Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin
A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
For Independent Minded People!
ISSN 2161-5543
In
This Issue:
1.
Tips
for surviving a home invasion
2.
Edible landscaping, stretching ground beef
3.
Americans using fewer coupons
4.
What one can learn from the gun show
5.
2013 Free Consumer Bible now available
“I cannot undertake to lay my
finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of
expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” — James Madison
Tips for Surviving a Home Invasion Robbery
In
cities across the United State, local law enforcement, facing deep budget cuts,
has had to do more police work with fewer officers. New Jersey alone lost 4,200
officers between 2008 and 2011.
1) Establish a "safe room" in your home, where your family will flee to at the first sign of forced entry, or that a home invasion is about to take place. Outfit the door with a dead bolt lock that can be easily locked as you enter.
2) Security experts recommend having a code word that when said (or shouted) tells one another to run for the safe room. It can be a simple word such as "ESCAPE" or a simple phrase, "GET TO SAFETY".
3) Days in advance, place a heavy piece of furniture in your safe room, that can be slid in front of the door. Have one or two 4x4 lengths of lumber inside your safe room as well, that can be used to provide leverage against the heavy piece of furniture in front of the door, and also the far wall. That way, if the door is kicked, it doesn't budge easily. Be aware that a good kick could force these 4x4s through the drywall, on the far wall. With that in mind, have a piece of 3/4 inch plywood also in your safe room. Leverage the ends of the 4x4s against the plywood, so that the force from any kicks to the door is diffused over a wide area, and doesn't result in the drywall caving, that the plywood rests against.
Fortifying the door so it's not easily kicked down will buy you time, should home invaders discover the room you're hiding in with your family.
4) Have
a telephone in the room that you can use to call the police.
Warning: Many home phones operate off television or dish services nowadays; wires to these can be easily cut outside your home, which means your home phone won't work (should home invaders cut the line), and you won't be able to call police. So, have a secondary cell phone plugged in and charged in your safe room, as your go-to phone in a home invasion. Make sure that young children have your home address memorized, as they will have to provide it when calling 9-1-1 from a cell phone.
5) Have a small hidden safe or lock-box inside your safe room, where you can keep a handgun, that you can get to quickly. Practice running to the room, and unlocking the safe, and retrieving the gun, and being ready to fire through the door, should the home invaders make their way into the room. Have a spare key hidden in the room to this lock box, or a combination lock that is easily entered.
Be sure not to fire at police, who may show up in the next 5 - 15 minutes, after 9-1-1 has been called.
6) Consider having a "pump" shot-gun as back up or even your go-to firearm. It's said that the well-familiar sound of a pump shotgun being "pumped" (loaded), can put fear into intruders. Go to the back window, open it, and fire two shots into the air. This may be enough to scare off intruders.
7) Whether you have a shot gun or not, stay in your safe room until police arrive. Unless they've heard gun shots or know you're inside the home, invaders may not realize that you're in your safe room while they go through the rest of your home, collecting valuables.
What If Your Cell Phone Doesn't
Work During a Home Invasion?
1) Eventually the home invaders are likely to find the door to the room where you and your family are hiding.
2) Yes, you may have the legal right to shoot -- but what if you can scare the robbers away without having to shoot anyone? What if these are just some teenage burglars, who have no idea that you are inside with children? Again, you may have the legal right to shoot, if you feel your life is threatened, but why not try to scare them away first?
3) Here's another item to keep in your safe room, for this purpose: A bull-horn. Bull-horns are sometimes used on boats to communicate with people on land, because of how loud they magnify a person's voice. They've also been used by police in situations like crowd control and at sporting events to announce scores or race results to people in the stands.
With your bull-horn, you can speak through the door, shouting, "I have a gun and I'll shoot. Leave the house immediately. This is your final warning. The police have been called. My neighbors are being notified."
Sources:
Secrets of Survival.com, Military.com
PM’s Guide to Homestead Defense http://www.poormansurvival.com/Pages/homedefense.aspx
The typical new vehicle is now more expensive than ever, averaging $30,500 in 2012, according to TrueCar.com
PM’s Compendium of Useful Resources
Self Reliance Expo
SRE
Returns to Texas!
The
Self Reliance Expo returns to Arlington Convention Center April
26-27! We thank everyone for their support on our past events. The event is now
larger than ever! Thanks to everyone for making us the largest expo of its kind
in the country! We could not have done it without you. We have hotel discounts,
and coupons for those who buy their tickets online. Fun for the whole family!
Be sure to purchase online to receive our special offers!
Get the 2013 Consumer Bible Free
Just in time for National Consumer Protection Week (March
3-9), the new Consumer Action Handbook for 2013 is almost off the press. You
can reserve your copy now. This is the handbook used by every
consumer office in the country with listings for corporate consumer affairs
departments, state and local consumer offices, state banking and utilities
departments, and great tips on your rights and solving consumer problems. Books
should be shipped by the end of the month. Or, download the pdf now.
