Advice for an Apocalypse: 10 Tips From Y2K Survival Guides

As the minutes ticked down on New Year’s Eve 1999, the arrival of a new millennium was cause for both celebration and concern. For months, cyber-security experts had warned that the computers controlling everything from bank accounts to nuclear arsenals might be confused by the unfamiliar “00” year on the calendar. The ensuing hysteria was dubbed Y2K, and for a time, it dominated the news cycle.

No such cyber-apocalypse happened: Government and business institutions spent years and billions of dollars actively preventing any calamities, though there were some isolated glitches. U.S. spy satellites were unreliable for a few days; a video store erroneously calculated that a copy of the 1999 thriller The General’s Daughter was 100 years overdue and charged a customer $91,250 in late fees. Worst of all, plenty of people spent good money on Y2K survival guides and assorted tips on how best to weather a catastrophe that some internet forums called “The End of the World As We Know It,” or “TEOTWAWKI.” 

As the 25th anniversary of this non-event arrives, take a look at 10 of the most dramatic pieces of advice on enduring a worldwide meltdown.

1. Become a Wanderer
2. Know the Seven Enemies of Survival
3. Get a Safe House
4. Don’t Flaunt Your Assets
5. Warning: Don’t Warn Your Family About Y2K
6. Sell Your Nice Stuff
7. Consider “Alternative Appliances”
8. Grab a Bucket
9. Buy a Water Bed So You Can Drink It
10. Use Toilet Paper as Currency

Become a Wanderer

You may think surviving Y2K means holing up in a house stocked with supplies and guns—but consider the advice doled out by author Kenn Abaygo in a 1999 issue of American Survival Guide. “Begin life on the lam as a bum,” Abaygo wrote. “Society and its government will care for you in nearly every way by giving you shelter from the storm, food and water, medical attention, clothing and encouragement. They ask for nothing in return and seldom ask your name; almost never do they ask for identification either. They just want to give you a hand and they feel good doing just that.”

Abaygo also suggested some unconventional solutions to food scarcity, noting that both squirrels and pigeons are “tame” and “many will come right into your hand for a speck of food, and none are expecting to be trapped, snared, or hunted.”

Know the Seven Enemies of Survival

Y2K represented a worst-case scenario in terms of societal collapse for many. In the Y2K Survival Handbook, a magazine about the millennium’s end, editors advised a simple strategy: Identify what threatens your safety and eliminate it. “Be prepared to face these hostile factors: boredom, pain, thirst, fatigue, temperature extremes, hunger, and fear,” the periodical warned. “Knowing what you’ll face will help you win the survival battle.”

Get a Safe House

You might not consider your home the best place to stay in an apocalypse situation. Survivalist Dave Lee told Canadian newspaper the Star-Phoenix, that a safe house might be a good option. “You need a safe house or a survival retreat in a location where the current crisis will not threaten you,” Lee said. “The easiest way to set up a safe house is to coordinate with a friend or family member located between 100 and 150 miles away, preferably in a different setting.” Lee advised choosing a property near water with a single dirt road entrance—and preferably stocked with weapons.

Don’t Flaunt Your Assets

Someone well-prepared for Y2K might attract those without resources, according to S.F. Tomajczyk, author of 101 Ways to Survive the Y2K Crisis. “If you are not careful, you may inadvertently attract these desperate, and potentially dangerous, people to your home,” Tomajczyk wrote. “How? By running your generator, having lights shining brightly, and by making noises associated with modern civilization.” Tomajczyk recommended wearing old clothes, not cooking outdoors, and obscuring solar panels.

Warning: Don’t Warn Your Family About Y2K

While it might have been tempting to spread Y2K hysteria, that wasn’t necessarily the best idea. According to Julian Gregori, who edited What Will Become of Us? Counting Down to Y2K, trying to give others a heads-up was a futile gesture. “A word to the wise,” the book intoned, “don’t try to warn everyone about Y2K. Don’t tell everyone what you’re thinking of doing for Y2K survival and expect to get verbal encouragement from them before you act. Make your decisions based on the facts and then prepare quietly and consistently.”

Instead of nagging, the book suggested that you simply invite naysayers over for the holidays and anticipate they’ll then want to bunker down with you once the world implodes.

Sell Your Nice Stuff

What Will Become of Us? takes a cynical view of having luxury items in the post-Y2K era. “Sell off unneeded luxury possessions to raise yet additional cash,” the book advised. “You will need cash to purchase the items you see listed in the Appendices.” (The book lists medical supplies and homesteading resources.)

Consider “Alternative Appliances”

With the potential for a power grid outage, it was crucial to consider how you might get by without some common kitchen conveniences. In The Y2K Personal Survival Guide, author Michael S. Hyatt provided a list of alternatives. Don’t have an electric can opener? Use a manual one instead. No mixer? Try a non-electric hand mixer. No refrigerator? Hyatt advised purchasing “food that doesn’t require refrigeration.” We can see why that manual can opener would have come in handy.

Grab a Bucket

Hyatt speculated a Y2K crisis could also precede a collapse of waste disposal infrastructure. In the event you had a non-flushing toilet, Hyatt recommended “the shovel method” for taking care of business. “It has only four ingredients,” he wrote, “A bag, a toilet, a bucket, and a shovel.” The bucket should be used for urine, while the toilet should be lined with a bag and the contents buried in the ground. (Hence the shovel.) Hyatt also recommended a shower curtain liner to surround the bucket for privacy “if you want to get fancy.”

Buy a Water Bed So You Can Drink It

Some Y2Kers feared computer glitches might lead to a Mad Max-style existence, with a shortage of essentials. According to TIME, preppers Bruce and Diane Eckhart of Lisbon, Ohio, purchased a water bed—not for luxury, but for easy storage of potable water. “I hope we don’t end up drinking my bed,” daughter Danielle, 11, said.

Use Toilet Paper as Currency

With banking institutions and ATMs in potential peril, it made sense for people to seek out alternative currencies. Instead of gold or silver, Y2K prepper Gary North recommended hoarding toilet paper to barter for other essential items. The advice was heeded by the Head family of Texas, who reportedly purchased hundreds of rolls of toilet tissue and piled them throughout the house.

Two-ply might have become the new paper currency, but it wasn’t the only proposed solution. Rainer Stahlberg, author of The Complete Book of Survival, predicted alcohol, drugs, birth control, and feminine hygiene products would all be useful to trade when cash ran out—or when you needed to settle a $91,250 late fee for The General’s Daughter.

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