The best way to not becoming a target, is to not look like a target. The shiny tools get picked first, as they would say. In a crowd you want to be as incognito as you possibly can by not drawing attention to yourself or to what you have or as the subject of this article WHERE you live.
This is essential when the hard times come and when the current societal structures become more loose, even non-existent..
As you are reading the writing on the proverbial wall in today’s economy, you’ll almost certainly have a plan to defend where you live from unprepared looters, but there’s no point ignoring the ugly truth: If enough people want to overwhelm your defenses, and they’re determined enough, they’re probably going to succeed.
That is why it is important to locate you and your family in a community that are like minded to you. Whether it is in the state of preparation you have, or the same sense of justice as you or have the same religious beliefs as you do, as you strive to live all three aspects.
However, if you are unable to relocate and if everyone around you is cold and hungry, but you’re comfortable and well fed, a lot of people will soon be very determined to get their hands on your equipment and supplies. The experts say that in the case of an EMP strike, that around 75% of those affected could be dead in the three to six month it takes for the electrical systems to be repaired. There will be desperate people when something this cataclysmic happens.
To survive, you need to avoid being noticed; that means you, and your home, need to be “invisible”.
Obviously you can’t literally be invisible, there is no Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak that can be draped over where you live, but you can achieve the same effect. Your goal is to make your home blend into the background. You don’t want it to stand out; you don’t want people walking past to stop and think “That’s unusual,” or “that looks like it has a lot of loot!”
Your home might be powered by a some type of generator, heated by a smoke-efficient woodstove, stuffed with food to last for years and medical supplies, and defended to the best of your ability – the key is to make it look like just another anonymous house, run-down even, not worth paying attention to. If you can use everyday camouflage then you can get what you need done when you are bugging in.
Making Your Home Camouflaged
This is for those homes that aren’t on the top of the hill, or have the latest swimming pool, or is the fanciest on the block. It is for those who aren’t in those places that are known for opulence or luxury. So those in the posh places like in Beverly Hills, or on a beach front of some sort are going to have a hard time doing this.
There’s one way to make your home as close to literally invisible as possible – camouflage. Of course, how practical this is depends on your surroundings. If you live in a tree-strewn, place of over growth or in the dearth of a desert plain. If you live on a street with neighbors (which most people do), it’s going to be basic in what you do to conceal your home with camouflage.
Match Your Surroundings
It may not be possible to drape a camouflaged tarp over your home like they would do in the military, but in the neighborhood, your place does not need to be the shiny gem on the block. In fact, the closest you can get to it looking like a blight on the values of the homes around you the better. No newer metal roof, or crisscrossed mowed lawn. No gnomes, or manicured flower beds. You want overgrown bushes and trees that are not looking on the healthy side. You want to have some grunge about the outside of the place.
Doesn’t mean the inside has to match, far from it, but you don’t want to catch anyone’s eye as they are passing by. And that goes especially for those who live around you.
Out in the country, you can camouflage a remote house well enough that anyone passing by won’t notice it until they’re close enough that, with any luck, you have already seen them – and had time to prepare.
Try viewing your home from a distance. Look for highlights and lowlights – places that catch the sun, or cast a shadow. You can use tasteful natural colors to eliminate those and make your home blend in a lot better.
Out of the Home
So if you might be looking to keep it on your own property but outside of the home, like a bunker or dug out of some sort. the same goes for that too. Make it so that the entrance or the whole of the domicile is not noticeable. Using overgrowth or debris or regular junk that can give the look you are striving for.
You might even be planning to move to a bunker if the SHTF. These are a lot easier to camouflage than a house. Both in a regular neighborhood or in the countryside.
It is most important to NOT LIVE in any neighborhood that has an HOA. They are paid to be nosey and poke their head in where it isn’t or shouldn’t be. There is no way that you can do anything stated here in the article because of that fact. Contracted communism for a neighborhood likes it’s sameness and uniformity, which is the least you need in these efforts.
