PREPPING - Where to Begin

Anytime someone wants to start something new, their first question is usually something to the effect of 'how do I start?' or 'where do I begin?'  My Mom always said any project is best started at the beginning. So I'm going to start this whole Prepping series at the beginning.

Start with DECLUTTERING a space to use as your new storage area. For us, that is in our utility room. Even with the wood burner cranking in the middle of winter, our utility room is the coolest room in the basement with two exterior (while well ground-insulated) concrete walls. One West and one North.

Right now as I'm in the middle of reorganizing and decluttering my craft room, this room has become the sorting area for those things. I hope to have that project finished in the next couple of weeks. But this is what this is what it looks like at present:

This first pictures is of the west wall where my husband built the temporary canned goods storage from 2x8s (possibly 2x6) and shelf bracket modules available at most home improvement stores. We found these at Lowes.

This is the South wall separating the utility room from my craft room. As you can see, the plumbing also runs through this area. If I can get a couple of projects done this summer, most everything there will be put to use and out of the way so that we can turn that wall into a rotating can storage similar to this one on My Family Essentials. The link will take you to the page where she talks about food storage and the picture of her can rotation system. For a quick look, I have a pic on my Pinterest Board - Emergency Preparedness -   CAN STORAGE

We use this cabinet to store our bath necessities as there is a shower in this room as well. But we also store the overstock of personal, beauty and paper products here.

A storage area can be one location in your home (ideal) or have zones throughout your house. Under the bed for instance, is a great place to store cases of bottled water. Think about repurposing various pieces of furniture such as an entertainment center (most people don't even need these now with the flat screen now a common household item.  Can you put shelves on the wall above the toilet area for extra rolls of toilet paper or personal products. While having them in plain view may not be the prettiest, how important is pretty when you need to have those items on hand?  A wooden chest doubling as a coffee table, end of the bed seat or even a hassock that has an opening top can be used to store canned goods.  

If you have a garage, how much can you declutter this area and add shelves for bulk items such as toilet paper, paper towels, detergent, etc.

Your assignment this week if you choose to accept it is to take a tour of your home. What can you get rid of and what necessary emergency supplies could you store there instead.

I've showed you mine, show me yours! Start a blog about your Prepper journey and link me. Sharing ideas could save numerous lives!

Blessings!

~Rain

PREPPING - What it means?

Where's there? The end of February. Silly groundhog saw fit to run from his shadow. I'm tired of cold, dreary, wet, cold, ice, - did I mention COLD? Even with the temp at 40* right now, I can't seem to shake the damp chill. Might have something to do with the north wind and drizzle we had this morning.

As we experience all this snow, ice, drizzle I am amazed they consider us under a Burn Ban. They are also forecasting a dry summer. So I've been filling water and juice jugs. My 2 rain barrels are beyond full. I'm hoping we can get the slab poured for the caged water tank down in the orchard so I can siphon off the two barrels down there and start over with new spring rains.

Making sure I have water for my plants this summer is just one of the many things I've begun looking at under the category of PREPPER. Prepping is nothing new. For generations people knew how to plan for a 'rainy' day. They kept their food stock in root cellars for long winters when what they preserved might be all they had to carry them til spring and the next harvest. How many families prepared for 'the big bomb', creating fallout shelters in their backyards (remember the movie Blast from the Past)



But over the past few years, 'prepping' has taken on a whole new meaning. Some people have extended prepping into 'survivalist' - preparing for everything imaginable. From my point of view, I am looking at being prepared for natural disasters - not the end of the world. Several months ago I found a book called. THE PREPPER'S POCKET GUIDE - 101 Easy Things You Can Do To Ready Your Home For A Disaster.

You can get the book for Kindle - $9.39 or hard copy for $10.66. I paid $12.95 at Barnes & Noble and in my opinion worth every penny.  Bernie Carr breaks things down into manageable steps to prepare for everything from dealing with a power outage for a few days to 'who knows how long this will last' scenarios. They are all basic practices we should be doing - Common Sense stuff.

An example is to have a hard copy of your contacts list. We live in a digital age and we think everything is in our phone. But what if your phone dies but you have access to an emergency calling station? Will you remember the phone number of someone you need to contact? Your insurance agent for instance? Or a loved one to let them know you are okay?

Disasters like tornadoes and floods will knock you off your game - if you are NOT prepared.
My plan over the next few weeks is to share some of Bernie's tips with you as I put my own Prepper Plan into action.

In the mean time, I recommend getting the book and putting your own Disaster Relief Plan into action.

Blessings!
~Rain