Gunman Kills Two, Wounds Seven Near Twin Falls Tesla Chargers

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A reader emailed me last month: "I want to be prepared but I'm living paycheck to paycheck. Every issue recommends something to buy. I can't buy any of it." That hit hard. Because she's right that gear costs money, but wrong that preparedness requires gear. The most impactful preparations I've made cost nothing. Knowledge, plans, skills, relationships. All free. This is for everyone who's been reading and feeling priced out.

Here's what I've got this week.

Real Preparedness When Money Is Tight

The preparedness industry wants you to believe that readiness equals purchases. It doesn't. The most prepared person on your street might be the one with a written plan, practiced skills, strong neighbor relationships, and a $30 pantry buffer, not the one with $5,000 in gear they've never tested.

Here's what costs nothing. A family communication plan (Issue 99): where to meet, who to call, what to do. Write it on a piece of paper. Practice it once. A home safety audit: test smoke detectors, locate your water shutoff, identify your shelter area for severe weather. A knowledge base: download Where There Is No Doctor (free PDF), bookmark your local NWS forecast page (free), learn five knots from YouTube (free).

Here's what costs almost nothing. Extra canned goods: add one $1 can per grocery trip. In three months, you have 12 cans. In a year, 52. That's a meaningful food buffer built at $1 per week. Water storage in cleaned 2-liter soda bottles (free). A basic first aid kit assembled from dollar store supplies ($5 to $10). Candles and matches from the dollar store ($2). A paper map from the gas station ($5).

The "buy one extra" strategy (Issue 35) works on any budget. Every shopping trip, buy one extra shelf-stable item you already consume. Rice, beans, peanut butter, canned vegetables, soap, toothpaste. You're not adding a budget line. You're adding one item. Over months, it accumulates into genuine security.

Skills are the great equalizer. The person who can start a fire, purify water, apply a tourniquet, navigate with a compass, and cook from stored food has capabilities that don't expire, don't need batteries, and don't cost money to maintain. Every skill issue in this newsletter (and there have been dozens) describes something you can learn for free.

Community is free. Knowing your neighbors (Issue 70) costs nothing but a knock on the door. The network you build provides shared resources, shared skills, and shared security that no individual purchase can match.

The honest truth: a well-planned, well-practiced household with a $50 pantry buffer is better prepared than a household with $2,000 in gear, no plan, no practiced skills, and no community connections. Gear without context is just shopping. Preparedness is a system, and most of that system is free.

Write your family emergency plan on a piece of paper. For free.

Meeting point, emergency contacts (with phone numbers), shelter area in your home, and one sentence about what to do if you're separated. Post it on the fridge. You just completed the most important preparedness action in this entire newsletter, and it cost nothing.

29% of Buy Now, Pay Later Users Now Use It for Groceries

A 2026 LendingTree survey found 29 percent of Buy Now, Pay Later users have used the loans to pay for groceries, more than double the 14 percent who said the same two years ago. Late payments are climbing too: 47 percent of BNPL users paid late in the past year, up from 41 percent in 2025 and 34 percent in 2024. Financing a grocery run used to be rare. Now it is routine, and it is a quiet signal of how thin household budgets have gotten. If a small pantry buffer feels out of reach right now, you are exactly who this issue is for.

Source: LendingTree

FerFAL survived Argentina's economic collapse while working a middle-class job. In The Modern Survival Manual, he repeatedly emphasizes that the families who fared best weren't the wealthiest. They were the most resourceful. They stretched food, repaired instead of replaced, shared with neighbors, and prioritized knowledge over products.

His most practical budget advice: before you buy anything for preparedness, ask "can I achieve this function for free?" Need a fire starter? Learn to use a magnifying glass. Need a water filter? Learn to boil. Need a shelter plan? Walk your house and identify the safest room. The purchase is the last resort, not the first step.

Gunman Kills Two, Wounds Seven Near Twin Falls Tesla Chargers

On Saturday, a gunman carrying a rifle opened fire near an In-N-Out restaurant and a Tesla Supercharger station in Twin Falls, Idaho, killing two people and wounding seven, two of them critically. Police identified the shooter as 24-year-old Chad Williams, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound as officers closed in. Video circulating online shows him firing at a parked Tesla's windshield, but police have not confirmed the vehicles were deliberately targeted, and no motive had been released as of this writing. An armed bystander reportedly confronted the gunman during the attack. Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks called it "a very chaotic scene" and said the threat to the community is over. This is the scenario most people never plan for: sudden violence during an ordinary errand, not a dramatic disaster. Situational awareness and a rehearsed exit plan matter as much in a parking lot as in a wildfire.

Source: Idaho Capital Sun, Channel 2 Now

The $25 Starter Kit

We challenged ourselves to build a functional emergency kit for $25 using only dollar store and grocery store items. Here's what we got: 6 canned goods ($6), 2 gallons of water ($2), a flashlight with batteries ($3), candles and matches ($2), a basic first aid assortment ($4), a manual can opener ($1), a notebook and pen ($1), trash bags ($1), a roll of duct tape ($1), and a box of zip-lock bags ($1). Total: $23.

Is it a comprehensive kit? No. Does it handle a 72-hour power outage with food, water, light, first aid, and basic tools? Yes. The remaining $2 bought a bag of rice. About $25 total.

Budget alternative: $10 version. Water ($1), 4 cans ($4), flashlight ($3), matches ($1), can opener ($1). The absolute essentials for a two-day disruption.

Overrated: "Preparedness starter kits" sold online for $100 to $300. They contain $30 worth of supplies in branded packaging. Build your own from the grocery store and dollar store for a fraction of the cost.

Underrated: The public library as a preparedness resource. Free books on first aid, gardening, food preservation, repair skills, and emergency planning. Free internet access for research and downloading references. Free meeting rooms for community planning. All of it free with a library card.

Ready.gov: Low-Cost Preparedness Tips: Federal guidance on preparing without spending much.

Dollar Tree: Dollar store supplies for budget emergency kits.

Your Local Library: Free books, internet, and community resources.

Where There Is No Doctor (free PDF): The most important medical reference, available free.

YouTube: Budget Prepping: Search for "budget preparedness" for hundreds of free skill tutorials.

Freecycle.org: Free items from community members, including useful preparedness supplies.

Hand tools for when power tools need power you don't have. The manual alternatives that work without electricity, fuel, or batteries.

PS: That reader who felt priced out? I sent her the $25 kit list and the free plan template. She built both in one afternoon. She told me it was the first time preparedness felt possible instead of aspirational. That's the goal. Not perfection. Possible.