The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Goals, Preps and Plans with Phoenix Survival

Episode Date: January 6, 2024

I keep on moving forward, always getting closer, marching till it's over, and just like a soldier, I keep on moving forward, always getting closer, I'm marching till it's over. I'm marching till it's over. I'm dressed like a soldier. I keep on moving forward. Always getting closer. Marching till it's over. I'm dressed like a soldier. I keep on moving forward.

Always getting closer. Marching till it's over. It's ridiculous. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. It is Jay Ferg here with Phoenix Survival. That's right. This beautiful morning, 10 a.m. Eastern, which is an absolute lie because it is pouring here. But it is a nice day anyways. So how are we kicking off 2024, January 6th this year, right? Well, we started out PBN. We had our round table at New

Year's and we talked about our New Year's preps or goals. So why not kick off the first official show of the year with Phoenix Survival of goals, preps, and plans? But it's more than that. So we all have things that we want to achieve. And 2024 is already showing that it is going to be a whirlwind of a year. Are we surprised? Absolutely not. We knew 2024 was going to bring a height of who

knows what. Already kicked it off with an earthquake in Japan, two airplanes crashing, now an array of things happening throughout the world. Does it surprise us? Absolutely not. Does it surprise us? Absolutely not. And I just realized I absolutely miswrote what I wrote in the group and put good morning beautifying people. Huh? I meant to put beautiful. So, as we know, some of my goals is to try to see how much I can achieve on growing indoors or growing in a much smaller space. For those of you who knew me from A Family Affair, I went from having a much larger space, much larger yard, to where I could have a garden that was like 12 feet or, you know, six feet by 12 feet. And now I'm in a much more condensed space and

a much more heavily populated area. And don't get me wrong. Myrtle Beach is what it is. It's Myrtle Beach, but it is not, um, not my type of living, which is fine. You know, we all find ourselves in situations outside of our norm. And that is something we have to learn is to adapt, overcome, adapt and overcome. So for me, it is really trying to figure out how to maximize my small living. Now, mind you, this was bigger than the walk-in closet I lived in when I lived in a condo. I don't understand how people live in tuna boxes. No shame to y'all who are living in those spaces and shout out, shout out to those who are and are able to make it work. That is fantastic. And I commend you because there were things I was doing in those

spaces that would work as far as small prepping. Now, shout out to our Cali prepper. She was able to do it in a much smaller space than any of us. But I digress on the fact that for me, my goals, you know, this is something you should sit down and write out your goals, write out what it is. And for those in Element or those new to Element, I did start a new page or new group on there for your prepping projects, because there's nothing like being able to share your accomplishments or what you did with the group and being able to have people to come together and talk about it with. Because a lot of us, you know, we are open about prepping,

but it doesn't go as far with the people that we, that we know unless they're preppers like us. So it's nice to have that group in which we can say, Hey, look what I did today. Look, I've been working on this all week and having other people who you can turn to who'd be like, great job. Or have you thought about trying this, especially when you come up on those situations where you need a little more outside opinion and it's sometimes easier received from people of a like-minded response or of a like-minded set. Sorry. So, uh, now mind you you i didn't get everybody in the live chat at it um it's not because i didn't want to i'm just having difficulties listening so if you're interested in that reach out to me on

element if you're in element or uh to james or if you're in live chat, Volcana and Chin should be able to as well. I gave them moderator status for that group just so we can get more people involved and maybe interact in as far as on the project end, because, hey, it's nice to have people to talk to in this area. to in this area. So jumping back, my goals, you know, is to see how much I can self-grow inside, as well as in a very small space. I want to see what I can invest in, in some affordable, but decent grow lights. Affordability is going to be the biggest thing, lights, affordability is going to be the biggest thing. Since for any of those who don't know, I did have a son. I just had a new baby in August of last year.

