I’m not ashamed to admit it – I’ve been horrifically slow to adapt to solar power for my home survival preps. There, I said it. Maybe “slow” is an inappropriate term – “reserved” might be better – but the point of fact is that while I use and rightfully adore other solar-powered illumination flashlights and lanterns, when it comes to ramping up the scale to provide basic solar power to my home for illumination and charging capabilities, I was – pun intended – shamefully in the dark.

By Drew, contributing author to SHTFblog and Survival Cache

I will fully admit that my solar ignorance was due to my reluctance to dive into the maelstrom of information that falls under the general heading “Solar Power”. Start looking into home solar integration, and your mind will unravel and your eyes will slam open upon realizing the sheer quantity of possibilities for setting yourself up with some light powered by stored light. 

Fortunately, an innovative company called BioLite sensed a great disturbance in The Force caused by millions of voices crying out in unilluminated anguish, and has chosen to silence them with an outstanding solar start-up kit that checks all the boxes for a turn-key introductory solar setup. September has been decreed “National Preparedness Month” by FEMA, and in response, for the entire month of September 2019, BioLite is offering a series of full-blown solar survival kits to help bring easy solar power and illumination to the masses.

About BioLite and Their Bundles

BioLite has been at the forefront of the natural power and preparedness nexus for quite some time. You’ve probably heard of or seen the double-take-inducing thermoelectric CampStove that utilizes heat from burning locally-sourced fuel (read: twigs and sticks) to generate electricity and charge your electronic devices. Oh, yes, it’ll also cook your food and boil your water too. 

Expanding its footprint by dedicating the company’s ideals to helping eliminating carbon footprints, New York based BioLite has been cleverly expanding its naturally-powered tool line since 2009  to include a vast variety of well-engineered photon-collecting apparatus that ultimately will make your quality of life tenfold better after a grid-down event. 

To that end and in the spirit of being prepared, Biolite has introduced three pre-engineered “bundles” that take the guesswork out of introducing solar power to your life. Ranging from the $129 “Solo Prep Kit” for 1-2 people to the $309 “Apartment Prep Kit” for 2-4 to the full-on expansive $459 “Family Prep Kit”, these pre-made kits have been well thought out to help your individual situation improve when the chips are down and the lights are off. 

The BioLite Apartment Prep Kit Bundle

BioLite was kind enough to send me an “Apartment Prep Kit” to try out. This particular Prep Kit contains the following:

• One SolarHome 620 “microgrid” central charge controller hub, incorporating a radio with speaker, MP3 player that runs off a MicroSD slot, two USB charging ports, a 6 Watt solar panel, three overhead LED lights and one integrated light and display
• One AC adaptor for the SolarHome 620 so you can top off the battery when outlet power is available
• Two BioLite headlamps dubbed, appropriately, the HeadLamp 330
• Two small stuff sacks for the HeadLamp 330s to diffuse the focused light of the headlamps
• Two Solar-powered SunLight lanterns
• One LifeStraw Classic water filter, proving that hydration is possibly just as important as a charged iPhone and Led Zeppelin crooning when the power is down.

The other BioLite bundles are variations on the theme, with the “Solo” kit subsituting the SolarHome 620 Kit and its accessories for a Charge20 power bank, and promoting the on-the-go bug-out bag mentality with one each of the HeadLamp 330s, stuff sack, and SunLight. The “Family” Kit goes past the Apartment Bundle with four each of the HeadLamp 330s and SunLights, while keeping the SolarHome 620 on deck as well as upgrading the smaller LifeStraw Classic to the superb LifeStraw Family gravity water filter.

Let’s dig in to the provided Apartment Bundle, shall we?

Headlamp 330

Starting with the HeadLamp 330, we find that BioLite took the battery-bulb-band concept and streamlined it with a design that has some experience built right in. 

While I’m not a die-hard user of head lamps, I do know that my qualms with them are relatively constant: if worn on a bare forehead, my head sweats and the band gets funky while it abrades my skin. The battery packs are often placed in terrible locations and are of offensive size, meaning that a speedy turn of the head often has the battery pack continuing its revolving orbit around my noggin even after my head stops. Also, the headlamps I’ve used have too many options and not enough power, providing me with a practically useless strobe but not enough illumination to move through the nighttime woods at anything more than a brisk walk. The HeadLamp 330 addresses all these issues.

Also Read: How to Build a Solar Energy Generator for Backup Power

BioLite boasts the “3D SlimFit” construction, which, for ignoramuses such as myself, means that the headlamp is low-profile (9mm, or just over a third of an inch thick) and unobtrusive. The business end of the HeadLamp 330 itself is moulded right into the front half of the breathable, moisture-wicking fabric, so the lamp doesn’t require a bazillion adjustments to get it fitting properly, and it won’t bounce around on your melon while you perform your nighttime interpretive dances. The battery case has been located at the back of the strap in an effort to balance the whole works. The battery case is sealed except for its Micro-USB sealed charging port, and since it is unencumbered with the need to carry a heavy payload of alkaline batteries, is delightfully lightweight. As a matter of fact, the entire HeadLamp 330 only weighs two and a half ounces, or about the same as three alkaline AA batteries.

Going back to the lamp itself, the output is rated at 330 lumens at full-tilt. There are options for how that output works for you, including a spotlight, localized floodlight, and yes, that strobe function. A red output for preserving night vision hunting is available via button-clicking as well. The internal 900 mAh Lithium-Ion battery will keep the light going for you on high-power mode for about 3 hours in my testing; BioLite says that if you can use constraint and keep the output level to the lower levels – meaning the 100-lumen floodlight – you should be able to squeeze 40 hours out of a single charge. The HeadLamp 300 also has a memory, so whatever setting you were using when you turned it off will be the setting it resumes duty at when fired back up.

The LEDs themselves are housed in a simple tilting panel on the front of the HeadLamp 330. This panel can be tilted down out of the lamp band housing to provide the light where you need it the most. However, the panel and its extremely close proximity to the single power button is my only real complaint about the HeadLamp 330 – adjusting the light panel angle means that you’ll likely bump the power button – a situation made worse if you’re using gloves. Other than that, the HeadLamp 330 is brilliantly executed and a superb tool for providing hands- and hassle-free personal illumination.

Light Diffusing StuffSack

If you get a BioLite Headlamp 330 – whether on its own or part of this Apartment Kit – you need to procure a BioLite StuffSack as well. This ingenious little white fabric-and-drawstring joy is a simple solution to a larger problem: one light, multiple people. Its simplicity belies its elegance: simply turn your HeadLamp 330 on, drop it in the Light-Diffusing StuffSack, cinch the drawstrings, and hang. Instant lantern for area lighting! On a recent camping trip with my sons, the HeadLamp/StuffSack combo rendered outstanding service, spilling plenty of nicely diffused light inside our tent while we played several cutthroat games of Go-Fish and cribbage. As a bonus, the StuffSack is a great carrying case for your HeadLamp and its included USB cable. The Light-Diffusing StuffSack is a must-have, and BioLite absolutely did the consumer right by including them in the kit.

SunLight Portable Solar Light

The SunLight Portable Solar Light is a stellar example of BioLite’s legacy: high-quality, no-fuss, outstandingly effective tools for you and me. The SunLight doesn’t boast a lot of crazy options or doo-dads; it has one job that it knows how to do, and it does it well.

Measuring 3 ⅛” by 3 ⅛” x ⅞”, the easily-packed, 100-lumen SunLight is simple in execution and function. One side has a white plastic lens face, the flip side is where the full-size solar panel lives. There is a stunningly innocuous metal wire kickstand that one can use to stand the SunLight up in the best location for doing its job, or swivel the stand to the other side and prop the solar panel up to catch the best angle to catch sunlight and charge the SunLight. A brilliantly simple feature of the SunLight is the small hole drilled in one corner of the plastic housing; though some may infer that this hole is for a lanyard, it actually has another purpose as a sundial of sorts: Place the SunLight in the sunlight, and swivel its position around until you can see a small white dot on the inside of the nousing notch; this shows you that the SunLight is most efficiently positioned to catch solar energy and charge most effectively. 

The only features encumbering the smooth outside housing of the SunLight (aside from the stand) are the USB charging port and the single power button. The sealed USB port can be used to top off the SunLight’s sealed batteries when power is available. The power button obviously turns the lantern on and off, but it is also used via a morse-esque method of taps and holds to cycle between brightness levels and colors. First, though – you’ll need to get the SunLight out of its as-shipped “demo” mode lest ye be driven mad trying to get the device to work properly. To remove the cursed yet flamboyant retail demo mode, simply press and hold the power button for 10 seconds and the demo demons will be exorcised, enabling the standard functions of the SunLight.

