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What Did You Prep This Week

Supplies

With hurricane season around the corner I'm in a bit of a hurry to make sure I'm ready should we have an early season storm in the Gulf. Combine that with a few decent sales and I was able to add quite a few canned goods to the emergency pantry. As a result, for most of the items on my list I have reached my minimum goals and I'm getting pretty close on the remainder. 

Finances

I was able to add a little to our savings but way less than I should have. We were a little frivolous over the last few weeks, spending money we really didn't need to spend. We discussed this and we both agreed to slow down and (re)focus on saving money.

Skills

Nothing...

Fitness

We are still trying to beat whatever crud we've been fighting as a result we really haven't exercised in a little over a week. We do, finally, seem to be getting a little better so, hopefully, we'll be back at it next week. 

Self-Defense

I made it out to the range for a bit last week. Most of the time was spent with the new G43 and comparing it to the G42. I walso worked with my mom who accompanied me to the range to help her gte more comfortable with her SIG 238. She wants to take the CHL class before the summer is over but she has some work to do.  I love the AK platform and I am a little more accurate with it using iron sights than I am most rifles. That is probably because they are so similar to pistol sights. But, to be honest, I am not very good with the manual of arms as a whole. To overcome this at least once per day I grab the old AK and perform at least mag changes as quickly as possible. I have only been at it a few days but I think this will help me get much better with the gun. 

That's it for me. That's what I prepped this week. How about you, what did you prep this week.

#planbp   #beingprepared   #preparedness   #finances  

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Build A Kit | Ready.gov

It's not even hurricane season yet but there is a (sub)tropical storm in the Atlantic and due to hit the east cost soon. If you are in the path of the storm there is not much you can do at this point but for everyone else this should be a "heads up." Do you have a hurricane/disaster kit already? If not, what are you waiting for? Once a storm or disaster threatens it may be too late to find the supplies you need.

Here is a good link to get you started on a readiness kit: http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit #beingprepared #planbp   #preparedness   #hurricane   #disaster  

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What Did You Prep This Week?

Supplies

We continued stocking up on canned goods this week. Now that we have a good inventory we are really able to focus on the items we need. That way I won’t end up with three times as much corn as I had planned (again). I also moved the location of my “emergency pantry” (again). The new location is easier to get to and stock items but safer as it is no longer located directly above the kitchen.  I also added a case of water and more gatorade to the inventory. Let’s face it, in Texas not staying hydrated can kill you pretty quickly.

We also bought beef and strawberries while they were on sale. These will go into the freezer.

Self-Defense

I continued to stock up on ammo while it is (relatively) cheap and available. I added 50 rounds of self-defense ammo in .380 ACP and another 260 rounds of 5.56 practice ammo (.223 actually). This purchase puts me at the updated inventory level I set for myself for practice ammunition in this caliber.

I succumbed to temptation again and purchased a Glock 43 at full retail price. I definitely had planned on waiting until prices came down in a few months but…

I never carry a firearm for self-defense until I have put at least 500 rounds through it plus at least one box of my carry ammo. Once I am able to meet my minimum round count this will actually save me a little money. Right now I stock and practice with .380 because of the G42, once I replace it with the G43 I can stock less .380 and practice sessions will become a good bit cheaper.

Finance

We sold an old computer that we had no use for and put the money in savings. 

Fitness

We are still doing pretty well on our exercise program and, I have to say, we are both feeling a lot better as a result. We’ll be ready for our next 5k soon!

That’s it for me. What did you prep this week?

#planbp #beingprepared #glock #G43 #ammo #Selfdefense

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What Did You Prep This Week?

We made a little more progress this week. 

We were able to add to our savings. Although I make less in the new job we have actually still been able to save quite a bit of money. Working from home means less spent on gas, vehicle maintenance and dry cleaning. Not spending three hours a day sitting in traffic also mean that I home earlier. As a result we are spending less on eating out. This saves money and we are able to eat healthier than we would otherwise.

We did not exercise much at all last week or so. Wonderful Wife wasn’t feeling well so we took a bit of a break but we’re back in the groove this week. We’re mainly just walking but I would like to add some strength training to our routine. 

Based on current events, what we have learned from our experiences of the last few months as well as the fact that hurricane season is around the corner we have decided to increase not only our savings but our inventory of stored goods as well. This week we decided to spend a good bit more at the grocery store and get a head start on stocking up. We have just about doubled the amount of food we have on hand. We’re still short on a few items but we are now close enough to our goals that we can wait for better sales before we finish stocking up.

Along the same vein I reevaluated our goals for the amount of ammunition to keep on hand as well. I have decided to double the inventory goals for the primary and secondary calibers we use for self-defense. It will take some time and a good bit of cash to reach the new goals. I am now more determined than ever to buy the equipment I need to start reloading as well.

