Good morning. It’s about 60 degrees and not chilly for once. And today we’re talking about something that absolutely belongs in the survival category — strength.

Not vibes.
Not mindset.
Not theory.

Physical strength.

If general physical preparedness isn’t a prepping principle, I don’t know what is.

We love talking about food storage, water filters, and gear. But if you can’t pull yourself up over something, drag weight, or move your own body under stress — that’s a liability.

There are real-world, life-or-death scenarios where being strong saves you.

Pulling yourself up

Lifting something off someone

Carrying weight under fatigue

Defending yourself

You don’t want to be a weak couch potato hoping your gear saves you.

Before you get strong, you need to know where you are.

Four lifts tell you almost everything about your strength:

Push press

Back squat

Deadlift

Bench press

Get your one-rep max on each.

You don’t need a fancy stat. But those numbers? They’re honest.

You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

Here’s the strategy.

Not “go to the gym and mess around.”
Not “move a little weight and scroll Instagram.”

Focused, purposeful training.

A three-month strength-building phase.

Add weight weekly. Two to five pounds per lift if possible. That’s progressive overload.

You can’t just coast forever. But you can:

Push hard for 12 weeks

Build real strength

Maintain it through the year

That’s sustainable.

Pick a real program. Starting Strength is solid.

Don’t invent your own random plan unless you know what you’re doing.

You can’t slam Oreos and Diet Coke and expect muscle.

You need:

Adequate protein

Sufficient calories

Consistency

For me, maintenance is around 2,800 calories.

After eating in a deficit for a long time, ramping up to that is going to feel like work.

Gaining strength without gaining fat? That’s the sweet spot.

Too skinny and weak? Bad.
Overweight and sluggish? Also bad.

There’s a bell curve for health and longevity.

Moderately strong.
Proper hormones.
Not obese.
Not extreme bodybuilder huge.

That’s the lane.

If you pack on strength, you can coast.

You won’t keep every pound forever, but you won’t crash either if you maintain properly.

Strength:

Improves resilience

Increases confidence

Extends functional life

Makes you harder to victimize

This isn’t vanity lifting.

This is capability.

If you had to pull yourself up right now, could you?

That’s the question.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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The post Get Strong or Get Left Behind | Episode 592 appeared first on Survivalpunk.

Good morning. It’s 60 degrees — finally not cold — and today we’re continuing a thought from yesterday’s episode.

Group buys.

This is something I’ve played with personally. I’ve organized a few. I’ve saved money doing them. But the more I think about it, the more I realize it could be bigger than how I’ve been using it. 

If you’re serious about reducing costs, building community, and increasing resilience — this is a weapon.

Let’s break it down.

It’s exactly what it sounds like.

Buying things as a group.

There’s a host. That person organizes the buy. They:

Source the product

Communicate price

Collect money

Place the order

Split and distribute

Sometimes there’s profit built in. Sometimes the host just wants the item cheaper and splits shipping.

The magic is in shared shipping and bulk pricing.

If shipping costs $90 and you split it between five people? Suddenly it’s cheap.

If the supplier offers discounts above a certain dollar amount? Now the unit price drops even further.

Group buys don’t just split cost. They unlock tiers of pricing you can’t access alone.

Transcription(base)

Let’s talk steaks.

Inflation has wrecked steak prices. Chuck eyes used to be cheap. Not anymore.

Transcription(base)

But buying a whole chuck roll or ribeye primal? The price per pound drops dramatically.

The problem?

It’s $100+ up front

You need freezer space

You need to cut it

That’s where a group buy shines.

Two to four people split a primal, cut it up, divide it evenly. Now you’re paying near-wholesale pricing without storing 50 pounds of beef alone.

Take it further.

Quarter cow.
Half cow.
Whole cow.

Yes, it’s a big upfront cost — $1,000+ depending on current pricing.

Transcription(base)

But split between 8–10 people?

Now it’s manageable.
Now the price per pound gets very attractive.
Now you’re buying local, possibly higher quality meat.

This is real-world food security.

It’s not just meat.

