Establish jobs

From now until the time that the end arrives it is important to give duties to your family. It is important to start this now so that when that possible day comes it will just be another day of being self-reliant.

On a whole other level this is great for your kids! My kids and I do things together and we do it in a hierarchy fashion; I am the boss and they are my employees. They love this because it gives them a chance to feel needed and as if they are a part of something productive, plus when WE complete something it is something that WE did together. 

When I talk with my kids about what we are doing I do not tell them that we are working to prepare for that event that might one day come, instead I tell them that it is important to do things on our own! This will not only help them be prepared for when they have to be self-reliant, it will also help them appreciate what we have because we have made it on our own! This will also cut down on the fear that kids can develop, remember they are very creative and can worry a lot!

This will be key when the time come that you have to live completely off the grid! You and your inhabitants must establish a rule system and hierarchy of control. Now I do not mean control as in you are the new dictator, I mean you are the foreman of the group! It will be your duty to make sure people are doing their work, and people are getting things done. At these times we cannot have people that do not want to help out; we also need to make sure that people know that if they need anything that they have someone to go to.

Tailor the jobs to the individual, for example, my wife would be in charge of medical concerns since she is a nurse; I would be in charge of outdoor essentials such as food and water since I have taken time to study these things, and my kids would be in charge of being there when we need them! You would need to find a person’s strengths and build their job from there! 

Chances are you will be living with your immediate family as well as some other family members, unless God forbid your family members become victim of whatever causes the current state and you are left alone. In any event you might come across strangers that want to join you or your group. This will be a tough thing to deal with because essentially you are playing God with their lives! If you have an established leader and a sense of democracy it will be easy to choose whether or not to let the stranger in but it you are a group of people all over the place with no sense of leadership it will be a constant power struggle as to who makes the final decision. 

That is only an example of one tough decision and trust me when the time comes there will be tough decisions daily!

Now when the stranger becomes part of the group you can easily assimilate them in to your lifestyle by already having a clear set of rules and a power structure within the group. You can say these are the rules, this is what we expect from our inhabitants and this is the benefits of our group, you can now choose if you want to participate.

How you run your individual group will be up to you, the only thing I recommend is that you do have a clear set of rules and you DO establish roles for people because when additional crap hits the fan you don't want to be stuck dealing with it then. 

Also if you plan to be a leader of your group, then LEAD them! Be that power point of your group! You do this by having two things (1) strong social skills, you do not want to dictate you want to guide (2) strong listening skills, a powerful leader is only as strong as the group he leads and (3) primitive knowledge, by this time you will have to know how to make new things from nothing!