Prepper: 5 Preparedness Skills Every Woman Should Know

Situational Awareness

For years I walked around with my head down and just went with the flow. I didn’t take notice to the people around me or my situation. It would have been very easy for anyone to walk up behind me and take my purse, or worst case scenario, attack one of my children or myself. Times changed though and so did I. I started taking notice to cars in the parking lot, people in the store or someone pulling up our dirt lane when I knew no one else was around. Being aware of our situation, puts us at an advantage, especially when something seems off. The other evening my husband and I were in the drive-thru at one of our fast food places. The man in front of us was upset at the cashier and demanding his money back. She was trying to explain the procedure to him because it was after midnight, things work a little differently. He became belligerent and got out of his car, screaming at the girl inside. She told him she was calling the police and immediately closed the drive-thru window and he proceeded to bang on it. I was a bit nervous, but I knew to remove myself from the situation. I knew to take down his licence plate number in case he decided to drive off and I knew we needed to put as much distance between our car and this guy. There was no way I wanted my husband or myself in the middle of that situation. Luckily, it didn’t turn into anything major, the cops arrived, we got our food and we moved on. But, this man could have been armed and it could have turned out a lot worse than it did.

Home Security

I’m not talking about a home security system here, although I do believe everyone should have one. We do need to be alerted somehow that someone is trying to get into our home. This gives us time to be able to grab what we need to protect ourselves. Taking extra measures doesn’t hurt though!

• Figure out what is the easiest place to break into your home and then take measures to secure that area.
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• Keep all windows low to the ground locked.
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• Put dead bolts on all access doors.
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• Do not keep a hidden key outside.
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• Keep your doors locked, even when you are home. I used to get nervous about the kids just walking inside after school with no key. I made sure my older kids had keys and I started keeping my door locked. If anyone would have seen my children just walking in, they’d know our door was unlocked and that was an open invitation to them.
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• Install cameras – These here are pretty good ones that are relatively inexpensive.
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• Lighting – Look around outside for spots that are hidden and dark. Installing lights to brighten up those areas will deter someone who is trying to break into your home. Install motion detector lights on your porch and near your doors.
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• Don’t leave your garage door open. Anyone driving by will be able to see what you own and many burglars do this to scope out areas. Also, Google Earth takes pictures and if your garage door is open, it could end up on the internet for the world to see.