And so we are coming up on five months old. So affordability is going to be number one in our household because, well, two adults and a new baby, plus my three older, can count for some hard times. So that's another one. So on our preps, we've got to account for changing things up from the way they were the year before. And that's what we do is we sit down and we look at the changes that are to come. We look at the changes that we have and what we had before. So in our household, it's no longer prepping in the same way and prepping changes for all of us. Now it seems pretty consistent, pretty constant, and the basis to it is, but we do have to keep in mind there are going to be changes. There are going to be things that, you know, are going to alter over time.

We change out our, our go bags. What is it? Every quarter, depending on who you are, we check, um, our food stocks and row, you know, change out dates and roll things out. And that's what it comes down to. and roll things out. And that's what it comes down to. So for me, our prepping really changed in the fact that it's not at the moment, my older three are with their father. I get them periodically, you know, certain amounts of times. And so my prepping changes on based on how many people are in the household at that time.

So if I know my children are going to be in throughout a certain duration of time, then my preps change accordingly to if there's an emergency and my children are in the household, my older three, and my partner and I, then I make sure I fit to our needs for that duration. then I make sure I fit to our needs for that duration. Now, we have a constant small now in the house as well. So now instead of prepping for just me and him when it is just us, I have to include our youngest. And so our preps have changed from, okay, he and I can handle this amount of gear for this amount of time.

If we should have to bug out, uh, how much space is in the vehicle. Um, if we have to go anywhere to now I have to add into a third factor and with an infant, it changes everything because we have to look at diapers or do I have reusable nappies or what is it that we need for him? Now, fortunately, but he is primarily going to be primarily breastfed, which saves us so much. So then I have to account for the fact that while breastfeeding, I have to take in so many calories, so much food because I now am that food source and I have to make sure I'm well hydrated, that I am well taken care of because when it comes down to it, my baby requires me.

I am that food source. And because I'm that food source, I have to make sure I'm well stocked and I'm well maintained, which really puts more attention to my own care. Which before, you know, I could slack. I could drop down a little bit on it and be like, all right, no big deal. Not so much anymore. And that's something I think we sometimes forget. We think so much about what we're going to do for our family, what we're going to do for their needs, that we do tend to put our own health and our own care a little bit to the wayside because we are worried about everybody else.

And this really brings back, you know, seeing that I have to do certain things a certain way now, especially if I want to keep my little one safe and happy and fed. It means I really have to put my own health care, my own health and physical being and everything on the forefront. And it really does change things up. It really comes to light that, hey, you know, you are a huge important factor in all of this. And it goes the same for each of you. You may not be nursing, may not have the same dynamics, but you do have to keep in mind that your family is counting on you.

Now, yes, maybe it's not just you. You have a partner. Well, your family's counting on you and your partner. You're counting on the health of your well, your family's counting on you and your partner. You're counting on the health of your children or your family. And so it's, it is a circle. It is, everybody is counting on each other. Okay. So take into fact your health and your wellbeing through all of this, include that in your preps, include it in your plans because falling short in that can affect your health can affect the group and everyone else around you and how you're able to take care of them

so for me it's now again I'm going to repeat several things over and over but I'm going to have to take into fact that my little one, my five month old, isn't able to carry his own pack, isn't able to, um, obtain his own water source or understand how filtration works or able to start a fire or feed themselves with an MRE like my older ones. All of my older children are very, very capable. I have taken my time to try to teach them as much as possible. And yes, my younger one may be a little more codependent in certain areas than my oldest, and that's okay. But that's the whole point is I came to a point in my life with prepping where

my older three were almost self-sustainable in a sense and a chunk of it being able to do what they could on their own now we enter now we bring in an infant oops sorry i'm trying to get comfortable in my chair if y'all can hear me scooting around, I apologize. And that infant requires all of my attention. Sorry for all the background noise. I was trying to adjust things. And it changes everything. Everything.