The standard functions of the SunLight center around its sole purpose of providing illumination to you, the end user. A quick review of BioLite’s fantastic YouTube videos describing the functions of the SunLight are a Godsend, and I highly recommend watching them to show how the power levels work and the crowd-pleasing (for a few minutes anyway) “Party” mode can be enabled. 

Related: Survival Gear Review: The PSL Personal Solar Light

In my testing, with the illumination output at about the half-way point (or the best I could figure as being the halfway point), the SunLight provided all-evening nightlight duty for camping with my 5-year old. After a full 8 hours of glowing, the SunLight was still pumping out the lumens – though when I flipped it over and plunked it in the sunlight to charge, the light flashed red to describe the battery level as being low and in need of charging. 

The SunLight is an outstanding alternative to open-flame candles in your domicile or while camping, providing more than enough output to light up a small room for reading and working once the lights are out. When the sun peeps back over the horizon, simply align the solar panel with Sol and charge it back up for the next evening.

LifeStraw Classic

The LifeStraw Classic should be familiar to most readers of this page, but a quick touch on the details tells the story why the LifeStraw Classic water filter is the archetypical portable water filtration system of our day. A scant 2 ounces in weight and is 9 inches long by 1 inch in diameter. Its “straw” design means you can (if your nose is brave enough) stick the LifeStraw directly into a stagnant bog and (with effort) suck out clean, filtered water that won’t have you running for the bathroom a couple hours later. It does take some power to initially suck the water through the internal filtration system but once it’s flowing, the LifeStraw works like a charm and even my 5-year-old uses one with relative ease. While some in a survival situation may balk at using the same LifeStraw (only one is provided in the apartment bundle), its ability to filter about 1,000 gallons of water means that a 4-person crew can run one straw for over a half a year if everyone drinks a gallon a day. 

Also Read: Gear Review: Epic The Answer Filter System

  The LifeStraw Classic is easy to clean, takes up very little room, is effective, and makes an incredible amount of sense to include in this bundle. If you want each person in your crew to have their own filter, individual LifeStraw Classics can be purchased pretty much anywhere for around twenty bucks each.

SolarHome 620 and Charger

The last (but far from least) component of the BioLite Apartment Kit: The SolarHome 620. A very cool, relatively inexpensive rig that allows you to bring solar power, light, charging, and tunes into your home, camp, RV, etc., without expending a ton of dollars. As a matter of fact, BioLite has shipped tens of thousands of SolarHome 620 kits to Africa, where homes in undeveloped areas can have light and radio. The simplicity of the 620 along with the carefully picked list of features makes this setup a winner.

At the heart of this mini-grid system is the central charge controller. The teal-colored high-impact plastic box houses the brains of the operation, on which you can monitor charging rate, battery level, and sun strength on the solar panel via a screen that looks like it was lifted directly from my old legendarily durable Nokia 3360 cellphone. Also located on the control box are two USB ports for charging cords (a short, multi-ended cable is included, but it’s decidedly short on Apple-based plugs – so iPhone people need to provide their own cable here), a MicroSD card slot, two ports on the back for plugging in the lights, an input plug for the provided 6 watt solar panel, a DIN port for plugging in an expansion battery (not included), a hanging bracket, and a bafflingly-sized compartment which fits no cellphone I was able to scrounge up and try (maybe it was designed for that Nokia 3360 they took the screen from?). Also, on the face of the control box is a fixed light, the aforementioned screen, and the push-button controls for the radio, clock, and MP3 player. Regarding the controls: a bit of head-scratching, trial-and-error, and patience is required, since all you pretty much have is left and right buttons to get where you need to go when working with tunes stored on a SD card.

Also included with the SolarHome 620 are three hanging lights with cords that stretch probably 18-20 feet (I didn’t measure). Since there are only two light plug ports in the back of the control box, you’ll need to daisy-chain the lights together, much akin to stringing together Christmas tree lights. It’s all weatherproof and easy to figure out. The three lights each have a maximum output rating of 100 lumens, and each light has its own push-button controller to regulate the power output: high, low, off. One of these lights also boasts a motion detector that is enabled via a fourth click on its wired controller. The motion detector is quite sensitive, and turns on by default for 30 seconds when it senses movement in front of its sensor.

The included 6-watt solar panel is large-ish – about 11 ½” x 7 ½”, and is picture framed with sturdy aluminum framing. The wire to the panel is a bit longer than the light wires, so you hopefully have a bit of flexibility between the best location for the solar panel and the best location for the control box to be mounted. The solar panel is waterproof, but definitely needs to be positioned properly to avoid hail, falling acorns, and other gravity-driven paraphernalia falling from the sky.

Once you remove the whole getup from its box and take stock of the situation, the whole system is quite simple. Since the solar panel is the lynch pin to the whole operation, finding an appropriate location or locations for the panel should be tantamount. Generally speaking, here in the Northern hemisphere, keeping the panel facing South should give you the maximum amount of sunlight exposure throughout the day. However, if you have location flexibility, being able to adjust the position of the panel as the sun moves across the sky will give you the best results. Obviously, the brighter the sunlight, the faster/stronger the charge – and fortunately, BioLite has provided a meter in the display that tells you the strength of the incoming solar rays.

The lights are easily strung once you know where you want to place them, and BioLite has thoughtfully provided wire staples to securely run wires if your location has the luxury of permanence. A modicum of thought will need to be provided due to the fact that you have three lights and only two plugs. The lights themselves have small plastic hooks that can be slid up and down the wires as well, so you can fiddle around with the light angle presented.

I took my son on a separate camping trip in my 4Runner, and once we found suitable ground, proceeded to set up my makeshift awning. Once properly secured, I pondered the setup and started looking at a good way to promote the strengths of the lighting setup while maintaining quick takedown and portability – as one might do on a bug-out or mobile camping trip. I ended up hanging the control box on my roof-rack rod holder tube, where it hung steadily off a small bungee cord. I had charged the unit up before I left with the provided AC wall charger, and immediately turned on a local oldies station and let Buddy Holly and Neil Diamond caress my ears as Lil’ Dude and I set up camp and figured out the best lighting setup. 

We eventually found that the control unit light and the the two wired lights – one of them the motion-sensing unit – provided all the light we needed in our little area of backwoods Maine, so that’s all we ended up running. The wires ran over the top of my awning with a small strip of duct tape holding each of the wires in place, and I let the switches dangle free in unobtrusive areas. The radio kept our spirits high and the lights kept the moths and bugs distracted, leading to a lovely overnight camping experience. I had kept the motion-sensing light pointed towards the entrance to our tent for security, and it was a great help indeed when I got up in the middle of the night to take a leak – I didn’t need to grope around for a flashlight – I merely stumbled (okay, rolled) out of the tent, waved my arms a bit, and the light popped right on.

In the morning, I plugged my phone in and charged it while we made coffee and breakfast. The charging setup isn’t exactly a barn-burner: I registered a 9% battery increase over a 15 minute span, meaning probably a 30-40% battery charge per hour, depending on your phone’s battery.

Disassembly was a bit slow, since you have to account and neatly secure all the wires and accoutrements in the storage box; the jigsaw puzzle takes a few minutes to solve. Supposedly, the SolarHome 620 setup can be stored in a shoebox; I figure BioLite must have access to one of Shaq’s shoeboxes or have the most OCD dude in the world working for them, because storing the SolarHome 620 is a bit of an exercise in patience and rearranging. It’s perfectly feasible for lighting on the go, but just know going out the door that you’ll be swearing at the bird’s nest of wires you may be fighting on occasion.

Wrapping It Up

BioLite really did their homework when putting the pieces of this kit together. The BioLite Apartment Bundle is, as stated before, a pre-engineered, ready-to-go, turn-key solution to someone who wants to get their feet wet in the solar-driven world, or wants to be able to buy a ready-made kit and say to themselves, “Cool, solar is checked off and I have illumination and charging capabilities ready to go.” The sum of the Apartment Kit parts is indeed a package of thought-out products combined to provide a small dwelling (stationary or mobile) with off-the-grid light, power, and tunes. It’s an outstanding deal and a stellar performer, worthy of your attention if you’re planning on the end of the world or merely for your next camping trip in the middle of nowhere.

 

Locks – an essential tool for protecting your most prized possessions.

Why? Because since the dawn of human history, there are people who will steal what’s not theirs if given the chance to do so.

They are called thieves and they are despicable.

And one of the only ways to combat a thief is to use tools to deter their behavior.

Tools such as locks, safes, diversion safes, alarm systems, and in extreme cases booby traps.

But while locks are better than nothing, they’re not foolproof! With the right skillset, most locks CAN be picked.

Now, picking locks does sound nefarious – a skill only a thief would want to learn, right? Not true.

Lockpicking is a skill I believe everyone should master, especially if your into survival and preparedness.

