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The thrifty prepper – how to stretch the prepping budget
UbiqueContributor - April 3, 2021 The thrifty prepper – how to stretch the prepping budget
I think most preppers are frugal folks deep down in their prepping hearts.
We are prepared and practical in our approach to life. We pour over our prepping lists and consider what items are best suited for our needs. If those items happen to be on sale, discounted or there is a coupon we can use to further reduce the price, we just achieved prepper nirvana.
I learned to be frugal from my parents. They were generous of spirit, but they loved building their savings. My Mom was a somewhat shy person, but get that woman shopping and I used to wonder where my mother went.
She knew her prices and could execute a grocery shopping trip with all the zeal of a five-star General storming an enemy stronghold. Those groceries were hers and they were landing in her shopping cart at the price she wanted to pay. No can of tuna was left behind!
My Dad and Mom together were a tour de force. They would descend upon an appliance store and compare every detail to ensure the best possible features. Then, the final moments as they circled a washing machine and shifted from an appraising to a critical eye. Aha! There was a dent!
I swear those two invented scratch and dent sales. But you know, it wasn’t such a bad way to shop. They were careful and informed shoppers.
They taught me to pay attention to what is referred to as “sale seasons.”
We know about Black Friday sales or Boxing Day sales, but throughout the year, there are items that traditionally go on sale each month and at certain times of the month. If you follow this sale calendar, you can save some money.
For example, there are the “white sales” of January each year when bed linens, pillows and towels go on sale.
You don’t have to be a Dad to take advantage of the Father’s Day sales that happen every June. You can get great deals on all kinds of tools at hardware stores and big-box home stores.
There are different sale season calendars that can be sourced online. I’ve included the links for a couple that might help you familiarize yourself with them.
http://www.chiff.com/home_life/shop/sales.htm
and
https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/articles/shopping-holidays-the-best-days-to-shop-this-year
Aside from sale seasons, there are ways to negotiate on the best deals for that BOV you’ve been wanting.
I worked for two car dealerships and got an understanding of how people walked away with the best deals.
October, November and December are the best time of year to buy a car.
Car dealerships must meet sales quotas, which typically break down into yearly, quarterly and monthly sales goals. These three goals dovetail together late in the year.
Of those months, I personally would choose December and walk in on the last business day before the sales cut off for commissioned sales reps.
They will be eager to make a deal and then push for a successful negotiation with their Sales Manager. They want that sale included in their pay cheque.
The Sales Manager will push back on the negotiations because that’s what he does, but a savvy shopper says to the sale rep “Let me talk to your Sales Manager so we can get you that nice big commission check.”
You can do it politely, in a firm and business-like tone, but ask to speak with the Sales Manager drirectly. The sales rep has no power to approve the deal. It saves time and you won’t get caught up in a negotiation that could cost you more than you want to spend or waste your time if there is not a deal to be made there and you could have made a deal elsewhere.
Once you are in the Sales Manager’s office “Look, the car lots are slow because people are paying off their Christmas spending. I have cash in my account so it’s a cash deal. Easy money for you, if I get the deal that works for me. So far, our numbers are too far apart. Just give me your best and final offer. I’m buying a vehicle today, and for the right deal, it will be off your lot.”
You have turned the table on the Sale Manager because now he has to present a number to you, his best and final, in order to make the deal work.
January is usually a good month for used cars. Did you know that most millionaires, multi-millionaires and even billionaires drive three year old cars?
That BOV of your dreams is a depreciable asset and it will depreciate at least $1000.00 the moment you drive it off the lot.
A three year old vehicle still has warranty. Any recall issues are usually addressed. There are also one year old Sale Reps Demo vehicles that can be had for a good deal also. Same principles apply re time of month shopping, always on day before for pay day cut off day.
Read the bill of sale carefully before paying and don’t pay for baloney charges like “airport tax.” When was the last time anyone saw a plane full of cars offloaded? “A doc fee” is another one. It is short for a document fee which is short for you are expected to contribute to their Finance & Insurance Manager’s commission cheque. Have these charges removed from the bill. They can pay their own people.
There are other ways of being a thrifty prepper.
If you and a couple of friends are in the market for new deep freezers, coordinate your purchase, then approach the appliance department together, in the right sale month, at the right time of the month and say “There are three of us and we each want to buy that deep freezer, what’s the best price you can offer us?”
How about grocery shopping? Are you using coupons? How about case lots or bulk food purchasing? Have you tried sourcing directly from the producer or farmer? There is always gardening or a you pick fruit farm.
Have you ever bought a mis-matched mattress and box-spring set? It’s only the outer fabric that differs and that is covered up so no one sees the difference.
There are good deals to be had from government surplus sites. Another is the deals from boom cities that are winding down. Kelowna, BC, for example, had a huge amount of generators, tools and various building gear for sale online and in the local pawn shops. The people hired were desperate to sell and there were some very good deals available.
They are so many more ways to be a thrifty prepper. How about you? Do you practice thrifty prepping? What are some ways that you get thrifty?
Read MoreDo you raise rabbits for meat? Let’s hear your rabbit-raising tips!
Josh CentersContributor - April 2, 2021 Some farming friends of ours recently built new rabbit hutches and gave us their old ones. They need… work, but I think I can make them serviceable. I’ve been reading and watching everything I can about rabbits, but I was curious if anyone in our community raises rabbits for meat and could offer some lesser-known pointers?
A few things everyone should know about rabbits:
They’re a great source of meat. They breed like… well, rabbits, they’re easy to slaughter and easy to process. However, you can starve to death eating only rabbit meat, called rabbit starvation. It needs to be combined with a starch like potatoes. They don’t make much noise and they don’t take up much space. Never put a buck (male rabbit) in a doe’s cage. She will attack and might bite off his bunny maker. Always put the doe in the buck’s cage. Read More
How to help yourself or others with vision impairment during a disaster
UbiqueContributor - April 1, 2021 It is possible that during a disaster or crisis, something could happen that would affect our ability to see clearly. All of the info that follows is worth reviewing and learning. Vision impairment could happen during a disaster to ourselves or family member.
One of the main things we can do is keep our hands scrupulously clean when putting our hands near our eyes for any reason. This will help prevent infection.