Because I am his source of food. I am his source of life. I am his source of life. I'm his source of care. He's incapable of doing anything on his own, which makes prepping now a little more scary for me. And for those of you who are moms with littles, please reach out. I'd love to hear how you're doing things because having a baby all over again after my older three are pretty much, you know, doing for themselves, it's scary. It is a whole new beginning. It's like being a first time mom all over again. It really is.

So that changes my preps. That changes my plans. And we are all going to encounter things. I thought my previous events in life were changing my preps and my plans, and which they did. And at that time, it seemed huge. It seemed like such a big change and in essence it was, but now in comparison to where I'm at, it was just a drop in the well. I mean, it was just a tiny little ripple

in everything that changed and And that's okay. But it definitely makes me have to sit down. I am in the process of pulling out my list, my preps, and reassessing. Because I think about the fact that when I had my other kids, I always made sure I had reusable diapers or the cloth diapers. So if anything happened, I ran out of diapers. I had something with the little plastic covers and everything. So I guess times get tough and we're seeing that now more than ever.

Times are tough. We became a one person household at the moment. I returned to my day job next week, but there is a chance that that may not continue. So I am in the process of also trying to find a job, a replacement job that I can work from home because we can't afford childcare. And that is a really serious thing here in 24 and 2024. So not only are we looking at our goals or preps and plans, we're looking at life itself in 2024. How are you handling it? I mean, honestly, I would love to hear how you handled 2023.

And we all had some really tough times, all of us. So for me personally, and I'm sure y'all are going to get sick of hearing this, is I'm working harder. I'm crocheting more, taking time to spin more. You are going to see a lot more coming from me in that aspect because that's what I've used for years that's what I've had for years it was a sustainable thing for me it was a income

at times when times were needed on hard times especially oops oh that's because I didn't. Okay. Everybody's probably still asleep. Everybody's got their things going on and that is okay. I don't expect everyone to catch the live right away and I'm still figuring out which days are going to work best. and I'm still figuring out which days are going to work best. So coming up, I will be doing a recording with a few other PBNers. I do have some plans,

and I can't wait to really kick off 2024 and be a part of this. I've missed prepping. I've missed podcasting the most. I've missed my listeners. I've missed you. And, and I've missed what this is, being able to talk to people, being able to give insight, being able to get insight because it is a give and take. It is, I'm learning from you as much as you're learning from me. So down to preps. What are your preps looking like? I don't need details, but have you figured out? You know, if you've not, and we say this over and over and over, and it's, if you are not prepping, you need to start now.

Things are only going to get harder. And you know what? Costs are only going to start now. Things are only going to get harder and you know what? Costs are only going to go up. It's not a time in which it is a one income household anymore. It is not a time where you can go out and spend a hundred dollars and have a cart full of food. It is terrifying because going out now, a hundred100 doesn't get you very much. And it is very unfortunate. But you know what? That's what we're here for.

We're here to help you. So James is pushing the health and fitness. And that is great, which I need to get on the wagon. I'm not in the same shape I was before. Post baby body. I've gotten to enjoy being a stay at home mom for at least five months. And that was amazing. And I now commend all of you moms who got to do that. And it breaks my heart to have to go back to work in that sense. I know I have to help make ends

meet and I'm fine with that, but is this the most time I've gotten with any of my children as babies? And I absolutely love it. So as, as we're talking here, I'm also writing, but you know, are we looking at food for most of us who are preppers? We have that times get tough. Know that there are resources out there. Not only do you have to, you know, for those who are in tough times, there are things out

there that can help. And being able to, for example, I have friends who have had to go to the food bank in tough times. And they sometimes get foods that they don't they don't like or foods that they don't care for but they still eat it or foods that are going to go very quickly in the sense of perishable so in those situations how how do you keep food to last a little bit longer that's where we go into food storage. Do you know how to, well, I'm so sorry, my stomach growled if you could hear. Do you know how to preserve?

