Preppers, another year has passed. Let’s take a few minutes to look back, analyze, and look forward.

What were your prepping plans for 2016? Maybe to buy gold, silver, another AK-47 or AR-15, stockpile freeze dried food, start a home garden, maybe get some chickens? In retrospect, did you get anywhere near fulfilling the prepping plans for 2016?

Is there anything in 2016 you wish you could change? Maybe some projects you did not complete? Maybe some projects you did not even start and wish you had?

Rather than talking about generalized prepping topics, I would like to share some of my plans for 2017. Maybe some of my plans and your plans overlap?

Paying Off Debt

Part of my prepping lifestyle is to be debt free. I bought a low cost home so it would be paid off faster than a more expensive home. There was once a time when a home was a place to raise a family. Now it is viewed as an investment to be sold at a later date or collateral for a loan.

My truck is a 20-year-old Toyota T-100 four wheel drive. From time to time my children ask me, “Dad, why don’t you get a new truck?” My usual reply is, “Why? This one works just fine.” I would love to have a new truck. However, good paying jobs are difficult to come by in rural areas, and I do not want the debt. So I am going to save up the money to buy a newer truck. Notice I did not say “new” truck, but “newer” truck.

Wages have been stagnated for decades and the price of everything keeps going up. Times are tough. Cook at home, use coupons, get a part time job, shop online, buy stuff on sale, only buy what you need instead of what you want, etc.

Firearms

Firearms are a favorite topic among preppers. Since Hillary Clinton lost the election, we are assured no gun control on the federal level will be passed for at least the next two years.

If you have been on the fence about buying magazines, or another military style weapon, it seems that you can sit on the fence a little longer.

However, why not make 2017 the year you go ahead and buy that rifle or shotgun you have always wanted? Want an FN/FAL, AK-47, AR-15, PTR-91, M1A, or something else, why not go ahead and get it?

I want another pump shotgun, which will probably be a Remington 870. I already have a Mossberg 500 and 590. To add some variety, a Remington 870 would be a good choice.

Something else I would like to add is a bolt action 308, Marlin 336 lever action in 30-30 Winchester, and maybe another bolt action 22 rifle.

Homesteading

My usual garden is around a quarter acre. In the spring of 2017 I want to plant a small backyard garden the size that a typical urban dweller can relate to. Let’s say 20 feet by 20 feet, or maybe 20 feet by 30 feet. Rather than using commercial fertilizer, I want to use as much compost as possible.

By going small, hopefully I can motivate armchair preppers to get out of the house.

While downsizing the garden, I will be working on fencing in a few acres for cattle, goats, and sheep and building a pole barn. Hopefully, by the end of 2017 I will be talking about getting livestock besides chickens and guineas.

Preppers and 2017

Overall, 2017 looks like it will a good year for preppers. There is a lot of stuff that I want to do around the farm, and there are a couple of firearms I want to add to my collection.

Things look good on the prepping front. However, that is no reason to let your guard down. Take 2017 and dedicate some serious time to your prepping plans.