Never break a sty. It will spread infection rapidly. It is okay per my physician to use a warm tea bag and apply it as a poultice to the eye. Let it sit and it will draw the sty out and reduce it naturally.
If you stock emergency eye ointment or drops or use any kind of eye medication, never use them past it’s best by date. This is from my pharmacist who stressed eye medications are “different” and that we must never go beyond the date indicated on the tube or container. He said that there are no exceptions to this rule. If we do this, we could create a much worse situation.
Prevent blindness has a nice two page sheets on eye safety during disaster.
https://preventblindness.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/FS113eye-safety-for-disasters_2.pdf
We might sustain an eye injury to one or both eyes. Subsequently, we may have changed vision or very low to no vision. Safety goggles in our EDC and BOB can help protect our eyes from unexpected hazards.
The first thing I considered is how to prepare for that possibility or scenario.
There is a place for everything and everything in its place mentality in my home. This way the mental visual map that we have is intact in case of an emergency. Nothing is left out as a trip hazard and this also helps prevent falls.
I familiarized myself with the interior of my home so that I could move in the dark and with eyes closed for additional realism.
I wanted to ensure that in case of a security breach that I could move with stealth in total darkness without stubbing my toe or banging into something and giving away my position or losing the element of surprise with an assailant(s).
There was a need to teach this to my husband who has two types of glaucoma. In the early days the prognosis for his vision was poor. It was then I began to think of ways we could adapt his orientation in the house while he still had vision. He also trained and learned to move in the dark.
He is now off the medication that impacted his vision and triggered the glaucoma, and after two surgeries his vision is stable. He won’t regain the peripheral and horizon vision he lost, but his condition is now stable.
His skill is there if his vision declines and in a security situation he can now move with the same stealth in the dark. He rarely turns a light on at night now.
It may not be a break in that triggers the need to move in the dark. Nothing is infallible. If my smoke detector fails, I could wake up to thick, acrid smoke burning my eyes and become vision impaired while there is an urgent need to escape a fire.
That actually happened to a person I know. She barely escaped with her cat by crawling on her knees. She was unable to see because the smoke caused her eyes to burn and tear very badly. She related to me how terrified she was and that she could hardly breathe. But, she stayed calm and focussed on remembering the mental map from her bedroom to the entrance door and she was able to escape.
Our glasses, including the spare pair in our home or BOB, may become damaged or lost. How do we cope then?
Here is a trailing technique from visionaware.org. They also have other very good suggestions and tips for persons living with vision impairment.
Using the Trailing Technique
The blind guide also offers excellent disaster safety tips for blindness or visual impairment:
Disaster Safety for People with Disabilities: What to Do When Emergency Weather Strikes
If our vision is impaired by something, we can use a very rudimentary tool made by our hand. Remember when as kids you would curl your hand like a telescope or pirate spyglass? Well, there is a technique like that which can help for loss of vision or visual aids like glasses. I have used this many times when I went to a store and forgot my glasses. It really does work (and you get to look like a cool pirate while you’re doing it).
In an emergency, this is a good method to know.
Here’s a link showing how it’s done:
From Discovery Science – How to improve your vision using just your hands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq83rSeWD3I
I prefer to have multiple pairs of extra reading glasses spanning 2.0 through to 2.75. I use two different strengths and the extras are to offer to someone in need.
Rather than keep one extra pair, I keep 2 extra sets of the different strengths of glasses.
I also include several pairs of back up sunglasses, including yellow lenses for fog driving, in my prepping.
I also have several types of magnifying glasses and magnifying sheets to use for reading instructions or other important info in a crisis.
This is a type of magnifying eye wear that I plan to add to my preps that would allow for use for other crisis related tasks such as a cleaning wound properly:
I found an eye glass repair kit at a local hardware store. It is worth keeping several of these per eyeglass wearing person in your household.
This is similar to the small kit I found locally. There are larger kits available on Amazon.
Also how to repair glasses from
Repair Guide: Fix Broken Glasses – Vint & York
We might also encounter someone who is vision impaired, with or without a guide dog. How can we best offer assistance to that person and, if accompanied by one, their service dog?
Here is some information on that subject from the fighting blindness website that teaches how to interact with someone who is vision impaired and offer assistance in the correct way:
https://www.fightingblindness.ie/living-with-sight-loss/assisting-someone-with-sight-loss/
Vision impairment can also affect hand/eye coordination skills. The following two websites offer drills and games to improve that function:
https://www.outsideonline.com/1959876/4-easy-drills-improve-hand-eye-coordination
and also from this site:
https://www.cognifit.com/science/cognitive-skills/eye-hand-coordination
If anyone can think of other ideas to help protect our eyes during a disaster or tools to help protect our vision and repair glasses, please fee free to add to the list.
Read MoreAnd when that ammo runs out?
Oldprepper - April 1, 2021 I notice that new laws are coming in from some….. and more regulations on the books for restricting or proposed eliminating the 2nd amendment…… which would restrict supplies.
Currently I see that primers are in very short supply in some places and slowly and surely some are going to make it as difficult as possible in the future to obtain crucial items.
So what would you do as the ammo runs out? Reloading is an option….. but where will you get that Sulfur,, Shot, KNO3…. etc…..or is your bolt hole full enough to last an extended period?
Read MoreArmchair quarterback time: War zone in a condo
UbiqueContributor - April 1, 2021 https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/surveillance-video-shows-brawls-vandalism-inside-beleaguered-saskatoon-condo-building-1.5360878This post is about a different type of crisis and disaster. From a prepping perspective, this is the deterioration that becomes the crisis.
I wish I could tell you that the videos and related stories were part of a movie set and plot, but they are not.
First the news link which is 4 days old.
https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/surveillance-video-shows-brawls-vandalism-inside-beleaguered-saskatoon-condo-building-1.5360878
To better understand the back story, watch both videos and also read the first related story on that news page titled “Living in a war zone….”
If you look at the footage of the exterior of the condo building, I can see how someone would have purchased a condo there 12 years ago, as was the case for Geoff Wilkie who was interviewed in the related article “Living in a war zone…”
The panned shot of the neighborhood in one of the videos shows a fairly clean area and there appears to be a church on the corner. It looks like a glimpse of a neighborhood in a typical small prairie city, who like Dog River in the fictional tv program Corner Gas, doesn’t appear to have a whole lot going on.
There is always the risk of the neighborhood deteriorating into unsafe living conditions. Regardless of whether we live in a condo or a detached home, or whether we own or rent, we all face the same risk of change to our neighborhoods and communities.
I have rented apartments and houses, and I have owned homes, so this is not to slam renters. I relate what I have witnessed first hand in urban and rural areas and after living in several provinces.
Absentee landlords are a big problem because they have no interest in the community, other than through renting their house(s) and the profits they make.
There are landlords with multiple rental properties who barely maintain them and who rent properties which are outright fire traps due to old and faulty wiring.
The problem is further compounded by the “guarantee of rent” provided through govt.-sponsored income assistance. The landlord no longer has to worry that his tenant(s) will lose a job or be laid off. The rent is paid in full every month like clockwork by the income assistance program and not the tenant.
There are those tenant(s) who are responsible people or parents and who require this assistance through no fault of their own. For many of them, it is a temporary situation. They are a boon to the community.
Unfortunately, there are others in these programs who have no desire to better themselves or at the least attempt to parent their children more responsibly instead of being preoccupied with their drugs of choice.
Their children roam the streets and start packing up with older youth who are gang or “wannabe” gang members. The crime goes up and before you know it, you have a war zone situation like the people in that condo.
I have owned a home in a neighborhood where there was a nice mix of people – young, old, single working and couples with and without children.
One day, I got off the bus and began my usual walk home. I glanced over and saw several young men that either should have been in school or working, who instead were hanging out in the front a house. This house was located several blocks away from where I lived.
After I saw them, I noted the deterioration on that first block. I hadn’t really noticed before, until I saw the loitering and attitude of the young men gathered at that one home.
I paid attention on subsequent walks to and from the bus stop and noted the lack of work traffic from that block in the morning. I also noted the party atmosphere that had set into certain homes in the first block in the evenings.
I keep my house in ready to sell condition. The for sale sign went up and it sold before it could appear on the MLS listings. I was lucky to have noticed the change and got out before others began the stampede out of the neighborhood.
For the people in the above condo story, what could they have done differently? To me, it looks like they waited way too long.
Fighting a condo board to change things when you already have let the raging bull into the barn is pointless. That condo building was supposed to be a owner occupied building only, no rentals. Rentals in a condo building and owners with multiple units don’t always bode well. As soon as the rentals started, Mr Wilkie should have baled.
How would you know the difference between “a bit of trouble” happening in your neighborhood and “wait a minute, this is turning into SHTF and it’s time to get out of Dodge and find a new home?”
Do you think you would be able to get out fast enough if all your other neighbors have come to the same realization?
Are there any ways to avoid or reduce the risk of buying or renting in a problem neighborhood?
What if, for some reason, you were unable to get out and find a new place to live? How would you survive in such a situation as portrayed in the video above?
I pay attention. Keep my home ready to sell. Review the MLS and private sales so I have a finger on the pulse of the real estate market at all times.
Read MoreCovid-19 variant briefing note in the news
UbiqueContributor - March 30, 2021 I was going to wait until after the analysis was released this week, but the information is troubling and I wanted to give everyone a heads up. The data isn’t just Canadian. There is real concern by other countries over the severity of the B117 variant. It is affecting younger people as well.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-variants-death-analysis-ontario-1.5964296
Excerpts quoted:
“A briefing note prepared by table members for the province, which is expected to be made public early next week, is based on an analysis of Ontario hospitalization and death data between December and March.
The analysis is expected to show that variants substantially increase the risk of serious illness when compared to the initial strain of SARS-CoV-2, including:
60 per cent increased risk of hospitalization.
100 per cent increased risk of being admitted to an ICU.
60 per cent increased risk of death.
The data for the above report is expected to be released early this coming week.”
A further quote regarding data:
“The Ontario figures were also pooled with data from Denmark and the U.K., two countries hit hard by B117, several sources explained, with local data falling in line with those earlier international findings.
“Clearly, these variants are … more transmissible — so you’re more likely to become infected if you’re exposed to the virus — and also, you’re more likely to be admitted to hospital and to potentially die from the infection,” said critical care physician Dr. Kali Barrett, a member of the COVID-19 Modelling Collaborative, a separate group that was not involved in the science table’s upcoming briefing note.
Those health impacts are regardless of your age or pre-existing medical issues, she said of the international research.”
The news out of other countries is also a concern with respect to the death rate, transmission and that it is infecting younger people. Brazil is recording record deaths.
There have been warnings about the third wave being much worse.
The variants are in the throat rather than the lung. There is greater ease of transmission because of this change. Particles leaving the throat and mouth do so with even more facility than virus particles leaving the chest after a cough.
The virus particles can remain in the air for several hours.
I have also considered the additional droplets of the variant virus that are going to be landing on any and everything.
What about people not practising good hygiene who put hand to mouth and nose and then touch items? That has been an issue from the beginning, but now it will make matters worse.
We had some of our restrictions loosened provincially and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. We already have almost 120 cases of the B117 in my province. Yet, this weekend local people were partying like Covid-19 or its variants didn’t exist. Their driveways were packed with cars, five or more to a home.
Think of your eyes as another way for the virus to enter your body.
When I first learned of the variants and how they were transmissible from the throat, I brought in two types of face shields. Both are full face but one is more fitted around the face and offers more protection.
Many people don’t wear their masks properly. In the current variant situation, that could spell disaster for them and others.
I have also changed our shopping schedule with a view to even further minimize contact. We already do “pick and pay” for any necessary groceries and throughly wipe down any groceries or other items that enter the house.
I am also ramping up certain preps and plan to initiate SIP other than walking dog or working on property (garden).
Vaccine is happening April 2, but it takes time to develop and is only one of 2 shots. Also, it may lessen the effects caution is still required as one can still catch the virus.
Also, if anyone has considered this: where do the variants end? I am fully expecting that the more people spread this, the more copies of the virus are created and distributed, which in turn increases the chances of more variants. Our luck could run out if we’re not careful. What if one of these variants won’t respond to existing vaccines?
