48 Hours Until The End - What are your final preps?

Imagine that you know for certain that a major economic & political collapse will happen the day after tomorrow, and that the world will never be the same again. This is the big one. It doesn't matter what will trigger the collapse, only that you know it will happen for certain in exactly two days. Assume, too, that must folks are unaware of the impending doom. You now have 48 hours, and only 48 hours, to make any final, last minute preparations. What do you do? What will be your last minute preps?

With the 48-hour countdown, it is too late for any long-term plans or ideas. If you've been thinking about buying some land in the country to start homesteading, but haven't done so yet - too late. You have to figure something else out. Been planning to address your health issues, lose weight, and get into shape? Too late. You'll have to face The End with your current level of health and fitness. But there is time to do plenty of other last minute preps.

Here's what I will do during the last 48 hours:

• Get all cash out of my bank accounts, and collect the contents of any safe-deposit boxes.*
• Refill any prescriptions for me and my family.
• Make sure both my vehicles are fully gassed-up, and check oil, tire pressure, etc.
• Make sure my extra gas storage is full (I keep five 5-gallon gas cans safely stored on my property away from my house). I would buy additional cans/gas to add to this storage.
• Purchase an extra  case or two of motor oil (future supplies may be limited).
• (I don't use propane or heating oil, but if I did, I would make sure I had full tanks.)
• Make sure that my water storage is full and fresh. Would make some last minute extra purchases of 5-gallon water cans and/or several cases of bottled water to add to my water storage.
• Make a quick check of my food storage, to see to if I'm running low on anything.
• Go to local grocery stores, Wal-marts, etc. and buy as much canned & dry foods as possible (including extra food for my dog), also cleaning supplies, unscented bleach, sanitation and hygiene supplies, matches, charcoal, etc.
• Go to local stores & shops that sell ammo (I've already made a list of all within 25 miles of my home) and buy as much as I can of the types I use.
• Go by my local coin dealer and two local pawn shops that sell silver coins (again, I've already made a list of silver dealers in my area), and buy as much junk silver as possible. 
• If I have any cash left at this point, I would buy extra tools & spare parts (spark plugs, duct tape, etc.) that I may need.
• Wash the laundry! (Power and/or water may be interrupted for awhile. Might as well get caught up on the washing while I still can.)
• Review with my family, and others as appropriate, our plans for bugging in security & safety, and when/how we will bug out if necessary.

Bugging Out

I plan to "bug in" at my current location unless and until it becomes too dangerous to do so. Then, I have planned two options for bugging out. To make sure I'm ready for those options, if I need them, I will make sure my vehicles are full of gas, as wel as check the tires and oil. I will also review my bug out plans, make sure I have the needed road maps, and even pre-pack my vehicles to the extent I can so that when I'm forced to bug-out, I can do so as quickly as possible.

If your "Plan A" is bugging out immediately, then do so as early on as you can to avoid the traffic jams and confusion of the last minute escape. Once you arrive at your bug-out location, you can continue with whatever last minute preps you can.

Extreme Ideas

These ideas aren't legal right now, but in a full-fledged collapse like we are considering in this exercise, there will be little or no government or law enforcement to deem things illegal.

Visit the local library and check out as many books as possible that might be useful - homesteading, first aid, alternative medicine, country skills, canning & food preservation, fish & game cookbooks, books for homeschooling, etc.  Once the collapse happens, they'll be no one to return the books to, so Free Books! 

Max out the credit cards buying food, tools, ammo, supplies, even junk silver if you can find any. In a full-fledged economic & political collapse, the banks and financial institutions will collapse, so they'll be no one to collect on the debt. (But be careful, if it isn't a full-fledged collapse, you'll have to pay the bills.

A Final Note

*In his excellent book, The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse, Fernando Aguirre states that once the banks re-opened following the economic collapse in Argentina in 2001, people found that the contents of their safe-deposit boxes were missing, having been confiscated by the government and/or stolen by bank management. That is why I include reclaiming the contents of safe-deposit boxes before the collapse happens. I love Fernando's book because t is full of such tidbits of what happened in Argentina's collapse, which gives us a good idea of some of the things that may happen in a similar collapse in the USA. I highly recommend his book.

What Would You Do?

What would you do? Have I left anything off my list? Put your ideas in the comments section: