You're about to discover life-changing SHTF hacks that will impress even an experienced prepper. Get ready!
When SHTF, Rely on These Hacks to Pull Through
1. Open Rusty Lids with a Duct Tape
If your survival gear and supplies have been sitting for a very long time, there is a good chance the lids might not pop off as easily as expected. Use duct tape to twist that lid right off the jar. Duct tape is strong enough to give you a firm grip on the lid without breaking the mouth of the jar.
2. Create Arrowheads out of Unused Keys
This is a great idea as a backup home defense strategy! Make sure the keys are not being used, though. Before starting making arrowheads out of keys, mark where you need to cut the key first with a small saw. File the rough edges away to smoothen them.
3. No Candles? Use Crayons Instead
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If you do not have candles as part of your survival equipment, you can always light these up as an emergency light source! Most crayons are made up of the same ingredients as of candles, so it is the next best thing to solve your light problem. Crayons will only burn for 30 minutes with their wrapper, so better use the time to get a permanent light source.
4. Duct Tape and Toilet Paper Can Help Set Broken Bones
To start, wrap the affected area with toilet paper (or a women hygiene product if you ran out of it) until it feels like a sturdy but still soft cast. Secure the bandaged area with duct tape, avoiding any hair, and then make a sling with the sticky sides down. This makeshift splint will give you an ease of an injury even if you cannot make it to the hospital.
5. Create a Toothpick Cannon with Keyboard Cleaner
Some people may find this tip as a survival gear version of a Nerf gun, but you will never know when you will need a toothpick cannon. To make this mini survival equipment, remove the tube from a can of a keyboard cleaner. Insert a toothpick then test it on a cork board. You can also try this with small nails too.
6. Stash Emergency Cash in Your Phone Case
This makes sense as you will always carry this around no matter what. Also, it is somewhere no one will ever think to look. You can make one for yourself or get a personalized phone case.
7. Stave Off Frostbite with Baby Oil
Simple baby oil can go a long way when it comes to saving your skin in extreme weather. Its lubricating properties can also act as a barrier against the cold. It is strong enough to fend off facial frostbite.
8. Improvise a Safe Tick Remover
A homemade tick remover out of a thread and a mechanical pencil is a great survival gear in case you encounter these pesky insects. To safely and effectively remove ticks from your skin, hollow out a mechanical pencil. Insert the thread to make a loop at one end and the long ends at the other than use the lasso and loop it around the tick. Pull the long ends to tighten the noose and remove the tick out.
RELATED: Urgent: 10 SHTF Survival Items You Need Today
9. Carry All Your Water in One Trip with a Stick
If you have a hockey stick around or a branch off of a tree, you can use it to haul all your water jugs at once in camp with this practical tip. After all, you want every survival gear you own has multiple purposes, right? You can also pick up 14 other useful camping tricks here.
10. Turn an Old Bike into a Crossbow
A bike, some tubing, some duct tape, and you have an improvised crossbow! Make this nifty survival equipment by stripping the bike wheel to its frame and clean them. Cut the rim in half using a saw and round off the ragged edges with a file. It is a matter of assembling the rubber catapult and the eyelets by following the rest of the instructions here.
11. Turn Lemons into Power
Did you know you can get the juice from lemons but not the sour kind? Roll the lemon first before cutting two slits, enough to insert a dime in one and a penny in the other. Test the electric power using a multimeter.
12. Make a DIY Fishing Kit
Store a fishing line, hooks, sinkers, snubbers, and artificial bait in a clean tin can. Come the time you need to fish, get a long branch thin enough to act as your rod. Snubbers are important as they act as shock absorbers once you catch fish using your DIY fishing rod. You can get the rest of the materials at any local fishing or outdoor store.
13. Use a 5-10% Iodine Solution as a Water Purifier
When SHTF, you will encounter a situation where the water is questionably safe for drinking. The iodine solution helps purify the water (and even remove nasty smells), so you can safely drink it. Store it in travel-size spray bottles to make carrying and applying easy.
14. Make Petroleum Jelly Firestarter Balls
Cotton balls drenched in petroleum jelly make great firestarters. They burn hotter and longer than typical paper. Store them in airtight plastic pill bottles to keep the moisture in.
15. Make and Wear Paracord Bracelets
Paracord is an essential prepper item to have when SHTF. Start with at least 10 feet worth of paracord and measure your wrist for sizes. Use this instructional article to weave the paracord into a bracelet. Join the ends using a buckle.
Check out this video from 5-Minute Crafts for smart life hacks for every occasion:
You can never prep enough when SHTF, but it will definitely be helpful if you have a few hacks up your sleeve, especially if you are in a tight spot. These SHTF life hacks and a clear state of mind can help anyone in a tough situation to survive on or off the grid.
Do you have any SHTF life hacks of your own? Share those hacks with us in the comments section below!
Up Next: Take Your Home With You When SHTF
Up Next: My Bug Out Bag Has A Secret…
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published 0n May 23, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
I would prefer to uslysht somewhat a lot more on this topic
I have received my order of hoffman richter pens but have misplaced my directions of proper use. Could you please e-mail me another copy. Thank you, DW
Simple – draw your pen from it’s sheath, then vanquish your foe by either signing their termination letter or take aim at their eye socket and dig deep!
Non of them is practical or truly useful SMH
I disagree – a little. Using duct tape to open a jar has potential for people like my GF who has nearly zero right hand strength due to an injury. Also, if you don’t have a lot of callouses, a wet jar lid or wet hands could make it a useful ‘hack’ as well. Not so much for me and apparently not for you – but some folks may want to survive SHTF day and if they’re smart enough to think of hacks then they deserve to live – and maybe to breed too depending on how deep the ‘S’ part gets.
I use baby oil in very cold weather to keep me warmer. It’s a variation of the old native american practice of ‘greasing up’ their bodies for the winter. Bear grease is what I had read was used. I don’t have bears around me in such abundance that I could kill one for that purpose every year, but baby oil would help if you could find any. However, I think the point is that you need some experience with oiling or greasing to think about that in cold weather, and once you do think like that you should be able to find something – petroleum jelly perhaps – when you need it.
Last – while in a SHTF situation one may not have duct tape, that idea could be useful for supporting a sprained ankle or wrist. It’s certainly not ideal for a lot of reasons but it’s better than no support at all.
As an ‘aside’ comment, for supporting a sprained ankle you’re just better of to have some 10″ work boots – and some boots should be part of your gear anyway. I used them when I broke my ankle on the outside (the malleolus, not the bones just above the joint), and they gave more support than the soft-cast the doc had given me, with the added benefit of being quickly adjustable to my need for more or less compression during the day.
Not to be picky, but to be picky about it, you cannot ‘set’ a broken bone without manipulating it to put the ends (or shattered pieces’ back into place. You CAN ‘cast’ that arm with paper and duct tape, but you could also use a number of small sticks and get more support / protection for the injury.
Setting it, however remains a job for another person, unless you’re tough enough to put your hand or foot into a narrow spot and pull until you can release the two broken ends into near-connection – THEN you cast it. Better have some hi-proof hooch if you’re going to do that however – for pain killer, of course. (It’s fast and ALWAYS works)
To take out ticks, all you need is a pair of tweezers. You grab the tick and turn counter clockwise as you gently pull the tick out. Ticks bore in clockwise. I learned this from an ICU nurse. I have taken ticks off my dogs this way and it works.
Such a great post. Got new tips and ideas here.
Great Hacks..!!!
Great tips. Thanks
These hacks are truly looking cool! I will definitely try them all.