With this in mind, has anyone changed their protocols or added to their preps accordingly?
Read MoreHow I am using this year’s garden as a way to add security to my home
UbiqueContributor - March 29, 2021 I’ll begin by asking for feedback or suggestions to improve this idea before I explain it.
My lot is 50′ x 120′ and house is 28’x32′ with a 10’x12′ shed in the back yard to one side of the lot.
There are 2 x 4′ x 12′ and 2 x 4′ x 8′ existing raised beds in the back yard. I have a garden fence around the raised beds to protect from deer.
My original plan was to wrap a 6′ fence around the entire back yard, however, that has to wait until the garage is built.
There have been recent changes in our community that warrant doing something sooner in addition to a long-standing problem with someone in close proximity to my home.
There will still be openings into the yard, but I am creating a chute to control the ease and routes that are available to “just walk in.”
I am getting creative about how to add layers of security around my home using cedar planters with trellis privacy backing. It will look something like this:
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/gardening/21016882/how-to-build-a-privacy-planter
For the front yard, I am building 4 rectangle planters, each 2′ wide and 3′-4′ high with a trellis in back.
They will be situated in a row and bolted together for stability. They will be installed just inside the property line as a fence would (I don’t do shared fences that are installed on the property line – once was enough).
I plan to taper the first and last planter in the row so that each outside end is tapered down to 16″ from 24″. This is to keep the planter from looking too boxy and keeping it from getting to close to the deck that is pending.
There will be similar privacy planters going into the back yard, and on the other side of the front yard.
They will act as a type of “fence” or barrier. Right now everything is wide open and that has to change. This is the fastest way I can do that.
There is another planter of this type that is going to be positioned on a diagonal to block out the peeping tom I’ve had to deal with.
When I’m done this should provide more peace when I’m out working in the yard.
The additional planters will also provide the opportunity to try planting edible food in plain view, mixed with flowers or herbs. Silverbeet is one example or there is also Rainbow Swiss Chard or types of kale.
Okay, that’s the idea. Any thoughts or suggestions to make this better or add to it for security? I do have security cameras, but there are people around who know how to get past that by disguising themselves.
Read MoreThe Prepared staff in the news with down to earth prepping philosophy
Bob - March 29, 2021 https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Can-Texas-leaders-learn-anything-from-preppers-16042090.php
John Stokes, John Ramey and Tom Radar in news. The John Ramey philosophy is exacting: “modern preppers” = the older term “daily life”.
Dr Sarah Avery is a “low impact” prepper. This means, from my inference, don’t spend time preparing to survive an overhead nuclear explosion. Just work on the basic, daily life, stuff.
Read MoreColor-changing sutures detects infection
Bob - March 29, 2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/high-schooler-invented-color-changing-sutures-detect-infection-180977345/
A high school student invented a suture that changes colors to detect infection. Article has some illustrations.
Current methods to determine infection require a smart phone. Article explains.
I’m an avid practioner of the KISS doctrine – Keep It Simple, Stupid ! – Many do not have smart phone PLUS in realistic, worst case scenarios, phone service just not be available.
Am hoping she gets the needed patent.
Read MoreMaggot bucket, a source of unlimited and free protein for your chickens
Gideon ParkerStaff - March 29, 2021 In the the fictional Survivalist / Going Home book series the main character makes something called a maggot bucket to feed his chickens after an EMP goes off and sends everyone into a SHTF scenario.
The idea of a maggot bucket is that you drill holes in the bottom of a plastic bucket and suspend it in the air above your chicken coup. You then place your meat and other kitchen scraps in the bucket and it will attract flies who will plant their eggs in it. The eggs will hatch and maggots will be worming their way around in the scraps. Those maggots will eventually fall out of the holes of the plastic bucket and be laying on the ground for your chickens to come pick off. Voilà! Self feeding high protein chicken feed. This protein will then make it’s way to a more nutritious egg for us. That’s the idea… But does this work?
Have any of you with chickens made something like this before? Would this work?
I don’t think it would smell any worse or be more gross than a compost pile would be, but might not want it right out your back window.
The wife and I are hoping to have chickens someday and don’t want to buy all this grain feed for them, so we are thinking about what else we can do to feed the chickens and keep them healthy. This probably won’t replace their feed, but could supplement it.
Picture of chickens, just cause they’re cute.
UPDATE: I will not be doing this as a way to feed my future chickens. I’m sure glad I brought up the idea before implementing it. Read all of the great comments below for why.
Read More
Do you have any winter clothing recommendations?
Robert LarsonContributor - March 29, 2021 Colorado got dumped on this weekend. The above picture is what we got over night and are expecting about 7-8 more inches today.
I spent an hour out there and came in soaked! I learned that my leather hiking boots need another layer of Otter Wax to waterproof them further, my Carhartt jacket just soaks in all the snow and is not water resistant at all, and my cheap-o ski gloves must have lost all of their factory DWR coating.
This could be VERY dangerous if I had to bug out and relied on these clothes, so I’m grateful that I could learn this lesson now when times are good.
What winter clothing recommendations do you have? Boots, coat, gloves (especially gloves), pants, hat, etc…
Other things I learned:
I had learned somewhere that applying car wax to your shovel will make it slick and prevent snow and ice buildup in the scoop. This is something I’ll be doing as soon as things melt down, because I had to keep chipping away built up snow inside the shovel scoop and it was very inefficient. I’m also going to buy 1-2 more shovels as a backup. If my shovel were to break right now, I would be out of luck and it would be very difficult to dig out my car without one. Put your wiper blades up to prevent them from icing to the windshield Put gallon zipper bags on the side view mirrors. You just slip them off, don’t have any ice buildup and don’t have to scrape them risking damaging the little motor behind the glass. I have a large push broom that I use to brush off my car. I wrap it in a microfiber towel to prevent the plastic bristles from scratching the paint. I can clean a car in like 3 swipes compared to the little handheld brush that I keep in my car which would take forever.-Be Prepared-
Read More
How to read expiration dates
Bigwig - March 28, 2021 Since the pandemic started, I began to pay more attention to expiration dates. However, some items don’t have an expiration date but have recommended lifespans, like disinfecting wipes and motor oil. Also, some items like soap and shampoo may not have an expiration date, but I’d like to use the older product first. I’ve started looking at the date codes of the product. Most of the date codes are some form of Julian Date, which includes the year and a 3-digit number representing the day of the year. For example, for 20030, the first two digits ’20’ represent the year 2020 and the last three digits ‘030’ represent the 30th day of the year, which would be January 30. To simplify things, I’ve been using the Julian Date converter at http://longpelaexpertise.com/toolsJulian.php and putting a sticker with the date on the items.