There are bulk suppliers that deliver pallets or semi loads to parking lots — rice, coconut oil, grains, staples.

If you’ve ever priced:

50 lb bags of rice

Bulk coconut oil

Large quantities of flour

You know the price difference is massive compared to grocery shelf packaging.

The only barrier is volume and storage.

Group buys remove both barriers.

Split the pallet.
Split the bucket.
Split the shipping.

Everyone wins.

This might be the most important part.

Group buys force you to:

Build trust

Coordinate logistics

Meet people locally

Exchange value

You’re not just saving money.

You’re building your survival network.

If you’re willing to be the organizer — the person who starts the ball rolling — people will join.

Most people don’t want to lead. They just want to participate.

That’s opportunity.

Here’s the practical advice:

Run your math.

Factor:

Product cost

Shipping

Packaging supplies

Redistribution shipping

Payment transfer fees

First time I did it, I did rough math and it wasn’t perfect.

Now? I feed the numbers into ChatGPT and let it calculate clean pricing tiers.

No guessing.
No accidentally eating the cost.

This is business thinking applied to prepping.

Group buys aren’t new.

But they’re massively underused.

Meat.
Bulk staples.
Specialty gear.
Hard-to-source items.

If you can buy cheaper in volume and split it intelligently, you lower costs and strengthen community.

That’s not just frugal.

That’s strategic.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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Good morning. This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.

It’s 46 degrees. I’m cold. I don’t like being cold. But that’s not what we’re talking about today.

Today we’re talking about something that affects every single one of us every single week.

Shrinkflation.

And how companies are quietly screwing you over while pretending nothing changed.

Listen now.

Shrinkflation is simple.

The bag looks the same.
The box looks the same.
The price looks the same.

But you’re getting less.

Your “pound” bag of chips? Not a pound anymore.
16 ounces becomes 14.5 ounces.
Same packaging. Same shelf space. Same mental price anchor.

They don’t raise the price because people notice price increases.

They shrink the product because most people never check the weight.

That’s the game.

Everyone has internal price anchors.

You know what Coke “should” cost.
You know what ground beef “should” cost.
You know what eggs “should” cost.

When the price jumps too far past that mental number, you hesitate. You buy less. You switch brands.

So instead of raising prices aggressively, companies keep the sticker steady and shave ounces off the back end.

That’s less likely to trigger your brain.

And it works.

Chips.
Soda.
Single-serve snacks.

The further you get from bulk, the worse the value gets.

A 12-pack of Coke creeping toward $9.97? That’s insane. Run the unit math.

If it’s buy 2 get 3 free at Kroger, do the math.
Total cost divided by total units.

If it comes out to $4 a case? That’s closer to reality.

Unit price is king.

Always.

Same with meat. Ground beef has exploded. But sometimes a 50/50 beef-pork blend at Walmart hits that sweet spot.

Closer to ingredients = better value.
Closer to convenience = you’re getting wrecked.

Plain oats? Still solid.
Rice? Still dependable.
Flour? Still cheap.

Bulk ingredients have padding built in. They absorb inflation better.

Single-serve cookies? Astronomical.

Two cookies can cost almost as much as a full bag. And if you run the math on making them from scratch, the ROI is ridiculous.

The closer you move toward bulk, the better your survival position gets.

That’s not theory.

That’s math.

This might be its own episode.

But think about this.

Shipping kills value. Whether it’s supplements, bulk meat, or specialty items.

Split that shipping with friends?

Now the math changes.

Split a primal cut of beef.
Split bulk orders.
Split shipping costs.

Suddenly your unit price drops dramatically.

We talk prepping all the time. But cost discipline is prep too.

Shrinkflation is real.

They’re not just raising prices.

They’re reducing value.

Your defense is simple:

Check weight.
Check unit price.
Buy bulk.
Run the math.
Split costs when you can.

Stop shopping emotionally.
Start shopping strategically.

That’s survival in 2026.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.

DIY to survive.

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Hey, it’s James from SurvivalPunk.com. It’s 39 degrees, and today we’re talking about making your home work harder.

