Buying stuff online from Amazon.com is easy. You buy it, wait until it arrives at your door and shuttle it down to the basement until SHTF happens (or not). Printing checklists out from your work computer (does your boss know you are using company paper?) is easy. You print off the good stuff with the intention of doing X, Y and Z but you probably never get to it. Hey, after all life and soccer practice gets in the way. Going to the range is easy, pumping 3 boxes of ammo through your weapon of choice while at the range qualifies you to have “that” conversation with the guy/gal next to you. You know the convo, all the additions you’ve made to your weapon or the style/form you choose to use and how it has drastically improved your something-or-other. Yadda yadda yadda.
I’ll issue this statement: doing things that you LIKE is easy. YET…the diligent prepper often does things which are not easy and/or quite frankly boring. Tedious tasks which often produce no real “ah ha” satisfaction moment but rather a feeling of “glad that’s done.” Here are 5 tasks I have recently accomplished which I feel are great examples of diligent prepping.
1- Inventories. Who likes to do inventories? I know I don’t and I’m willing to bet there are many out there like me. Besides the quarterly inventories of supplies there are the seasonal inventories AND repacking of gear. Going from a summer to winter packing list for 3 vehicle bags and BO Bags can be rather tedious, especially since I dump everything and lay it all out before swapping things out and repacking it all. Not exactly a 5 minute exercise but dumping and repacking gear really does help youu to familiarize yourself with where in the pack specific items are.
2- Car Gear Swapping. In my family we have been blessed, in that we have more vehicles than we have drivers. As such we have the option to drive (as an example) a car for nice days and maybe a HD pickup or SUV when we need to haul things or the weather gets bad. This swapping of vehicles means that I usually take it upon myself to make sure that all vehicle bags and gear are packed in trunks according to whoever will be driving what for the next day. It takes discipline to go out to the garage a few times a week to swap bags and other “essential” gear from vehicle to vehicle but I don’t mind because when it comes to my wife and daughter there is not much I wouldn’t be willing to do.
3- Gas Can Cycling. I have quite a few 5 to 6 gallon gas cans which I keep stashed in a safe location. The good news is that if something goes down I’ll have fuel for my generator(s), the bad news is that gas in cans really (depending on specific circumstances) don’t last that long so it means cycling the fuel through vehicles and refilling the cans. I went through this exercise again 2 weeks ago and it was long and boring, you don’t realize how long it takes for a 6 gallon fuel can to empty into a gas tank until you have to hold one as it chugs along. Repeat this exercise more than a few times and the yawn factor increases exponentially.
4- Generator Checks. Without fail every two weeks I roll my generators out and fire them up, and then I sit there while they drone away for 10 to 15 minutes. Once complete I make sure to turn the fuel shut off in order to shut down the genny, thus removing as much fuel as I can from the carb (or so I believe). Here’s the thing, while this task might seem easy when a weekend is full of other seemingly important tasks it can easily be relegated to the back seat (I’ll get to that later). Move the vehicles, roll out the genny(s), fire them up and go through the exercise. It does take a sense of dedication to make this happen.
5- Weapon / Blade Maintenance. I’ll be honest, I hate to clean weapons. If I could shoot thousands of rounds of ammunition and have my gun perfectly clean via magic (or a helper) each and every time I’d love it. All that BS about getting to know your weapon and going through all the parts/components…I’d pass if I could. Cleaning weapons is not fun and I’ll be the first one to tell you it does not bring a smile to my face. Rather I’m thankful that the necessary task is over with so that I can toss whatever it is that I shot back in the safe.
The same goes for all the bladed instruments around the house. Sharpening a pocket knife is one thing but cycling through all of the sharp edged objects in my home is downright ridiculous. At a certain point it gets to be a time consuming task which, although completed, is often looked upon with disdain.
Need Your Input!
What are some examples of your diligent prepping? As you know it’s not always a bowl of cherries, I’d like to hear what you all have gone through in recent times.
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I think one of the most overlooked and important issues with prepping is maintaining some level of physical fitness. I am not saying you need to bench twice your bodyweight or run a 6 minute mile but it is a common sens assumption that if you are even in a short term SHTF situation, you are going to have to be able to do an above normal level of physical activity.
I am the world’s worst at working out on a regular basis. To change this, I have recently made a deal with my kid that I would go to the gym whenever she wanted to if she would agree to to the same for me, as it is too freaking cold at this time of year to do much outside.
Author
That is a great one, physical fitness takes dedication and is something that most choose to overlook.
