Prudent Prepping: Winter Clean-Up

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.

Winter Clean-Up

Or, Life During Bug Time

  This is the continuing saga of my fight with Nature, in the form of moths, as first mentioned here several weeks ago.

Bugzilla Returns

I still have moths flying in the closet, even with the cleaning, vacuuming and traps that I put in place. From what I've read and been told, the traps will have to be in place for a minimum of 6 months and maybe up to a year. Flying moths also mean there are eggs hatching now, with more due as the weather warms up.

What this has forced me to do is clean out even more of what turns out to be useless junk in my closet and storage totes. I am a bit of a pack rat, and so there are things I have put away that don't really need to be saved, like:

• 3 down vests, in colors I don't like. I have two in my regular gear.
• Old Levis that are too worn to wear to work. They would be great for yard work... if I still had a yard.
• T-shirts, both white and colored, also too old for work.
• Long sleeve shirts and sweat shirts that are a bit small and also worn around the collar.
• Several sweaters that show moth holes after closer inspection.
• Two sport coats and a couple dress shirts that are not in style. (Don't ask.)

I decided to clean out the clothes in the active end of my closet while I was at it, so now any shirt that is showing collar wear or stains is going out as well. This led to cleaning out my dresser, which added even more t-shirts, socks and other clothes that I don't wear regularly. This added up to more than I expected, since I threw away or donated several boxes of clothing when I moved in August.

Here is a picture of the everything I cleaned out, minus the vests and jackets:

Two full boxes!

All of this is going to Goodwill, even if some of the clothing could go to resale. I'm not dealing with sorting things twice. Besides, it is going to a good cause that helps the local community.


The Takeaway
This does not really count as a prep, but it is needed! Not only does it keep my stuff organized for now, it is also a source of relief knowing that what I packed is as neatly stored as possible and that I can get to it in an emergency.


Other Items
One of these items are going into every 5 gallon bucket as money allows:

• A manual can opener like this from Walmart. I can't plan on having an intact house, or the people getting this pail being prepared.
• UCO Waterproof matches. Every bag or kit needs to have extra fire starting devices, and even inexperienced people know how to strike a match. However, not many people know that the protecting the striker is just as important as protecting the matches! To preserve it, I remove the striker pad from the outside of the container and CAREFULLY place it inside, with the striker pad facing  AWAY from the match heads. The striker is cardboard and will not work if wet, so protecting it is as important as the matches.

Recent purchases for the stash

• Two UCO Matches, $6.64 each with free shipping!
• Two manual can openers from Walmart, $3.38 each, plus tax

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.