Anytime you hear someone talk about prepping, you read about it online, or listen to a podcast on the subject, what’s the one factor that all of them have in common? No, it’s not doom and gloom: it’s money.

a large home in the countryside

There’s training you need to do, supplies you need to buy, and gear that you need to acquire or finance.

Prepping properly simply costs a certain amount of money. But this begs the question of whether or not money is actually a necessity, or if your fate is sealed if you don’t have enough money or even have an income when the s*** hits the fan.

I won’t lie to you: money helps, and it helps a whole lot because having the right stuff is indispensable.

But it’s also true that where there is a will, there’s a way, and if you have enough grit, skills, and tenacity, it’s possible to prepare for a crisis and even get through one without an income. Sound impossible? It isn’t. Keep reading, and I’ll tell you what you need to know.

Get Your Mind Right!

The first thing you must do if you are facing a legitimate survival scenario, even a long-term one, without an income, is take control of your thoughts. Where your mind goes, your fate will follow.

I’ve been there before, and believe me, I wanted to lay down, curl up, and die from despair. But I didn’t.

No matter the problem, there is a solution, and you need to start thinking about solutions, not problems. One step at a time, one day at a time, one week at a time.

Also, reflect on how we got here: every single one of our ancestors overcame countless problems, many far worse than the ones we are facing, with far less support and chances of success, just so we could be here alive today. You very literally come from a lineage of conquerors and survivors. Believe it and act like it!

Save Up a Nest Egg Now or Suffer Later

Some readers might think this section is cheating since I’m supposed to be giving you advice on how to survive an SHTF situation with no income. But if you want to split hairs about it, I still am!

You can get by for a very long time with no income, and I mean no income whatsoever if you’ve got a sizable piggy bank.

Nothing will be more comfortable during a time like this than knowing you’ve got cash money resources, or the equivalent, like gold and silver, that you can tap to get what you need and take advantage of favors.

This is something that a surprising amount of preppers overlook, in my experience: it’s all too easy to get hypnotized by the latest and greatest in gear, clothing, packs, and more, and forget about the utility of cold, hard cash.

Make sure you are building up a fund of cash on hand. Set your initial target for one month of all expenses, and I mean all expenses, at your current lifestyle level.

If you tighten down your belt immediately when you lose your income, you can stretch that to a month and a half, two months, or maybe even longer.

I always advise my clients to set a benchmark of three months’ worth of savings to cover everything you might possibly need, with more always being better.

Clear Debt on Essential Property and Equipment

A grim, ugly, but entirely real facet of society is that there is no mercy shown for debtors in times of trouble. Your town got wiped out by a tornado after you lost your job? That’s really too bad, we’ll need you to make that mortgage or car payment regardless. Or else…

Unless society has completely crumpled, and maybe not even then, you better believe that whoever holds your car loan or mortgage is going to care very much about whether you’re alive or dead if you miss even a single payment.

It would not do for you and your family to be roused from your home and kicked out should the bank foreclose on your property, or to be without a bug-out vehicle when it’s time to hit the trail because the repo man came to get it.

Just like saving up for a nest egg should be done now, you should absolutely prioritize clearing out all debt on essential property. Your home, land, vehicle, and anything else vital to your plans that is at risk of repossession must be owned free and clear if you want peace of mind.

starting fire with a magnifying glass
starting fire with a magnifying glass

Skill Up Now

The time to “git gud,” as the kids say, is not when the pressure is on and the devil is breathing down your neck. The time to get good is now while you have time and opportunity for focused practice.

Like I said above, gear can make all the difference in a survival situation, but it really is skills that will pay the bills. If you’ve got the skills, you can take care of everything else you need. But knowledge, or reading the instructions out of a book when the time is nigh, is not the same thing as actual skill.

If it’s hiking, gardening, self-defense, home repair, or anything else you can think of, you need to be boning up on those skills right now while times are good.

You might want to take it easy and relax, and Lord knows there are a hundred other things on your list of chores that need doing, but this is something you’ve got to focus on if it’s going to get done at all. And yes, that includes the survival skills that you aren’t crazy about.

Get Fit with No Money and No Equipment

Fitness, physical fitness, is as imperative as mental fitness during hard times. Arguably, you’ll be facing the very hardest times, and so it’s even more important that you are physically fit.

For 99% of us, that means a fantastically expensive home gym or a somewhat less expensive gym membership. If you’re already on the rocks financially with no income, the notion is out of the question.

Luckily, you don’t need one single iota of any of that stuff to get fit, and downright buff. Bodyweight exercises and good old-fashioned cardio are all you need. Push-ups, lunges, pull-ups, jumping jacks, running, sprints, burpees, sit-ups, and all the other stuff you hated doing in boot camp or high school PE will save the day here—if you’ve got the discipline!

Prioritize Stockpiling of Actual Survival Necessities

When I mentioned survival necessities, what does that mean to you? Arguably, everything you might buy is necessary if you end up needing it, right? That’s one way to look at it, and one way to justify credit card debt when you’re going on a shopping spree online or at the local outdoor store.

But survival necessities, real necessities, are the things that you need to keep your body temperature at 98.6°F, meaning alive! What you and your loved ones really need to survive is air, shelter, water, food, and security. Everything that will furnish that, and ensure it, is what you should be focusing on stockpiling.

Sure, a solar power system is a smart investment and a great way to round out your capability, but you can’t eat it or drink it. It’s not going to keep you warm when the power is out and you’re trying to bunker down in a damaged home.

If money is tight or you are forced to dip into your savings to get the things you need, focus only on those things that will actually keep you alive.

Repurpose Common Items for Survival Tasks

A side effect of living in our hyper-capitalist and entrepreneurial society is that companies great and small have just the right solution for any perceived problem.