So, today, let’s cover all angles of “how to pick a lock”. From the moral implications to the actual step-by-step “how-to” instructions:

• 5 Reasons Why You Should Learn How To Pick A Lock
• 3 Types Of Locks You Can Pick
• 9 Clever Ways To Bypass A Lock (including 3 ways on “how to pick a lock“)
  • 1 – Using A Credit Card
  • 2 – Using A Bobby Pin / Paperclip / Screwdriver
  • 3 – The Rake (“scrubbing”) Method
  • 4 – The Pin By Pin Method
  • 5 – Picking A Combination Lock
  • 6 – How To Pick A Tubular Lock
  • 7 – Removing The Door Hinges
  • 8 – Destroying The Lock
  • 9 – Bending The Door Frame

As A Way To Introduce You To Skilled Survival, We’re Giving Away Our Ultimate Survival Gear Checklist. Click Here To Get Your FREE Copy Of It.

5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD LEARN HOW TO PICK A LOCK

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Any thief with the right skill set and motivation CAN bypass most standard locks.

And their reasons for picking a lock is simple – they covet, it’s not rocket science. But today, dear reader, I’m going to assume YOU are NOT a thief.

Well then, why should anyone who’s not interested in the art of stolen goods want to learn how to pick a lock?

Here are a few examples of how this skillset can be used for good in the world – instead of evil.

1 – Lost The Key

Standard padlocks require a key. And what’s one of the most common items to lose? Your keys…

So, what are your options if you lose your padlock key? Well – you can either invest in a large (pricy) set of bolt cutters, call an expensive locksmith, or learn how to pick a lock!

Picking a padlock can be the most cost-effective way to become reacquainted with your valuables…

2 – Escape From Captivity

Or here’s an even better reason – escape. Let’s say you were taken as a hostage and locked inside a secure room…

If you have the skills and some basic tools, you may be able to escape. And while this scenario is unlikely, I believe it’s one of the most resilient skills anyone can learn and master.

You can quickly turn yourself from helpless victim to a hero with this one skill.

Plus, mastering the art of escape is one of the most valuable urban survival skills.

3 – Feed Your Family In A Dire Emergency

Let’s say your local area has become lawless. It’s a disaster – a free-for-all zone. Maybe it’s a local emergency (like the aftermath of a devastating hurricane) or a global economic collapse that’s gotten out of hand. OR perhaps it’s the aftermath of a nuclear attack.

The exact reason doesn’t matter, but if you find yourself starving and society is no longer functioning, you need a way to get some calories.

If you can positively identify a home that’s abandoned, then it might be an acceptable moral decision to break-in to survive.

Raiding a pantry can become a moral decision in a dire circumstance…

4 – Breaking Into A Building To Avoid Severe Weather

This scenario is a lot like the previous one, but in this case, it’s a storm, tornado, or blizzard that’s creating the urgency.

When it comes to survival, I’d rather break into a warehouse, or building to avoid flying debris or hypothermia than be a helpless victim and do nothing.

5 – Start A Small Business Venture

Finally, if you become a proficient locksmith, you can turn those skills into a profitable side hustle. Being a locksmith is a nice way to earn a living if you can get enough regular referrals.

Why? Because people don’t call you unless it’s serious.

They’re willing to pay well for emergency services rendered. You have what’s called leverage and urgency – two powerful forces in business transactions.

Which is another way to say, it has good profit margins!

These are just a few examples where your ability to open a lock without a key makes you a hero, instead of a villain.

As A Way To Introduce You To Skilled Survival, We’re Giving Away Our #78 Item Complete Prepper Checklist. Click Here To Get Your FREE Copy Of It.

3 TYPES OF LOCKS YOU CAN PICK

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Lock picking is an art as old as locks themselves.

And over the centuries, locks have become even more sophisticated. But so have the methods of breaking into them.

Sure, anyone with a paperclip can defeat the simple privacy pop lock on a bathroom door. But a modern deadbolt can prove a formidable challenge for even the best locksmith in town.

With such a variety of lock types on the market, it’s worth taking a look at several of them.

But there are a ton of lock variations out there. The good news is, while, there are many different locks, some are much more common and popular than others.

So, here are the most popular locks, and the ones worth spending time learning how to pick.

1 – Pin Tumbler Locks

The pin tumbler lock is the most common lock available today. For example, you’ll find them in key-based padlocks, standard exterior doorknob locks, AND Deadbolts.

So, if you’re interested in gaining access to a range of sheds, warehouses, and most homes, this is the type of lock you’re most interested in picking.

2 – Combination Locks

Combination locks are known for their use with gym lockers. They’re often built into school lockers. You’ll also find them on old-style safes.

So, if you lose the secret combination of numbers, you’ll want to learn how to “pick” the combination.

3 – Tubular Lock

You’ll find this unique type of lock on smaller containers such as file cabinets or RV compartments.

They are unique in how they work and take a special set of tools to pick them. But basically they use the same concept as a pin and tumbler lock but orient the pins in a circular pattern.

9 CLEVER WAYS TO BYPASS A LOCK (including 3 ways on “how to pick a lock“)

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All locks have the same goal. To secure stuff, be it behind a door, within a container, or the item itself (such as a bug-out bike or survival trailer).

And each lock application and type of lock requires different “picking methods” to bypass. So, let’s go over the most common ways to bypass locks.

1 – Using a Credit Card

The first method of lock picking uses a thin plastic card. This method is best suited to simple spring latch doors. These types of doors are commonly found on supply closets and offices.

Most people think that a credit card is the best option. But actually, a thinner, more flexible plastic card is easier to use.

Gift cards, hotel key cards, and store loyalty cards are great choices and easy to find.

There are three things to check before you try using a card to open a lock:

1. NO DEADBOLT: If the door has a deadbolt, you won’t be able to open it with a credit card.
2. NO HINGES: You need to be on the proper side of the door for it to work. If you can see the hinges, you’re not on the right side for a credit card to work.
3. NO OBSTRUCTIONS: You need to be able to slip the credit card in along the edge of the door. So anything that obstructs your access to the latch area will be a problem.

Once you have the right card and verified this method is possible, it’s a matter of three simple steps.

First, slip the card into the space between the door and the latch plate. It’s easiest to slip a corner in first, then straighten the card until the entire edge is inserted into the gap.

Next, bend the card towards the doorknob. This will force the card to bend slightly around the corner and toward the latch.

Finally, press the card further into the gap and slowly wiggle it back and forth.

This motion will walk the edge of the card back towards the latch and up the slanted face of the latch itself.

This forces the latch inwards and pops the door free!

2 – How to Pick A Door Lock With A Bobby Pin / Paperclip / Screwdriver

Many home interior locks are designed to provide privacy, not security.

This includes most bedroom and bathroom doors. So knowing how to open them is a must for most parents with small children.

These doors have a small hole in the center of the doorknob, which gives you access to the unlock mechanism.

While they usually come with a wire “key” those are almost always missing when you need one.

Instead, take a tiny screwdriver or a straightened paperclip and insert it into the hole.

At the back of the hole will be either a pressure switch or a small, straight-blade screwdriver slot. The pressure switch is more common and can be opened by merely pressing on the switch until it pops.

The screwdriver-style locks are less common. But they only require a slight twist to open the latch.

Picking A Tumbler Lock

With a more secure door, or one featuring a deadbolt, you must learn some real lock picking techniques.

Rather than defeating the latch, these methods all work on the lock mechanism itself.

These locks work on a rotating lock cylinder with several spring-loaded pins. These pins must be individually lifted to the right height to allow the cylinder to turn.

They take practice and some specialized tools. But can be mastered quickly with a practice lock and pick set.

Lock Picking Tool Sets

A good lockpicking toolset doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg.

You can get a set at a surprisingly affordable price AND they can last you a lifetime – making them a great investment.

Heck, I even recommend you buy several sets, one for each of your vehicles, that way you’ll never be without your lockpicking gear.

You should get The Ultimate Access Lockpick Set.

This is a reasonably priced set of high-quality picks that can open nearly any lock in the world.

You’ll also get a see-through practice padlock. So you can bypass the learning curve that most newbies get stuck on and rocket your skills to the master level fast.

3 – The Scrubbing/Raking Method

The how to pick a door lock method is called “scrubbing”. It’s a fast and dirty way to get the job done on most locks.

It’s an art – you need to develop a feel for the technique and how it works with each different lock.

Despite the reliance on feel, the steps are largely the same for scrubbing most locks.

1. Insert the tension wrench into the bottom of the keyhole and apply a little torque. The tension wrench slightly rotates the lock cylinder. Don’t press too hard or you risk binding up the lock cylinder and making it more difficult to pick.
2. Insert the pick rake at the top of the keyhole and slide it to the back of the lock.
3. Lift the rake upwards into the pins and draw it forward. As the pick slides across each pin, it will lift the pins upward into position. Hopefully, the lip of the slightly turned cylinder will catch and keep them in place.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 until all the pins are in position and the cylinder turns further.
5. Turn the lock cylinder with gentle pressure on the tension wrench and open the door!

