Skills are valuable prepping assets that money can't buy, as you can only get them through years of experience and practice. Aside from helping you prepare for disaster and SHTF scenarios, some prepping skills can help you acquire essential supplies by allowing you to trade for them with services you can provide.
Building your own skillset will also make you less dependent on others and enable you to become more resilient, adaptable and self-reliant. These characteristics will help you weather tough situations or emergencies. In some cases, prepping skills can help you avoid expensive repairs, service calls and equipment.
Below are seven prepping skills that could help you save money on repairs and equipment: (h/t to ItsTactical.com)
1. Lockpicking
Lock picking is a useful skill to learn. Knowing how to pick a lock can help you understand how locks work and how to better protect your home from invaders. Plus, it's a handy skill to have for when you accidentally lock yourself out of your home or apartment. Skip the call to the locksmith and pick the lock yourself.
Since basic lockpicking tools are tiny, you can easily bring them with you in case of an emergency. Here's a simple guide to lockpicking for beginners.
2. Navigating
Today, most cell phones come with their own Global Positioning System (GPS), making navigation easy. However, it's highly likely that power will be one of the first utilities to go out when SHTF.
Therefore, preppers ought to master basic navigation skills, such as map reading, compass and GPS use, celestial navigation and orienteering. These skills will eliminate the need to buy all sorts of pricey navigation equipment.
3. Diving
Preppers know to prepare for various emergencies, including diving-related ones. Diving is a skill that opens up a new world for exploration.
But to an inexperienced individual, diving can be extremely dangerous. In fact, beginners are prone to a diving problem called decompression sickness, also known to seasoned divers as "the bends."
Decompression sickness occurs when bubbles of nitrogen gas and other mixed gases form in the tissues due to rapid changes in pressure, which occur when you swim back up too quickly. Treatment for decompression sickness involves the use of a recompression chamber.
The treatment can set you back a few hundred dollars. But that doesn't include the cost of getting you to the chamber itself, which is often done via a helicopter.
Avoid an expensive trip to the decompression chamber and sign up for diving lessons from professionals.
4. Creating shooting targets
Gun skills will be useful for self-preservation when SHTF, but trips to the range can be expensive. Instead of burning money periodically on gun range visits, make your own shooting targets for practice. Here's an easy guide to making your own shooting targets out of cardboard.
5. Preventing data theft
Data theft doesn't just occur to huge corporations. It can also happen to the average individual, and falling victim to it could be expensive, financially and mentally speaking.
Here are some tips for preventing data theft:
- Shred papers with names and addresses, such as mails, luggage tags and boarding passes.
- Use strong passwords to protect computers and devices.
- Secure your wireless network.
- Activate two-factor authentication.
- Remove sensitive data from online databases.
- Review the terms and conditions of social media platforms you use and adjust accordingly.
6. Recovering a stuck vehicle
Recovering a vehicle stuck in the mud can be an expensive ordeal when towing services enter the picture.
But you can easily get your vehicle unstuck if you know what to do. For starters, don't hit the gas and spin your ties to avoid getting more stuck. To create traction, sprinkle gravel, cat litter or rock salt around your tires so they have something to grip onto. You can also lay your car floor mats in front of your tires to create traction.
Don't stop once you gain momentum. Keep going until you're on solid ground. If you have a shovel in your emergency car kit, you can also dig around your tires to get them out.
7. Providing first aid
Knowing how to provide first aid can save lives. Skills like stopping the bleeding, setting a splint and spotting a concussion will be extremely valuable when SHTF. It also helps to have comprehensive knowledge of herbal home remedies and how to make them with medicinal plants foraged in the wild and everyday items like vinegar and baking soda. (Related: Safety first: Tips for stocking your First Aid kit before SHTF.)
Follow Preparedness.news to learn more about skills that can make you resilient and self-reliant.
Sources include:
HyperbaricMedicalSolutions.com
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