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From the earliest history of mankind, our ancestors sought out shelter. Shelter, combined with fire and clothing have made the human race able to withstand climates from the equator to the arctic and almost everywhere in between. It should go without saying that we rely on shelter as much, if not more than ever and it can easily be the key to our survival. We should always have some plan for shelter that is feasible for our conditions an needs. Shelter is one of they keys to preparedness as I mentioned here in my post on how to get started prepping. You can visit it here: https://nickspreparedness.com/2020/07/14/how-to-start-prepping/

Different Types of Survival Shelters

The list of shelters can go much farther than we should concern ourselves for temporary use, but learning more about they styles and purposes and how they are erected can be very helpful should we need to improvise. Take a look at this book on the subject:

The Complete Survival Shelters Handbook

For the purpose of this post, I’ll divide the shelters into two types, the pre-made shelter and the improvised shelter.

The Pre-Made Shelter

I’m not happy with the term and would like to think of a more descriptive word for this type shelter which is usually some sort of store -bought tent or emergency shelter. Tents have the advantage of being made specifically for outdoor use and designed for multiple assembly and disassembly routines. Most pack down to a fairly small size and the tents designed for ultralight backpacking weigh almost nothing. I kept an older version of this tent with my go bag and have used it multiple times for camping trips with great results. They aren’t cheap but you pay for quality and light weight:

Big Agnes Copper Spur Tent:

Another option for the go bag is some sort of emergency tent. In a short term survival situation being out of the elements to a reasonable degree is much more important than having a shelter you can reuse for years. It is nice to have a quality tent, but a cheaper and more disposable option is one like this:

Life Tent Emergency Survival Shelter

The Improvised Shelter

The improvised shelter is usually much more rustic and might take some ingenuity to prepare, but it has some important advantages. Tents are designed to sit on level footprints. Improvised shelters may be fitted into the terrain to better camouflage the user or to use the natural landscape to our advantage. Improvised shelters are also made, partly, of the supplies we carry with us in our bug out bags for multiple purposes which means we aren’t adding additional weight to our packs for the sake of comfort that might not even be a practical option.

What Do I Need To Make a Shelter?

Your choice of shelter will necessitate the materials you need, but there are some things that are much harder to manufacture than they are to just carry. Some forethought into our most likely scenarios will yield plenty of ideas on what we can scavenge for shelter materials and what we would be much better off to carry along with us.

Water Shedding Material.

While it is true that most areas with significant rainfall also generally have plenty of plant life that can be used to build a shelter with water shedding properties. Large leaves layered like shingles, thick evergreen boughs layered in a similar fashion, as well as sod and moss can provide a dry roof to stay under, but none of these are quickly erected and quickly removed if you need to cover your tracks. A great item to use for a field expedient, rainproof covering is a tarpaulin. They are available in various sizes and pack down with minimal space. Here is an example of one that i would consider for a vehicle or bug out bag:

Camouflage Water Proof Tarp

Cordage

Cordage is one of the things that you can carry far more efficiently than you can manufacture. Lashing sticks and limbs together to support a covering with vines or woven fibers from grasses or bark is an art and can be very secure, however we aren’t planning on establishing a new settlement and traditional design and architecture plays a distant second fiddle to getting out of the elements in a hurry. One of the best types of cordage to have on hand is Parachute Cord, or paracord for short. It packs down to a small size and you can carry hundreds of feet with very little space and almost no noticeable weight or bulk. Para cord can be used as a tarp support, to lash limbs together or to tie off the base of a tarp to anchor points or stakes. It’s one of the most versatile products in the prepper’s toolbox and has uses far beyond just shelter. Pick some up for your own Vehicle and Go Bags here:

550 Paracord for Everyday and Survival Use

If you want to see just what all you can do with some paracord, take a look at this book i found, or some of the others like it!

Outdoor Paracord, by Todd Mikkelsen

Tape

The reputation of duct tape as being a repair on a roll is often brought up when things go wrong. It is usually the first sarcastic suggestion for any major breakdown or accident, but, like most stereotypes, there is a lot of truth behind the joke. Duct tapes are strong and durable and will stick in conditions where other adhesives wont dare attach themselves. It is a staple in field medical kits because it will stick to skin that may be soaked in blood or sweat much more readily than most medical tapes. With all of that ability, it stands to reason that its more than ready to help us secure the ends of a poncho or scavenged piece of plastic to some poles or tree trunk to make a shelter. I usually have several rolls available in my bag and vehicle. Remember one thing though, there are several qualities of duct tape. This is the brand i have used the most and recommend:

Gorilla Black Duct Tape:

Final Thoughts on Survival Shelters

Like almost any other skill, assembling a shelter takes practice. what we imagine, or even see work for others may not work at all when we try it. This even applies to tents and other manufactured shelters. I plan on trying as many versions as I can in the future and doing reviews and tips on them as I can. In the meantime, if you have any tips or advice to offer, please leave a comment.