4 – The Pin by Pin Method

While the scrubbing technique is a good first choice, it’s not always going to work.

When the lock requires more finesse, you might need to turn to the Pin-By-Pin method.

This is a good way to improve your lock picking technique. It allows you to feel for the delicate movements inside a lock cylinder as the pins slide into place.

Pin-By-Pin picking is similar to scrubbing. But instead of blindly pressing up on all the pins, you probe each pin one at a time. You meticulously search for the pin that’s currently binding up.

1. Insert the tension wrench into the bottom of the keyhole and apply a little torque. The tension wrench slightly rotates the lock cylinder. Don’t press too hard or you risk binding up the lock cylinder and making it more difficult to pick.
2. Insert the single hook pick into the top of the keyhole and slide it to the back of the lock.
3. Lift the pick upwards and test each pin individually. Do this until you find the one that’s binding the cylinder.
4. Press the binding pin upwards until the cylinder shifts slightly. This is something that you’ll have to do mainly by feel through the torsion wrench as the shift will be tiny.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until all pins are in place and the cylinder turns further.
6. Turn the lock cylinder with gentle pressure on the tension wrench and open the door!

Watch the following instructional videos to get a better overview of how this process works.

Here’s a video showing how to pick a lock with a hairpin. So yes, it’s possible. But if you’re going to become a master at picking locks, hairpins are not ideal.

5 – How To Pick A Combination Lock

Actually, you’re not technically “picking” this lock, it would be more accurate to say your “cracking the code”.

In this technique, you’re going to manipulate the lock to figure out what the combination code is.

The combination lock is made up of two basic components: the dial and the shackle.

The dial is the bulk of the lock and is the part of it that spins, the shackle is the bent metal that is locked inside the main compartment unless you rotate the dial in the proper number sequence.

Watch the following video to learn how to pick a combination lock:

6 – How To Pick A Tubular Lock

Now we come to a special lock you find used on small filing cabinets, and motor home storage boxes.

Tubular locks have a set of pins and tumbler but they’re set up in a circular pattern. So, you need a special tool to map these pins in order to pick it.

Without the right set of tools, tubular locks are nearly impossible to pick. However, if you have the proper tools, you’ll be able to map the pins and pick a tubular lock with ease.

Mastering this technique is best learned by watching an instructional video:

Other Bypass Methods

There are many ways to get around a lock. Sure, most people go straight to picking a lock, but there are other ways to overcome a lock.

Sometimes, you should “think-outside-the-box” to get around a locked door…

So before you spend lots of time and energy lock picking, make sure it’s even necessary. It may not be the best option available.

7 – Remove the Hinges

First, check the doorway for exposed hinges.

Most doors are installed with the hinges on the side of the door with the lock mechanism. But sometimes contractors don’t pay attention… Or the door has to swing outwards for safety reasons.

If the hinges are on your side of the door, it’s worth trying to remove the hinge pins.

Start by checking to see if the hinge pins are screwed in or simple straight pins.

If the pins are screwed in, you may need an Allen key or specialized screwdriver bit to remove them.

If they’re simple straight pins, you may be able to insert a flat screwdriver under the head of the pin. Try prying upwards slowly.

Stuck pins are often helped by spray lube. So try tapping gently upwards on the bottom of the pin with a pointed tool such as a Phillips screwdriver.

Once the pins start to move, be sure to remove the bottom ones first. This will help prevent the door from binding the lower hinges before you can remove the hinge pins.

After all the pins are removed, you should be able to swing the door open from the hinge side and remove it from the frame.

8 – Destroy the Lock

In the movies, it looks pretty easy to shoot the lockout of a door and open it.

While that may be possible, shooting at a metal doorknob is just asking for a wild and dangerous ricochet.

Instead, take a large hammer and smash down on the handle until it breaks free.

Once the handle is gone, you may be able to reach inside the lock mechanism. If so, just pull the latch back enough to open the door.

9 – Bend The Door Frame

If all else fails, you can always grab your vehicle jack and try bending the frame out of the way!

This is a method that law enforcement uses to open stubborn doorways.

To bend the door frame, a hi-lift jack or hydraulic bottle jack is usually best.

These are high-capacity jacks that allow you to put a lot of force on the door frame at very specific points.

First, place the jack sideways from the hinge side to the latch. You may need to add blocks if the jack is small to “raise” the jack. The point is you need the jack to press outwards on the door frame.

If the frame is wood or formed sheet metal (instead of solid steel or concrete), you’ll begin to see it bowing outwards under pressure.

Once you have enough of a gap, you should be able to pop the latch free and open the door.

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Lock picking and or bypassing a lock without a key is a great survival skill to have in your back pocket.

They don’t require much in the way of tools but do require dedicated practice.

Make a game of it, pick your own door locks and your friends (if they’ll let you).

So put the time in and learn how to pick locks and open doors. You may just find yourself able to get out of a sticky situation – OR into a locked cupboard full of snacks!

So here’s your 3 step plan to becoming proficient at picking locks:

1. Invest in a quality locking picking toolset
2. Watch all the videos in this article (at least once)
3. Practice, practice, practice.

That’s it. Just make sure you only use this newfound power for good. Don’t be evil!

– Jason K.

P.s. Do you know where the closest nuclear bunker is from your home?

There are a lot of natural nuclear shelters in the US that are absolutely free. And one of them is near your home.

Click here to see the Closest Natural Nuclear Bunker to Your Home?

Click on the image above to find out where you need to take shelter.

 

The post 9 Clever Ways On How To Pick A Lock For Survival And Emergencies appeared first on Skilled Survival.

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: A guest submission to The Prepper Journal from Raymond Poole. Raymond Poole is an organic cooking and gardening fanatic. He spends his free time trialing and testing different growing techniques to make his beloved fruit and vegetable garden flourish to full flavor.

Admit it, we want things to happen fast. We’re a society of fast food, fast internet, and instant gratification. But when it comes to growing nutritious food, we have to be patient. Mother Nature usually needs time to work.

But there are exceptions in the vegetable world where gratification, if not instant, isn’t far off. We only need a few weeks to produce some nutritious vegetables and enjoy them for a great lunch or dinner. Imagine having fresh spinach harvested four to six weeks after planting. Even better, a vegetable garden in your backyard will complement that verdant, green lawn and add some color and texture to your landscape.

There are many wholesome veggies you can grow, relatively quickly, a few steps away from your kitchen. Here are five vegetables to get you started.

Spinach

Spinach is an excellent source of minerals, vitamins, potassium, zinc, magnesium, iron, and calcium. And you can harvest it as soon as a month after planting. Sow the seeds into good quality soil and then water.

This is a must-have vegetable if you’re living off the grid. Spinach improves eyesight and cognitive function, combats Alzheimer’s disease and gastric ulcers, and increases blood flow to the brain. Its high content of potassium and its lack of sodium helps maintain good blood pressure and its antioxidants strengthen muscles. It also reduces the chance of heart attacks and strokes.

Carrots

Carrots are excellent as part of a salad, as a snack, and taste great when cooked. They thrive in the USDA’s Hardiness zones 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. They do need lots of sun, and do well when planted about three to five weeks before the last frost. Select a thin fingerling variety and plant the seeds about 2 inches apart at a depth of ¼ to ½ inch. Water at least 1 inch per week and fertilize four weeks after planting if the soil is lacking organic matter. Don’t use compost. In about six weeks, you’ll have your harvest — and some can be picked even sooner as part of the thinning process.

Carrots offer carbs and fiber, lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of cancer. It includes vitamin A, which promotes good vision and improves immune functions. Its Biotin enhances metabolism and vitamin K1 promotes bone health and blood clotting. It has potassium that improves blood pressure and vitamin B6 to convert food into energy.

Radishes

Another ideal food for salads, radishes are ready for your table in as little as 21 days after planting. This is a cool weather crop, planted in spring and autumn and two weeks before the last frost. It thrives in sunlight and well-drained soil with a pH level of 6 to 7, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. The soil should be free of rocks. Include organic matter like compost, manure, or leaf mold in the soil before planting.

Rich in fiber, radishes also aid the digestive system and help combat several forms of cancer. They improve cardiovascular health, relieve respiratory disorders, lower blood pressure, help manage diabetes, and protect the kidneys.

Lettuce

Lettuce grows in colder temperatures and is ready to begin harvesting 30 days after planting. Plant in the early spring when temperatures are between 45°F and 65°F. It thrives in moist, cool conditions and can tolerate a light frost. It will flower or bolt to seed if the weather gets too hot.

