Introduction to the Urban Lady Prepper

You may have only a few minutes to shelter in place or get out with a tornado*. Can you do it either efficiently or safely in that time frame? In an evacuation, do you know where to go? Do you have transportation/escape? Will you have to go to a shelter? What about your pets?

Mass shootings.
Regardless of your politics, this is happening way too often. People are no longer safe going to school, shopping, or church. It is hard to “keep calm and carry on” when the basic things we used to do without drama are becoming riskier. How are you adapting and decreasing the risk for you and your family?

Civil unrest.
Some peaceful protests can turn violent. Some marches are meant to inflame/incite and can turn deadly; this could happen right outside your door or in your neighborhood. What would you do if this happened? How will you keep your family safe?

Random attacks.
People are losing their minds, and random attacks are becoming more frequent in a divided nation fighting inflation, cost of living increases, disease, and unpredictable employment. How do you address not living in fear but being vigilant as you and your kids go about your day-to-day life?

Food Shortages.
While many people focus on the cost of food, another looming issue is the food shortage that will worsen*. War, extreme weather, and supply chain problems have significantly impacted food production and supply. The cost for farmers and ranchers to run their operations is causing them to make choices that will trickle down to you in the form of higher prices or unavailability*. How are you prepared for this? Are you prepared for this?

Energy Crisis.
If you have been watching the news, you know the energy issues that made for a miserable summer in 2023 worldwide. The record-setting temperatures caused factories to shut down temporarily, rolling blackouts, and government officials urging citizens to cut back where possible. The intense heat had an impact not only on the supply chain but on farmlands*.

You may say, “I realize these things are happening. But I live in a small apartment with two kids. I work hard/have two jobs. I do not have a partner or husband, and my kids’ father is not in the picture or helpful. I don’t know how I can do this.”

I get it. I grew up middle-class in an apartment building with my mom. My parents were separated, and my mom worked two jobs. We weren’t rich, but our family was a great support system for us.

Living in an apartment building, I learned one thing very early. The management would turn the water off whenever work was done in the basement. You might get the notification the day before; sometimes…you did not get a notice. In the morning, there was no worse feeling than turning on the faucet, and nothing came out, or some brownish gurgling stuff trickled out that you didn’t want to touch.

For this reason, any time we emptied a two-liter soda bottle (my family had a hardcore cola habit back then, so we had plenty), we would clean it and fill it with water. We put these bottles on the fridge and under the sink, stopping in their designated spots when we ran out of room. We were NEVER caught without water. To this day, I always have water stored.

When the water was turned off in the apartment, it was usually restored by the evening. But consider that as clean water becomes scarcer, there may be a time when you turn on your faucet, and nothing drinkable comes out (if anything comes out at all). Should an emergency arise, do you have any water stored for cooking, bathing, or drinking? If you think being without potable water is an unlikely scenario, think of Flint, Michigan, or Jackson, Mississippi*.

Living in an apartment building taught me something else – how wasteful people can be with energy. In our apartment, lights were on in every room, and the heat or AC was always cranked high. Energy conservation was discussed in school and broadcast on PSAs during afternoon cartoons. I became more conscious of the energy my family and I were wasting. I began turning the lights off and turning the heat/AC down. My family expressed their annoyance, but they began to understand that just as we knew what it was like to be without water, we had to be more thoughtful about energy. Should energy become rationed, would you be able to adjust? These things were helpful to me when I became a widow in 2011, was on my own, and began “prepping” before it was a thing.

Next:  Welcome & My New Life as a Widow/My Entry Into Prepping