This post may contain affiliate links.
You might have an impressive stockpile of tools and food ready for an emergency, but without the skills to use them, those resources won’t get you very far. Survival is about more than a well-stocked pantry; it’s about knowing how to use what you have. Even if you’re not a trained survivalist, there are essential skills that can make a big difference in a crisis.
Some skills are simple to pick up, while others take time and practice, but it’s wise to get familiar with them now rather than waiting until the moment you actually need them. Preparing your skills in advance can be just as important as building up your supplies.
Basic Plumbing
Having basic plumbing know-how can be a lifesaver, especially when you’re on your own. Keep essential tools like a plunger, pipe wrench, and plumbing tape handy to tackle common problems. It’s crucial to know how to manage water flow around your home and property and to handle repairs like fixing or replacing a faucet, unclogging drains, or stopping a running toilet. Being able to handle these tasks yourself not only saves money but also helps you prevent bigger issues down the line.
Water Filtration and Purification
Knowing how to make a DIY water filter using common materials like sand, charcoal, gravel to purify water is helpful in a pinch. While boiling water is a precise purification method, building a functional filter requires a bit more know-how. Having both skills gives you an extra edge when clean water is hard to come by.
Fire Starting
Learning several fire-starting techniques is essential for survival—relying on a single method just isn’t enough. Fire is a crucial resource, so it’s wise to have multiple tools at your disposal. Matches, flint and steel, and magnesium sticks are all excellent choices. To take your skills further, try mastering the bow drill method, although it’s more challenging and ideally only a last resort. Equally important is knowing how to gather and prepare a proper tinder bundle, ensuring your fire starts quickly and efficiently.
Basic First Aid
Learn how to treat wounds, burns, fractures, and common illnesses. You’ll want to know how to make homemade bandages and splints. This will help you care for yourself and others in emergencies.
Food Preservation
Mastering canning, dehydrating, and preserving food can extend the shelf life of your stockpiled food and ensure you have enough supplies in a long-term survival scenario. You’ll also want to know how to preserve food without the benefit of electricity. Learn how to make a dehydrator and smoker.
Building a Shelter
Learn how to construct temporary shelters using natural materials, tarps, or other tools. Know where to put a shelter and the best kind for the moment. You might need an A-frame or a lean-to. Practice making the shelters so you’re familiar with the intricacies of shelter-building.
Growing Your Own Food
Starting a garden or learning how to grow food in a survival situation is key for long-term self-sufficiency. Gardening after SHTF isn’t just a hobby. You can’t afford to miss it. Learn the ins and outs of growing your own food, including proper fertilization and how to avoid pesticides.
Basic Tools and Weapon Repair
Knowing how to repair and maintain essential tools like knives, axes, or firearms properly is critical to maintaining the function of your survival gear, which is what will keep you alive.
Making Soap
Making soap from basic ingredients like lye, fats, and oils will ensure cleanliness and hygiene when store-bought options are unavailable. And you’ll have fun experimenting with different recipes. You can buy ingredients in bulk and have them on hand when you need them.
Natural Medicine
Gathering wild plants with medicinal properties could become essential when traditional medicine is unavailable. Learning to prepare herbal remedies, tinctures, and salves for everyday ailments can be invaluable. Understanding which plants serve which purposes is crucial, and keeping a physical guidebook on hand is ideal, as it’s challenging to remember the many plants and their uses. This knowledge can provide a natural way to care for yourself and others in difficult times.
Butchering and Preserving Meat
Learn how to properly butcher and preserve meat by smoking or drying. Butchering is a skill. You can’t just hack up an animal. There is an art to making sure you get the most meat from an animal you harvest.
Making Homemade Candles
Candles provide light and can even be used for warmth. There are a couple of different materials you can use to make candles. It’s a good idea to buy the ingredients in bulk now. You’ll need candles if the power grid is down.
Sewing
The ability to repair clothing, tents, backpacks, and other gear becomes essential when replacements aren’t an option. Sewing skills can keep your essentials in good shape, and knowing how to knit is also highly practical. Be sure to stock up on needles, thread, and, if knitting is on your list, a supply of yarn
Knots and Rope Work
Master key knots like the bowline, clove hitch, and square knot. Knots are crucial to survival. You’ll need them for shelter building, securing supplies, or creating traps.
Fishing
Fishing for fun is great, but in a SHTF situation, you might be dependent on fishing for your food supply. You’ll also want to learn how to make hooks and makeshift fishing rods.
Hunting
Hunting requires experience and technique. You’ll need to understand where to locate animals and how to track their movements. Knowing the specific areas to target is essential, not only to prevent contamination of the meat but also to ensure a quick, humane kill.
Archery
When it comes to survival, archery can be more reliable than firearms, especially since ammunition supplies may be limited. Bow hunting is a skill that takes dedication and plenty of practice to master. Honing your archery abilities could be the difference between having food on the table or going hungry.
16 Ways to Modernize a Kitchen Without Remodeling
Whether you’re a homeowner or a renter with a big or small kitchen, making your kitchen look and work better can really change how you use the space. And you don’t have to do a major kitchen renovation to make it happen. Here are 16 affordable ways to give your kitchen a modern touch.
16 Ways to Modernize a Kitchen Without Remodeling
13 Ways Homeowners Waste Money on Renovations
Homeowners often underestimate expenses and overlook essential details, leading to financial waste. To help you navigate your home improvement projects in a financially responsible way, here are 13 common mistakes that can lead to wasted money on renovations.
13 Ways Homeowners Waste Money on Renovations
18 Survival Skills Our Great-Grandparents Knew That Most Of Us Today Don’t
Many activities were once essential survival skills, but today, they’ve been forgotten by many. While technology has certainly made life easier, previous generations didn’t have these systems, making them far more self-sufficient. Here are 18 basic skills they mastered that many people today have no idea how to do.
18 Survival Skills Our Great-Grandparents Knew That Most Of Us Today