The soil should be loose, moist, well-drained, and fertilized. It favors acidic conditions. So include some compost into the soil. Plant seeds in rows of 12 to 15-inches long. Leave a space of 18-inches between rows. Thin the growing seedlings to 4-inches apart to prevent overcrowding. You can harvest over time, by cutting outer leaves as they mature, or take the full plant when leaves are full size, but still tender. If you wait until the lettuce is too mature, it ends up tasting bitter.

There are several types of lettuce. They include Romaine, which is sweet and crunchy. Crisphead or Iceberg, which has a crisp texture and mild taste. Butterhead (also known as Boston or Bibb) has large, soft, green leaves that are sweet tasting. Romaine has the greatest benefits.

Lettuce, in general, has only 12 calories for one shredded cup. It prevents the build-up of plaque. It includes relaxing and sleep-inducing properties. Its minerals improve energy. It’s an ideal food for anyone monitoring their blood sugar or wishes to maintain their weight.

Arugula

The green leaves of the arugula plant have a peppery taste and are ideal for salads. Once mature, cut the leaves off the plant and enjoy. Leaves will continue to grow back each year.

The plant thrives in well-drained, moist soil with a pH level of 6 to 6.5. Add compost to the soil before sowing. Do the composting in the fall. and plant the arugula in the spring. The plant tolerates cool weather and an occasional frost, so plant as early as April in daytime temperatures above 40 degrees. Select a sunny location for planting, although it tolerates some shade. The plant grows 1 to 2 feet tall and is ready for harvest about four weeks after planting.

You can either plant the seeds in rows or scatter them over an area. The seeds should be about one-quarter inch deep and 1-inch apart. Once the leaves develop, you can harvest.

Arugula includes vitamin K, which assures healthy bones and a better immune system. It also has cancer-fighting properties, increases metabolism, improves eyesight, and enhances mineral absorption.

Growing your own nutritious foods provides many benefits. You’ll save time and money with fewer visits to the grocery store. You’ll also be prepared if the store shelves are empty!

Be Safe out there and be sure to check out The Prepper Journal Store and follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post Nutritious Food Plants You Can Harvest Quickly appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

Want to know how to naturally deter wasps? It may surprise you how easy and effective this shortlist has in store!

RELATED: Natural Ways to Repel Grasshoppers

Deter Wasps | Effective Ways of Driving Wasps Away

How to Get Rid of Wasps

If you’re reading this, chances are you have been stung at least once by a wasp. Speaking from personal experience, the sting from a wasp is very painful.

If you remain calm while in their presence, they will leave you alone, as wasps are not out to harm you. Usually, when a human gets stung, it’s because the wasp feels threatened in some way.

Most of the time, the number one reason for humans being stung is due to waving of your arms to shoo it away, which wasps take as an annoyance or a threat. You do it enough times, you will get stung.

With that being said, most people (myself included) are afraid of wasps. Most will turn to pest control methods that are meant to kill the wasps, but, the truth is wasps are beneficial to our ecosystem and we should learn to deter them, not kill them.

Once again, I turned to the internet for my research. Here are four deterrent methods that seem to be the most popular and most effective.

1. Fake Wasp Nest

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Want to know a brilliant way of how to keep wasps from building nests. Wasps are known to be very territorial.

By hanging up a fake wasp nest outside of your home, you reduce the chances of wasps constructing nests of their own. They will think another colony is already established and they will move on to another location.

The fake wasp nest, shown in the photo above, can be purchased here on Amazon.

Here’s how to make your own fake wasp nest:

• Fill a small to a medium brown paper bag with three or four plastic bags (crumple the plastic bags.)
• Tie the top of the paper bag with string or twine, leaving enough string for hanging. Hang the filled bag wherever wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets hang out.

2. Plants to Place Throughout Your Garden That Will Deter Wasps

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Place the following plants throughout your garden to deter wasps. Not only will these plants chase away the wasps, but they will also add beauty to your garden. It’s a win-win!

• Wormwood
• Eucalyptus
• Mint
• Citronella

Check out my article Plants That Repel Insects And Pests You Can Grow to learn what pests you can deter this summer with these beautiful and beneficial plants.

RELATED: 9 Ways To Repel Rats For A Rodent-Free Home

3. Deter Wasps with Cucumber

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Slice a fresh cucumber into thin slices and arrange them in a single layer on an aluminum pie plate, dish, or cake pan. The point is, the cucumber must be fresh when you slice it and the pan must be aluminum.

The cucumber reacts with the aluminum and gives off a chemical reaction/scent that is undetectable to humans but drives wasps and yellow-jackets away and makes them flee the area.

Place the sliced cucumber around the patio, deck, or picnic table.

4. Soap and Peppermint Oil Spray

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• Mix 1 cup of unscented baby shampoo and 10 drops of peppermint essential oil.
• Fill a spray bottle with the mixture and spray on areas and surfaces where you wish to deter bees and wasps.

Note: This method is intended to be used as a deterrent only.

Check out this homemade wasp repellent by ehowhome:

So there are your all-natural ways of deterring wasps. Apart from these methods, always remember wasps don’t usually react unless they are annoyed or threatened.

Simply keep your distance and make use of the information given above.

Do you have an all-natural deterrent for wasps that you would like to share? Tell us about them in the comments section below!

UP NEXT:

• 10 Natural Ways To Repel Spiders
• How To Get Rid Of Mosquitoes | 9 Best Ways To Keep Insects Away
• 9 Good Reasons To Carry A “Survival Stick”

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on July 22, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

This article was originally published by at Brandon Smith at Alt-Market.

This past week was an interesting exercise in false expectations and assumptions. Once again, trade war theatrics were used to stall a stock market plunge as insinuations of a possible “deal” were made by Donald Trump, followed by China’s claim that maybe, just maybe, they would not immediately issue a new round of tariffs right now, but possibly tomorrow, or in a month…

Then, all hell broke loose again when only a few days later both sides jumped into a new round of tariffs leaving markets confused and algo trading computers bewildered, so much so that sometimes they even buy on bad news thinking it’s good news. This is the problem with the Pavlovian response mechanism – You train a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell because he thinks he’s going to get a treat, but then what if you change the bell, or the treat, or the entire dynamic of the process? The dog’s whole world is turned upside down and he curls up in a ball in the corner of the room to make the mental anguish stop.

This is exactly the kind of reaction the globalists are looking for, hence the stop/start insanity of trade discussions, not to mention the dove/hawk behavior of the Federal Reserve. Everything people once thought predictable is being deliberately discombobulated.

Ultimately the circus and the confusion are only products of peoples biases. They want to believe they will get a treat if they act a certain way when certain indicators signal. They want to believe the trade war can be won, or at least that Trump is trying to win. They want to believe that the Fed will save them with a surge of QE. They want to believe that the instability will be smoothed away by the hands of the political and banking elites. But what if the elites have no intention of doing this? What if they WANT an economic crisis?

In terms of the trade war, there are some facts that do not support some of the assumptions out there on either side of the debate. These facts run contrary to the mainstream narrative, as well as some narratives within the alternative media. On the conservative side, I’m seeing a kind of artificial patriotic fervor; an organized attempt using memes and propaganda to convince conservatives that the trade war requires mindless fealty to the anti-China message.

First, to be clear, I think China is a despicable communist regime with a record of human rights abuses, but that’s what makes it a rather perfect distraction for Americans on the political right.  I’m reminded of the war fever against Iraq after 9/11, and how so many conservatives bought into the very thin claim of Iraqi involvement and the lies about WMDs. We don’t like dictators, and we don’t like China, but conservatives are being duped into thinking the trade war against China is an ideological crusade that will lead to a better America or a better world. This is not what the trade war is intended to do.

Let’s start with the assumptions (as well as lies and disinformation) surrounding the trade war and then look at the evidence that debunks them…

Fallacy #1: China Is Dependent On The US Consumer

I’m not sure where this idea comes from specifically, but it’s not based on anything tangible. I sometimes wonder if the notion that the world depends on the American consumer for its bread and butter is perhaps a kind of appeal to people’s narcissism? Making the average American feel superior, or feel special, simply by telling them that their steady debt-based consumption keeps the engine of the global economy running.

In the case of China, here are the facts:

The US only comprises around 18% of Chinese exports. While this is a nice piece of the pie, it’s hardly enough leverage to bring down China’s economy. China would suffer profit losses in certain sectors as well as a recession, but not the kind of crisis that some in the alternative media are predicting.

Around 40% of China’s GDP is generated domestically, and 80% of its GDP growth comes from private consumption. For quite some time I have warned that China was shifting its economic model from an export-based system to a more self-reliant domestic-based system and that this might be an indication of a coming economic war with the US. As it turns out, this is exactly what has happened. Since 2010, China’s domestic market has grown dramatically, indicating that China has no intention of relying on the US consumer as an economic pillar.