This one’s twofold.

Part one: remodeling strategically in a broken housing market.
Part two: turning your house from a pure expense into something that actually produces.

The housing market sucks right now. That’s just reality. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless.

Starter homes are struggling. Lower-tier houses are sitting.

But higher-end houses? Selling like crazy. Million-dollar homes are moving because people with that kind of money don’t care about rates the same way.

That skews the data.

People see $400k homes selling and assume everything is hot — but that doesn’t help someone trying to get into their first house.

If you’re buying right now, one strategy is simple: buy under your ceiling.

Know your range. Don’t stretch yourself to death. Look at homes that need a little TLC. Cosmetic stuff. Cabinets. Paint. Fixtures. Appliances. Flooring.

Those are solvable.

Over time, you remodel intelligently and build equity yourself.

If you’re already in a house, the same concept applies. Pick one room at a time. Kitchen. Bathroom. Flooring. Do it in phases.

At the end? You either:

Have a fully remodeled home you love

Or you sell at a higher value and move up

But your strategy matters.

If your goal is resale, you remodel based on trends — not your personal taste.

Sage green cabinets? Trendy. I hate them. Doesn’t matter. If the goal is ROI, you follow market taste.

Black kitchens? Also trendy. Not my thing.

If it’s your forever home? Then build for you.

Two totally different goals.

Most people see yard work as a chore.

Leaves? Trash.
Rainwater runoff? Waste.
Space? Decorative.

Wrong mindset.

Leaves are free compost input. Not just your leaves — your neighbors’ leaves too.

Compost them down and:

Stop buying compost

Sell compost

Sell compost tea

Turn a waste stream into revenue

You’re literally converting trash into product.

That’s how you make a home work harder.

Growing your own vegetables reduces grocery bills.

But microgreens? That’s a business.

The profit margins on microgreens are insane if you run it correctly. Small greenhouse. Controlled setup. Scalable.

You need to run the numbers. But the ceiling is there.

Even if you don’t sell:

Growing salads = not buying salads

Growing vegetables = not buying vegetables

Saving seeds = compounding future production

If you’re watering plants with rainwater you collected off your own roof, from seeds you saved from food you grew?

You’re basically printing your own money at that point.

Rain barrels and cisterns are underrated.

Every time it rains, your roof is producing water. Most people just let it run off.

Collect it.

Use it for:

Gardening

Lawn irrigation

Emergency supply

Water bills are going up. Ours doubled recently. It’s still affordable, but it won’t always be.

Reducing dependency now is smart.

Growing mushrooms indoors is exploding.

Lion’s Mane. Reishi. Specialty varieties.

The science on mushroom benefits is still unfolding, but the demand is real — and they’re expensive to buy retail.

If you’re already spending money on them, growing them yourself cuts cost massively.

Get good at it? Sell excess.

There are tons of small indoor side hustles you can start from your home. Some are simple. Some are more technical. The common thread:

Reduce retail markup.

If you can make something yourself that normally carries huge markup — that’s leverage.

There’s nothing wrong with profit. But there is a line between fair markup and straight-up exploitation. If you can eliminate the middle layer, your cost drops dramatically.

That’s power.

Your home can:

Build equity through smart remodeling

Reduce expenses through production

Generate income through niche products

Or do all three

Most people treat their house as:

That’s it.

But if you treat it like a tool — like an asset that works — it changes the math.

The housing market might be rough.

Interest rates might suck.

Starter homes might be overpriced.

But you still control:

What you buy

How you improve it

What you produce from it

What you stop paying retail for

Make your home work harder.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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Good morning. It’s 37 degrees on Valentine’s Day. Hopefully you remembered to plan something for your significant other — unlike me, who accidentally requested off the 15th instead of the 14th.

Today we’re talking about using AI — ChatGPT, Suno, and others — for fun and profit. You don’t have to use one specific tool. They all have strengths and weaknesses. They’re only getting better. And if you’re not learning how to use them, you’re falling behind.

This episode is about how I actually use AI in real life — for the podcast, for creativity, for fitness tracking, for health data, and even for analyzing DNA.

