Someone's at the door!

I have!
3 things I did for under $20.
1. I bought cheap (discontinued) heavy black fabric $1 a yard and I bought 20 yards, they are now my curtains liners for each window and blind! I have normal curtains on the outside and the inside but the middle of those panels, this fabric is black out range. I have magnetic tabs in the panel and was given some magnetic paint in white so I painted my trim with it. At night when I close the curtains, the magnets stick to the trim and you can't tell anyone lives here.
2. An alarm. $1 each at the buck store just in case someone tries to sneak in. I have one on each window and door, the batteries in them last about 2 years.
3. Weapon behind the door. Sounds extreme but, I am a single woman with 3 kids. I work hard to have what I have and I won't be sharing with someone. Open with caution, consider getting one of those old school iron screen doors to put between you and a stranger. Heavy duty lock on it too.

I don't think people will be knocking door to door but, friends and family may be. My family, won't be benefiting from my labour. They don't call or write, they drain my mind just spending a couple of hours with them so they are out. They don't even know what I do.
My friends? Ha! I have honestly sat down and made out a list. Wrote down pros and cons and out of the people I know in my life, 3 and only 3 have made the list. And all 3 would show up and work, contribute, be grateful and not complain. Their kids would pay attention and learn from the experience without whining and carrying on, The rest no way. Sounds harsh but do you really want everyone from your email list or facebook list showing up at your door for a hand out? I don't.

I don't plan to bug-in but circumstances do change and I may not have a choice. In that case I would try to make my place looked abandoned and decrepit. Plastisize the inside of all windows. Plant the thorniest decorative plants you can find below your windows. Perhaps a couple of small, inexpensive cctv cameras placed discreetly outside so you can eyeball guests before they knock on the door.
There a number of websites that could give you ideas for SHTF security and how to harden your home. As for ideas about who to let in or not, those you can only get from fear and common sense. That one would be purely a judgement call on your part. Myself, if it was the little old lady from next door who won't even step on an ant, I'd most likely help her out. If my visitor was standing on my front step waving an AK-47 and screaming "kill the infadels", I probably wouldn't let him in.

Rottweiler security....three of em, and two are mental!

Rottweiler security....three of em, and two are mental!

I have 3 dogs also, mastiffs, but only their owner is MENTAL!!

Rottweiler security....three of em, and two are mental!

I have 3 dogs also, mastiffs, but only their owner is MENTAL!!

ha ha...no one coming to your door in a hurry then...

WOW...tough question. I personally would love to try and help in any way possible. But as with everyone else, your first priority should be your immediate family unit. This question has got me thinking of the "what if" scenarios. What if all they wanted was H20, and I know the spring where I get my water is dependable and I can hand them a litre and tell them to move on, perhaps giving them the next source of where water can be obtained.
Security would be essential, be it dogs, cameras, gun or a controlled perimeter. If I had such a secure site then I wouldn't be worried about transients or at least I hope 🙂

The scenarios that you can run through your mind, will make you nuts. I hope that as preppers/survivalists, we are good at reading individuals. Did you know, that if you look at someone, ask them a question, within the first 25th of a second, you will know if they are telling the truth or not. (do not ask me how I know that, cause that would give away my employment, lololol) Your internal animal instincts (we all have them) should kick in when SHTF. Making your "retreat" look undesireable in the first place is best like other preppers on here have said. Keeping down confrontation is my key point. I need the bullet for food! You also need to be aware that adults will use children to bring you out of your locale. This is a very deep, intense subject. I don't know if I could look a child in the eyes and say no.

bug in, barracade the doors, leave some blinds open, make a huge ass mess, get some cover where you wont be visable from any angle. if someone was to walk by and see if theres anything inside or if someone is there. and they see the place has been trashed, most likly they think, people have been here and trashed this place, probably nothing left, move on to the next place.

i know i was one of those unlucky unpreparied people and i was out looking for a gulp of water or a meal, i would look for things like survallance cameras. it may sound stupid, but if a house just looks to good in comparison to the rest of the neighbour hood i'd bet theres something good in there.

as for a family member or friend who comes to the door? don't they think were all crazy anyways for doing what we do?

