Prudent Prepping: Planning Your Plan

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Now we concentrate on what to do in, and how to plan for, the long term via Prudent Prepping.

Planning Your Plan

Due to moving myself, helping a friend do the same, and waiting for Internet and phone service, I missed last week's post. I was not able to write anything, even if there had been a way to connect to the Web.  My move was relatively painless; most of my belongings are in boxes and those not hanging in a closet were packed in less than an hour. Total time involved: 4 hours.

After living in a duplex for 14 years, my friend's packing took 7 days, moving to storage took 3 days, donations and dump runs took 2 days, and moving into his much smaller place required 12 hours.

Why am I mentioning all this? I think my move should have taken 4 hours, but how I organized my move sucked. As Erin mentioned here, what you have can slow you down or even bury yourself and those around you. Therefore, I am instituting a plan to reduce clutter and make my life more efficient

My Plan

• Eliminate extra clothing. If I haven't worn it in the last year, I am selling or donating everything. I have 12 very nice wool sweaters that I wear here only over the holidays. The same goes for dress shirts and slacks. Summer Yard Sale season is here in the Bay Area and I plan on making some extra cash!

• Sell or donate books and collectibles. Hi, my name is Dave and I'm a bookaholic. This is going to be difficult for me, as I have an unknown number (between 600 and 1,000?) books in totes. Well over half are hardcover SF, Horror and Fantasy from the 60's to the 90's with many being signed First Editions. Many of the  paperbacks are also 1st Ed. and some are signed also. The balance are reading copies of some of the hardcovers or just good books from authors I liked. I have actual room for two 3'x7' bookcases, or 300 books.
• Streamline Bug Out gear. I want to redo/repack my gear to make it loadable within 15 minutes or less, distribute my supplies evenly into easily portable containers, and rethink my Get Home Bag and Every Day Carry bag contents. I will need to replace some of these supplies, or buy alternate and better products. To that end, I need to...
• Improve my prepping gear and supplies. As I stated at the beginning of this series, I'm rebuilding my preps, camping supplies and disaster recovery items while on a limited budget. I am always shopping for used, store returns and close out items. BTW, my local REI store (Concord CA) is having their monthly Garage Sale this weekend. I still need a 3 season tent and another backpack. Wish me luck

Nothing was purchased over the past 2 weeks as all my cash went to my new place.


As always, if you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!


NOTE: All items tested were purchased be me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.