And yes — without AI, this podcast wouldn’t be happening daily.

Transcription(base)

For years I used “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones as intro music. YouTube hated it. Copyright flags. Monetization issues. Headaches.

Now I use Suno AI to generate custom theme songs. I can spin up a holiday-specific intro or a tools-themed metal jam in minutes. That simply wasn’t possible before unless you had real money to hire an artist.

And it’s not just podcast music.

Back in the day, you’d make a mixtape for someone you liked. Cassette. Burned CD. Carefully curated songs.

Now? I can write my wife a custom bubblegum-themed romantic parody song in under a minute while sitting at work.

That level of creative leverage didn’t exist before.

Here’s where it really gets practical.

I use ChatGPT to:

Generate topic lists (hit or miss — but great for idea sparks)

Help outline research and talking points

Convert podcast transcripts into blog posts

Create tailored thumbnails for each episode

After recording, I run a transcription plugin in Audacity. Export it. Feed it to ChatGPT. It crafts the blog post that matches exactly what I said.

Back in the day, making a thumbnail meant:

Searching Creative Commons images

Verifying licenses

Editing in Photoshop

Formatting text manually

That could take an hour per episode.

Now? Seconds.

That alone is game-changing.

Sometimes the transcription plugin fails. When that happens, I use Descript, which has AI filters that can remove filler words like “um” and “like.” It’s powerful. It costs money at scale.

If the show budget explodes someday, that’s one of the first upgrades I’d bring in.

But even with free tools, the efficiency gain is massive.

AI doesn’t replace me. It removes friction.

This is where it gets interesting.

I use ChatGPT to track my TRT injections — site rotation, dosage, symptoms. I log:

50mg testosterone left hip

25mg NPP ventral glute

Symptoms, mood, energy levels

Some days I forget where I’m supposed to inject next. I ask. It reviews my logs and tells me.

It’s not medical advice. It’s structured journaling.

And when I eventually see a rheumatologist for chronic fatigue and pain, I’ll walk in with a detailed record of everything I’ve tried and how I felt.

That’s powerful leverage.

You can download raw DNA data, convert it into a readable format, and upload it for analysis.

You can ask:

Is this supplement a good fit for my DNA?

Do I have methylation issues?

What should I avoid?

Is it perfect? Probably not.
Is it fun and insightful? Absolutely.

AI is very good at pattern recognition and extrapolation. You just have to remember it’s not a doctor.

AI isn’t magic.

It’s leverage.

It saves time. It expands creativity. It reduces friction. It helps organize chaos.

You don’t need to build an AI startup. But if you’re not using these tools to streamline your life, your business, your health tracking, your creative output — you’re leaving value on the table.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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The post Using AI for Fun and Profit | Episode 588 appeared first on Survivalpunk.

Hey, it’s James from SurvivalPunk.com. It’s 45 degrees, I can barely see, and today we’re talking about routine — why it’s a great survival tool, how it helps you now, and how it helps you later.

Routine is one of those preps that benefits you in the “for now” times and in the “oh crap” times. In a stressful situation, you fall back to your lowest level of training. So the higher you make that floor, the better you perform.

And routine is how you raise the floor.

There’s a part of my brain that loves routine. I didn’t fully realize that until I got older, but I thrive on it. I get legitimately irritated when something messes up my routine.

My morning coffee routine is streamlined. Optimized. Efficient. I’ve tweaked it over and over to make it faster so I can get out the door on time. Lately it’s gotten too long, and I may need to rethink it — but the point is this:

Once something becomes routine, you don’t debate it. You just do it.

That’s powerful.

Because when life gets chaotic, you don’t rise to motivation. You fall back to habit.

Meal timing and food planning are huge.

Yes, there’s nuance. Yes, fasting can have benefits. Yes, you don’t need to force-feed yourself at 9:00 if you’re not hungry.

But if you consistently don’t plan food, you will make bad decisions when hunger hits.

Your brain only has so much willpower. Decision fatigue is real. Every food choice drains a little bit of mental energy. If you don’t plan, eventually you’ll say, “Screw it,” and grab whatever is easy.