The US consumer is almost tapped out. While retail sales in certain areas remain steady and this has been used by the mainstream media and the Fed to promote the idea that the economy is still “going strong”, this is not the big picture. The reality is that US consumption is driven by historic levels of debt. Household debt is now FAR above levels last seen after the last financial crisis, with total debt at $1.2 trillion higher today than its last peak in 2008.

The downturn in retail is more obvious in the steady closings of thousands of outlets in 2019 alone. This year has seen a 29% increase in store closings compared to 2018, even though 2018 saw a considerable spike in store shutdowns. Around 12,000 stores are slated to close this year.

So the question is, with the US consumer stretched thin by debt and US retail on the verge of a recessionary plunge, why would China feel threatened by the loss of the American consumer market?  They are losing it already by attrition. The truth is they aren’t threatened, which is why, as I predicted last year, the trade war continues unabated despite the fact that so many people argued that China would “quickly fold” to Trump’s demands.

I realize this is not what many people want to hear, but it is foolish to get caught up in a farcical mob mentality and ignore the fundamentals in the trade war. If you think that the US is going to “win” based on leverage, you are sorely mistaken.  The US is in no better shape economically than China; in many ways, we are much worse off.

Fallacy #2: Manufacturing Will Come Back To The US

This is perhaps the most persistent and fraudulent “carrot” that has been held out to the American people over the years to get them to go along with certain destructive fiscal policies. Whether it be dollar devaluation or a trade war that goes nowhere, the American people are always being told that manufacturing jobs are “right around the corner”.  People buy into it because they desire a return to the golden years of American economic expansion, and there are a number of reasons why this is an absurd fantasy.

First, as it stands now manufacturing in the US makes up only 11% of total economic output. I don’t think that many people understand the consequences of this. We have a 70% retail and service-based economy, meaning the majority of US citizens in the job market have no experience whatsoever in the manufacturing sector, and the average US company has no guidelines for how to establish a manufacturing base using the American labor pool.

Second, American labor expects a certain level of wage compensation as well as union organization that makes manufacturing far more expensive here than in China or in other parts of the world. The average factory worker in China makes around $3.60 per hour – how exactly would the American market ever compete with this? Tariff’s alone are not enough to force corporations to spend the billions necessary to rebuild factories in the US and hire American workers at $15+ an hour. It’s just not going to happen.

Third, there are many places besides China to build a manufacturing base. No company is going to bring its factories to the US when they can build in Vietnam, or Taiwan, etc. In many cases, it is cheaper to ship raw materials and products to these countries, have them finished by workers in Asia, and then have the items shipped back, than it is to build the product from start to finish in the US.

Fourth, we can talk all day about patriotism, but in the end, the average American is not going to buy “Made in the USA” for most goods out of a sense of patriotic duty if the price is twice as much or more. Walmart and Amazon dominate the retail market for a reason – they sell things cheaply.

Fifth, raising tariffs on foreign exporters would only work to encourage consumption of domestically manufactured goods if the US already had a large manufacturing base and produced all the items other nations produce. Entering into a trade war without a resilient manufacturing sector is backward. You don’t fight a trade war to get manufacturing to come back, you fight a trade war to promote the goods you already manufacture.

If Trump had really intended to bring factories back to the US, he should have given corporations tax break incentives in exchange for creating manufacturing jobs on US soil. Instead, he gave corporations tax break incentives for nothing.

Fallacy #3: China Will Starve Without American Agricultural Products

Uh, no. This is a very weird argument. It’s as if some people assume that the US is China’s only potential source for food. China buys agricultural products from all over the world and has alternative sources for foods like soybeans and pork, including Brazil, Mexico, and Russia.

Prices will rise in China, sure, but nowhere near the point of collapse. Again, the Chinese are not reliant on the US for anything, so, the idea that the US has overt leverage in the trade war is simply not true.

Fallacy #4: The World Will Side With The US Over China

This is a prime question – would the world choose the US consumer base or China’s cheap export market if they had to pick only one? As noted earlier, the US consumer is nearly tapped out. China has the largest import/export market in the world. The US has little manufacturing to speak of. I also question the validity of the idea that Europe or most other nations have loyalty to American markets.

Think about it; do they really? Do they see us as indispensable? Or is the rest of the world being sent on a path towards globalism while the US is being made to look like a barbaric and archaic throwback, a Neanderthal man that is desperately clinging to power and is willing to drag everyone else down with him if he doesn’t get his way?

Many in the liberty movement understand that this is not the case. We know that the globalists have sabotaged this country from within, and we know that they are using Trump as controlled opposition and a useful puppet in this task. But the majority of the rest of the world does NOT understand this. If there is an economic crash which sends shockwaves through multiple economies, the trade war will most likely be blamed along with Trump and his “populist” supporters. The rest of the world will see us as the villains, because they do not understand the nature of 4^th Generation Warfare, nor do they understand the globalists’ strategy of “order out of chaos”.

The narrative that has been pushed in the mainstream is that China is the victim of US aggression and that the trade war and the economic crisis are purely a product of Trump’s madness. Who do you honestly think the world will eventually side with?

Fallacy #5:  The Trade War Will Be Over Soon

We’ve been hearing this for well over a year and a half now.  Trade wars are “easy to win”, right?  Every couple of months the trade war deal hype is recycled and every couple of months the markets are hit with renewed disappointment.  The latest trade talks are set for October and if they happen at all, it is unlikely they will result in anything of significance.  At most, they will be heralded as the “start of a great deal” and both sides will claim “progress was made”, and then, once again, nothing will happen and the conflict will accelerate.  You would think people would have figured it out by now, but the investment world learns very slowly and functions solely on blind hope.  At the very least, economic analysts are starting to realize that no deal is coming and that the situation is only going to get tenser.  In fact, it is designed to get more tense.

Fallacy #6: The US Dollar Is Untouchable

This claim revolves mainly around the idea that because the US dollar is the world reserve currency, the US has the upper hand in trade negotiations and the rest of the world will follow the currency leader because there “is no other option”. I disagree.

As Bank of England governor Mark Carney has openly admitted, the plan is to replace the dollar as the world reserve currency anyway. How? Well with a global cryptocurrency, of course, just as I warned about in my article ‘The Globalist One World Currency Will Look A Lot Like Bitcoin’.

Carney’s mention of Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra as models for this currency system seems to have confused some people. Carney did NOT say that Libra should be the next world reserve currency. He said that the next world reserve currency will look LIKE Libra. But how do the elites plan to institute such a monetary system and force people to go along with a cashless society?

They need a massive crash event, and they need the US dollar to go the way of the dodo. It seems rather convenient to me that China has been preparing for just such an event. While many analysts point out that China has generated intense amounts of debt over the past decade, they seem to forget that this was a requirement in order for China to attach the Yuan to the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket, which is the foundation for a global currency mechanism.  Chinese economic officials and the globalist both argue that the current monetary system, based on a single national currency (the dollar) as the world reserve is inherently unstable.

Their solution?  A basket of currencies monitored by the IMF, followed by a single digital currency mechanism.  I would note that China and the globalists have consistently hinted that a major economic crisis event will act as a catalyst for this “reset” in the world monetary order and that the dollar must be replaced in the process.

China has also been stockpiling large amounts of gold for the past decade. This would indicate they are expecting a monetary devaluation event, most specifically in the dollar.  It’s as if they know something the rest of us only suspect.

The trade war is the perfect cover for the collapse of the US dollar that the globalists desire. While some people suggest that China’s dumping of US treasuries is the “nuclear option” in the trade war, this is not exactly true. The REAL nuclear option is for China to dump the US dollar as the reserve trade mechanism and go to a basket of currencies, which the IMF will happily aid them with. As the largest exporter/importer in the world, China can drop the dollar and most of their trading partners will follow their lead. The US economy would crumble in response, as the dollar is the only thread holding our system together.

This is the ugly truth behind the trade war. It is nothing more than a farce, a smoke and mirrors distraction leading up the dismantling of the US dollar and paving the way for the globalist one-world digital currency system. Whether or not the plan succeeds relies on ample resistance from people who see the danger ahead, but make no mistake, the globalists are not afraid of an economic crash or the decline of the dollar; they WANT these things to happen so they can establish even more centralized control.

 

Having a stockpile of food will keep you thriving during an emergency or disaster. In most cases, canned and dry foods will last a couple years at most. Although this might suffice for some preppers, freeze dried meals are the ultimate best case scenario. Why? Freeze dried food completely locks out moisture, is fully prepared and has a shelf life of up to 25 years. Yes, 25 years!

This means no more rotating out cans and boxes every couple, checking expiration dates and replenishing food that is no longer good. Let’s be honest, life gets busy and rotating your stockpile can easily get lost in the to-do list. The last thing you want is to attempt replenishing when you hear the warning alert of a possible disaster. Having a weeks worth of freeze dried meals is a wise investment.