Do you know how to can? Is it something that can be dehydrated? Is it something that you can make a meal out of and you can break that mill up and freeze it. So for us, we have a vacuum sealer and I actually buy rice in 20 pounds. I take my rice, I separate them into one pound increments and I vacuum seal them. And not only does that save the life of the rice and people are like, oh, it's already dry. It's good. Well, what a lot of people don't realize is our food has bugs in it. Rice especially has bugs in it. And have you ever left your rice in the bag it came in and you left it in the pantry or the cabinet or wherever you store yours for an extended amount of time and you pull it out and it looks webby i call those rice worms i don't know the actual name for them i think the

rice weevils but those bugs that were in that rice have hatched and those webbing is from that bug throughout it so for me i understand that you, that's a part of it. There's going to be bugs in there, but I vacuum seal mine and I put them up and vacuum seal and it's going to remove all of the air. So even if there is something in there, it's going to kill it. It can't sustain, it can't keep going. So for me, 20 pounds of bags of rice, I can't have rice I can't have I can't afford for even if it is cheap you know that's we'll say just pulling a whim uh 15 bag 50 uh 20 pound bag of rice costs what 15 dollars at the worst we'll say say 10 15 well that's 10 or 15 dollars I don't have to keep putting out so when we separate it up we vacuum seal it and it works out perfectly for our family because we like rice white rice brown rice you name it we love rice and a one pound bag of rice

is good for a week for us and we can open it and then we you know close it back up and we can use that one pound for a meal or for a couple meals throughout the week. And we're good. We're not wasting any extra rice. It's not going to waste. It's not setting out long enough for anything to get in it or for anything to hatch out of it. So that is our big thing is sustainability of what we have. How can we stretch it? sustainability of what we have. How can we stretch it? Same thing. It's probably not necessary, but I do the same thing with my beans just because I'm in a new area in our old home, in my old home where I lived in Mississippi. You know, every now and then you'd get filled in which I would take all of my food that I had vacuum

sealed. And if it was going to be stored under a counter or in an area outside of the active pantry in which I had a bin for, I would put it in a metal tin and that metal tin was just to ensure nothing would shoot through it. So I love, and so if anyone has extras, be happy to take it off you. If not, use them. The popcorn tins that you see at the holidays, those giant tins, people love them. People get them. I like them for the storage capabilities. I don't eat popcorn. So I mean, if anyone does, and I get a few tins, tell me where to send the popcorn because I'm not going to eat the popcorn.

Actually, nobody really eats popcorn in my household. But I like the tins. They're perfect for storing stuff in. I don't have to worry about them getting chewed through. Now, I know what you're saying. Not Tupperware, but the storage containers. They work. They do. It does take quite

a while if it's not the heavy duty ones, but rodents can get through them. The lids can fill. I don't have any heavy duty ones, but those work too. Anything that can minimize or make it difficult for anything to get into your food is wonderful. I don't worry about my canned goods. You know, I check them to make sure there's no rust. There's no, you know, no expanding, no bulging of the cans, because then that means they've been compromised and you have to worry about it. You can't eat those.

The only thing I make sure is if I am storing canned goods or anything being put away that I take into account dirt. You know, you can't just pull a can out and open it. I always rinse my cans or wipe them off because you don't know what's been settled on top of them. Again, I think that's just a mom thing or a germ thing for me. So keep in mind, you know, food storage. Can you can? Can you dehydrate? Can you meal prep and pre-make the meals and separate them and freeze them?

Can you vacuum seal them? So the good thing about vacuum sealing is you can vacuum seal just about anything. And that's what I do I buy my meat in bulk I vacuum seal it and I freeze it so for any of y'all and who have a Kroger's I know they're not up in the northeast as much I'm not sure about up north in general so for those of you let me know but we have a Kroger's here now I have quit buying any of my meat from Walmart just because I've encountered more and more meat being rancid and same with chicken I've been so terrified to purchase chicken because you it that one it doesn't look good and two you can tell with the packaging