Consistency beats intensity every time.

I’ve seen people do crash diets — thousand calories a day, one meal a day, massive swings — and sure, they lose weight. Then they binge five pizzas and gain it back.

Sustainable routines win.

For me, that means:

Meals prepped

Protein prioritized

Food ready before I’m starving

If I’m not hungry at the exact time? Fine. But it’s there when I need it. No panic decisions.

Sleep is massive.

Bad sleep tanks your immune system. It wrecks hormones. It crushes recovery. It makes everything else harder.

I try to go to bed at the same time every night. My wake time is consistent. Even on off days, I rarely sleep in past 5 or 6 a.m.

When you wake up at a consistent time, you’re proactive. When you sleep until noon, you’re reactive all day.

You’re behind before you even start.

Dial in:

Bedtime

Wake time

Light exposure

Supplements if needed

Consistency compounds.

There’s a quote floating around — if you don’t plan your money, your money will plan you. It’s true.

When I review the budget regularly, everything works. We know where the money’s going. Savings grows. There’s less stress.

When I don’t? It’s foggy. It feels tight. You wonder where everything went.

Routine budgeting reduces anxiety. It reduces decision fatigue. It increases control.

The more you can automate — savings transfers, bills, investments — the fewer decisions you have to make. Less friction means fewer mistakes.

Fitness might be number four on this list, but it’s powerful.

A solid training routine creates a cascade of positive effects:

Better sleep

Better insulin sensitivity

Better mental clarity

Better mood

I’m planning a body recomposition phase. That requires structure. I need a clear plan for when I train, what I eat, and how I recover.

Again — routine lowers friction.

You don’t argue with yourself. You just execute.

Routine is boring.

Routine is not sexy.

Routine doesn’t go viral.

But routine raises your baseline. And in survival — whether it’s job loss, stress, health issues, or disaster — baseline matters.

Dial in:

Food timing

Sleep schedule

Budget reviews

Fitness structure

You don’t need perfection. You need consistency.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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The post Routine: The Most Underrated Survival Tool | Episode 587 appeared first on Survivalpunk.

Good morning. It’s 45 degrees, I’m dragging butt, and today we’re talking about something that quietly kills a lot of people every year.

Carbon dioxide. Smoke. Ventilation. The invisible stuff.

This isn’t sexy prepping. This is boring, basic, “why are we even talking about this?” prepping.

Because a $20 device can literally save your life.

I was scrolling headlines this morning and saw another story about deaths from carbon dioxide poisoning. It happens every single year. A lot.

And here’s the stupid part — a CO₂ detector costs like twenty bucks.

Even if you don’t run a propane heater, even if you think your house is “fine,” they’re cheap enough that not owning one is just negligence.

Modern homes are airtight. That’s great for energy efficiency. It’s not great if something is off-gassing inside.

We run:

A Mr. Buddy propane backup heater

On-demand propane hot water

Both can introduce CO₂ into the air.

Under normal conditions? Fine.

Crank the flame too high? It absolutely spikes. We’ve set ours off before. We’ve seen it climb toward 150 parts per million. The alarm goes off, we crack windows, levels drop.

If we didn’t have the monitor? We’d have no clue.

That’s the scary part. Without a detector, you literally do not know.

If you’re running any kind of propane heater — especially in winter — this is not optional.

Yes, some heaters have built-in shutoff sensors. The Mr. Buddy claims it will shut itself off if CO₂ gets too high.

Cool.

I still want my own monitor.

That’s a belt-and-suspenders situation. Redundancy matters when the failure mode is “you don’t wake up.”

Also: crack a window. It feels counterintuitive when you’re trying to heat a space, but fresh air matters.

If your house doesn’t have smoke detectors, I don’t know what to tell you.

They are cheap. The return on investment is astronomical. The ROI of not dying in a house fire? I’ll take that trade every day of the week.

Yes, I’ve had one fail before. I installed one when I built my house, it broke, and there was a stretch where we didn’t have one. It happens.

