Lists, Lists, Lists - What Kinds Should Preppers Be Writing?
If you’re the kind of prepperwho likes to write everything down and even goes so far as to write lists for your lists, this is the article for you!
There are an enormous number of lists that would really be beneficial for you to write up and maintain as a prepper, many, which if you’re quite organized, you’re likely to already have written up and updated quite regularly.
Most of these lists you’ll probably opt out of keeping, but there really are benefits to having each and every one. How you organize these lists is also up to you, though there are some tips and tricks I’ve found really helpful for organizing prepper lists – especially those that have to do with tasks and errands to do, though they can be applied to other lists as well if you take the basic principle of them and apply it to your stockpile lists. These tips for sorting your prepper lists can be found here.
But back to the topic at hand. Which lists would be helpful to have written up as a prepper?Let’s get to it!
Prepper Lists That Would be Helpful to Have Written Up
1. A list of what you have in your stockpile.
This is an obvious one, but if you don’t already have it – or any other lists for that matter – it’s a good list to start with. Having a list of items, you’ve got stockpiled helps you to know exactly what you’ve got and what you’re missing, which will help you to remember to buy more of what you need and to refrain from stocking up on more items you’ve already got enough of.
Breaking down your gear into separate lists so that it’s easier to see where you’re missing gear and what you’ve got plenty of is also a great idea. Here are some examples for breakdowns of a stockpile list:
- Food stockpile list
- Household supply list
- First Aid list
- Gear stockpile list
Or, you could break things down even further, into sections that have to do with purpose, as I’ve done in my Ultimate Survival Gear List:
- Tools
- Firecraft
- Hydration
- Thermoregulation
- Nourishment
- Shelter
- Medicine & First Aid
- Rescue & Communication
- Clothing & Apparel
- Power & Electricity
- Car Emergency
- Security
- Important Documents & Finances
- Educational Resources
2. A list of what you still need to stockpile.
With that list of what you’ve already got stockpiled, it should be a lot easier to write a list up of things you still need to stockpile. This will help you get straight to the point when you’re out shopping, and will be really convenient to refer to when you just need one more item to get over Amazon’s free shipping hump.
3. A preps to-do list.
This one in particular can get unruly fast, as there’s always plenty you’ll want to do with regards to prepping no matter how much you’ve already got done and under your belt. If you’ve already started one of these, it’s been set up for a while, and happens to be a complete mess, take a look at the article I spoke about before, onre-organizing your prepper to-do list. It will help you sortyour list out in an order that makes sense.
4. A PREP not to-do list.
If you’re anything like me,you can easily get sucked into thinking aboutdoing specific things that really won’t help you out all that much. These kinds of tasks could be redundant and repetitive, or even appealing and quite fun, but in actual reality, happen to be way too time consuming for the amount of pay off you’d get from doing them. Don’t let yourself get sucked back in to spending time on these kinds of task if you find they’re absorbing way too much of your time! Stick them on a not to do list to remind yourself to keep your time for things that have a higher pay off!
5. Food expiry list.
Personally, I’d separate this list out from the actual food stockpile list. Why? If you have a list of foods you’re stockpiling, it’s better to organize it in a way that makes sense to you (refrigerated, frozen, canned, grains, etc.) than it is to organize it by food expiry, and if the food is expiring soon it can be hard to tell if you just tacked the expiry date on to the end of each item in an unorganized list.
If you create a separate list, you can organize that list by what’s expiring the soonest to what’ll take the longest to expire, making it much easier to keep track of what you have to eat next if you rotate through your food stockpile, and if you don’t, will help you to keep track of what you have to buy replacements for soon.
6. Household supply expiry list.
Bleach and other household supplies expire – it sucks but it’s true. Which is why you need to stay on top of household supply expiry dates if you plan on keeping these things in your stockpile. Easiest way to do that – a household supply expiry list.
7. List of go-to foods to buy.
This one I’ve started doing recently, especially with the foods I’ve been buying online through either Amazon Pantry or Waitrose’s online delivery. Am really happy having this list around as it means I don’t have to remember what I need more of to hit the limit for free shipping or to have enough to get a certain amount off. It also means I don’t miss out on buying things I was running low on, as if there are staples I regularly buy and I forgot about them long enough to miss adding them to a cart, I usually really regret it.
8. List of go-to household supplies to buy.
Same as before! If you’ve got items you need to stock up on regularly, cut the time it takes you to restock them by having a list already prepared. That way you can do a quick check on what’s low before you go to the store, and grabbing what you’re low on rather than forgetting will be a lot easier.
9. List of things to research.
This could include things like researching a specific piece of gear to buy to figure out whether it’d be a good investment, or researching the ideal plants for an indoor herb garden. Of course, you can group these in with your prepper to-do list, but separating them out may help you get them done quicker – especially since they can all be done with computer access and thus be done while you’re couch potato prepping, i.e. prepping without leaving your sofa.