Comparison is the thief of joy they say. So if you're worse prepared than me I can make that thief work for me by comparing myself to your unprepared ass while we hide from skynet.
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2026
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The only certainties are people will continue to become poorer and the Earth is going to get hotter.
So, I'm saving my money, making sure my pantry is full, and I have a couple of external power sources to help me get through power outages.
Do as I say, not as I do, but... Make more social connections.
Keep growing food, building community, nurturing and enriching life and health of those around me and myself.
Keeping up training martial arts, firearms and trauma response/emergency medicine.
Continue building resilience and efficiency around my home and through all aspects of my life. Reading books, paying attention and supporting the folks in my community.
Same that I’ve been doing most of my adult life which kicked into high gear since 2019 when I saw the writing on the wall.
I’m preparing.
I woke this morning to thinking of socialism. The wind in the US is shifting. Not just the left either. Working class people are fed up of barely getting by. The last time this happened at scale was the 70s, Cities around the country built tall buildings to house folks, many of which were poorly maintained and turned to cesspools (but not all) and eventually were torn down. I hope we learn from the mistakes of the past - not only build massive buildings, but the infrastructure to support them too. People need green spaces…and not just roads and parking lots.
I’m optimistic that we will get closer to a success this time. It’s a shame other western countries get to have nice things while we have to work 3 jobs to cover the rent.
How do I plan to prepare? Inform, advocate, encourage. Vote.
I honestly have no clue what's going to happen next, but I think Mandami has proven a lot of the people in the US are getting fed up with the status quo, especially this right wing laissez faire policies the current administration embodies. It's going to be interesting to see where things end up if this momentum continues.
The new "bi-party affordable housing bill" that became law today is largely aimed at removing regulations and requirements on modular/manufactured housing. It adds--get this--a new special mortgage for affordable housing under 100k. I mean, short of Marty McFly, no one is able to buy more than a doghouse for 100k. This is the kind of shit that passes with "strong support". Rather than build shared, affordable, efficient housing, a lobby yet again wrote a bill that won't help much or many.
In the UK I’d suggest anyone who owns their own home get solar panels, a battery and some form of air conditioning (if not a full heat pump/boiler replacement) ASAP.
You can’t directly stop the government doing terrible things, but you can dramatically slash your own energy bills and make sure you can survive heat waves in comfort.
That's a smart suggestion for any country IMO.
This is good advice for all of Europe as well
Replacing radiators with air conditioning is 100% the smartest thing people could do in UK/EU.
most solar systems will not operate in a power cut.
edit: system detects no grid supply and shuts itself down. other systems with an off-grid mode exist, just theyre not the default and usually cheapest option a lot of people round here install.
You ask for level 3 backup
Level 3 means the panels provide power in a blackout; panels charge the battery with excess generation, battery provides power at night
But they very easily can if you design your system to
You turn off your main breaker which would stop the solar generated power from flowing out. What power you do have wouldn't be super stable, but at last you could run a few chargers, small appliances, etc.
One thing I've thought of is going to my local recycling center where they take in used/old car batteries. You could look up how to wire a handful together and use solar to charge them for evening use. Wouldn't result in much, but a lot of those places recondition them and they're $20-30/each.
If you have a generator, I've heard you could wire a thick extension cord with 2 male ends and just run power to a wall outlet. The power will flow through one breaker to the rest, but extra care needs to be taken to not overwhelm any one circuit on the generator or house. This would be a last resort for bare essentials like fridge, sump pump, etc.
I feel like battery in this case was more of a whole house battery. That would work in an outage. Unsure if it could still be charged in an outage.
Expect prices to continue getting crazier, weather to get shittier, and people to get more desperate: Do everything you can to become self sufficient and be prepared for a variety of outcomes.
Invest time into into learning the ability to make or get food (think gardening, foraging, hunting, trapping, fishing, raising animals for food, etc.), have a long term plan for obtaining safe water, learn whatever medical care you can (first aid, stop the bleed, etc.), learn how to defend yourself if you don't already know (and if you do, keep up on your training, if you don't use it, your skills will weaken), learn to cook if you haven't, learn to sew if you haven't, all those skills one might consider "old fashioned" by some will become more important the worse things get.