Then you fix it.

Also: change your batteries.

Do not be the person whose smoke detector chirps for three months.

Just replace the batteries.

CO₂ detectors. Smoke alarms. Flashlights. They all need batteries.

Stock some.

I bought one of those zippered foam battery organizers that holds multiple sizes. It’s nerdy, but having a full case of ready-to-go batteries is awesome.

Also, don’t cheap out on garbage rechargeable batteries. I bought some that were labeled rechargeable and either weren’t — or were just trash. They wouldn’t hold a charge.

When it comes to life-safety gear? Buy decent batteries.

Many modern smoke detectors also monitor CO₂. That’s fine. Two-for-one is great.

Personally, I like a dedicated CO₂ monitor that shows parts per million in real time. I want to see the numbers. I want to watch them drop when I open a window.

But if you’re starting from scratch? A combo unit is far better than nothing.

The goal is awareness.

Carbon dioxide isn’t the only invisible threat.

Radon is real. I’ve watched a YouTube renovation series where a homeowner tested high radon levels in a basement before sealing and fixing it. That’s something you may want to test, depending on where you live.

Ventilation matters.

Fresh air matters.

And if you have natural gas? Know where your emergency shutoff is. That’s non-negotiable.

This episode isn’t dramatic.

It’s not about collapse.

It’s about not dying from something preventable.

Buy a CO₂ detector.
Test your smoke alarms.
Stock batteries.
Know your shutoffs.
Crack a window when running propane.

Preparedness isn’t always about big disasters. Sometimes it’s about the invisible stuff quietly building up in your own house.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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Good morning. It’s 35 degrees, it’s cold, and today we’re talking about something that doesn’t trend on YouTube and doesn’t get clicks like “grid down tomorrow” — your health.

There’s a reason I’m covering this now. A guy I’ve known since I was about 11 passed away recently. Football teammate. Same schools. Long history. Early word is it may have been a cardiac event. And before we go any further — I am not saying any advice in this episode would have saved him. Sometimes things just happen.

But if you’re neglecting your health? This is your wake-up call.

I’m 44. And for a while I told myself the fatigue was normal. Weird sleep schedule. Overtime. Overnight shifts. Aches and pains. That’s just aging, right?

That mindset is a trap.

Yes, you shouldn’t run to the doctor for every sniffle. I didn’t. But you also shouldn’t just accept feeling like garbage as your new baseline.

If you wake up tired every day. If your joints hurt constantly. If your energy is gone. That’s data. Don’t ignore it.

If you’ve listened for a while, you know I’ve been troubleshooting my own health.

Testosterone. Supplements. Methylated vitamins. Higher-dose vitamin D. Peptides. Cutting things out. Adding things in. Tracking symptoms with ChatGPT. Logging fatigue, flare-ups, lab numbers, theories.

Some things helped briefly. Some did nothing. Some made things worse.

At some point, you have to admit: you’re guessing.

I finally used telehealth through my terrible insurance and got bloodwork done. Electrolytes, kidney function, autoimmune markers. Most came back fine.

Except two didn’t.

ANA positive.
Anti–double stranded DNA positive (low positive).

Those markers can point toward autoimmune issues. Possibly lupus. I’m not self-diagnosing. I’m seeing a rheumatologist. But I finally have data instead of guesses.

That matters.

Here’s the prepper lesson.

We stock food before we’re starving.
We store water before we’re thirsty.
We build first aid kits before we’re bleeding.

But most people ignore their blood pressure, ignore chronic fatigue, ignore pain, ignore lab work — until it explodes.

At minimum:

Get bloodwork once a year.

Know your baseline numbers.

Track changes over time.

If something’s off, address it early.

You don’t even have to rely entirely on a doctor to initiate it. There are affordable lab services where you can order panels yourself and see the numbers. That yearly snapshot alone is powerful.

Preparedness includes your body.

For months, the only thing helping me push through fatigue was kratom. Say what you want — it helped me function. But that’s a band-aid. It’s not a diagnosis.

White-knuckling your way through work, overtime, parenting, life — that’s not strength. That’s deferred maintenance.