where meat has been frozen thawed then refrozen and we have actually encountered and it just broke our hearts encountered where we've bought meat chicken pork and it's been rancid within a day of purchasing we open it and it's rancid and i just i can't afford to keep doing that so aldi's is great kroger's is great but what i like about kroger's and for those of you look around do your research do your hunting is i all right. So I'm a little picky as far as my ground beef. I don't care for ground beef. I don't, I love ground venison, but I'm not in an area where I have to go to public hunting lands and have to figure out everything here. I got to get my local hunting license for here as well. But for those of you who are purchasing meat, you know, Costco, Sam's clubs, those are great. I've had people tell me, get the membership. It is worth its weight. Again, right now it's just

having the extra, extra expense to be able to do that. So that's something we have to wait on. So for those of you who can't or are unable to right now, go to your local stores. Well, are unable to right now, go to your local stores. Well, what I do is I'm picky in the sense I don't like just the plain ground chuck. I don't, there's too much gristle. The texture's wrong. I don't like ground Angus because it's very stringy, but you know, when you're hungry, you're hungry. But if you're on a budget and you're having to spend your own money, you know, you get to be a little more picky. So I do eat, it's a brand called Laura something. And it's a, it's a very lean beef, very lean. It's like a 93.8 or something like that. And I will check the price and we'll say over the count, um, in the meat department, it's

$8.99, $9.99, something like that a pound. But if you go to the meat counter, it is a good $3 cheaper. I think I paid anywhere from $6.99, $7.99 a pound, anywhere from $6.99, $7.99 a pound, which still seems a lot, you know, but it's cheaper that way. And I will go in and I'll ask him and I will, if it's a good deal, especially with croakers, you've got your savings and everything else. I will go and I'll buy out all of the meat from the meat counter, all the ground beef. Now they do have a selective choice. It is a, it is a, just a chuck. It is a 73 or whatever the conventional one is for 80, 80 something. And, um, I will eat it. I, it is not as gristly, not as much, not as difficult as far as texture. And so I will actually buy that from the meat counter too, especially if they're out of

the one I want. That one's a good one. So compared to the shelf price, instead of $7.99, $8.99, it's usually five something or $6. And so I'll buy that up too so when I go in these people have come to see that I come in once a month when I'm able to I set things aside so I can afford it I will go into the meat counter as soon as they open and I will buy the meat and now mind you what they put the meat counter they it comes in in three pound sleeves yes it's exactly the mind you what they put in the meat counter, they, it comes in in three pound sleeves. Yes, it's exactly the same as what they put out on the shelf, but it's cheaper. So I'll go and

I'll buy, how much do you have of this? Oh, we have three pounds or we have six pounds. Okay. I want it all. I buy it because at the end of the day, they have to package it and they put it out on the shelf for the same exact price as what's on the shelf. So you're getting a deal. Pay attention. Now, this is also the same meat that I go to the clearance section for or the markdown section because it's the best sell by date. So the other day, for example, I bought three pounds of one of them. I think it was the leaner meat, the leaner me 20 bucks for all three pounds.

Then I saw in the markdown bin, they had another, uh, pound markdown to $6, another three pounds markdown as well. I think I spent maybe $10. So I snatched it all up. I go home, I separate it again for me, one pound, maybe a little bit more per meat. And I vacuum seal it and I freeze it and it extends it. So I have a freezer full of meat. Now the same thing goes with bacon, um, birds. Now I did buy a bird from Walmart because after Thanksgiving, closer to Christmas, they marked down all of their honeysuckle turkeys down to 50 cents a pound. So I was able to get a turkey for $6. I mean a 12 pound turkey for $6. That's a big deal. So for you, so things are tight, but it doesn't mean we can't be smart about how we pick, you know, we can be

frugal. We can be, I'm that person who checks the prices. Take the time to do that. Do, do that. Make notes of who carries what and what price. You know what? We have the convenience of having our cell phones and apps now. You know, back in the day, it was a little harder. You couldn't just go from one place to the other like that. Well, what do you do? Say you're a Walmart and your other favorite food store has an app and you have it on your phone. When you're in there, price compare. That's what I do. Hey, is this really a good deal?