Since there’s nothing new under the sun, nearly anything that’s on the market today only does the job of some other invention that’s been around a lot longer and is a whole lot cheaper.

Even when a piece of kit is unique, all it’s going to do is separate you from your hard-earned money, and this is the perfect opportunity to show ingenuity and thrift by using skills to pay the bills just like we talked about.

For instance, you might be considering the purchase of a multi-hundred-dollar home water filtration system. They certainly work, and I’ve written about and recommended lots of different models before. There are great reasons to get one! But owning the water filter isn’t the objective itself: having clean, drinkable, potable water is!

You might be surprised to learn that you can make a shockingly effective water filter, one that can produce a lot of water every hour, using nothing more than a common 5-gallon hardware store plastic bucket, some charcoal, sand, small gravel, clay, and a coarse cloth.

Layering these materials makes an all-natural and amazingly effective, safe water filter!

testing the plastic bottle water filter
testing the plastic bottle water filter

And no, you won’t be drinking murky river water that comes out the other side: assembled properly and maintained, filters of this kind can remove just as many dissolved solids, germs, and viruses as purpose-designed units.

That’s just one example, but there are many others. You might use a common roll of contractor plastic, for instance, to help seal up a window against smoke or gas intrusion with a little help from duct tape, or fashion it into a crude but effective rain catcher to supplement your water supply.

Imagination is a priceless, and free, resource under the circumstances!

Use Low/No-Cost Alternatives for Expensive “Must-Have” Equipment

A slightly different track piggybacking on the previous point: sometimes, there just doesn’t seem to be any way around dropping a ton of coin on essential, must-have items if you want to be truly prepared.

Let’s look at self-defense for instance. Is there anything better than a firearm when the chips are down? No, there isn’t. Regrettably, guns tend to be very expensive.

Again, look at the actual objective, not the object itself, as your intended goal. The objective is a lethal weapon for serious self-defense. It sounds medieval—and it is!—but you might consider fashioning a spear, club, or some other implement, or just repurposing a sharp camp axe as a brutal close-quarters weapon.

Don’t Hesitate to Make Use of Assistance and Outreach Programs

This is something that most preppers I know really struggle with, especially the men. If you are totally down on your luck, out of options, and don’t know how you’re going to keep your head and the heads of your loved ones above water (figuratively, I mean), you shouldn’t hesitate to make use of any assistance or outreach programs available to you.

This might be community or church food banks, government assistance, EBT, neighborly charity, help from a friend, or anything else. It’s good to hang on as long as you can, and even in dire straits, it’s good to think of those who are less fortunate and more needy than yourself.

But if you subject yourself or, worse, your family to torment because of your ego, that’s your pride with a capital ‘P’ taking hold—the first and deadliest sin. In this case, you could be dooming your loved ones to misery and even death. Don’t do it.

When the clouds part and you get back on your feet or get some momentum behind you, you don’t need to take anymore, and you can look for ways to give back.

Minimize Waste in All Things

When money is tight and income is barely there or non-existent, minimizing waste should be at the top of your daily task list. Things that you might throw away or discard as useless can take on entirely new significance under the circumstances.

For instance, leftover or unused takeout cutlery? That goes in your stash of disposable utensils for future use. The same thing can be said for sauce packets, salt and pepper, napkins, and the like.

Likewise, don’t be afraid to do a little bit of light dumpster diving or reassessing what you would ordinarily throw out.

Old cruddy drop cloths might be repurposed as tarps for improvised shelter. Kitchen scraps can make valuable compost to grow new food. Junk electronics can be stripped, scrapped, and salvaged for income or resources.

When you start looking for the practical or monetary value in everything, you’ll find that you have a lot more at your disposal than you think.

Barter Your Skills for Goods

Everybody’s good at something. Even if you are basically completely unskilled in anything like a genuine trade, you can still do labor. Exchanging your time, effort, and skills with other folks in need is a great way to get what you need in turn.

Keep in mind; the other people around you are in all likelihood going through the exact same struggles that you are. They may or may not have an income of any kind or be financially well off.

Regardless, they might be willing to pay you in food or other resources you need. Long-term work might even be exchanged for room and board for your family. It all just depends.

In case you didn’t think of it, this is another great reason to skill up while you still can: mechanical and repair skills can pay the bills in times of trouble, as can medical skills and a whole lot more.

Even if money won’t help you, or if money is no good during something like a currency collapse, if you can work and exchange for survival necessities, it’s just as good.

Don’t hesitate to do it when you’re out of other options!

Join a MAG

A MAG, short for mutual assistance group, is exactly what it sounds like: a group of like-minded people who agree to mutually aid each other in times of trouble. Some folks call them survival coalitions, survival tribes, or a variety of other names, but the basic idea is the same.

What’s different are the organization, membership requirements, dues, and other intangible factors.

Some MAGs are little more than a contact list of neighbors and fellow citizens in a local area that offer to at least try and help each other when needed. Joining these groups might be a matter of simply doing a meet-and-greet and then getting on a call list

Others are close-knit, insular tribes of highly motivated, well equipped people who swear bloody oaths to look out for and stick up for one another come hell or high water – and heaven help you if you let down your brothers and sisters in the group.

Joining a group like this might require knowing someone who is already in the group and will sponsor you, a lengthy probationary or tryout, a significant financial buy-in or it might just be impossible.

The point is if you are truly on the skids, being a member of one of these established groups can be a lifesaver. But, you’ve got to give to get: none of these organizations will tolerate freeloaders, moochers or carpetbaggers.

If you’re willing to contribute to group success and well-being before the sky is falling, your mag might serve as a good “reserve chute” if you lose your income.

no income survival pin