Best Ways To Store Your Supply

Freeze dried foods should be kept in a climate control location to maintain freshness. Most cans are sustainable for 25 years and pouches up to 7-30 years (depending on the brand). Because the packaging is vacuum sealed and moisture has no way in, they are safe from bacteria and mold. The weight of freeze dried foods is minimal, making this a very good option when on the move, camping or only able to pack what you can carry.

The most convenient part of these meals is that all you need is a pot and water and voila, a full meal awaits you! Be mindful that many freeze dried meals are pretty high in sodium so drink plenty of water and try to balance the nutrition with low or no sodium foods.

Some of our favorite freeze dried meals include:

• • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Stews
  • Meats
  • Rice and grains
  • Spaghetti with sauce
  • Eggs
  • Macaroni and cheese
  • Potatoes
  • Nori (seaweed)
  • Ration food bars
  • Soups

Top 3 Stockpile Brands

We recommend checking out various brands. Do some taste testing before investing too much. Purchase a pouch or two of different brands to test. This may be more expensive than purchasing in bulk, but you’ll learn what you like. We have a few well known brands that we recommend:

1. Mountain House is a very well known and reputable brand with a large variety of meals. When you purchase in bulk, the cost is much more affordable than individually packaged meals. Many enjoy the not overly seasoned taste while others complain of an odd texture. Each meal contains about 10-15 grams of protein which is solid. Mountain House also prides themselves in their 30-year shelf life.The best part in our opinion, they offer desserts. Who doesn’t want dessert in stressful survival situation?
2. Good-to-Go is a unique brand that is highly focused on healthy options. They offer meal options for both vegetarian and vegan diets and all of their meals are preservatives and gluten free. This does however come with a cost, as the shelf life is not quite as extensive as Mountain House. Due to the lack of preservatives, these meals have a 4 year shelf life. The meal choices are certainly more limited but since they focus on quality, it is often not complained about by health nuts.
3. Backpackers Pantry is another great option for your freeze dried meals. The brand offers healthy options and some desserts. They are known for their tasty variety of meal selection while focusing on quality ingredients. Backpackers Pantry promises MSG free foods and is decently affordable against competitors.

All of these brands are available on Amazon. We encourage you to check out some of the user reviews and if you have experience with any freeze dried meals, share them with our community of preppers!

Bank of America strategist is warning that we should enjoy 2019 right now, while we still can.  A note led by top strategist Michael Hartnett, says investors will have to grapple with the long-running bull market as it limps into 2020 because the “big top is coming down.”

“We are bullish on risk assets in 2019 as bearish investor sentiment and the irrationality of central banks and bond markets allow an ‘overshoot’ in credit and equity prices,” he wrote. “We are bearish on risk assets in 2020 as recession/policy impotence/bond bubble risks induce Big Top in credit and equities.”

“The 2020s are likely to witness a more forceful attempt to create inflation,” he said. “Even the slightest sign of success will lead to dramatic rotation… away from the deflationary winners of the 2010s to the inflationary losers.” But Hartnett says stocks could still rise too.

Bank of America issued a similar ominous warning back in July.  Back then, Hartnett and chief economist, Ethan Harris wrote a piece on the law of large numbers, arguing that an ever-expanding list of uncertainties would likely undercut the markets going into year-end. At the time, the main concerns were the trade war, a hawkish Fed, Brexit, Quitaly, and Iran oil sanctions.  Bank of America once again warns a similar set of concerns could come to a head and halt the current rally in global equity markets.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-21/bank-america-enjoy-it-while-it-lasts

BofA economists are becoming concerned that the tariffs are permanent, and that there will be no de-escalation of the trade war.  That means higher prices for a majority of goods and services are here to stay at a time when many Americans struggle to make ends meet. According to ZeroHedge, the deadline for avoiding auto tariffs is mid-November. Additionally, there is a steady drift toward some kind of currency war: in the form of either countervailing duties or outright intervention. Countries that benefit from production shifting out of China, including Vietnam and other ASEAN countries, could face at least a serious threat of US tariffs.

Economic expert Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse Blog and Barbara Fix, author of Survival: Prepare Before Disaster Strikes, address the whys and the hows of getting prepared for the coming crisis in their new book.  Topics include looming economic collapse, Ebola, drought and increasing weather-related disasters, our extremely vulnerable power grid, civil unrest, and practical steps for storing food and supplies that you will need.  Get Prepared Now! walks readers through survival in a short-term or protracted crisis whether in the city or the country with budget-friendly advice

Welcome the spring with newly germinated seedlings using only egg cartons and shells!

RELATED: How To Raise Quail For Eggs And Meat

In this article:

1. Using Eggshells to Start Your Seeds
2. Using Egg Cartons to Start Your Seeds

Learn How to Use Egg Carton and Shells to Grow Seeds

Using Eggshells to Start Your Seeds

If you have an empty egg carton material lying around, you can use it to begin growing your garden. Now is the right time to do so as spring is just around the corner.

In this blog post, you will learn two methods on how to do it.

Let’s begin with eggshells. The great thing about this project is nothing ever goes to waste.

The eggshells will hold the healthy plant while the empty egg carton box can keep the shells in place and safe.

Once the seed starts to germinate and grow, you can plant the entire shell into the soil. The shell may also help provide additional nutrients to the plant.

Directions:

1. Save your eggshells. Rinse them, so they won’t become sticky or smelly.
2. Add soil to the eggshells. You want to be sure to use seed-starting soil. This is a lighter soil that allows the root system to grow freely through the plant so it becomes strong and healthy.
3. Add the seeds to the soil and slightly push down just until it covers fully the seeds. Make sure you don’t push them too deep. Otherwise, it will take longer for your seedlings to germinate.
4. Water your seeds preferably with a spritzer bottle, especially for very small ones, so it doesn’t push the seeds too deep into the soil. Keep the soil moist but not soaked. Carefully poke a tiny hole perhaps with a nail at the bottom of the eggshell for water drainage.
5. If you really want to give your seeds a jump start, place the eggshells in plastic egg cartons, which act as mini-greenhouses, and put the lid on. Once your seeds sprout, remove the lid so mold does not develop.
6. Put them in a sunny window and enjoy watching them grow.

What Is a Greenhouse? It is a structure that can help protect the plants from environmental elements and regulate warm temperature.

If your weather is ready for planting, then put the plant into the soil, eggshell and all!

RELATED: 10 Gardening Tips And Tricks You Can Use Right Now!

Using Egg Cartons to Start Your Seeds

If you find using eggshells a hassle or you don’t have them, go straight with egg cartons. They will still help you germinate seeds inside your home.

Materials:

• Paper egg carton
• Potting soil
• Seeds
• Toothpicks
• Plastic wrap

Note: You can use the dimples within the egg cartons as individual seed-starter pots.

Directions:

1. Take an empty cardboard egg carton and poke a small hole in the bottom of each dimple to allow for water drainage.
2. Fill each individual dimple with seed-starting soil.
3. Plant seeds according to the planting-depth instructions (found on the back of the packet) in each individual dimple.
4. Mist with water regularly keeping the soil moist (but not soaked). You may want to keep the carton on a plate so the water doesn’t go everywhere.
5. To give extra warmth and humidity (if needed), cover the top of the egg carton with plastic wrap, which can work as a little tent. To prop it up, position toothpicks in the middle of the clear egg carton.
6. Place the carton in a sunny spot and watch the plants grow!
7. Once the seeds start to sprout, cut apart the individual dimples and plant the seedlings straight into your prepared garden or pot. There is no need to remove the sprouting seed from the carton—just plant the whole thing!

Check out this video from eHow Garden to learn more about how to plant seeds in egg cartons:

There you have it — two easy, earth-friendly, and cheap egg cartons crafts you can do today. All you need to do is save some of the eggshells from cooking.

Once the weather is right, start planting and let the shells supply the nutrients.

Have you tried growing seeds from egg cartons? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

UP NEXT: 

• 20 Survival Gardening Plants For Spring
• 12 Budget Friendly Must-Haves For Every Beginner Gardener
• Container Gardening Tips For Preppers And Survivalists

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on January 20, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

Since the end of the last recession, the outlook for the U.S. economy has never been as dire as it is right now.  Everywhere you look, economic red flags are popping up, and the mainstream media is suddenly full of stories about “the coming recession”.  After several years of relative economic stability, things appear to be changing dramatically for the U.S. economy and the global economy as a whole.  Over and over again, we are seeing things happen that we have not witnessed since the last recession, and many analysts expect our troubles to accelerate as we head into the final months of 2019.

We should certainly hope that things will soon turn around, but at this point that does not appear likely.  The following are 28 signs of economic doom as the pivotal month of September begins…

#1 The U.S. and China just slapped painful new tariffs on one another, thus escalating the trade war to an entirely new level.