PJ;
Yes, buying on Amazon is wayyyyy to easy, just picked up 8 pair of those Kirtland Socks, HAHAHA, we will see how well they workout under heavy loads. Next; yes the boss knows I steel his paper and print out all kinds of stuff, his only requirement is I share the best articles with him (will be printing this one out so he can read it). AND the entire place knows I take an hour every morning to do a healthy walk with my 115 pound HUGE Lab, good thing the dog is a Lab, god it’s been cold in the early mornings.
Something that I see a lot of people overlooking is maintenance of their homes. In my business I see literally hundreds of homes that are in so dire need of repair it’s beyond ridicules. When the SHTF and you’re planning on “Bugging In” than in a very short while you will be very happy you took care of your place. This also goes for your Bug-Out destination also, when is the last time you-all spent a week or more actually living in your BOL? Here are a few items I would suggest for anyone to do.
1. Clean and flush your water heater, inspect for any rust or corrosion at the fittings.
2. Service your furnace. Make dang sure you have a carbon monoxide test done on the firebox, it may save your life.
3. Have an electrician check all the connections in your Electrical Panel. (I have personally seen 30-35 fires due to lose wiring in the Main Panel), and yes wiring WILL work itself lose, I have seen it.
4. Craw under your house and check for wood rot or mold, it does happen and floors do cave in.
5. Roof, need I say more?
There are literally hundreds of things that “should” be checked each year or more often, not only in our homes, our “Bags”, our stored preps, our vehicles, and a dozen other things as well. In my mind we need to work as much on maintaining as we do “adding” new preps to out “stash”. Yes we should all prepare, but is maintaining not also “prepping”?
FYI this also goes if you rent or live in an apartment. It is your responsibility to make sure the place you live is safe and you could survive there if the world actually does go to hell in a hand-basket.
NRP
Author
NRP
Great tips on home maintenance! In recent years I have spent more money than I care to admit just to keep our home up, it truly is a black hole money pit but one that must be fed otherwise the implications could be disastrous! Did I mention the new roof I just put on? Ugh. Wait, there was the water heater a few months ago, and rewiring the electrical panel to name a few more. 🙁
Let me know what you think of the Kirkland socks! I wore a pair today in sub zero temps while in work boots and they were fantastic.
Welp, this post sure is a much-needed slap in the face. I fell off on my prepping this summer. Was just thinking the other day I need to get back into the swing. This is a timely reminder for me. Thanks!
Author
Never to late to get back on the wagon! Good to see you Yum Yucky, it’s been a while and hope all is well.
We have stayed diligent in rotating food and water stores. My wife does a great job of staying up on that and using me when needed to move stuff around.
Swapped out fire extinguishers not long ago.
Keeping the vehicles maintained. Batteries and tires were all just checked for winter. Fluids are a given.
You touched on weapons a bit. What I have been seeing lately is people that bought in one scare or another AND STILL HAVE NOT SHOT IT! When I talk them into it, they find out many times it was not even close to zero. Usually they are not as familiar with it as they thought. Sight your rifles. Zero your optics. If you added an optic later, it does no good if it’s not zero’d.
One big push I have been working on is keeping everything organized. Not just prep items, every item. If the power is out I don’t want to be fumbling around in the dark with a flash light to find something that I know I own but just can’t remember where I put it.
I am still working on my physical fitness as J mentioned, that is definitely an area that you’re never done with.
I did repack several bags recently and photo documented them for close friends who ask what’s a good idea to have in them. I use that time to check everything over and restock anything used or missing etc.
Last year I started learning some leather craft techniques. This year I have been building on that, so I have the supplies and skills to make sturdy leather goods when they can’t be bought and you have time to spare.
Author
How long do you let your fire extinguishers go before swapping them? I have at least 5 around the house.
That really depends on the model. If it’s a newer one with a pressure gauge, the manufacturer recommendation is to check it once a month and ensure the needle is in the green. If its older with no gauge, they have an estimated life of about 5-15 years. If you don’t know the age and it doesn’t have a gauge, it’s suspect in my mind, and up to you what you do about it.
FYI…I do not sell fire extinguishers for a living, or have stock in them.
Add doing a monthly check of your fire extinguishers to your list of no great reward preps.
Author
LOL I love it, no reward preps! I check mine frequently as I have them on every level plus in other rooms. Also have carbon monoxide detectors in addition to smoke detectors.
Its definitely a somewhat tedious process. I rotate everything throughout the year, so I have cut many of my annual tasks down. You already mentioned inventories, which are a big deal in my opinion but we have taken things a little farther in that this time of year, once the inventory is complete, we sit down and attempt to plan out the non-routing purchases for the upcoming year. Since it is all about constant improvement, we try to improve when and where we can.
