Lost of folks are not only looking for things they should do to prepare, they are looking to avoid mistakes. Anything that, in retrospect, would have been nice to know?

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), June 06, 1999

Answers

yeah, water containers/barrels that get put away under the assumption that they don't leak sometimes surprise you =)

-- (dry land is not @ myth. com), June 06, 1999.

Personally, I'd avoid any precious metals purchases until LAST. You can't eat gold or silver...

Stick with FOOD, WATER, SHELTER and HEAT. Get those taken care of, then move to other ares. IMHO.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), June 06, 1999.

1. If you are considering oil lamps, and safety is an issue with respect to kids or pets, Lamplighter has a wall-mounted model.

2. There are **SO** many options for alternative heat and energy, ya really gotta do your homework first as well as figuring out what could be advantageous longterm for your situation. Take a deep breath, and check the forum archives first.

3. Anything you can do to collaborate with family, friends or neighbors will not only help build a community bond but might also save big $$ on something you don't have to purchase.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), June 06, 1999.

bought a lot of vitamins to give to DGI relatives later.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), June 06, 1999.

I made the mistake of storing water with drops of bleach in glass bottles beside some books. I put them there temporarily because I'm cramped for storage space and needed to clear out an area. When I went to move them later, two bottoms fell out; water went everywhere, on the books and on the boxes beneath them on the floor. (I told you I'm cramped for storage space.) Apparently I had clinked two of the glass bottles together causing a hairline crack. One had almost all of the water leaked out before I moved it.

This made me so angry that I emptied out all of the other glass bottles filled with water. I put them out to be recycled. Then I reconsidered at work that it was not the glass bottles' fault but my own clumsiness. So, I refilled them and put them on different shelves in the kitchen. Well, more leaked and broke. Another mess! This time I think the bleach is causing the cracks. And yes, this time they WILL be recycled.

Clear hard plastic bottles are superior. I've not witnessed any of them leaking.

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), June 06, 1999.

Inventory of items on hand. My failure to keep a running list resulted in excess quantities of canned powdered taters, and but a fraction of the coffees I wanted. Also, store liquid "freezables" higher on the shelf than solids. At least that's what I do in my garage (unreliable heat source, Much colder in winter near floor).

-- A. Hambley (a.hambley@usa.net), June 06, 1999.

I bought a coffee grinder, and later realized that the heavy metallic meat grinder is better for grinding coffee.

-- Rick (doc_u_ment@hotmail.com), June 06, 1999.

I ordered things from a variety of places and have not received the ordered good for many months now or I have not received the full order from half of the places. While I used Dun and Bradstreet to check out all the businesses that I was ordering from, this has not really helped me out. There's got to be a much better way to find trustworthy and reliable online businesses that you can count on.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), June 06, 1999.

Back in January of 1998 I discovered that the wife of a vice president of the federal reserve bank of New York had ordered twenty some packages of non-hybrid seeds from a well known supplier. At this point I started a frantic seed and food storage program without much knowledge. My first big mistake was to buy non hybrid seed and store it in the house. The seed was good last year but not this year. I now have large quantities of both hybrid (for large storage crops this year) and non-hybrid seeds growing in my garden. My small freezer in the house, which will be on solar power, is full of non hybrid seed for next year. I also stored wheat berries, sugar, and flour in 55 gallon barrels. This is a mistake. Store many things that you will be using at the same time in one barrel to avoid opening and closing. Be sure to buy one of the special openers for the lids of the storage buckets, along with the resealable lids for after opening. We can all learn from the mistakes of others on this forum. My thanks to all the knowledgeable people on this site. Regards, Abigayle

-- Abigayle (jgreenleaf@townsqr.com), June 07, 1999.

Check your bug out bag contents, and then check again. I just discovered I had forgotten matches!!! Yikes!

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), June 07, 1999.

Dave, This is an excellent thread! Much better than the censorship gripes and so forth.

Wish I had thought of it!

-- J (jart5@bellsouth.net), June 07, 1999.

Dave, Thanks for jogging my thoughts.

-- Steve (bibleout@tds.net), June 07, 1999.

Forget the cheap $45 solar crank radio. Go for the $150 Baygen crank radio with the 7 shortwave bands. Got both, luckily got the cheap one as a present and didn't spend my money on it. It's crap.

-- OR (orwelliator@biosys.net), June 07, 1999.

(1) Rotating storage...but not buying more than enough to replace fast moving items. (I used all my SPAM!).

(2) Buying stuff in quantity that I hadn't tried. Get a small quanity first.

(3) Buying the bulk food without the containers to store it in.

(4) Buying too much of one thing without balancing items...too much rice, not enough SPAM.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), June 07, 1999.