That’s it for me, what did you pre this week?

#ammo   #finances   #beingprepared   #planbp   #preparedness  

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What Did You Prep This Week?

It’s been a busy few weeks but most of that was related to starting a new job. Nevertheless, I have made some progress.

From a financial perspective, it’s time to start rebuilding our savings and we’re already starting to make some progress on that. Even when the income stops the bills keep coming and need to be paid so the old bank account took a pretty good hit but we made it through and we’ll rebuild it. I have to say that, at this point, I consider the financial side of “being prepared” to be much more important than I had before. If we had not started “preparing” financially a couple of years ago this really would have been a disaster for us.

I was finally able to make the time to put in some shelving for our “emergency pantry.” Now everything is neat and organized. It’s not a perfect solution but it was within our budget and will meet the needs for now. While I was at it I did an inventory of what we had on hand and rotated quite a few items into our regular pantry so we can use them. I have the inventory on my phone so anytime we go shopping and see something at a good price we will know whether we should stock up on it or not.

We have been exercising pretty regularly in the last couple of weeks, walking about a mile a day.

Now that I can afford to buy ammunition, I made it out to the rifle range. Checked the zero on my hunting rifle at 100 yards and, yes, it needed to be adjusted. I was also able to test with several different commercial ammo loads to see which performed the best. Amazingly, the best performing was also one of the cheapest. I also burned through about 100 rounds of .22 to discover that my old eyes and iron sights are no longer as compatible as they once were. There will be red dot sights or scopes on any rifle I plan to use for anything other than plinking.

It is not strictly related to being more prepared, but last year I started the year by setting a number of goals in various areas of my life; health, faith, personal, professional and preparedness. I’m a little behind this year and I only just started working on new goals. Some are easy, like financial goals, but some take a little more time and effort. 

That’s it, that’s what I prepped. How about you? What did you prep this week?

#beingprepared   #planbp   #finances   #food   #health  

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What Did You Prep This Week? My prepping this week revolved completely around finding a job. To that end I submitted at least 5 resumes to various companies. I also had 3 phone screens, 4 interviews, and 1 demo presentation. I also received a job offer that I am very excited about.  Outside of the job hunt, we made it out to the range for some practice with my son and his wife. Wonderful Wife is really becoming a much better shot and I think we are going to move up to some more advanced drills for her. Most people I have met who actively try and be a little more prepared always seem to assume they, and their loved ones, will all survive whatever calamity comes along. I guess that’s sort of an unstated assumption that’s required for trying to be prepared but it isn’t very realistic.  The truth is, disaster of not, the most likely calamity many of us will experience is the loss of a loved one. So, to me, the most important preparation I can make is to make sure that everyone I love knows it. I try and ensure that should something happen to me, or to them, there will be no regrets…no words left unsaid. I have spent a good bit of my time this week working on this, the most important prep of all. So, how about you? What did you prep this week? #beingprepared   #planbp https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/dHCNvWjsm1j

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What Did You Prep This Week? Absolutely nothing...nada...zip Just about anyone who makes the decision to be a little more prepared than the average person has some idea of what it is that they are preparing for, or at least, they should. For some it may be a hurricane for others a blizzard and some even prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse. Living on the Gulf Coast, a hurricane has always been at the forefront of my planning but being better prepared for rough economic times has been a close second. Well disaster has struck for me. You won't see anything about it on the news. There are no headlines. In fact, other than for a handful of us (all over 50 interestingly enough) it will go virtually unnoticed. It is not a unique situation in fact it has affected millions of Americans over the last few years. I am now, and rather unexpectedly, unemployed. Outside of my immediate family this is hardly a disaster but for a slightly post middle-aged senior level technogeek and those who depend on him it's pretty dang close. No, this is not intended to be a "pity me" post (we will be OK) but a look at how my preparations over the last year or so will serve me in this crisis. One of my first priorities when I decided that it was time to to ensure that I was better prepared for various disasters was to get out of debt. I have not been completely successful at this but we have made great progress. All of our unsecured credit cards have, for the most part, been paid off for several months. We do have a few loans outstanding with various vendors who have offered 0% interest on various purchases and on our home and car. As we have reduced our debt, we have also been increasing our savings. Our goal was to have six months worth of my salary in savings. We didn’t quite get there, however, between the debt reduction and the savings we can make it about five months with no income. Obamacare will be a bit of a problem though. All these wonderful calculations go out the window when I have to pay for medical insurance. While before I could risk a month or two without coverage that’s no longer an option and we’ll have to see how that plays out but it will likely cut that in half. Dear federal government, thanks for “helping” me out on that. Although the grocery stores have power and the shelves are stocked our “emergency” pantry will now serve to help lower our expenses. Where possible, we will dip into out inventory instead of going to the grocery store. Of course, we’ll be cutting back on eating out but we are also changing our diet. Staples like beans and rice are a lot cheaper and go a lot further than what we typically eat and we have a good supply on hand. They are probably a bit more healthy as well. There’s venison and wild pork in the freezer and in a month or so we may have the opportunity to add more wild pork. Turkey and dove seasons will be coming around before too long. Being prepared is about more than the Zombie Apocalypse, TEOTWAWKI, or super storms like Katrina. It’s also about the mundane, every day disasters that can strike at any time. So, what did you prep this week?  Cheers P.S. Before I was called into the HR manager’s office I had stopped by the local sporting goods store at lunch and picked up some ammo; 5.56 and 7.62x39. I don't trust the BATFE or Obama not to take further actions on these calibers but I won’t be stocking up on anything else until I find a new job. #planbp   #BeingPrepared https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/2gKb5puXmY5