#2 JPMorgan Chase is projecting that the trade war will cost “the average U.S. household” $1,000 per year.

#3 Yield curve inversions have preceded every single U.S. recession since the 1950s, and the fact that it has happened again is one of the big reasons why Wall Street is freaking out so much lately.

#4 We just witnessed the largest decline in U.S. consumer sentiment in 7 years.

#5 Mortgage defaults are rising at the fastest pace that we have seen since the last financial crisis.

#6 Sales of luxury homes valued at $1.5 million or higher were down five percent during the second quarter of 2019.

#7 The U.S. manufacturing sector has contracted for the very first time since September 2009.

#8 The Cass Freight Index has been falling for a number of months.  According to CNBC, it fell “5.9% in July, following a 5.3% decline in June and a 6% drop in May.”

#9 Gross private domestic investment in the United States was down 5.5 percent during the second quarter of 2019.

#10 Crude oil processing at U.S. refiners has fallen by the most that we have seen since the last recession.

#11 The price of copper often gives us a clear indication of where the economy is heading, and it is now down 13 percent over the last six months.

#12 When it looks like an economic crisis is coming, investors often flock to precious metals.  So it is very interesting to note that the price of gold is up more than 20 percent since May.

#13 Women’s clothing retailer Forever 21 “is reportedly close to filing for bankruptcy protection”.

#14 We just learned that Sears and Kmart will close “nearly 100 additional stores” by the end of this year.

#15 Domestic shipments of RVs have fallen an astounding 20 percent so far in 2019.

#16 The Labor Department has admitted that the U.S. economy actually has 501,000 less jobs than they previously thought.

#17 S&P 500 earnings per share estimates have been steadily falling all year long.

#18 Morgan Stanley says that the possibility that we will see a global recession “is high and rising”.

#19 Global trade fell 1.4 percent in June from a year earlier, and that was the biggest drop that we have seen since the last recession.

#20 The German economy contracted during the second quarter, and the German central bank “is predicting the third quarter will also post a decline”.

#21 According to CNBC, the S&P 500 “just sent a screaming sell signal” to U.S. investors.

#22 Masanari Takada is warning that we could soon see a “Lehman-like” plunge in the stock market.

#23 Corporate insiders are dumping stocks at a pace that we haven’t seen in more than a decade.

#24 Apple CEO Tim Cook has been dumping millions of dollars worth of Apple stock.

#25 Instead of pumping his company’s funds into the stock market, Warren Buffett has decided to hoard 122 billion dollars in cash.  This appears to be a clear indication that he believes that a crisis is coming.

#26 Investors are selling their shares in emerging markets funds at a pace that we have never seen before.

#27 The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index hit the highest level that we have ever seen in the month of June.

#28 Americans are searching Google for the term “recession” more frequently than we have seen at any time since 2009.

The signs are very clear, but unfortunately we live at a time when “normalcy bias” is rampant in our society.

If you are not familiar with “normalcy bias”, the following is how Wikipedia defines it…

The normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a belief people hold when considering the possibility of a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the likelihood of a disaster and its possible effects, because people believe that things will always function the way things normally have functioned. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare themselves for disasters, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. About 70% of people reportedly display normalcy bias in disasters.^[1]

For most Americans, the crisis of 2008 and 2009 is now a distant memory, and the vast majority of the population seems confident that brighter days are ahead even if we must weather a short-term economic recession first.  As a result, most people are not preparing for a major economic crisis, and that makes us extremely vulnerable.

In 2008 and 2009, the horrible financial crisis and the bitter recession that followed took most Americans completely by surprise.

It will be the same this time around, even though the warning signs are there for all to see.

About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

The post 28 Signs Of Economic Doom As The Pivotal Month Of September Begins appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog.

A new study has discovered that we are far more dependent on America’s great debt creation machine than most of us would have ever dared to imagine.  Today, debt is involved in most of our major transactions.

In order to purchase a home, most of us go into debt.  The same thing is true when most of us buy a vehicle.  Total credit card debt is well over a trillion dollars, and total student loan debt is now over a trillion and a half dollars.  Corporate debt has more than doubled since the last financial crisis, state and local governments are absolutely drowning in debt and unfunded pension liabilities, and the federal government is more than 22 trillion dollars in debt.  The Federal Reserve and the “too big to fail” banks are at the core of this insidious debt-based system, and it has been systematically destroying the bright future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have.  But if we suddenly turned off America’s great debt creation machine at this point, our entire economic system would totally collapse because we have become so dependent on it.  In fact, a study that was just conducted by Bloomberg discovered that “gross domestic product per capita would plunge into negative territory” if the ability to borrow was suddenly removed…

The nation’s health as measured by gross domestic product per capita would plunge into negative territory without its dependence on borrowed money, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In fact, the U.S. would fall almost to the bottom of a ranking of 114 economies by GDP per capita. Only Italy, Greece and Japan would fare worse. That’s a seismic shift from America’s comfortable No. 5 spot on a list based on conventional measures.

Our massively inflated debt-fueled standard of living is completely and utterly dependent on the continual creation of more debt.

In essence, this study found that without debt we wouldn’t have much of an economy at all.  In fact, Bloomberg says that U.S. per capita income would collapse from $66,900 a year to “negative $4,857”…

To get this somewhat dystopian measure, Bloomberg took each economy’s 2020 GDP as projected by the International Monetary Fund as a starting point. We then adjusted the number by removing the ability to borrow, while adding reserves to create an alternative wealth measure.

U.S. per capita income of $66,900 would be slashed to a negative $4,857 using this measure. That’s a total loss of almost $72,000 for every man, woman and child.

So the only thing keeping us from complete and total economic collapse is the fact that debt is flowing like wine.

But what would happen if some sort of major national crisis erupted someday and all of a sudden everyone was afraid to lend money?

That is something to think about, because such a scenario may be a whole lot closer than many people might think.

As it stands, we appear to be on the precipice of the worst economic downturn since the last financial crisis, and our trade war with China just went to an entirely new level as the month of September began…

The biggest reason for last week’s torrid stock market rally was rekindled “optimism” that the escalating trade war between the US and China may be on the verge of another ceasefire following phone conversations, fake as they may have been, between the US and Chinese side. This translated into speculation that a new round of tariffs increases slated for this weekend may not take place or be delayed.

However, that did not happen, and with no trade deal in sight, at 12:00am on Sunday, the Trump administration slapped tariffs on $112 billion in Chinese imports, the latest escalation in a trade war that’s ground the global economy to a halt, sent Germany into a recession, and given the market an alibi to keep rising because, wait for it, “a trade deal is imminent.”

Only, it isn’t, and 1 minute later, at 12:01am EDT, China retaliated with higher tariffs being rolled out in stages on a total of about $75 billion of U.S. goods. The target list strikes at the heart of Trump’s political support – factories and farms across the Midwest and South at a time when the U.S. economy is showing signs of slowing down.

The Chinese knew that these tariffs were about to go into effect, and so they were ready and waiting to retaliate just one minute later.

Of course, many U.S. companies will be hit extremely hard by these tariffs that the Trump administration just implemented.  The following comes from CNBC…

That means that when an electronics company imports a TV, or a smart speaker, or a drone from China starting September 1, it will have to pay a 15% tax to the U.S. government.

Eventually, this will end up raising prices on gadgets and other products for people in the United States, said Bronwyn Flores, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Tech Association (CTA), a trade group that represents 2,000 different companies in the electronics industry, including brands like Apple and LG and retailers like Walmart and Best Buy.

Basically, people are not going to be able to buy as much stuff during the holiday shopping season, and overall economic activity will be slower than it otherwise would have been.

Meanwhile, President Trump continues to sound hopeful that trade talks with China will bear fruit…

President Donald Trump said trade talks with Beijing are still planned for September after a new round of tariffs went into effect on Sunday.

“We are talking to China, the meetings in September, that hasn’t changed,” Trump told reporters Sunday on the White House South Lawn after returning from Camp David.

These sorts of comments helped stabilize the financial markets last week, but if there was any hope that a trade agreement was imminent we would not have seen both sides impose new tariffs on Sunday.

And now we are moving into the month that is traditionally the worst for Wall Street.  The following comes from Fox Business…

Investors may breathe a sigh of relief that August, typically a volatile month for stocks, is over, but history shows that September could be even worse for Wall Street.

Since 1950, September has been the worst month for the S&P 500 Index, which has dropped, on average, 0.5% during the month, a phenomenon referred to as the September effect. According to Dow Jones market data, the average decline of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in September is 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite generally sees an average fall of 0.5%.

We shall see what this September brings.  Certainly things are really shaky on Wall Street right now, and any piece of really bad news is likely to set off another wave of panic.

Without a doubt, the market is more primed for a crash than it has been at any point since 2008, and it definitely will not take much to make this a “September to remember”…