Has anyone else been rotating items with no expiration date?
Read MoreFire and ice – Lessons learned through a wildfire evacuation and an epic ice storm
Barb LeeContributor - March 28, 2021 In less than six months we’ve had both. It clarified a lot of questions about how to prepare for what scenario. Last summer we were involved in a wildfire evacuation. Fortunately we had plenty of time to pack (two people, two horses, a dog and a cat) before we got the call to leave, and we packed very well, I think. I drew up an inventory of what we need to have “staged” in the event of another wildfire evacuation, but I need to seriously tweak that list before the coming fire season.
They attempted to funnel virtually an entire large county onto two lane roads to go…somewhere. We burned a half tank of gas in the truck, idling at ONE stoplight. Our Cars never go lower than half tank, and the truck has two tanks. But we should have taken another can of gas because of the insane traffic jams. And where to go? To the West, mountains on fire, to the east, mountains on fire, north and south, very hard to know where to go with horses. We stayed with friends who could have been called to evacuate themselves. Fortunately we weren’t directly affected by the fire. Many others lost everything when they were told to evacuate when the flames were licking at their doors.
The evacuation was historic, it’s never happened here before. I think the authorities made horrible decisions. The cops were racing up and down the jammed road, but there wasn’t a single cruiser directing traffic at the clogged stoplight.
Looting was rampant during the evacuation. A lot of people just decided to make a stand. We came home days before the all clear. Everything pointed to some unprecedented idiocy among the authorities.
In February we had an epic ice storm (Oregon, not Texas) that had about 250,000 power customers without electricity. We were out for 8 days, and 12 days without phone or internet. THAT emergency we handled with flying colors. But we learned a tremendous amount about streamlining our daily existence.
We learned that we could run most essentials on a gas sipping 2000 watt Honda Generator. We learned that refrigerators are useless, because they warm up too quickly and cool down too slowly. I was able to fill three ice chests with ice that fell from the trees, covered them with heavy horse blankets and they long outlasted the power failure.
The freezer remained solidly frozen (it’s in an unheated building), running the generator about 4 hours am and pm. We used less than five gallons of gas during the 8 day outage. I took enough food out for three days’ meals at a time to avoid opening it unnecessarily. We are going to put additional rigid insulation around the outside of the freezer.
Normally, our water comes from a 320 ft deep well. We have never had a generator large enough to operate it, but we just bought one, based on recommendations from the blog here. Of course, everyone’s out of stock so we have to wait for it. But the biggest message was that we can run nearly everything that’s really essential with the small generator, while the big generator guzzles gas (or propane) at a much higher rate. Score for the small generator.
During this outage we relied on the 3000 gallon rainwater tank and the 120v pump that delivers the water. This works great for an emergency outage in our rainy winter, but would only last about 100 days without rain. Hence the big generator. Plus our expectation is that we will soon begin to experience California style deliberate blackouts as Oregon dismantles its energy producing infrastructure and becomes more susceptible to wildfire.
In 41 years of living here, we’ve never experienced either emergency scenario before. It was enlightening, exhausting, and educational. It has also eroded our sense of complacency, if we are guilty of that.
In terms of food, we’re trying to draw down the freezer and have more shelf stable food, but it’s a balancing act between what takes up space (canned) versus what takes up resources (as in water for rehydrating dried food, particularly pasta/rice/beans, and fuel for long cooking time of beans). That’s a real balancing act I need to address. We ate like normal people in both situations, not deprived, but canned goods take up a lot of space for evacuating (heh, how about hundred pound bales of hay!)
Anyway, I’m rambling, sorry. It’s been an eventful six or so months!
Read MoreStoring water outside?
Rich DCContributor - March 28, 2021 Are there any tips, tricks, or rules of thumb for storing water outside (in barrels, etc) or is it best avoided when possible?
Some of my thoughts/questions:
If you opt for a rain-barrel collection system, where its not perfectly sealed from the outside and water-overflow might be a concern, is there any way to avoid various gross things from growing in a rain barrel? If storing in a sealed container, are there containers/materials that are more freeze-tolerant? Should you avoid filling an outdoor container to 100% to give ‘freeze’ expansion somewhere to go? Is freeze expansion so problematic that you can only do outdoor storage in more temperate environments, or empty your outdoor water storage prior to the freezing points in winter? Are underground (below the freeze line) storage solutions/cisterns viable in suburban environments, or is this more for homestead type operations, where you have a few acres at your disposal and fewer code enforcement agencies to worry about?To clarify, my use case here is secondary water storage and/or replenishment (with possible need for filtering?). I’m also curious if this might be useful for small scale garden applications – especially in a scenario where public water isn’t always turned off but potentially intermittent/less reliable.
Read MoreGenerators?
Jonnie PekelnyContributor - March 28, 2021 I’ve been trying to get my head around generators. (Disclaimer: I am almost entirely ignorant abut electricity and am not very handy).
The immediate need that’s driving my need for a generator is that I need an off-the-grid backup for running my CPAP machine. For those of you who don’t know about CPAP, it treats sleep apnea. No CPAP no good sleep. That’s bad in an emergency. My CPAP machine is rather power hungry and I’ll have to buy a sizeable capacity lithium battery to run it for one night. But then I will need to recharge it. As I understand the best way to recharge it is with a generator. But here’s where I get stuck.
A generator seems tricky and dangerous.
* It can’t run inside. It has to be 20 feet away from the house but my outside property is very small and also on a hill and also exposed so that the generator could be easily seen and and maybe stolen outside. Even if not stolen I don’t know where I would place it to be 20 feet away from the house and how I would keep it secure on a slope.
