WEEK 1 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 shown you mine, show me yours! Start a blog about your Prepper journey and link me. Sharing ideas could save numerous lives!

Kelly

PREPPING - What it is and why it's important

Do you remember this movie? 

Prepping is nothing new. People have been preparing since the beginning of time. From the first man killing/ preserving food for winter to the Cuban Missile Crisis and more recent. For generations people have planned for a 'rainy day'. They kept their food stock in root cellars in case of long winters when what they preserved might be all they had to hold them until Spring. How many families prepared for 'the big one' like our folks in Blast from the Past. Though the movie was meant to be a comedy, there was nothing light about the importance of how prepared they were to live below ground.

But over the past few years, 'Prepping' has taken on a new meaning. Some have extended the term into 'survivalist' - preparing for everything imaginable from a natural disaster like a tornado to Armageddon. Several months ago I found a book by Bernie Carr called - THE PREPPER'S POCKET GUIDE - 101 Easy Things You Can Do To Ready Your Home For A Disaster.

Bernie breaks prepping down in to 101 manageable tasks to having everything you need for any emergency that might arise. Disasters, like tornadoes, will knock you off your game if you are not prepared. My plan to kick-start this blog is to take you on my journey as I work my way through the booklet and prepare our home for an emergency and put our Prepper Plan into action.

In the mean time, I recommend you order Bernie's book and join me on this journey. If you are already a Prepper or know someone, link me to their sites. I'd love to share what others are doing.

Kelly