I made it through Hurricane Iniki in 1992. I survived the San Francisco earthquake in 1989. I lived through 2 tornado's that touched down in Ft. Worth. Now I'm looking down the barrel of a potential economic depression in the next year or two. I need a Plan B. The good news is we still have time to prepare. The bad news is it's probably inevitable. Here are a few thoughts on ways to prepare for what's coming and sprucing up Plan B.

• Plant a garden. Sounds trite or simple but growing up, most of our grandparents or parents had gardens. Nothing like pulling your own potatoes out of the ground or eating fresh tomatoes to give you some feeling of control over your life.
• Keep a first aid kit in your car and another one in your house. Plan B is about maintaining as much self-sufficiency as possible so you're not dependent on the Government, Red Cross or that really crazy man who lives across the street.
• You might want to think about getting a dog. The chinese kept dogs as the ultimate alerter to trespassers or interlopers. They'd sleep with about 7 Shih Tzu's in the bedroom and those dogs would sound the alarm. Much easier to keep than attack geese. And any local cop will tell you having a dog is the best way to keep burglars at bay.
• Go to Costo and buy as much bulk canned foods as you can afford.
• Keep an outdoor grill and always have back-up propane tanks at ready. That way if the electricity is off for extended periods of time, you can cook (heat up) your canned foods.
• Make sure you have plenty of your prescription medications in the house. A 3 month supply on hand would be good. You don't want to run out and have to beg the local pharmacist for a refill.
• Have a case or two of bottled water as back up.
• Do you have a crank-up radio with an attached light? When the electricity is out, this is an excellent way of turning into your local radio station for news updates. And you don't have to worry about the batteries dying in your radio.
• Buy a couple of camping lanterns. Much better than conventional flashlights which last about 2 hours.
• Keep some cash on hand. In case of emergencies, there may be no working ATM's and your credit card is worthless if the electricity goes down.
• If it's possible, get out of credit card debt and stay out. Live within your means.
• Sell everything you don't need or want on Craigs List or Ebay. Clears out the clutter and brings in xtra cash.
• Have a plan that if everyone is separated when the shit hits the fan: work, school, gym, etc. choose one phone number to call to all check in and find out where/how to meet up. We used this plan in the S.F. earthquake when very little was working, phones or transportation.
• Keep your gas tank filled as much as possible. You don't want to face a long term emergency on an empty tank.

Add your own.