If you've got the funds for it, battery banks, solar panels, and similar can help make things like extended (or even permanent) power outages a lot more bearable (plus they could save your food from spoiling, your house from flooding, etc.). I've only spent a few hundred so far but I already have a battery bank that functions as a UPS to power the pumps that keep my house dry and the refrigerators running. It charges to 80% in 50 minutes off a standard plug and charges to full off the panels in under a day - it's a huge game changer for my family and we're only getting started.
Some sort of vehicle you can fuel independent of gas stations is also a very good idea: EVs are great, but if you can't afford one, there's nothing wrong with e-bikes or even bicycles! Hell, my preferred commuter is a bike most days anyways. Another alternative is converting a traditional vehicle to run off used cooking oil (which is far easier than it sounds): Many restaurants will happily give you the used oil they have to pay someone else to come pick up and dispose of. If the power goes out, gas stations can't pump fuel, so even if you can afford it, you're still screwed. Find a reasonably fast way to get around without relying on this and you'll be much more disaster resistant.
Finally, make friends! Our greatest strength as humans is when we band together for the benefit of everybody, be careful who you trust but don't be afraid to be part of your local community either because as people, we are far more vulnerable when we are totally alone and unsupported. You can go it alone, but it'll be a lot rougher in pretty much every situation.
+++ Climate change is going to lead to more healthcare challenges and will lead to increased cost of living (insurance, foodstuffs , energy). Switch to solar energy, lead a more modest life with local products (support local producers) become a vegetarian, lead by example. +++ More international conflict: Russia/Nato states, USA/China, China/APJ, Africa. Make sure passport is up to date, look at options to quickly leave. Buy local produce, stock up water and food. +++ AI may lead to a stock market crash. Diversify your savings (you should do that anyway). It will lead to shifts in the job market (like the steam engine, the internet). Adapt or become irrelevant. +++ States are becoming more rightwing / fascist. Be politically active, vote for the right party, change the party and system from within, donate to the right projects, speak out, use the skills you are good at to make a change. +++ Enjoy life, it could well be the best is already behind us. Be kind, be friendly, help people. Have a plan.
Make sure passport is up to date, look at options to quickly leave.
Very few will be able to afford to flee anywhere, and in most cases, the fugitives may not only fail to flee fascism, but will be poorer than they were when they left their homes.
You're never too poor to afford fleeing somewhere else, just not desperate enough to try. Look at the thousands that risk their lives every year crossing countries by foot or go into the sea in rickety boats.
Just gonna have some kids and gonna focus on my own life and what small things around me I can make a difference in. Caring for friends/family etc.
That's really lovely and feels good, too. Really helps focus what's most important these days. Wishing you all the luck for your goals to be met :)
The fall of China and how it will affect global trade if Taiwan goes too.
Buying a café close to the ocean.
Call it "the winchester" and wait for this whole thing to blow over.
I don't find it but there is a joke in there somewhere right?
Reference to a zombie movie.
And how will the café can help?
We're planning on having even a second can.
it's never a bad idea to try growing your own food. i've been able to add a lot more fresh veggies to my diet even with "container gardening" in a rented apartment & a balcony.
if you've got your own house & a garden, plant as many native trees as you can. some of these can provide free food too ofc, but also, trees are great for shade & staying cool during heatwaves, they're great for flood prevention, they hold the soil together & prevent soil creep, etc etc.
so yeah, i suppose climate change & access to food are my main concerns. we can live without a lot of today's tech, but we can't live without edible food, clean water, and breathable air. 😅
Buy guns
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That one guy white who wears shorts during winter and that one white girl who wears weater during summer will die of heatstroke and hypothermia, respectively; and we too will all suffer under climate change.
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Chinese EVs.
At some point I plan to install solar panels with a battery bank big enough to eventually disconnect from the grid. Learn to do as much stuff on my own so I don't have to buy as much things, for example I already make jams and marmalades while in season to last the rest of the year, next step I plan to learn this summer is to preserve other kinds of vegetables.
Also I'm learning to sew and make patterns in a dress making/tailoring school. I make my own clothes.
Think long tern on all my buying decisions.
And overall, if there's some skill that I think I could learn that would make me a bit more independent I go for it. But I've always been like this, it is not like I'm preparing for anything.