* It requires gas or propane, which also has to be stored outside, also somewhat visible and possibly easily stolen and also explosive. Do I want to keep an explosive gas right near my house? How do I store it safely? I already have this problem with the little propane canisters I keep for my camping stove. I’ve opted to store those in my basement, which I’m not supposed to do technically, because I don’t know where else to put them safely.
* And if I’m camping (which is my secondary reason to want an off-grid solution for my CPAP) do I bring a bunch of gas or propane with me on my camping trip to feed the generator?
I also don’t know how long a generator takes to recharge a battery to capacity.
I would really appreciate guidance from someone who is competent about generators.
Read Moreticks, why do they exist?
pint of beer - March 28, 2021 i was going to attach a picture of a tick, but was creeped out by just the image of it and couldn’t keep looking at them.
this is one of my fears of camping, bugging out, and just being out in the woods. nasty lil blood suckers, why do they even exist? bird’s probably aren’t getting much nutrition off of them. i think they are just around to be a creepy pest and to keep me out of the woods.
to the point now, what can people do to prevent ticks? both the day hiker and the person bugging out in a tent in the middle of no where for months?
what are the dangers of getting bit by one besides the fact that they are creepy as h***?
if, heaven forbid, someone were to get bit by one of these abominations, how do you remove it? i’ve heard you have to do it just right or the head breaks off and stays connected to you. gosh!
can you tell i don’t like ticks?
Read MoreLearn how to persevere during a crisis before the crisis happens
UbiqueContributor - March 27, 2021 “TOO WEAK!” The dojo walls echoed the screams of our instructor.
We were in formation, row upon row of exhausted, sweat soaked students. He stalked up and down the rows, and around the perimeter of the class, his eagle eye catching every imperfect punch or kick.
The worst offense was not to train hard enough. If one person was lax, everyone was punished. The penalties were double knee jumps or pushups or both.
“DOUBLE KNEE JUMPS NOW! ONE, TWO, ONE, TWO!”
The count was rapid and relentless.
We soared in the stifling heat, strained to send our bodies upward, and drew our knees up into our chests. As soon as our feet hit the floor, the rapid pace of his count drove us back up again.
Over and over we repeated the movement in the sweltering heat of the dojo. It was situated in an old building without air conditioning and we trained upstairs. The heat of the hot summer day rose to where we trained and combined with the thermal energy that radiated from our bodies.
Thirty seconds of double knee jumps at his pace was brutal. Sixty seconds was an indication that our instructor was really annoyed with the lazy offender in class.
No one complained because the double knee jumps were better than the bamboo rod that used to be administered for not training hard enough.
Regular training consisted of warm-up, calisthenics and flexibility. We rotated through an assortment of skills: kicks, punches, patterns, sparring, and heavy bag training.
In almost every class, his corrections would rise above the thunder of feet hitting the dojo floor or the kiyups yelled in unison. “HAAAHHH!” The kiyups rose from deep in our bellies and up, and tightened our solar plexus as the sound blasted out of our mouths.
One of our instructor’s preferred verbal admonishments was to stop the class and tell us “What will you do in a fight for your lives? Are you going to tell your opponent that you are tired and need to take a break? Do you think your opponent will stop? NO! TOO WEAK! NOW TRAIN HARDER!”
His point was simple: learn to push beyond what you think you can do because it can save your life or someone else’s life someday.
I pushed myself through many limits during my training. Even my experience with “runners’ wall” during my running days was nothing like what I learned in that class.
I experienced what it meant to literally drop during a heavy bag workout. While I was being dragged off the floor and checked for cardiac by a fellow student who happened to be a physician, my thoughts were to get back in there and keep going.
I chose knuckle push ups over the other type of push up allowed for women because they strengthened my wrists.
My preferred sparring partners were men. Sparring with taller men taught me to become fast and proficient with my kicks. I learned to overcome their longer limbs by getting in close past that radius.
I favored sparring partners who listened to me when I told them to forget you’re sparring with a female. I wanted to desensitize myself to the image of a larger and more powerful male coming at me and overcome that difference in combat.
Beneath my gi (uniform) was a road map of bruises from torn muscles and sparring. Not every student pushed that hard. I chose to push hard and train hard at the dojo and at home.
Tenacity or perseverance is something we can develop by challenging ourselves to continue in the face of adversity. It is an asset for a prepper.
It is a trait that we can rely upon in times of crisis, and if resources are stretched thin, it becomes a very important asset.
Tenacity can make the difference between survival and death.
Think about why some people give up just before they succeed. Just before they overcome a problem, some people stop trying, stop fighting and they just give up.
You don’t have to be a martial artist to learn tenacity. Push yourself every day to do better, to carry on when you are tired, to complete the task when you’re overwhelmed and frustrated. Just keep going. Don’t give up.
Don’t wait until there is a crisis to develop this trait. You can practice and learn tenacity each and every day.
Don’t be the one who gives up just before the finish line, or before the battle is won, or before the crisis is over. Persevere and survive.
Read MoreThe prepping items that we regret buying and why
UbiqueContributor - March 26, 2021 Remember the nifty prepping gadget or shiny “gotta have it” object begging to be added to our prep items. Like crows, we swooped in and snatched it up and carried it off, only to discover it was garbage.
It wasn’t well made and broke after we used it 3 times. It didn’t do all the wonderful things it was supposed to do. It was a pain in the neck to use and more aggrevation that it was worth.
That regrettable prep item purchase was recycled, thrown out, buried in the backyard or gifted to an unsuspecting relative.
So come on now, ‘fess up. We’ve all done it. What was the worst prep related item that you ever purchased and why?
Read MoreIntuition, Nature and Prepping
UbiqueContributor - March 26, 2021 This morning, I thought of how many times I have used intuition and nature as part of how I prep.
Intuition can be considered the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning.
I was raised in a family of intuitive people, which made it difficult to get away with anything as a child. Their abilities went beyond parental instinct.
I was taught to pay attention to my intuition and use my instincts for the ability to do something about what my intuition noticed.
I thought everyone’s family was like my family and never considered it unusual, until as an adult outside my family unit, I acted upon my instincts. That was when other people noticed and I found out we didn’t quite follow the norm.