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What Did You Prep This Week? We're still working to move our storage location (my office) upstairs. I knew this would be a lot of work but I have to say I still underestimated how much work it would actually be. But, in the long run, it will be worth it. I'm hoping to finish this up my March at the latest. Pork roasts were on sale at the supermarket this week and I bought two. I made Italian sausage out of them. My cost was under $2.00 per pound which is a big savings plus I know exactly what went into it...no mystery fillers! I traded my Ruger LCR in 9mm for a Smith & Wesson Model 442 Airweight. Although the 9mm LCR kept me from having to stock yet another caliber I prefer the reliability of the .38 Special out of the revolver platform. It's easy to save my brass when shooting a revolver so once I can start reloading it should be OK. I have been collecting .38 Special brass for a few months now and already have at least a couple hundred cases waiting to be reused. I offloaded all the ammo I purchased from Freedom Munitions. With the questionable QC on this ammo and the issues I have already experienced I think it was better to offload it (even at a bit of a loss) than risk a costly and potentially painful issue with one of my firearms. I let my ammo levels slip a little. This is partially due to the money we spent during the holidays. It also stems form not wanting to build my inventory before the planned move... #planbp   #beingprepared https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/HLc6gLTKov8

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Ebola Update As of today, the WHO reports 21,296 cases and 8,429 deaths from this outbreak. #ebola   #beingprepared   #planbp   #africa   #sierraleone   #guinea   #liberia #UK https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/KQRnaNm1oXe

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Ebola Update Although it is probably not being covered in the mainstream media, the Ebola outbreak has not disappeared is still infecting and killing people. As of today the WHO reports 20,206 cases and 7,905 deaths from this outbreak. Another aid worker returning from Africa, this one in the UK, has been diagnosed with the disease and is being treated in London. #ebola   #beingprepared   #planbp   #africa   #sierraleone   #guinea   #liberia #UK https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/NFTiivQDib2

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Ebola Cases Over 17,000 According to the latest figures released by the World Health Organization there are 17,145 cases of Ebola and 6,070 deaths. All the increases have come from the three primary areas affected by this outbreak (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea). No new cases have been reported in Mali but over two hundred people remain under observation.  #ebola   #beingprepared   #planbp   #africa   #sierraleone   #guinea   #liberia   #mali https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/2fs3Noymhg7

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Ebola Cases Near 16,000 According to the latest figures released by the World Health Organization there are 15,935 cases of Ebola and 5,689 deaths. All the increases have come from the three primary areas affected by this outbreak (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea). No new cases have been reported in Mali but over two hundred people remain under observation.  #ebola   #beingprepared   #planbp   #africa   #sierraleone   #guinea   #liberia   #mali https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/FAZdEaNqaQG

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Ebola Cases Top 15,000 According to the latest WHO Situation Report, the number of Ebola cases continues to rise and has topped 15,000 (15,145) with over 500 new cases reported in the last week. The death toll has also risen by 243 to 5,420. There have now been 6 cases in the capital city of Mali with 5 deaths and over 300 people in quarantine or being monitored. #ebola   #beingprepared   #planbp   #pandemic   #WHO   #africa https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/dxdo4Z2saJD

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Ebola Death Toll Tops 5,000 According to a report on Reuters news service, the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in Africa is 5,177 with 14,413 cases reported. According to the report the number of cases continues to increase in Sierra Leone but the number of new cases in Guinea and Liberia appear to be slowing. There have now been 4 cases identified in the capital city of Mali with three deaths and close to 100 people in quarantine. #ebola   #beingprepared   #planbp   #pandemic   #WHO   #africa https://plus.google.com/115370317849735355781/posts/EVAyEEJmnkM