A couple of weeks ago on a Friday morning, a massive disruption occurred in the internet system. At its heart, was CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to companies worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.
On Friday afternoon I heard a cybersecurity expert talking about how the companies could have avoided such a catastrophe by using not just one cybersecurity firm in their business—still, two unrelated cybersecurity firms to handle the company’s cybersecurity. Half of the company’s computer system is serviced by one cybersecurity firm while the other half is serviced by the other. This way, if there’s a glitch in one system, it doesn’t affect the entire company. The event didn’t affect my household at all. However, this interview did get me thinking.
Why are we dependent on a single system only to whine when that system inevitably fails we are unprepared? Why don’t we have backups in our homes for things we have become dependent upon in our lives.?
Alternate Utility Sources
Let’s start with our utilities. What would you do if the water in your home stopped running? It happens—a pipe bursts from frigid weather or equipment fails so the water no longer flows into your home. Do you have an alternate source of drinking water or water for bathing? Perhaps you have some stored water in your home. Perhaps you have a stockpile of paper plates, plastic utensils, and maybe some tin foil to cook on so that you don’t have as many dishes to wash.
How about an alternative to electricity? We have a gas backup generator and some small solar appliances. There are solar versions of the gas generator for producing electricity and there are complete solar systems that can be purchased. Those are expensive alternatives, but there are more affordable solutions. We could go deep into these aspects for alternatives now, but I don’t want to make this article all about electricity, I suggest that you examine the various ways that you use electricity and look for alternatives. For instance, what else can you use for lighting? Flashlights? Candles? Cheap outdoor solar lights that you can pick up for a couple of bucks each?
What utility do you use to heat or cool your house? To heat our home, we have a wood heating stove. If electricity is your heat source, what alternatives do you have available to you/
What sources can you use to cook meals? At my house, we have several ways to cook food in different situations. We have a propane outdoor grill, a smoker, a charcoal grill, and a butane camp stove, and we can also cook (and heat water) on our wood heating stove.
Alternative to a Grocery Store
It’s so easy to just go to the grocery store for anything that we want to eat or to go to Walmart to pick up personal care and house cleaning. However, what happens if that choice is no longer available? What can we do?
Again, it’s time to look at possible alternatives to going to the grocery store. In some situations, going to
When something’s unavailable from the usual source, look for other ways to obtain what you need to make a meal. In some cases, it may be possible to go to a restaurant to get a meal. In other circumstances, you may need to go to a food pantry.
Other places to get food could include going to farmers’ markets or visiting farms and helping with the harvest. If you have the ability, it can also include growing fruits and vegetables, hunting, and fishing. Some of these ways take more skills than others, and having these skills is important to learn now before those skills are needed.
Personal Care and House Cleaning
Numerous alternatives exist in the areas of personal care and house cleaning. For instance, with the cost of bleach being so high, I have discovered that pool shock offers a less expensive alternative. Here’s a link to the article I wrote about it.
Baking soda also offers a fantastic alternative to things we use every day. For more details, check out my article.
Another common item, vinegar, is useful in personal care and house cleaning projects. Another alternative is replacing numerous household products with homemade soap and soap products. You can even take this a step further and make soap made from fat and lye.
There are so many more areas of our lives where we can find alternatives. Discovering what could remove what we want from life can be devastating, but knowing that we have found alternatives to those items helps us have happier, healthier, and more peaceful lives.
More alternatives can be found in my books.
If you’re interested in putting in a vegetable garden this year, I have written several books that can help you get started. All available on Amazon.
Gourmet Weeds
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?Bdm3q5kcr0zYvywdeuStOBmX4q0IYJBlMCeUAPi5FNL
Simply Vegetable Gardening
The Survival Garden
The Four Seasons Vegetable Garden
Help From Kelp
Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard
The Perpetual Homesteader 