And see how much it costs at the other store. It's that simple. It really is. It's not like having an ad insert while you're walking into one place. You don't have to do all the extra. It's on your phone. So if I go into Kroger's and I see something that I think is a good deal, and I know it's something that we eat, but I'm like, hmm, is it really?

So I go to my handy dandy phone, pull up my Walmart app, because we, we all have it at this point. Or if we don't, most of us do. And I go to that application and I'm like, okay, let's see, can of beans, which I've shopped frequently enough that I do know how much it costs off the top of my head. So can of kidney beans, great value because there's no point in me paying, you know, an arm and a leg for it. Okay. It's 82 cents here. How much is it at Kroger? You know, or vice versa. Well, Kroger has some of their vegetables in four packs. Well, then I go and I look at that vegetable that Walmart doesn't have in four

packs and I see how much it is per can. Well, is it cheaper? Well, if it's cheaper and I know on my list I'm already needing that item, I'm just going to purchase it there because I usually buy my canned goods and sets of four at the minimum because I'm always restocking my pantry back up or trying to. So keep in mind, there are ways to make planning and prepping and purchasing so much easier. You know, shop around, look for the best prices, take that into account when you're planning for your preps. You know, you don't have to, oh, well, they have it. It's here. Let's do it.

No, you can be frugal. You absolutely can. Now, when push comes to shove and we get to the harder situations, yeah, you're not going to be able to pick and choose as much. But right now you can. And for those of you, and actually for a majority of you, finances are our biggest one. That's our biggest prep. You know, you hear it from Phil,

if you're trying to put a little bit of money back, you know, that's prepping. Well, we are not only in prepping, but as people, as families, as husbands, as wives, as partners. So keep that in mind. Food storage, you know, how can we do it? How can we put food up? How can we provide? Well, for me, how I'm wanting to be able to provide for more in food storage, I want to be able to grow my food. I am, I've got some stackable pots. Thank you, Garden Girl. She was the one who pointed some out and I went and got them. Um, let's see. You know, uh, there are things that we can make. So a part of our preps, what about medicines? Right. I talked about this with Phil, uh, when we did a old news, modern world problems with the old school solutions. Well, medicines. Yes. It is good to keep OTCs. It is great to keep some of your prescriptions. Make

sure you're refilling those early. Check out the refill laws with your pharmacy for your estate. I was and am still a licensed pharmacy technician, have been for eight years. And I am one of those people who, if I'm able to get ahead on meds, I do. Ladies who are on birth control, keep that in mind. So my employer currently requires that we use Amazon. Now, for those of you who get three month refills, go ahead and get that filled. Keep in mind though, insurance will only let you fill per insurance and a certain amount of time. With that being said, you do not have to use your insurance if you want to fill again for things like birth control or certain medications that you need to fill early. Now, it is going to depend from pharmacy to pharmacy. fill early. Now it is going to depend from pharmacy to pharmacy, but typically with birth control, you can fill that as early as you want, but know you're going to pay out of pocket.

Also keep in mind how much that cost is going to be out of pocket. So say your birth control is completely free with your insurance, but for a threemonth refill, you're looking at $13. Okay, is that $13 going to really hurt you? Is that $13 you can afford? Is that $13 worth getting yourself ahead three extra months, especially for those women who require it for hormones or for whatever reason? I mean, and some certain meds, you can do it that way. Check it out with your pharmacy. Check it out with other pharmacies. Find out what it would be for you out of pocket because a lot of us, a lot of people today keep their medications on an as-need basis and don't get ahead. Now, if you're doing a 30 day refill at a time, you can refill

up to so many days early and insurance will pick it up. You have to do, do have to determine how much your insurance allows for leeway. Some of it's 28 days, some of it's 26. You don't see that the 26 too much anymore. Some of them is exactly 30 days. So do keep that in mind, but also find out what it's going to cost as far as out of pocket should you have to pay it because some of the pharmacies will let you feel weak early, but your insurance isn't going to cover and you're responsible for it. Get ahead. Now, if you're able to get ahead on your filling, do it. I know it's only a few days extra, but do it. Don't refill once you see you're out. Have yourself set of refilling at the time it needs to be filled every time without worrying about cost. I mean, really.