For example, I would get a sudden mental flash that a friend was in trouble and call them. The conversation went something like this:
Me: “Are you okay?”
Friend: “No, I’m not…wait a minute, how did you know?”
The friend was particularly surprised because I had called her at 3 a.m.. I had awoken out of a dead sleep to respond. I was surprised also.
That was the point when I realized that not everyone paid attention to their intuition or used their instincts. This is not to say that I always got it right. It took some years for me to understand how to focus some of that intuition on protecting myself.
I was also taught to pay attention to nature and be mindful of the physical world around me by using all my senses.
It was the smell of snow, of the shift in the air when Spring had really arrived. It was about observing how animals behaved in different seasons. Were the squirrels out longer gathering food? How heavy was the moss on the trees that year? Were the horses suddenly running because a storm was coming or was it something else?
Nature has a way of telling us things if we pay attention.
There have been many times when I make decisions to do something prep related that can appear spontaneous, but are actually driven by intuition and nature combined.
For example, regardless of the weather forecast, I can decide to go immediately to do a grocery shop rather than wait for the planned for time and day.
This has happened in fall and spring stock up times. There have been many storms I have avoided by simply following that intuition and paying attention to what I sensed in nature and not the weather forecast.
When I lived in the city and could frequent thrift stores more easily, I did the same thing, a sudden decision to go because I had that flash of intuition that told me go now. Sure enough, I would find an item I had been searching for and needed for my preps.
Now in a rural area, it works the same way for online shopping. I can be in the middle of baking bread, stop cold and check online for an item I have been searching for and there it is, on sale.
I use intuition alone for dealing with safety and security issues. Again, I can awaken out of a sleep to check security cameras and there are people on the street or in the back lane.
I don’t think I’m the only one who does this. I have a theory that we all have the ability to be intuitive, but many people are not taught to pay attention to their intuition and nature as I was taught.
So, this morning my curiosity leads me to ask whether anyone else uses their intuition as part of how they prep, and if so, how?
I also wonder if anyone else understands what I mean about reading the signs in nature and if so, how does that affect how you prep?
Read MoreNWS weather forecast model upgraded
Bob - March 25, 2021 https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2021/03/25/607109.htm
Our complaints were heard and acted on ! The National Weather Service was using a model that did not work – especially when compared to the European model. Above link tells of the change.
Traditionally, the US model for hurricanes measures only wind speed. This misses the bigger danger: flooding. Our loss of life is not coming from the wind but from the water.
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How we can teach children and youth prepping skills
UbiqueContributor - March 25, 2021 “They should teach this in the schools.”
I have read that comment referring to prepping skills repeatedly, or some variation of it, in various threads and have said the same thing myself.
Emergency preparedness doesn’t appear to be taught in school.
Note: Please say so if you know that it is, because I would like to know how that community got it into the curriculum.
If it isn’t taught in school, then that leaves the parents and the home environment as the place where preparedness is taught.
In an ideal world, prepping would be taught at school and at home.
If we think of prepping as a lifestyle, then it follows that children and youth at home would grow up with that mind set and philosophy.
It is possible that as they emerge into adulthood, they might reject that lifestyle. They might also return to a prepping lifestyle eventually.
Regardless of whether they reject it or not, at least as adults they would have roots in prepping and develop some basic skills and knowledge.
There are exceptions where some parents are not suitable in the role of teacher. A parent who doesn’t recognize their limitation and unsuitability as a teacher can destroy their child’s love of learning.
Every child or youth learns in different ways. Some children are “hands on” learners, others lean more toward self-teaching, while others like to observe and learn.
To be an effective teacher, a parent must understand this and adapt their teaching style to suit the child. A frustrated child will soon grow to hate learning if it becomes associated with unpleasantness and stress rather than the joy of learning and discovery.
I am not a fan of “everybody’s a winner” methodology used in some schools.
Children need to understand that they will make mistakes and that is another feature of learning. It also prepares them for how things will work once they are employed or self-employed.
If the parents are not suitable to teach and they know it, then what?
Fortunately, there is a broad base of substitute teachers who can work with the family’s philosophy of prepping and help out.
Other family members, prepping friends, groups such as Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, survival skill courses, for example. There are family farms who open their farms to people who want to take a vacation and participate in a working family farm.
Most of us keep our prepping low key, but it is still possible to have a neighbour, family or friends outside the prepping community to teach your child how to fish, hunt, sew, bake bread, garden, animal husbandry, first aid, and financial skills, without disclosing that these skills are about prepping.
You could call them life skills or wanting your child involved in the environment and understanding where their food comes from. Frankly, after the walloping big lesson Covid-19 has taught the world, I don’t think too many people would even question a parent wanting their child to learn those skills.
This morning I am wondering who here is teaching their prepping skills to their children or grandchildren and if so, what has your experience been as a teacher of these skills and lifestyle? Was the experience always successful or did you learn things along the way?
Have some of your children rejected the prepping lifestyle? If so, do you know why?
Outside of volunteering, what are some ways we can lead by example and encourage prepping? Are we noticing the opportunity to teach when it happens?
Can you think of other ways we can teach prepping skills?
Read MorePeaches in the spring
RedneckContributor - March 24, 2021 Sometimes prepping is beautiful. A big part of my prepping are my perennials. I grow all sorts, mostly apples but also pears, Asian persimmons, pecans, blueberries, blackberries, muscadine grapes, jujubi, asparagus… and peaches which are blooming now. IMO, few things are as beautiful and taste so great when ripened on the tree. Was spraying the orchard & roses today and just had to take some pictures.
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Mitigation: How to reduce the cause, impact and severity of disasters around your home
UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021 I read through some FEMA information this morning about the four phases of the emergency management cycle.
The four phases are: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
I considered some of the projects that have been done around my home and property over the years that have mitigated disasters or the effects of one.
The trees on my property were in terrible shape when we moved in. Most of them were planted close to the house and planted too close to each other. Some of the trees were dying and partly rotted and others had huge branches over the top of the roof of the house.
We get can get high winds and tornadoes and I was very concerned about the potential for how my home and a neighbour’s home could be damaged by such an event.