If you wouldn’t run your truck with the oil light on for six months, don’t do it to your body.

You are the most important piece of gear you own.

I don’t know yet what’s going on with me. Maybe it’s autoimmune. Maybe it’s iron depletion. Maybe it’s something else entirely.

What I do know is this: ignoring it wasn’t working.

Take care of your health before it forces you to.
Get the data. Make informed decisions.
And stop pretending feeling terrible is just part of getting older.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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The post Taking Care of Your Health Before It Forces You To | Episode 585 appeared first on Survivalpunk.

Every few months, someone puts out a list claiming they’ve found the “best states for survival.” Perfect land. Perfect climate. Perfect collapse conditions. This episode starts with one of those videos and then does what those lists never do — slow down and actually think through the tradeoffs.

Because there is no perfect state. There are only compromises you can live with.

I watched a video recently that ranked nine states that would supposedly do best in a collapse scenario. The creator put in serious work — hundreds of hours of research — and a lot of it made sense. Tennessee was on the list, and I was pretty happy with where it landed.

But every time I watch lists like this, I catch myself doing what most people do: looking to see if my state made the cut. That alone tells you something important. These lists hit emotionally, not practically.

Even the states that rank high still have real drawbacks. And the ones that rank low often have strengths that don’t show up on paper.

Population density matters — a lot — but not in the simple way people think.

Low population density sounds great until you realize it also means fewer services, fewer jobs, and fewer amenities. If you move somewhere extremely remote, you’re trading convenience and infrastructure for isolation.

On the flip side, dense cities are terrible for survival. Too many people, too much dependence, and too much competition for resources. Cities are where things unravel first when systems fail.

The sweet spot is balance. Enough people to support infrastructure and community, but not so many that you’re surrounded by desperation.

A lot of people fantasize about total isolation. Alaska wilderness. Middle of nowhere. No neighbors.

That sounds cool until you’re honest with yourself.

Most humans are not built to be true isolationists. If you were, you wouldn’t be listening to this podcast — you’d already be off-grid somewhere, alone, doing your thing. Almost nobody actually wants zero people.

Add a family into the equation and it matters even more. You don’t get to unilaterally decide to drag everyone into extreme isolation because you’re bored or having a midlife crisis. Survival planning has to account for the people you’re responsible for, not just your personal fantasy.

Climate is another area where extremes hurt you.

Super cold areas bring long winters, heavy snow, and logistics problems. Super hot areas make you dependent on water and cooling. Living without air conditioning in extreme heat is brutal, especially in modern homes that weren’t designed for passive cooling.

A temperate, middle-of-the-road climate tends to be easier to manage. Mild winters. Warm but not oppressive summers. Less strain on heating and cooling systems.

This is one of the reasons Tennessee sits in a comfortable middle. We get winter, but not months of it. We get summer, but not desert-level heat. That balance matters.

One of the most overlooked factors is local culture and tradition.

Areas with a history of self-reliance — gardening, canning, fixing things, helping neighbors — have a massive advantage when systems fail. But here’s the catch: if you move into those areas as an outsider, you may never fully belong.

Some communities take generations to accept newcomers. That doesn’t make them bad — it just means you need to be realistic. If you already live in a place like that, you’re ahead. If you’re planning to move, understand that community can’t be bought or rushed.

You also need to honestly assess natural disaster risks.

Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Flooding. Wildfires. Earthquakes. Some states deal with several of these at once. Others have fewer, but none have zero — despite what some lists claim.

Tennessee scores well overall, but it does sit near a major fault line and experiences minor earthquakes regularly. That’s something people forget. Every location has risks. The key is understanding which risks you’re accepting and preparing for them specifically.

A few more things matter more than most lists admit:

Firearm laws: Guns are tools. A state hostile to ownership is limiting one of your survival options.

Nuclear risk: Proximity to major targets and prevailing winds matter. So does distance from nuclear reactors.

Income reality: None of this works if you can’t make a living where you move.

You can’t survive on ideology alone. You still need money, skills, and systems.

