Organizing Your Preps

Organizing your preps is very important. Being organized helps in both the short- and long term. By keeping things in order, you can ensure that it will be ready to go when disaster strikes. It can help you save money in the long run by preventing you from overbuying or having your products go bad on you before you can use them. In a crisis, minutes matter, and you don’t want to waste them looking for your supplies. Being disorganized can cause unnecessary stress while attracting dust, mold, and pests. January is National Get Organized (or GO) Month, so here are some easy tips and tricks you can use on your preps for optimum efficiency.

A Kit For Everything

Kits are an efficient way to organize your supplies. By breaking them down into designated kits, you can keep better track of everything you need for that thing. You can break it down into skills like the Water Purification Bucket, or by a disaster like the Seal-In Room Kit. You can make a kit for just about anything. Normally, it should contain five or more items. Held in something that you can easily carry from room to room in case you’ve got to flee that area. Once a year around this time, I usually go through my kits to clean them out to make sure it is still full of the essentials. Check each item to see if it is still in working order, replacing anything missing or broken.

FIFO

First-In, First-Out, or FIFO for short, is something anyone who has ever worked a fast food job before knows too well. It is sometimes called Last-In, First-Out (or LIFO). FIFO is the easiest way to ensure your expired goods are properly rotated. The concept is that you put your new supplies behind the old supplies so that they get used before expiring. Anything with an expiration date should follow the FIFO Method because it’s not just food and water that can go bad. Medication and hygiene products fall into this category as well. The best way to make sure you follow this is to make sure you have easy access to the back of your supplies. If you don’t, then you won’t do this method correctly.

Home Supplies

Home should be treated like a Central Command. This is where 99% of your items should be. Designate one room in the house to hold all your supplies in. Most likely, it should be the place you plan to wait out the storm in, like a storm shelter or bunker. You can turn a spare room into a holding place, or be like me and convert the garage into your designated doomsday area. Put enough shelving units in it to prevent overcrowding on the shelf. There should be a spot for everything. If there is none, then ask yourself if you really need it. I got a few metal racks from Walmart and assigned each shelf a category like “breakfast or “paper towels”.

Bugout Bags

The best way to organize your Bugout Bag is by performing Bugout drills once a month. While doing these drills, take notes on what you use and what you don’t. Check your frequently used items to make sure they still work correctly. Sharpen your blades and check the handles to make sure they aren’t getting loose. Use the pockets to store your little items in, like matches, so that don’t get lost in the bag. Check the fabric items like jackets and tents for holes. Break down your Bugout Bag into small kits in plastic storage bags. This can also protect your items from water damage should you end up in a flooding situation. For more information on Bugout Bags, visit https://vocal.media/lifehack/packing-it-right.

A Doomsday Binder

A Doomsday Binder is an important tool for keeping your supplies organized. This binder is going to hold all of your supply notes. Mine is broken down into three sections, but you can set yours up any way you feel comfortable doing it. My first section is anything that expires (like food and medicine), cleaning products, paper, and disposable goods. The second section has a list for each kit and includes what’s in it and if anything expires a date next to the item to remind me. The third section is my list of disaster plans and copies of my important paperwork. It could be any color or design you wish as long as it is one inch. I keep this in the same room with my supplies, so it is within easy access to me.