Learning from out mistakes? (water, oil, winter, system)

[TamaraSavannah]

The old thing of what doesn't kill us makes us stronger?

Need to dash out for some over the counter medicine. Now, I know I have a bottle of it somewhere, bought only a few months ago, but don't have a clue where it is now. So go out, buy a few bottles, come back, put them in designated places so the next time, I don't have to dash out......especially if we ever come to the time when dashing out is inadvisiable if not impossible?

No doubt there are several volumes for such mistakes to learn from, but is it published somewhere? What are those mistakes in your past that you have learned from?

[jamies]

LOL - I'm not sure if the CD server is big enough to hold all the mistakes I've learned from!

Regarding home FA supplies and medicines. We keep ours in the medicine cabinet. The only exception is a bottle of Nyquill in the refrigerator in case we get a cold. I only take one medication so our drug supplies consist of like a 5 year old bottle of acetaminophen, one of Benadryl in case of allergic reaction, a tube of Neosporin, and about ten Vicodin left from a surgery several years ago. I do have a list of things to obtain at the last minute if the SHTF for real, but for us to stock medicine we would likely never use is fiscally unsound and an invitation to theft.

Things I've learned, but not really from mistakes, in no particular order:

Carry your hiking water in metal bottles, not the plastic ones they came in. You only have to crack a plastic bottle once to learn this lesson.

Keep your guns clean and oiled. Make up several small gun cleaning kits with a brush, bore snake and WD40 to keep in your cars and day packs. If you have to fight your way home, you may need to clean your gun.

Keep paper maps and a compass in your car. GPS is nice, until it breaks.

Oh, and never date a redhead...

[bigpaul]

keep stuff where you can find it and rotate.rotate,rotate!

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by TamaraSavannah

...
No doubt there are several volumes for such mistakes to learn from, but is it published somewhere? What are those mistakes in your past that you have learned from?

A book of lessons learned would be a how to guide...
Not really possible, since every situation is different.
But maybe someone could begin an encyclopedia of prepping?
Maybe in a Wiki?

Originally Posted by bigpaul

keep stuff where you can find it and rotate.rotate,rotate!

Yep. Organization is essential. I once told a guy that the difference between preppers and hoarders is that we know what we have, and know why we have each thing. Maybe I was a bit optimistic

I learned, four years ago, when you get serious about prepping, preps take a lot of space, and weigh a lot.

Three years ago, I learned that things you never thought would have an expiration date, expire.
(Most pharmaceutical medicines should be thought of as having a 3 year life, non medicines should rotate every six years.) I decided, almost immediately to begin using a sharpie to write a date code on everything in my stores. I use a simple YYMM format.

I also learned three years ago, that ordinary text file (typed) lists for inventory are extremely limited.

Last year, I learned that spreadsheets, while much better, are still limited.
I currently have a spreadsheet system that catalogs 400 items, stored in 30 locations.
(I am working on creating a database system.)

Last year, I also learned that, when you have to buy a substitute for your normal go to item, don't catalog it as the original, no matter how generic your lists are. I substituted corned beef and spam for canned pork, and found my wife prefers spam to canned pork, and likes corned beef from time to time. (I never expected her to like those) Now I have to re-catalog those items. Oh, yeah, I learned that tastes change. We eat more of some things, and less of others, than I expected.

Store and rotate canned vegetables separate from other things, if your wife likes to bring home a lot of fresh veggies. (Substitute other items in this rule, as necessary.) By keeping them separate, it is easier to send a percentage of them to the neighborhood food bank, since they won't be used in a timely fashion.

This winter, I learned that chocolate is a food group

[TRex2]

Oh, yeah, I forgot (how, I don't know). When starting a project, even a relatively easy one, get all of your measurements, and get them fairly precise. This doesn't sound like prepping, but never forget that choosing a location and then modifying your surroundings is part of prepping.

Laying a gravel foundation for a car port seemed pretty easy, I knew the ground sloped a bit, but I didn't realize it was about 9% slope, until I had a guy put in about 9 tones of clay and base. I should have had him put in 30 tonnes.