Oh, I can hear my baby fussing. So I don't know how much longer we're going to keep going. I want it to hit a few more points, but, um, so medications is a big one. Also know that, oh, there are a lot of things you can make if you're into that, into having that. Elderberries kept in my house. Fire cider is a great one for flu and cold because it induces warming. And you know, a lot of times your body needs that. Your body runs a fever when it's trying to kill something off in it. Now we don't want to hit high fevers, but that's great. Sometimes you need to run a fever to get better. So that is something in my household, unless your fever hits a certain temp, a fever gets to run its course sometimes. And that's just because it's better to run a fever for a short period of time and get better than to hold a fever back and to get sicker.

than to hold a fever back and to get sicker. So keep that in mind. We want to look at food, medicine. Okay, what about skills? Skills is a big one. Practice, you know, practice makes, you always hear practice, practice makes perfect, but I've always heard practice makes permanent.

So practice, you know, what skillset are you trying to improve on? Is it, you know, a hike it, not hiking, sorry. Is it fire making? Is it, um, target practice? Just find ways to practice, you know, and making sure you know where your preps are, making sure you know what gear you have. Use your gear. Your gear is useless if it is still in the plastic sitting there without you having any clue how to physically use it. It's great in theory. You're perfect in theory. Oh man, you've got it running straight through your head and you know exactly how to do it.

But when it comes down to it, it is absolutely useless if you do not know how to use it, if you do not know how it works, and if you never actually put your hands on it. It's pretty and plastic, but it does you no good. So keep that in mind. We all have prep items, right? We all have things. And what good is a tourniquet if it's still in the packaging and you've never used it or you don't know how? Keep that in mind, folks, okay? You're only as good as you are when you know how to use your preps. If you only have preps that you've never touched, great in theory. But beyond mind's eye, you have to know how to do it. So practice. Get your hands on your gear.

Touch your gear. Know how your gear works. It's kind of like in training and for all those who are gun enthusiasts you're only as good as you keep your weapon if your weapon is dirty and rusted and rarely maintained the likelihood of it being reliable is absolutely is is low It's super low. So what do these people do? They maintain their weapon. They clean it. They make sure it's well oiled. It's well used. They know how much pressure it takes to pull the trigger. They know its ins and outs. And we want the same with our preps. Know the ins and outs of what you have, of what you're capable of, of who is

doing what in your group. It works. So for me, my prepping goes beyond not just food, medicine, skill sets. It also is a matter of who I trust, who I'm with, our plans for evacuation. That's a big one. If you're in a high populated area, you need to know your way out. But you also need to know your way out when everybody else is trying to leave and has the same idea. Because for me, for where I live, we live right next to an evacuation area. The problem is, is on a high traffic day, you're in a dead, dead stop trying to get across the swing bridge. You are bumper to bumper with a hundred other cars trying to get over the overpass. It's not going to be feasible. So you have to think about

what is the secondary route? Sometimes it's best, and it sounds weird, to go further down. It's going to add an extra hour at least and then out because I want to try to go the route people aren't going to go because major evacuations do primarily go a main way. But what do you do when everybody else is thinking the same thing? So I was always taught, if you're thinking something, if you're thinking around, at least a hundred other people are thinking the same exact thing. Now, a lot of people outside of our preparedness have, in a sense, not a hive mind, but a same singular thought of, I have to get out, go this way.

