I love the beginning of each new year. It’s an opportunity to look backwards and think about what I’ve accomplished over the year, and probably even more importantly, as a goal-setter, it offers the perfect time to think about the year ahead of me.

I’m always looking for new habits to form and goals to chase, maybe you can relate.

If you have EVER thought about getting more prepared, this year is the perfect opportunity.

Getting Started

As we start thinking about our preparedness journey, it’s important to acknowledge where we all started.

Maybe it was a power outage during a winter storm, a hurricane that did more damage than expected, or a pandemic that emptied store shelves (hello no more toilet paper!).

But if you are anything like me, you really started as someone who was relatively unaware of what you should be doing to keep your family safe in emergency situations. Honestly, before I started this prepping journey, I really thought preppers were a tad bit crazy.

As I’ve shared before, the defining point for me was attending a national security course and realizing how fragile our system really was and how quickly things could deteriorate.

It made me think about what my family would do if some of those emergencies happened. It also made me acknowledge that preppers weren’t crazy (mostly) and gave me the motivation I needed to start planning for the unexpected in a more deliberate way.

So now I want you to stop for a minute and ask yourself the following questions: (no really stop, go get a piece of paper, and write down your answers to the following questions…they will help you on this journey…I promise!)

• What event or moment made me start wanting to be more prepared?

• Why was that so pivotal for me and my family?

• What feelings am I trying to avoid by getting more prepared (think panic, stress, overwhelm)?

• What feelings am I trying to create by being more prepared (think peace of mind, security, self-reliance)?

I know those questions may feel a little squishy for some, and honestly I’m okay with that. I want you to really think about them, because the answers to those questions really shape your journey and help you get clear on what you are trying to accomplish as someone who is more prepared..

The answers will help you decide when you are “prepared enough.” And they will give you encouragement when you aren’t sure if this is really a great way to be spending your time and money.

They will also help you embrace my favorite preparedness motto: “Prepared Not Scared!”

Taking Inventory

I also want to challenge you to think about where you are today compared to where you were when you started your journey if you have been prepping for a while.

For some of you just starting out, maybe the answer isn’t very far. That’s okay. For others it may be really easy to see how far you’ve come already.

My husband and I are 5 years into our prepping journey. And as I reflect on where we started and where we are today, I’m pretty happy with our progress.

We have made huge strides in our preparedness goals. We currently have more than a year of food stored in a variety of forms. We have water storage and purification plans. We have upgraded our security plan, and we’ve created medical kits that we are proud of.

All of this gives me a great sense of calm and peace of mind.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still lots of work to do. Next year we want to focus on more skills we have on our list, like taking an outdoor wilderness medical course, learning how to make cheese, and upgrading our weapons and home defense training.

We also know we still have gaps in our evacuation plans, and we’ve never really practiced our power outage plan like we’ve talked about over and over.

It doesn’t mater where you are on your journey, it’s important to stop and take stock of where you are and where you still want to go.

Ask yourself the following questions: (do I need to remind you about the piece of paper again?…I know some of you are stubborn like me and think you’ll get to it later…I’m just saying, go get the paper…)

• Do I know what I’m prepping for (i.e. hurricane, winter storms, pandemics, etc)?

• Do I have sufficient water storage for my family based on my goals and threats in my area?

• Do I have enough food stored to keep my family fed and have I practiced the recipes I plan on using?

• Do I have medical kits available for emergency situations? And more importantly, do I have the training to treat minor and more severe injuries at home?

• Do I have enough household supplies to feel comfortable if the shelves go bare again?

• Do I have a security plan for my family and do my kids know what to do in an emergency?

• Do I have an evacuation plan for my family if we need to leave our house quickly?

• Do I have a bug-out-bag for myself and each member of my family?

• Do I have a way to keep my house warm in the event of a power outage?

• Do I have a way to cook in the event of a power outage?

• Do I have sufficient financial resources to keep my house running during a short-term job loss? (what about a long-term job loss)?

• Do I have a strategy & plan for building the skills I’d like to have in an emergency situation?

I consider most of these questions foundational.

But don’t be discouraged if you can’t answer yes to ALL of those questions.

It took us a couple of years to get to a point where we could answer yes to a majority of those items, and we were focused on our preparedness planning.

The goal with this post isn’t to make you feel bad about where you are, but to challenge you to take an honest look at what you’ve already accomplished and what you’d still like to accomplish.

Once you know where you want to go, it’s a lot easier to get there!

Planning Your Prepping Efforts For Next Year

I love using the end of the year to create my plan of attack for next year.

If you aren’t ready for a two week emergency, start there! This is the minimum that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross recommend for all Americans.

Once you have the first two weeks covered you can continue to take action to help your family feel more resilient in a longer-term emergency situation maybe it’s 30 days or 60…maybe it’s a year.

Then create your plan for how to achieve your goals.

You can create an annual plan a number of ways, but my two favorites are creating lists and creating monthly plans.

It’s a great idea to create to-do, to-buy, & to-learn lists (see this blog post for info). This allows you to add things to your lists as you learn more, experience new things, or look at your preparedness journey from a new perspective.

These lists can keep you organized, and will help you avoid over-buying, and or, under planning in certain areas.

The other great option is to create a monthly strategy for your prepping based on different categories.

For instance, in January you could focus on water, February on food, March on household items etc.

This is a great strategy because it allows you to build some capability in each major preparedness area in a relatively short amount of time.

We focus on the following categories:

• Water

• Food

• Medical Supplies

• Household Items

• Security

• Finances

I love this approach because once you have the foundation built, it’s easy to bolster each of these areas over time. It helps us stick to our budget and gives us really clear focus areas for each month.

So as this year winds down, take some time to think about why you started this journey, where you are in your preparedness efforts, and where you want to go moving forward.

I’d love to hear some of your goals for 2024.