I realize that how I spend my Sunday afternoons may not sound like the most exciting topic, but trust me, you’ll likely find some valuable information in what I’m about to share with you. The fact is, I work 6 days a week because I love what I do. The only reason I take Sunday off is for religious reasons, otherwise I’d love to work on Sunday too.
So on Sunday, my wife, daughter, and I attend church in the morning, then after that we may go for a drive and go exploring (depending on where we’re staying at the time) or take a walk to a nearby park. But no matter what, we always do some type of family planning on Sunday, which I encourage everyone to do.
This past Sunday the family planning focused on our “survival” supplies for a disaster, whatever that disaster may be. We already have a year’s supply of food, we have plenty of water, and obviously, plenty of guns and ammo.
However, we focused on smaller miscellaneous items that often get overlooked, and we made a list of things we need to buy over the next week or so. For instance, we decided that we needed another fire extinguisher in the house because we felt it wasn’t smart to have just one under the kitchen sink.
We decided we needed more “regular” types of flashlights.
I have plenty of tactical flashlights but the batteries on those go quickly, so we’re going to pick up some cheaper, everyday lights. We decided we needed more dust masks. We already have these in our 72-hour kits, but dust masks are so inexpensive we figure we’ll pick up a few more.
Other items that we’re going to buy are:
A sleeping bag for my daughter, and a sharpening stone for my knives (the one I have now is from my Boy Scout days). We’re going to add some more cash to our emergency fund and we’re going to buy more contractor-grade trash bags, plus some new tarps.
I’m also going to pick up more gun cleaner and oil, and I did add another gun to the list. (Yes, I know I said earlier I already have plenty of guns, but of course that’s all relative, can you really ever own enough guns?)
Now you probably don’t need all the items I’ve listed or don’t want them, but maybe they’ll jog your memory of some miscellaneous items that you do need. If that’s the case, I hope you’ll sit down with your family one evening this week (or next Sunday) and make a list to help keep your family more prepared and safe in the event of an emergency.
I have never heard an ex CIA agent speak of how little he knows or prepares for anything in my life. Lots of great Boy Scott references here though! Do your family a favor. Forget the new dust masks and save up for some gas masks, but you’d have those from the CIA I guess.
Being prepared is like fighting dust. It is a never ending battle. When you think that you are fully prepared and something happens you realize that I could have done things differently or that I could have had another and you fill in the blank. I am not a dooms day preppier. The thing is that you and I and others like us have done something to prepare. Others have not done anything. For some reason, the power seems to go out more often in this area. The last time the power was out for 13 hours. Luckily, I had my camp stove and propane in the garage to provide heat and for cooking. I did find out that I needed more batteries and I plan on purchasing hand crank radio’s, flash lights, phone charger, means of filtering water and some type of solar charging panels. The list could go on and on but, a least we have prepared something and survive for a few days.
I very much like what you said “leadsender”. I’m pretty well prepared but until the red flag goes up you just never quite know what is missing as you so well stated. I think all we can do is stock up on pretty much everything and anything we normally truly need to survive. I’ve read tons of articles with endless lists of what to have on hand. In reality we pretty much need most of what we have now (food, water, clothes, medicines, guns, ammo and a wide assortment of tools and misc. items) . . . just in much higher quantity!
Unlike Doomsday Preppers, I refuse to live in a gopher hole. I’ll take my chances toughing it out in my own home with plenty of supplies. It’s far from a perfect plan but it’s realistic for me. Yes, I have a very healthy “Go Pack” if I have to evacuate. I’m glad you mentioned having some kind of Solar Panels as that is the one item missing for me. I plan on fixing that soon. We’re no where without power and my initial plan for a small generator is too limited as my gas would run out within a week or two. Thanks for the Solar reminder as that (along with several deep cycle large batteries) can last for YEARS!
I actually got several really good quality Arkansas stones from an online vendor a few years ago. There 2x8x3/4″ size stones, in wood boxes, and I paid about $10 each for them. I think it was a steal, they are great and so a superb job of sharpening blades. I’m not sure I can name the vendor here, but it was a big vendor from the south, named after a range of mountains in the Carolinas, and located in Georgia.
Instead of regular flashlights you might be better served with the capacitance flashlights that you can charge up by shaking. In an emergency, who wants to be worrying about batteries?
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