Habits can be good or bad. They can be a wonderful thing or a curse. However, I believe in having good habits as a prepper. We need to be diligent in our personal growth, as habits do this for us. Habits keep us accountable and help us to become better preppers.

Some of these habits may seem a little different, but I see prepping as a personal practice to improve us and make us better people in general.

Ten Prepping Habits You Should Be Working On!

1. Organization. Being organized is only to your advantage in prepping. In an emergency or crisis, you will know where everything is. That is key for good emergency management, good response time, and good decisions. You will be able to see what you have and what you need to replace. You won’t have to guess where everything is. You can tell someone where to find a key item and have them get it quickly. I can not stress being organized enough.

2. Being Proactive. You want to be a proactive prepper. You want to see problems before they occur. You want to take care of problems before they happen. Need more water in your storage? Buy it now rather than waiting until a crisis looms. A window needs to be fixed? Take care of it now before a storm blows it out or a thief finds a way in. You can scale this down to simple everyday things. Dishes need to be done? Do them now before the power may go out or the well pump quits. Laundry piling up? Put a load in the washer every day so you don’t have to worry about it later. Taking care of things now will save you a major headache later.

3. Good Health. Your health is key in prepping. If you are too unwell to respond to a crisis or emergency, you might die. Every prepper should be working on good eating habits, being in good physical condition, living in moderation, and working on/quitting bad habits like smoking and chewing.

4. Skill Building. Always Be Learning. You are never done learning as a prepper. There are new skills to learn and to hone. There is always new information to learn, process, and/or implement. As a prepper, you need to stay up to date on current news, trends, information, and emerging threats. You may need to learn new skills to adjust to the new information you have learned. As a tip, I know preppers who learn a new skill every month. They learn about that skill and start practicing it. This is something we all should be doing.

5. Good Communication. Being able to effectively communicate is key. You don’t want to have misunderstandings in times of crisis. You need to be able to listen well and talk clearly.

6. Becoming Debt Free. Life is better when you are debt-free. There are times in life when debt is unavoidable, but trying not to accrue more debt is key. If you are in debt, try to find ways to get out of debt. I personally like Dave Ramsey’s system, but that may not be for everyone. However, you should be finding new ways to make extra money and putting in the overtime now so you can have financial peace later.

7. Establishing Routines. Do you have good routines? Do you check the house every night to make sure the doors are locked and windows are secured? Do you lay out your clothes the night before so you can get dressed quickly in the morning, or during the night if you need to? Doing the same thing every day and every night is good for you. You established routines, so you stay proactive about what needs to be done, what gets done every day, and what problems need to be addressed. Routines keep your mind calm and reassured that everything is done and checked. Establish routines now to keep the chaos in check later.

8. Practice. Always keep practicing. Whether that includes your skills, your routines, your talents, etc. Most things you learn should not be learned once and thought to be done with them. You should always make time to practice what you need to know.

9. Conservation and Sustainability. Recycling. Reusing. Live somewhat minimally. Reduce our wants and focus on our needs. We really need to learn to quit being wasteful. When times of crisis come, we need to learn to reuse what we have and focus on just what we need to survive.

10. Learning To Live Without. This may be the hardest habit for anyone, not just preppers. We rely on our comforts so much and can get really cranky without them. We expect instant access to information instead of having to look it up in a book. We expect to be entertained when we want to be entertained. We expect to have air conditioning at our fingertips. We really need to learn to live without. If you learn this now, that habit will serve you later when the power is out or you are stranded somewhere for any length of time.

I consider these the top ten prepping habits that every good prepper should be working on! I am curious, however. What habits would you add to the list?

Thanks for reading,
Erica

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