Trees have a life cycle and it is important to know that when selecting them for your property, especially a town or city lot. Watch also for roots systems that can infiltrate sewer lines.
Tree branches over a roof or close to a roof are not good for a variety of reasons. Branches that actually touch the roof can destroy your shingles. The branches can become too close when they are heavy with ice, snow or moisture and then sag lower and touch the roof.
Squirrels and other critters are fun to watch from a distance, but give them a tree branch close enough to your home and they will scurry up that branch and find a way into your attic. Squirrels are amazing high wire acrobats and can jump 15 feet (some sources say more or less), so that needs to be considered when pruning back branches or planting.
Aside from damage to the home, squirrels can carry diseases. Some of the more common diseases they carry are tularaemia, typhus, plague and ringworm which can be transmitted through a bite or other forms of direct contact with infected squirrels.
I called in a tree service and had all the trees removed.
High wind, tornado and potential for rodent damage mitigated.
Next, there was the issue of poorly graded property. We can get heavy rains, more so now in recent years with “once in a 100, (insert years – it keeps changing) events.”
During a heavy rain, I discovered water pouring into one of the basement windows.
I had both basement windows replaced with properly installed window wells around them. I then installed window well covers.
I noticed after the heavy rain exactly where the water was pooling on the property. The next project to tackle was the issue of our poorly graded residential lot.
Residential lot grading is shaping and grading the land to direct surface runoff away from your home in a way that doesn’t affect neighbouring properties. .
Aside from standing water and flooding, improperly graded residential lots can cause foundation settlement or damage and basement dampness. Dampness is not good for prep storage.
Here is a link for an overview of lot grading. Each community will have their own rules. Where I live, no permit was necessary. However, some communities require a permit.
Residential drainage
After 5 truck loads of soil, and becoming very acquainted with my landscape rake, the lot was correctly sloped and graded. Swales and drainage channels were the final component to ensure that rain water and moisture from melting snow drained away from the house. The water now flows to the street and back lane via grade and drainage channels on each side of the lot.
I also had larger drainage pipe from the gutters installed to allow for better and more rapid flow of water during storms and heavy rains. No more overflowing gutters. Risk of flooding and water infiltration around the home and property now mitigated.
After the water table rose due to heavy rains, I had my plumber install a sump pit and pump to move water away from below the foundation and ease hydrostatic pressure. There are other methods, but this was recommended as a good first line of defence and it has worked very well over the years.
At the same time, I also had a sewer back flow valve installed on my sewer line. Our town has the storm drains tied into the sanitary sewer system. This is not the correct way to do it and not all communities may be built that way. It is wise to check especially in older rural towns with municipal sewer and water.
If however, your sewer lines back up for any reason, this valve is well worth having in place. One woman I knew with heavy rains in another town, had over four feet of sewage in her basement. Her massive, fully stocked chest freezer was floating.
During heavy rains, some homes in town had flooded basements. Many people were trying to hide the fact that their homes were being flooded. Instead of correctly pumping the water out of their basement and away from their property, they were pumping into their basement storm drains.
The problem is that when so many of them did that, they overloaded the sewer lines causing sewage to flow back into basements. My basement stayed clean and dry. Installing that sewer back flow valve on my home has paid for itself many times over.
We have had many heavy rain years and I don’t have to worry about sewage backing up into my basement. Preps safe and sound and potential for disaster mitigated.
Those are a few of the steps I have taken over the years to practice hazard mitigation. What kind of steps or projects have you done to mitigate disaster causes, impact or severity around your homes? Are there still projects you want to do to reduce the effects of a disaster?
Read MoreHow to prep and recognize all or nothing thinking
UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021 In my ten year journey to learn to manage PTSD symptoms, I encountered some terrific therapists.
Mary Ellen was a warm, caring person capable of the most deadpan delivery of practical and common sense advice.
I was stuck in a forty year old memory. A person had attempted to murder me three different ways in one night. We were trying to work through the fear and nightmares I still had of that incident.
One session, Mary Ellen asked me “How old were you when it happened?”
I answered “Around nineteen or twenty-years old.”
“How old was he?”
“He was thirty-eight years old?”I answered.
“Okay, so today, that makes him, what, seventy-eight years old, right?”
“Well, yeah,” I answered.
“Do you think you could take him today?” Mary Ellen asked.
The light bulb went off, or should I say “on” in my head.
“Hell, yeah!” I shouted. “You bet I could take him now.”
Mary Ellen showed me that I was stuck in the past, while the years had rolled by. The man who terrorized my sleep and had caused me so much fear of ever encountering him again, had aged, as had I.
My thoughts and thinking had kept me trapped in time.
Some effects of the trauma still remains, but the image of him as he attacked me that night is gone.
I tell you this because it is an example of how our thinking can change everything.
This is very important in prepping and when were are coping with a crisis. It is also important in the aftermath of a crisis.
How we think and what we think can keep us “stuck.”
Mary Ellen used to call me out on “all or nothing” thinking. It is also referred to as thinking in “black and white” terms. “You’re doing it again,” she would tell me.
She taught me to catch and correct thinking that considers only two options, one or the other, and doesn’t see the shades of grey in situations. It is a very limiting way to think.
All or nothing thinking involves thinking in absolute terms: never, ever, always.
It can also happen when we place “either or” limits on our thinking. For example, my bug out shelter will be either here or there.
If we limit ourselves to those two choices, then we might miss a better option.
When we are stressed it becomes easy to panic and begin to limit our options through all or nothing thinking.
We may think I can or I can’t do something instead of I can try to do it or I can succeed if I do it this way. All or nothing thinking doesn’t allow for that and focuses on the negative.
If we think in terms of options, rather than “either or,” we can overcome all or nothing thinking. We can substitute “and” for “either or”. I can do this and I can try this as well.
Our preparedness and reactions can be shaped by decisions made upon a wider spectrum of choices.
There will be many times in our prepping lives where the ability to see and evaluate a wider scope of options will be important, if not, crucial to our plans.
In a crisis, our ability to recognize the limitations of all or nothing thinking may help us survive by alerting us to change this type of self-limiting thinking, expand our options and make a better choice.
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