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There is a saying I have heard more than once, “If you think money’s the root of all evil, try to live without it.” There is absolutely no better saying to get our attention as to the importance of financial ability in our preparedness journeys and our lives in general. In the times that i have been fortunate enough to not have major financial concerns, I also didn’t have the foresight and understanding of the ways that I could use that to build a more sustainable financial future. Now I’m in my early forties and pretty much starting over with plenty of debt and barely enough income to break even. Now I still have some things i can liquidate, and I have yet to miss a meal, but it would be a much better situation had I done some financial prepping along the way. Products and supplies we need to be adequately prepared cost money. Even more vital than those is the training that is available to get the most utility out of purchases. There is free training and YouTube information than can take us a long way, but there is no substitute for actual hands on class time with a competent instructor. I’ll cover more on this as we get deeper into the multiple areas we need to be prepared, but rest assured, we’ll need money to get the best training out there. Financial prepping is simply making a plan to maintain our ability to pay for your lifestyle and have contingency plans should something hinder our ability to earn a living, such as an injury or a layoff.

Traditional Financial Prepping

Employment

The standard means of financial gain is that of having a job. It is almost always conditioned in us from childhood to grow up, do well in school, and get a good job. Our entire system of capitalism hinges on the willingness of people to provide knowledge and labor in return for money. We may face a situation some day where barter is temporarily the primary means of gaining goods and services, but that is separate consideration of prepping to deal with.

Savings

Along with earning income, we must find a way to preserve some. Saving has been the traditional approach to this and will always be part of financial preparation. I don’t know of any financial advisor who doesn’t recommend having at least a few month’s worth of income available in cash or bank accounts. Other assets are more likely to make us additional income, however they also must be liquidated to use in an emergency and the timelines vary on how long that liquidation process takes.

Assets

Welcome to the part of financial preparedness I wish I knew and had planned for when I was in better financial shape. All of our lives we are told things about assets such as our homes are our greatest asset. The truth is, homes, cars, boats, and other “assets” we think of are really liabilities. Yes, homes can appreciate in value but consider assets as something that makes you money. A house that we rent out is an asset. The house we live in is a liability. We have to maintain it for the long term to keep it livable and there is no guarantee that we will ultimately profit from it when we sell. This may sound crazy and for me to try and explain this in detail wouldn’t be remotely practical so I suggest starting out on a new plan of financial thinking the same way i did by reading one of the best books on the subject “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki

New Economy Financial Prepping

The new economy is the shift from traditional economic paradigms such as those mentioned above to a more serviced based economy that centers strongly on the use of the internet as one of its most important tools. Many of the skills we need as preppers take time to develop. We can purchase the tools, however the skills must be learned or they will be of little use to us when the time comes to put them into play. Learning to shoot, farm, preserve food, and render lifesaving medical aid aren’t things we can do well by simply reading about them or having the latest gear and gadgets. Therefore, we need to clear out some time if we wish to become self sufficient in these skills. If we have to sell all of our time to our employers for money to survive, we have little left to either increase skills, or enjoy the fruits of our labor. This is where the New economy ideas may well be able to help clear some time.

Much like the previous section, it is much better for me to defer to an expert on the subject than to try to explain it in detail. Tim Ferriss really goes deep to explain all of the ways that we can use the digital universe to find ways to recoup some of our time by simplifying our lives and realizing what we have to be directly involved in vs. the things that will be just fine if we let someone else handle it. It sounds far fetched at first, but reading “The Four Hour Workweek” opened my eyes to so many different ways to look at solving time vs. money obstacles. I first saw these two books recommended in tandem at Graywolf Survival and I feel that sharing it in the same manner is the most beneficial, so after you read Rich Dad, step right into Tim’s book and the lights will start coming on for you immediately.

4-Hour Workweek, by Timothy Ferriss

Summary:

Like many aspects of preparedness, this one isn’t easy and forces us to take a look at habits that we need to change. I know in my own life, I am still fighting the battle between what I feel and what I know in several areas and personal finance is one of the most relevant. This blog and the adjoining YouTube channel are not only to share information, but as a public documentation of my personal development in many of the areas I discuss.

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