If you live in an urban or suburban area and you are prepping for disaster, one question you need to ask yourself is what will you do about the neighbors. I like my neighbors overall and you probably do too, but when things change at the drop of a hat and it is a struggle to survive, they will change. Even the kindest neighbor who you have great affinity for could potentially turn on you in a grid down scenario when they are desperate. How you handle your neighbors could make all the difference in a survival scenario.
As much as you might want to help others, its important to know that if you take care of your neighbors, they will keep coming back for more and more. If you are close friends with one of your neighbors or several of your neighbors, the best course of action would be to procure extra supplies and have them ready in a bag to give to them. Let them know that what you’re giving them really cuts into your supply (even if it doesn’t) and that you wish them the best of luck. Also let them know that you won’t be opening your door for anyone, even them.
Keep Things Discreet
It is highly advisable to not let your neighbors know about your plan of preparedness. If you do, everyone will be coming to your house when the you know what hits the fan and that is the last thing you want. If things get bad enough, your neighbors might even try to take your supplies from you by force. Desperate times create desperate people, and when people are starving and fearing the potential of death, they will do just about anything to survive. The more obvious it is that you have supplies and preps the more vulnerable you will be, so keep what you’re doing a secret from your neighbors.
Before any type of crisis occurs, it’s important to do a walk around of your property to try to determine anything that might make you vulnerable. For the windows of your home, several things are recommended. Boarding your windows on both sides is effective, but another option that might be more desirable to you is privacy tinting or blackout tinting over the windows. This will give you the ability to see through your windows from the inside, but not the outside. If you live in a two story house, boarding the downstairs windows and applying the privacy tint on the upstairs windows would be ideal. In addition, growing bushes and plants that would be viewed as an obstacle by potential invaders is very beneficial. They don’t even have to have thorns or pickers, but it’s even better if they do.
Possible Deterrents
If a government agency provides relief and hands out food and water to people in your neighborhood, it would be a good idea to be seen at the site of disbursement and look the part of someone who is barely holding on. If everyone is at your “bread line” except you, people will take notice. This might be the only reason you would want to leave your home, if your significant other or family member can guard your domicile while you are gone. Give the impression that you are desperate and destitute just like everyone else. Appear disheveled. Look miserable.
Things That Will Draw Attention To You
It should go without saying that you shouldn’t be grilling succulent meats in your backyard. When people are hungry and bordering starvation, their sense of smell becomes much more acute and they will be showing up in droves before you’re even done grilling. The same goes for cooking fragrant food indoors. It would be a lot better to stick with your nutrient and calorie dense survival foods like canned seafood, canned meats, pemmican and bulk foods from the LDS cannery or other sources.
You also don’t want to be advertising your prepping and survival acumen on social media. Neighbors are nosy, and it’s a safe assumption that at least a few of your neighbors have done a Google search of your name to try to learn more about you. When they do this, you don’t want them finding your social media profile with a picture of you posing proudly with your survival items. Then they’ll gossip about you to the other neighbors and say “he’s one of those wacky doomsday preppers”. Then practically the whole neighborhood knows what you’re up to. The ones who don’t know will be able to follow the hoards of people to your house when the SHTF.
If you have solar panels installed, it is best to have your windows totally covered and the perimeter of your home totally secured. Your front door should be barricaded. If the neighbors know you have electricity, they’ll know your refrigerator is running and they might be tempted to try to take your food by force if they are starving. You want your home to look as if it is empty from the outside. When everyone else is without power, you don’t want to advertise that your lights are on or that there is a blue glow from your television at night.
If you have a barbecue grill in the backyard that has a propane tank on it, that will be gone within one day. Anything like that which can provide value to someone who is trying to survive will draw attention and it will be gone.
Part of the reason I’m not a fan of gardening or fruit trees from a prepping perspective is that in a grid down scenario when people are desperate, they will loot your garden with certainty, and fast. Not only that, but it will draw attention to your location like a moth to a flame. After your garden is plundered, they will wonder what’s inside and be tempted to try to enter your domicile. Keeping people away from your home is paramount. Part of surviving entails having no contact with people you don’t know when things get crazy.
I’m also not a fan of bartering in a scenario like this. Bartering with others will draw attention to you, and also let people know that you have things that are of great value to them during the tough times you’re going through. Being prepared means you don’t need to depend on others. You don’t need their silver coin or their bag of rice. You have your own bag of rice. I would highly advise against bartering during times of survival. You shouldn’t need anything someone else has, and they definitely don’t have anything you need or want until things resume to normal.
What To Do
I know this sounds a bit harsh, but I will be putting something on my door that lets people know that if they try to enter the premises that I will be shooting first and asking questions later. The warning will actually be more explicit than that and I’m sure you can envision what it will say, profanities and all. To further dissuade people from trying to enter by force I might take pictures of myself posing with my double barrel shotgun and my pistols and tape those to the door just below my warning note so that people know I’m not playing around. In all reality I won’t be shooting first and asking questions later, but if I can convince potential invaders that that’s what I’ll be doing I feel that will definitely work in my favor.
