What Preppers Can Learn From the Homeless

In a world where economic hardship is a reality, it is no surprise then that there are millions of homeless people in the world. According to a survey done by the United Nations, it was estimated that there were about 100 million homeless people around the world. Another survey done in 2015 showed that about 1.6 billion people in the world did not have adequate housing.

Poor people will always be with us, it is just the way life is, but have you ever asked yourself how homeless people survive? We hear many survival stories about how a bunch of people was trapped in some unknown place and how they managed to survive and eventually got out. But rarely will you hear stories of homeless people who walk our streets every day. These people have no one to turn to for help and that is why they are on the streets begging and looking for scraps of food and whatever else they can find. So you can imagine what they have to do to survive every day.

If one day you lost everything, your home, money, car, and all your other possessions, and you are out on the streets, what would you do? It may be hard to believe that this could happen to you, but the truth is it can happen to anyone – especially in the long lasting emergency situations. When you suddenly find yourself in an SHTF situation, and the streets become your new home, you will need to learn a few tricks to be able to survive. In this article we are going to take a look on some amazing everyday survival tricks preppers could learn from homeless.

Layered Clothing

Homeless people do not have a lot of clothing options and therefore, many of them that live on the streets layer their clothing. This is a great way of keeping warm, and when it is hot, you can remove the extra clothing to keep cool. Layering is ideal because clothing has numerous uses. For instance, you can use it as shelter, filter, water collector, napkin, bandage, and even as a rope. So every piece of your clothing can serve a purpose, so it is important to be smart when choosing your clothing for survival situations.

Use Newspapers For Insulation & Making fire

Newspapers have a number of good uses including lighting fire and insulation. Believe it or not, newspapers can become extremely handy if you want to start a fire to keep warm. You can also stuff newspapers in your clothing and shoes for extra insulation. You can also use newspapers as bedding as well as tissue paper, napkin or plate.

Keeping Warm

When you are living on the streets, it is very hard to keep warm, even if you have a layer of clothing, especially during the winter season. You can build a small fire to keep warm if it is possible. Alternatively, you can fill some container or water bottles with warm or hot water, and place them beneath your blanket. Living in the survival shelter is much better than living on the streets, therefore it is an essential skill to be able to build a survival shelter in the woods. You can insulate it, make fire place etc., and protects against snow, wind, and rain, and most importantly helps you to stay warm.

Use Cans for heating food and water

 Living on the streets, of course, has many challenges and one of them is being able to heat or cook food. But, you can still achieve this without needing pots and pans by using empty used cans instead. When you are on the streets, you have to be creative and you have to find whatever items you can find to achieve your purpose and increase your chances of survival.

You can use cans to make some coffee, heat water, warm food, among other things. You can also use a can as a cup. Basically, if you collect enough cans, you can have each can for a different purpose.

Keeping Clean

No one expects your hygiene standards to be high when you are living on the streets, but there are a few ways you can keep clean. If you get some little cash, you can buy some baking soda, which is relatively inexpensive in most stores and use it as toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and deodorant. You can also use rainwater to wash and utilize trash bags for storage of dirty laundry.

Finding Food

Homeless people are good at finding food and they know where to find it. Therefore, if you come across another homeless person, they may be directed to where you can find something to eat.

Alternatively, you use a few tricks to get a meal. There are some hotels that offer free breakfast, so clean up well and make yourself presentable before going into the hotel. Check around restaurants and as if you can get some food. Most restaurants have leftovers and you may find someone kind enough to give you some.

However, in the survival situation, there might not be restaurants etc. anymore. Therefore, you should learn at least basic fishing and hunting skills. You should also start building your survival food stockpile to avoid problems with food.

Avoid unpacking your belongings

Homeless people never camp permanently in one place because they know they can get kicked out at any time, so most of them tend to move from one place to another. This why many of them never unpack their belongings and this is a very survival skill strategy especially when you suddenly have to evacuate a place immediately. If your possessions are always packed, you can be sure that you will not leave anything behind or lose anything.

Furthermore, when you are on the streets, the chances of being robbed are quite high. This is why most homeless people never unpack their possessions. You need to keep your stuff close to you at all times and it is easier to do that if they are packed in a single bag or backpack if you have one.

Stick to familiar ground

Safety should be on top your priority list even if you are living on the streets. So you need to get to know your area well. Get to know the business, restaurants and the people around you before you decide to settle in that area.

Find ways to be happy

However hard it may be to be happy when you are literally living on the streets, it does make things easier for you than when you are frustrated, depressed, sad or angry. It is easy to fire up negative emotions because of your circumstance, but this will only drive you to make a bad decision or even get into trouble with the police or other people. Try to stay hopeful that things will get better for you. Have a positive mindset and stay in faith. It is essential to learn survival mindset.

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