That's just how people work. You know, they want the path of least resistance. And when 200 people of the same mindset of path of least resistance try to go down the path of least resistance, there's go down the path of least resistance, there's resistance. It makes it harder. So keep that in mind. We have looked at plans as far as, okay, what's going to work? How do we get out of here for this situation? going to work? How do we get out of here for this situation? What are our signs that we need to leave the city? Now, I would love to say by the time anything ever happens in this world, that we will already be out. But that's not always the case. What about the people who live in all those

condominiums and choose to live like that? What about the people in live in all those condominiums and choose to live like that? What about the people in New York or in major populated cities, Baltimore? Like we went up to Baltimore for Christmas, my partners from that area, and he drove me through the inner city and everywhere else. Wow. And certain parts of it reminded me of certain parts of Memphis. Again, wow. I couldn't, I don't know how, and I commend you city folks who live like that. And I understand

now why the prep and mindset for the individuals in that area is vastly different from the city to the outer city to the rural areas and how vastly different it is. I commend you. And it is terrifying for me. And now for everybody else who's used to that, oh, it's just a normal way of living. Wow. Wow. Okay. So I apologize. I'm seeing here. I went on a good little tangent and I do hear my little man is fussy and I wanted to hop on here and really just speak to you for a while. Don't worry. More things are going to be more, um, cohesive, more coherent, especially and put together. But I really wanted to jump on and say, I've missed you. I've missed PBN. I've missed my listeners.

And this is not the last. I'm definitely, I'm here to stay. I'm here to be back full force again. So it is Phoenix Survival. I should have played a commercial or something, but I get so enthralled in this. So keep in mind, write out a list. Okay. Please do this for me. If you don't do anything, do this for me. Sit down. You don't have to do it for a long amount of time, but every so often sit down, pull out a list. What are your goals? What are

your preps? And then make your plans. Okay. Right. You don't have to write down this whole paragraph. Just bullet point. What is it that you want? Okay? What is it you have to do to do for that? Okay? And how do you plan? Start out small.

Look at what you're capable of. Look at what you have and what you're willing to do or want to do. And start there. Okay? Everywhere starts somewhere. And if you need help, if you need feedback, if you need people to talk to, check out PBN. Check out, check out River Broadcasting Network.

Join our chat on Element. Reach out to me. Reach out to the other hosts. That's what we're here for. We're here to help. We're here to offer insight wherever we can. We are here. You're here. We're here. Okay? This isn't, you're no longer by yourself for those who are listening brand new. And for those who are here who feel like, you know, you've been on the sidelines listening. You're listening, but you've not said anything. Come forward and say something.

Join the group. Join the chat. I promise you having other people who are like-minded really takes a lot of the pressure off of you. It's nice to take a breath and be like, there are people like me. Yes, we're all throughout the world. That's okay. That's what we're here for. So thank you, listeners. I hope you have a great and wonderful weekend. I will be back. Next weekend, I plan on putting something together. So hopefully I'll have it. I'll probably pre-record. We'll see them.

But yeah, let me know what time frames if you'd like to see me live in the evenings if that works for you great let me know I'll be more than happy to start getting my schedule adjusted for that but I'm here I'm definitely here on Saturday mornings if you need me always around but yes so reach out I hope everybody has a great weekend take Take care. And remember, reach out to PBN because we are here for self-reliance and independence, and we are going to help you achieve that. Left, right, left, so put your hands up, put your hands up. If crawling for the scraps won't ever be enough, put your hands up, put your hands up. The writing's on the wall, this ain't ever gonna stop.

Put your hands up, put your hands up. If crawling for the scraps won't ever be enough, put your hands up, put your hands up. We'll fight until we die, this ain't ever gonna stop. Thank your hands up. Put your hands up. We'll fight until we die. This ain't ever gonna stop. Thank you for listening to the Prepper Broadcasting Network where we promote self-reliance and independence. Tune in

tomorrow for another great show and visit us at PrepperBroadcasting.com To oppose tyranny and fight for the rights our creator bestowed us in the United States dot com