Interesting
assortment of ‘outdoor’ survival videos…
Fewer Coupons
Being Used by Americans
According to NCH Marketing Services, manufacturers sent 305 billion coupons into circulation in the U.S. last year. That’s roughly the same total as 2011. However, the number of coupons used by consumers in 2012 measured 2.9 billion, representing a dip of 17% compared to the year before.
Surely, some consumers scaled back on coupons or stopped using them entirely because they were in better positions financially and no longer felt the need. But in the NCH’s survey, the top answer given by consumers who said they were using fewer coupons is simply this:
“I can’t find coupons for the products I want to buy.”
Nearly half (46%) of consumers who redeemed fewer coupons said they did so mainly because there were fewer coupons worth redeeming. While the total number of coupons has remained steady, the number of coupons that shoppers actually feel are valuable enough to use is on the decline.
(MORE: Former Extreme Couponer Admits: ‘It’s a Waste of Time’)
How to Stretch Ground Beef
An easy way to stretch the food budget is to buy less meat. Creative cooks share the tasty ways they use less meat in their recipes without sacrificing the quality of the meal.
An easy way to stretch the food budget is to buy less meat. Creative cooks share the tasty ways they use less meat in their recipes without sacrificing the quality of the meal.
An Edible Landscape
As spring gets nearer, the urge to add beautiful flowers to the landscape gets stronger. However, when the budget is tight and each expenditure requires justification, buying something because it is pretty is usually not an option, but growing your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs correlates well with a frugal lifestyle. And these plants can look just as good in your yard! Read more.
As spring gets nearer, the urge to add beautiful flowers to the landscape gets stronger. However, when the budget is tight and each expenditure requires justification, buying something because it is pretty is usually not an option, but growing your own fruits, vegetables, and herbs correlates well with a frugal lifestyle. And these plants can look just as good in your yard! Read more.
6
Energy-Saving Projects for Your Home
You updated the appliances and light bulbs. Here are other ways to reduce electric and gas bills.
You updated the appliances and light bulbs. Here are other ways to reduce electric and gas bills.
read more here
The
Nanny State Updates… Americans
are fat n happy while their rights are trampled!
The
Punishment seldom fits the crime in Indiana
Police and prosecutors in Portage, Indiana appear to have
a rather draconian version of a criminal code where every minor offense begins
with a felony and goes up from there. We previously saw how a Walmart
cleaning lady was charged with a felony for eating Oreo cookies at a
story. Now, the Portage police and
prosecutors are seeking a felony conviction against this couple for sneaking
into a zombie movie and not paying the $6.75 ticket price.
Palin: Feds Are ‘Stockpiling Bullets’ To Use Against
Americans
Excerpted from POLITICO: Sarah Palin says America will
eventually default on its debt and claims that the federal government is
“stockpiling bullets in case of civil unrest” to prepare. “If we are going to
wet our proverbial pants over 0.3% in annual spending cuts when we’re running
up trillion dollar...
Supreme Court Rejects
Challenge To Secret Surveillance
|
The Supreme Court ruled
yesterday and dealt another blow to public interest lawsuit by rejecting the
standing of civil liberties groups and citizens to challenge the Obama
Administration's surveillance programs. President Obama has long been criticized for his opposition to such lawsuit and his Justice
Department has continued a successful attack on the ability of citizens to
challenge the unconstitutional actions of their government in the war on
terror. The 5-4 opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. insulates such programs
from judicial review in yet another narrowing of standing rules.
United States is #1?
The U.S. is ranked first in the world for the size of the
economy, as measured by GPD (gross domestic product). But what about in other
areas. With #1 representing the best, a recent report from the World Economic
Forum, covering of 144 countries, puts the United States at #38 for
"Quality of Primary Education." It ranks much higher for quality of
scientific research institutions (#6). Other numbers, like a ranking of #34 for
health care, #41 for infant mortality, and #47 for the quality of math and
science education show that there are plenty of countries which do better in
many areas. In fact, the size of the economy in the U.S. is the only #1
ranking.
|
|
The
Parting Thought- the
times are a changing…
What One Can
Learn at the Gun Show
If you've never been to a gun show, you should go. It's worth it simply
to get a look at one side of the national debate we're having on firearms, the
Second Amendment, and public safety.
I went to a big show in Virginia recently (free admission if you joined the National Rifle Association). Spread out over three
days at a sprawling exhibition hall near Dulles Airport, it was packed with
buyers and sellers of all kinds of weaponry — from a few super-pricey Browning
shotguns ($16,500-$19,000) to a .25-caliber Saturday Night Special for $115.
Who goes to them? Some of the same people, who, according to a recent Pew
Research survey, tend to own guns in the first place: White men from the South. Perhaps
gun shows elsewhere are different, but that's who was generally there in the
packed exhibition hall. There were kids as well, tagging along with their dads
as they perused the aisles of weaponry, knives, clothing, and other wares.
Read
the rest at:
Join others striving for Financial
Independence in the Poor Man Survival community on how to take back control
of your money.
“Until the next revolution”, the Poor Man
Check our Resources
Check it out:
Survival books & supplies – find them at our
ebay store:
Follow us on
Facebook
Twitter
A Shallow
Planet Production