Someone said they have a can of pepper spray with a strip of velcro glued to it. The matching bit is on the back of the door. anytime you go near the door it's right there out of sight yet immediately available. I thought that was too cool.

I don't know if I could look a child in the eyes and say no.

Family showing up at my door in a SHTF Scenerio is highly unlikely and as most of my friends don't know much about my preps and those that do know think I'm nuts anyway, I would have no problem turning most of them away. But as other have said, if children show up at my door I'm almost positive I couldn't turn them away.

We're pretty lucky here in North America but despite that I have seen the look in the eyes of hungry children before right here in our so called world of plenty. In a SHTF Scenerio I doubt I could say no.

Here's a few ideas I thunk up. In a bug out basement scenario, fill the entire stairwell with garbage/debris, and use a basement window to get in and out. The window can be covered with debris to keep it hidden. I think even a resourceful scavanger wouldn't waste the time and energy to clear out the stairwell. One step further would be to use charred wood and drywall to give the impression that the basement is burnt out.

And how about an attic. Break a few of your own windows, rip the front door off it's hinges, put on some raggedy clothes and pitch tent on the living room floor. You and your house will look to be in dire straits to anybody who comes in. The intruder will see you as a bum just trying to live in a ransacked house, totally oblivious that you have a secret stash in the attic. Maybe even light a fire in a bucket. Black sooted walls and the smell of charred wood will make your 'stage' even more believable.

Of course these are very extreme options, but hey, there's nothing wrong with brainstorming.

If the S does HTF and you have decided to make your current home your fortress so to speak each situation will be different and present itself as such.
I will begin by suggesting a tall fence with razor wire on top and a gate which you can lock.
Provided you have decided to have solar power you can get a cheap security camera system that shows you different areas or zones of the outside of your house at all times, they also come with motion sensors and that way you can be alerted and see who has come to (or over) your fence.
If you have invited family or loved ones to share your home then you can open the gate and allow them entry but after that I would put the welcome mat away and put up big signs saying that anyone entering your property will be considered hostile and will be dealt with as such.
Anyone, especially groups who have breached your fence do not have your best interests at heart and I suggest that you deal with them in the only way they understand.
If you want to pretend you are not home and expect them to leave your house and move on to the next one you are taking quite a gamble. My opinion is to make my house as fortified as possible and the price for coming upon my property with malice in their heart will be a steep one and cause them to move on to an easier target.

I have thought about this subject quite a bit and I haven't come up with a solution yet. I picture maybe friends or co-workers coming by but none of them know that I'm a prepper, so it would be easy to pretend that your in the same boat as they are. Until the S totally HTF then I would assume that there would be too much civil unrest to continue to bug in and then it would be time to pack things up and move to a per-arranged spot that's more remote. All I can relate to is stories of post Katrina and how people dealt with things down there. Mind you this is Canada and things would probably be different.
I think the best course of action would be to have a bug out plan but to bug in as long as possible until the people knocking at the door become hazardous to the health of you and your family.

Interesting that you bring up Katrina as that is a perfect example of how the USA gave great lip service to the media and pretended that it was doing and would continue to do everything it could while in fact it did very little. All you have to do is travel through New Orleans today and you would think that in most areas the hurricane had just happened.
I wonder if the same type of inactivity would have happened had the city been a more affluent one and populated by mainly whites. Also one could look into the de-population conspiracy, but again I digress.
While we could discuss Katrina and the USA’s very interesting response; one thing it does point out is that even though we are in Canada we must be prepared to look after ourselves and our families without any government assistance for at the very least two weeks if not a lot longer.
I have read that they say the average American family has enough food stuff in their house to last for three days.
As a country we are blessed with abundance and I would hate to think that the average Canadian family could only go three days until they were out of food and water.