Making that list is probably the biggest pain for me this time of year. Discussing (read arguing) over whether or not we should add livestock or add a wood burning stove or bury diesel tanks or…. Gets tedious and becomes time consuming.
Other annuals that I do not look forward to but have to be done:
1. Complete flush of the rain catchment systems.
2. Maintenance of the windmill and pump.
3. Cleaning the chimney and stove pipes.
4. Clearing/cleaning fence rows.
The Ma
A little hint;
1. Forget the Large Livestock, cows pigs, by the time you purchase the “young”, buy feed, pay for vaccines, and the chance of dying off, slaughtering, packaging, and figuring out what is left unused at the end of the year, just find a good butcher and go for it. I tried this, not a good outcome. What the hell am I going to do with 200 pounds of hamburger?
2. I would greatly Greatly GREATLY recommend a wood burner. I have two in my home, and have yet to fire up the furnace even with several days of negative cold weather. And keep the house at a nice 68-74 all the time.
3. Don’t bury fuel tanks, the EPA will shit a brick if they find them. FYI $10,000 fine or so I have heard.
Why is it the more to prep the more there seems to do?
BTW, thanks for bringing up the stove-pipe cleaning. Which lead to 10 other things… LOL
NRP
Opps, I think I owe you a “j” sorry buddy…..
I ran cows for years and I would NEVER go back to running cows again. Too much maintenance. However, I am seriously considering goats – they provide all that cows do with a heck of a lot less maintenance. They also tend to be more durable but they are also more susceptible to predators in my area. So, I plan to solve that with a couple of jackasses.
The goats will seriously help me with keeping the fence rows cleaned. They provide meat, milk, and hide for tanning. Also, right now, the market is right for raising goats and turning a profit.
All I have to do is convince the wife and figure out a way to keep the kids from “adopting” them as pets.
Author
I have very little knowledge in this arena so I’m curious, I’ve heard some keep alpaca’s as guard animals? I too want goats but my HOA might have something to say about that. 🙁
I want to go back 10 years and punch myself in the face for buying this house!
I live in a densely populated suburban area so I like to be diligent in knowing who’s coming into the neighborhood. Are they like-minded? Be neighborly without giving up OPSEC. Start impromptu conversations when you see new faces in the neighborhood. “Say that’s a nice kayak… When did you move in?”
2 points here;
1. If you’re prepping, you value your ability to “size up anybody” a lot can be said without saying anything when you talk to someone. Sometimes that gut feeling pays off.
2. Sadly, and depending on what event transpires, not everyone is going to make it, which leads me back to “Say…. That’s a nice kayak…..”
Nice Brian.
Maj
You might want to look into the goat protection a little more. We have tons of jackasses around here and the predators are still running rampant.
Who’s mad I beat them to it?
Our primary predators are coyotes, with a few bobcats here and there. The jacks tend to work well and I have had them before when I ran cows. They eat some feed but otherwise keep the coyotes run off and actually kill a few. One of the simple facts of owning livestock is you are never going to always be around, so “IT” happens. Doesn’t matter if it is chickens and snakes/predatory birds or larger livestock and predators, it will always be something to deal with from time to time and loss is to be expected.
In my 10 years of running cows, I lost 1 animal to predators. The rest were lost due to sickness or getting stuck in the mud or some other type of injury.
The benefit of having a readily available source of meat and milk far outweighs the probability of losing livestock to a predator in my book. Besides, you ever tried milking a chicken? 🙂
Something else you might consider keeping around for protection is a good, big watch dog. Training them can be time consuming, but this is something I would consider to be on the fun side more than tedious :).
Author
Agree on that one, although some dogs are so smart it’s not that bad at all. My GSD was a bit hard headed as a pup but really picked it up around 1 year old.
Nah, can’t say I’ve ever milked a chicken. I’ve heard about milking cats (meet the Fockers)
City jacks must be different. I haven’t found a use for them yet.
Author
You mean Geppetto’s teets?
I can attest to the protectiveness of a jack. As a kid, a neighbor near my grandma’s place had one and we were warned to stay out of the field he claimed as his. This was for good reason as he would chase anything that did not belong to his particular “herd” of assorted cows and a mule. While I didnt see it percsonally, his owner claimed that said jack killed a stray dog on one occaision.
Author
Jack fights off mountain lion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbPRjZ9nEVo
Some seriously brave animals
That awkward moment when no one caught your joke…
Echo
Not to worry, you got the old “roll the eyes” at that one… HAHAHAHA
“Milk a chicken”, now you got the old “shake the head” because I tried to ignore that. LOLOL
NRP