Lists

from Abraham's Blog by Abraham

All good preppers need lists. You shouldn’t go to the supermarket without a list. Lists will help you to minimize or eliminate impulse purchases. Food gets eaten. Bandaids get used. Ammo gets shot. You need a way to keep track of what you’ve used and what you need. If you go through your equipment, gear or supplies you may find out what else you need. Add it to your list. I hate shopping so to eliminate wasteful trips to the store I’ll keep a list so when I go to the sporting goods store, the gun store or Walmart I know exactly what I need to buy. A list will save you money and time.

I organize my food shopping list in the same order as the store. That way when I get to the frozen food aisle I don’t have to go back to the produce aisle. You should organize all your stuff by date so the oldest stuff gets used first. When you are organizing you may find that you have less shells or oil than you thought you did. Add it to the list.

I also like the idea of a Bug Out List. I don’t have unlimited resources so it’s impossible for me to have seconds and thirds of every item in my shop, another set in the car, another set in the Bug Out Bag and another set in my camping gear. My tools are spread all over the place. Then I got my sheds and the garage too. My big first aid kit is in the bathroom closet. Coleman fuel is in the shed. I got stuff everywhere.

The point is, if you need to split because of some natural disaster or because your home/neighborhood becomes dangerous you need to be able to grab what you need, pack it in your car and hit the road before everyone else does. When you are under stress and rushing it is not the time that you want to be running around wondering what you need to grab. If I had to bug out there is no way that I could grab everything that I wanted to bring with me without leaving something behind.

So the solution is to keep a Bug Out List. I keep mine near my bug out Rubbermaids. I keep it thumb tacked to the wall with a pen nearby so that I can add stuff to the list right when I think of it.

Anything that you keep somewhere other than your bug out equipment needs to be added to your Bug Out List. I don’t care if you know what you need to grab. Stress and adrenaline plays games with our monkey brains and you will forget something.

Things on my Bug Out List:

• first aid kit
• sharpening stones
• Coleman fuel and cans of propane
• prescriptions, extra glasses, vitamins (you have vitamins as part of your preps, right?)
• bow saw, axe, maul
• food - don’t forget veggie oil - keep empty milk crates or Rubbermaids or whatever so that you can throw some cans/boxes/bags right in the containers.
• pots/pans
• kitchen knives, cutting boards, spices/herbs/salt/pepper
• stored water
• gasoline jugs
• extra clothing
• extra blankets, sleeping bags
• cooler
• camping chairs
• turkey fryer
• Coleman stove
• walkie talkies
• gun accessories - holsters, cleaning equipment
• toilet paper
• precious metals and stored cash that you may have hidden around your home
• laptop and charger
• cell phone chargers
• your jump drive that has copies of all your important documents
• your important documents - passport, birth certificate, insurance policies out of state gun or hunting licenses
• tent(s)
• address book - so if you’re away from home you can still call friends and family. You might even have to call someone out of state or the country to arrange a place you can bug out to.
• stored water
• your GPS
• extra batteries
• pet stuff - unless you already have dog food, dog bowls, leashes and your dog’s Valium already in your Bug Out Bag.

Then you need to practice loading everything at least once or twice so you know for sure what you can and can’t fit in your car. Then based on your actual Bug Out practice you can prioritize things. If you’ve been prepping any amount of time you know that lists are never finished. They just keep changing. That’s like the Prepper’s Prayer, “May my list never be completed. May my list always need work. May my lsit drive me to strive to work towards the things that will save us.”

News of the day-

Are you guys familiar with Mike Morgan’s Blog? Mike is one smart cookie and he understands finance and commerce like few others. Mr. Morgan called the collapse and he is still able to make a buck trading.

“It is time to start pushing more money into short positions and gold. When the weather breaks this summer, I believe we will see riots. I have said that before, and each day I see things like this, I grow more certain of what I see coming. Please brace yourselves, because it is just now beginning. Look around the world. More than 100 dead in economic riots in Madagascar. How about Latvia, Greece, Connecticut, France, Russia, Chicago, China, Spain protests. When it comes down to food for your children or killing someone that stole from you, so you can feed your children . . . what do you think is going to happen?”

A Salam Alaikum.

Get outside everyday.

Some days are sunny and warm your body and soul.

If you look real close way at the back of this field towards the right you can see an real old farmhouse. It’s probably 300 years old. People much richer than the original farmer who lived there now live there.

Other days are cloudy and warm your body and soul. Really though the more you get out the less the weather will bother you. You’ll learn how to dress the right way and even rainy cold days will be good days to get outside.

Original: http://hotdogjam.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/lists/