Hiding in Plain Sight
For most of us, actually hiding our home in plain sight is our only option. We need to make the inconspicuous and anonymous. To do that we need to look at the things that could attract attention.
That boils down to things people will want after a crisis and signs that there’s something inside worth protecting. Here are the things that need to be hidden to make your home unwanted
Outside Security Measures
When it comes to your security outdoors, it cannot be obvious by any stretch of the imagination. High fences with barbed wire, search lights and cameras are a dead giveaway. Do all you can to make your house secure; now make sure that isn’t staring everyone in the face. Rely on thorny or prickly bushes and plants instead of barbed wire Place obstacle for harder access to windows. Gain the upper hand with the terrain of the property. Even if you do only have a quarter of an acre to work with.
Concertina wire or low wire entanglements can be disguised by simply letting grass and weeds grow up around them; anyone trying to walk through will get an unpleasant surprise. Rely on hidden wire inside your boundaries than obvious security fences on them. Warning signs beyond a simple “Beware of the dog” tend to attract attention; avoid them.
Be judicious on the placement of any electric or electronic devices i.e. electrified fences, cams, alert triggers. Don’t go overboard when you do not have to. Some loud strategically placed metal cans can do as well as something high tech and won’t be as obvious. May be the preferred option if the EMP scenario comes to be.
At the time things hit the fan it is a good idea to patrol your property at least daily, to check for signs of intruders. Don’t be obvious about it, though. If you walk the perimeter in full tactical gear you’ll draw attention. Instead, look shabby and pretend you’re foraging for edible weeds. Anyone who sees you will assume you’re at least as badly off as they are; they certainly won’t assume you have plenty food or anything of value stockpiled in the house.
Power Generation
Always be mindful and observant. If the power’s off all over town, but all your lights are on, it’s pretty obvious you have a generator or some other alternative power source. And where there is a power source there just may be other needed resources for a desperate crowd.
Food? Medical supplies? Guns? Once they start wondering, rumors will spread – and before you know it you’ll have a mob at the door.
Get a Solar Generator if you can. You may be better able to hide the sight of the solar panels than the sound of a running generator. Do everything you can to reduce your gas generator’s signature. Put it at the back of the house, enclose it in a shed, add soundproofing, bury the wires from it to the house and do not store the fuel nearby. Hide the fact it’s there as much as you can.
Don’t turn lights on unnecessarily. Buy or make blackout curtains and use the lights ONLY at night when those curtains are securely fastened to hide the fact you have a power source. Don’t play music or do anything else that reveals you have electricity. Because it can be taken in short order from someone more bigger, brutal or unscrupulous than you.
Food Systems
All that canned food you have in the basement won’t be obvious to anyone passing by, however, you need to plan if you plan on growing or raising your own food in the upcoming trying times. Elaborate vegetable gardens and large livestock may not be the route to take, especially in a close quarters neighborhood most live in. Keep these things out of site as much as possible. Consider raising rabbits, instead of sheep or cattle. Consider doing an Aquaponic or Hydroponic Growing System instead of permaculture outdoors. If you can’t keep them out of sight, try to disguise them. Plant taller plants around vegetable gardens – even something simple like large thick bushes, bamboo or long prairie grass.
Disguise the rabbit hutches as a shed – the sort that looks like it might fall down if somebody sneezed nearby, not a sturdy one that might have valuables in it. And if you can have both indoors if your space is large enough then do it.
Overall TakeAway
Because we can’t rely on magic like they do in the movies, or even the slight of hand, we need to aim for the sort of incognito invisibility that’s actually achievable. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a home that’s remote and isolated (which is unlikely for the greater masses) it’s impossible to stop someone seeing it – but what you can do is make sure they don’t notice it. Be prepared, but do it quietly and unobtrusively. You don’t want to be the squeaky wheel that everyone can hear, or the shiny tool everyone seeks to have.