Closing

The best state for survival isn’t the one that wins a YouTube ranking. It’s the one where your climate, population density, income, community, and risk profile line up with your actual life.

Tennessee works for me — not because it’s perfect, but because it’s balanced.

Assess where you live. Be honest about your limits. And stop chasing fantasy maps.

This is James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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The post Best States for Survival (And Why It’s Complicated) | Episode 584 appeared first on Survivalpunk.

Most people think “learning a skill” means years of grinding before you see a payoff. That’s wrong.

There are a bunch of skills you can get to a useful level fast—like “top 10% because most people can’t do it at all” fast—and they’ll save you real money immediately. Some of them will be frustrating as hell. Some of them you’ll need to learn when to stop and call a pro. But a few basic skills can save you hundreds… and sometimes thousands… in the next 30 days.

There’s a bell curve to everything. Going from zero → competent is usually quick if you practice smart. Going from competent → elite is where it gets brutally hard.

For prepping, you don’t need elite. You need “I can handle basic problems without panic, and I’m not paying someone $300 for something I can do in an afternoon.” That’s the sweet spot.

Drywall is probably the #1 “learn this and instantly stop bleeding money” skill.

You can patch drywall a million ways. Some are janky but functional. Some look great and last. The key is picking the method that matches how much you care about the finish and how long you want it to hold up.

Yes, if you post your drywall patch online, the “pros and armchair generals” will come tell you you’re an idiot. Ignore them. Your wife will think you’re a wizard because the hole is gone.

And the first time you do it, you’ll buy some basic tools—then you own them forever. That setup cost pays off fast.

Replacing an outlet is one of those skills that sounds scary until you do it right a couple times.

Watch several videos. Get familiar with the process. Don’t rush it. Electricity can kill you, and it can also burn your house down if you get lazy. Keep just enough fear to stay respectful.

This isn’t theoretical either—you can have an outlet overheat from a space heater pulling too much power. When you smell burning, the move is simple: kill the breaker and fix the problem, not “leave it and hope.”

Once you know outlets, that leads to bigger wins: adding an outlet, moving an outlet, swapping a fixture—skills that stack with drywall work. Cut drywall, run wire, mount box, patch drywall, paint. Done.

Plumbing is a pain in the ass. That’s just part of the deal.

But the payoff is huge because busted pipes and leaks get expensive fast and ruin your whole day. The minimum viable plumbing skill is being able to stop the bleeding: cap something off, patch a busted line, fix a basic leak.

Having a few tools and parts on hand matters—PEX tools (even if they’re not perfect), a few fittings, and emergency push-to-connect fittings for when you just need water stopped now and you’ll do it prettier later.

The number-one car skill isn’t changing oil. It’s tires.

Changing a tire gets you home. Plugging a tire keeps that same tire running like nothing happened and can save you from buying a replacement. A tire plug is one of the highest-ROI skills you can learn quickly.

From there, the next big upgrade is learning the common failures you’ll actually see: ignition coils, basic sensors, and simple electrical issues.

If you want to level up fast, having a basic diagnostic scanner at home is huge. Even if you don’t fix everything, knowing what’s wrong stops you from getting fleeced.

The line is simple: when it turns into “it could be 20 different things,” that’s usually when it’s smarter to pay a professional to diagnose instead of playing expensive whack-a-mole.

There are medical skills worth knowing—no question.

But there’s also a point where confidence turns into a bad decision. Having knowledge and tools is good. Deciding to pull your own tooth because you have a toothache is probably a terrible day.

Preparedness includes knowing when to DIY and when to hand it off.

Closing

Skills are the prep that pays you twice: once in money saved, and again in confidence when something breaks at the worst possible time.

Start with drywall. Learn basic outlet replacement. Get minimally competent at stopping leaks. Learn tires and tire plugs. Add a diagnostic scanner if you want to get dangerous.

Learn fast. Save money. Stay independent.

This has been James from SurvivalPunk.com.
DIY to survive.

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The post Skills That Pay You Back in 30 Days | Episode 583 appeared first on Survivalpunk.