9 Small and Cheap Preps to Greatly Extend Your Equipment’s Usefulness

“Two is one, one is none.”  That’s a common prepper saying, acknowledging the fact that things break.  If it’s critical and it breaks, you’d better have a backup.  I think though, that a lot of people underestimate how much can be fixed; and how much the ability to fix common problems extends one’s supply of non-consumables.  

This extension of your supplies will take two things: The tools, and knowing how to use them.  A cleverer person might learn these skills in a systematic way; I got mine by finding a lot of wrong ways to do things first. Salty may have laughed at some of my efforts (can’t blame him, I did too), but I did get better – leaving me better prepped now.

Then there’s the tools. I’ll tell you a secret about my little car:  It’s a stealth farm truck.  Not only will it fit a surprising quantity of planting equipment in a pinch, but it always carries in the back a box with Fixing Treasures.  They’re back there there because of how often I’ve needed that box while working out at The Place, where I can’t just pop out to a big-box home improvement store whenever something breaks.  

Here’s a podcast that accompanies this article:

Here’s some of the things I’ve found that are cheap to buy and/or small to pack but have fixed a lot of problems over the years:

Fasterners

A variety of types and sizes of screws, nails, nuts, and bolts will solve a lot of problems.  The old saying was “for want of a nail the shoe was lost’ and the poor sots in the poem went on to lose the whole dang war.  I’ve found the wisdom in that poem; it seems like half of the cases of ‘it’s broken’ just need the right screw in the right spot.  Zipties are amazingly useful for light jobs, like fence repair for bunnies.  They don’t like to chew it, it must hurt their little gums.  Serves you right, little blighters!

An assortment kit of nuts and bolts will put a lot of things back together for cheap. Don’t forget the tools to get them tight.

Duct tape

Everybody knows this stuff is The Bomb, right?  But you might not know it degrades in a storage area that gets hot (say, the back of a car), so needs to be rotated yearly.  

Paracord

This was all the rage for awhile, bracelets on sale everywhere.  I stuck several in our various go-bags while they were cheap.  Some considerations:  It’s very strong, but doesn’t resist abrasive cutting all that well.  You’ll want a lighter with it, to melt the ends so the core and skin of the cord keep ending at the same place.

Drill

To go with the screws, of course.  I carry a battery-operated in the car, but thinking on this article led me to wonder ‘Why the heck hadn’t I thought to get a rotary manual drill yet?’ I’m a believer in manual tools; they are more reliable than the ones that need juice.

Add a box of bits and some screws and you’ve got a lot of construction power.

Fencing wire

Well that’s what we call it out here.  It comes in rolls, is nice and bendable, strong and weather resistant.

Multitools

For limited spaces, this can mean something like a Leatherman that has a bunch of different tiny tools; way better than nothing when you need one.  On the other hand, these tiny things are not good for bigger jobs.  A set of hex keys of various sizes and a screwdriver with a big selection of replaceable bits has gotten me a long way.

Cutting tools

Wire cutters, pruning shears and loppers, and small hacksaws cure a lot of ills.  Bolt cutters are more of a specialty item; but when we’ve needed them we’ve Really needed them.  If you’ve got anything locked up with a good padlock, what do you do if it jams or the keys are lost?

Wood in handy sizes

If one of your windows gets broken out, do you have a big enough sheet of plywood to do a temporary fix?  I also finding many jobs for short sections of 2×4 too. The basement of my old house came with a set of hangers fixed to the roof beams that let me slide a nice selection out of the way in a suitable environment; and it cost nothing as I populate it with scraps from other projects.

My winner in the ‘more useful than you’d guess’ department:  Dental Floss.

Seriously.  Dental floss.  Good for not needing a dentist when one isn’t available!  But you knew that.  Also great as an exceptionally sturdy and water resistant thread for sewing large, durable items.  The boot below is one I’ve worn in every big snow and ice storm for half a decade.  We bought them super cheap, and I figured out why as the grommets for the laces immediately started falling out.  A few minutes of muttering imprecations on shoddy construction while I plied the dental floss, and they’ve been good for years of hard use.  Don’t forget the big needles to go with it – you can find them in the embroidery areas of hobby stores.  

That white ‘thread’ holding the top grommet on is dental floss — still looks better than the factory stitching.

Bonus:  All of this is stealth prepping.   Ain’t nobody earned a spot on ‘Doomsday Preppers’ by buying duct tape and a good screwdriver.