I was noticing this morning how many of my favorite preps are cheaper than a fancy coffee … or nearer to my heart, a prime ice cream treat. Since these can fit in most everyone’s budget, the main barrier is knowing what they are and just getting it done. This post is meant to bring these ideas to top of mind; and here’s a podcast to go with it:
We here at 3BY have done individual posts on many of those (hey, we think they’re important!). I’ll attach links to make them easier to find. Please add your best ideas in the comments!
Each of these preps cost less than an ice cream treat, and has much more value ten minutes later.
Zero budget impact heroes
- Learning. I bet you’d buy your internet connection with or without prepping, so this one’s essentially free. It’s also the single best prep I’ve ever heard of. Nothing beats understanding where the risks lie and knowing what to do about them. I’ve learned a lot from free online courses from people such as EdX. The information’s a lot more reliable than “some guy on the net said so.”
- Planning. Most important in my eyes is having reconnection plans to reunite with your loved ones if you’re not together when disaster hits. Note the plural ‘plans’. Salty and I know where we’ll go if feasible (home), where in town to meet if home is inaccessible, where to meet in the next closest town if we can’t get to our home town, etc. You really don’t want this system to fail.
- Awareness of where you spend your time, with regard to safety information. Where are the nearest exits, fire extinguishers, AEDs?
You don’t have to *buy* the AED; just get in the habit of noticing them and learn how to use them.
Budget fixes
Sometimes a small fix has a big impact. Some entries in this category:
- Dental floss. Makes an excellent water-resistant, high strength thread suitable for repairing outerwear, camping gear, tarps, backpacks. I’ve got a pair of boots whose highest stress seam has been held together by dental floss through several hard winters. Bonus: Flossing teeth reduces heart attack risk. Seriously.
One of my favorite dental floss fixes: This boot has made it three more hard winters since the fix.
- Bleach. Good for water purification and surface decontamination to reduce disease transmission. It doesn’t have a long shelf life, but it’s cheap to rotate.
- Duct tape. It’s a little hill-billy, sure, but great for improvising solutions.
- Nails and screws of various sizes. Once I started ‘manufacturing solutions’ I was surprised at how handy a wide selection of these turned out to be. (Yes 12yr olds, giggling is allowed.
- Protective gloves. If you ned up having to do heavy work like cutting up a limb that dropped on your house, there’s no value in adding injury to insult because you didn’t have a pair of cheap jersey gloves.
Budget backups
- Backups of important information. I’m feeling pretty virtuous about this one at the moment, as just yesterday I got off my duff and got a copy of some medical power-of-attorney papers where they’ll be easier to reach in a hurry. Take-home message: Accessibility is important too.
- Paper maps in vehicles. Electronics do fail sometimes; and re-routing around problem spots is way easier with a paper map than a GPS route-planner anyway.
- Keeping a stock of garden seeds is a lot of insurance for a few dollars. You could spend a pile on a long-term-storage heirloom collection … or just buy some seed packs for pennies at the end of each planting season.
Budget supplies
- Water. C’mon, everybody can get a hold of some 2 L bottles; and if they’re rotated every year they’re perfectly suitable for a short-term water supply. But do you have it done?
- Canned food, dry pasta: Add a little extra of whatever you’re eating that has a long shelf life.
- Some staples, such as salt and vinegar, are very useful for everything from cleaning to preserving food. Plastic bags can also be surprisingly useful: I read a piece once by a man who’d survived the military takeover of his city, and he says everyone wished they had more trash bags. Who knew?