four decades now. In that time, I’ve seen so many people committing the same common prepping mistakes. They aren’t necessarily catastrophic errors. But they can result in people giving up on prepping, often before they really get started.
Let’s look at how to sidestep some of these mistakes on your prepping journey.
Common Prepping Mistake #1 – Too Much, Too Fast
There’s a lot that falls under the self-reliance umbrella, from food storage and self-defense to area studies and finances. When someone is just starting out with prepping, they may feel like they’re way behind where they need to be. As a result, they rush to play catch up. They try to do as much as they can, as quickly as they can. This inevitably leads to feeling overwhelmed, and eventually, they crash and burn.
You can’t do everything at once, not if you hope to do any of it well. A far better approach is to prioritize and concentrate on one or two things at a time. For example, set an initial goal of having enough food on hand to feed your family for two full weeks without resupply. When you hit that goal, focus on something else for a while, such as learning a few knots or basic lockpicking.
Common Prepping Mistake #2 – Throwing Money at the Problem
Listen, prepping costs money. There’s no way around it. But you can’t just buy your way to becoming prepared. I see this time and again. People want to just go out and buy kits and supplies, then toss them on a shelf and call it a day. Sure, you could drop a ton of dough on a pallet’s worth of food and water, but that’s only going to get you so far.
The reality is that preparedness consists of two categories – stuff and skills. While skills are more important than stuff in the grand scheme of things, combining them together is where true victory lies. You can’t just buy skills, but you can invest time, energy, and, yeah probably some funds into training and education. You have to put in the dirt time to gain proficiency.
In addition, you need to train and practice with your gear. That’s the only way you’ll learn how it works and what it will or won’t do. It’s far better to find all of that out in your backyard on a summer afternoon than when you’re three days into a grid-down disaster.
Common Prepping Mistake #3 – Lack of Balance
It’s normal, even expected, that you’ll have certain areas of prepping that you find more interesting than others. You might be particularly drawn to medical preps, maybe due to previous experience in that realm as an EMT or combat medic. Or perhaps you have two green thumbs and love nothing more than getting dirt under your nails all spring and summer. Nothing wrong with that at all.
But, when you neglect other basics because you’re focused on your favorite, that’s going to lead to issues. If you’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars into armaments and ammunition, but you typically have less than a week’s worth of food in the home at any given time, that’s a problem.
Check in with your plan from time to time and make sure you’re not so laser-focused on any one area that you forget others.
