I used my preps today...

[SteveandTracyinKY]

Yay! I made a sticky!!

[Heavy G]

Great thread.

I was at the range a while ago with my bro hams and we were shooting a little too close to steel targets with 5.56.

I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw my friend grab his neck and fall down.  Not a good sight.

He had blood coming out of his neck.  It's amazing how much blood there is around the neck but it makes sense.

He took a bullet jacket fragment to the neck from the steel being too close.

I went to my car and got my homemade first aid kit.  Had the bleeding stopped, the fragment out, and the wound cleaned up in a flash. 

He wasn't going to die or anything but that beefy first aid kit sure was nice to have around.

[Mr. Bill]

...He took a bullet jacket fragment to the neck from the steel being too close. ...

That's a scary one!  Good job, Heavy G!

...I tell him that if he had been the one to think of pre-stocking furnace fuses, then I would be the one getting out of bed in the cold. ...

 

...Here's where the common sense/prepping comes in:  20 months ago we ignored the fact that we "qualified" for a home that was more than twice what we paid and bought something affordable enough that we only need one income to support the mortgage and regular bills.  As a result, there's no pressure on her to go back to work before she's ready, there's no pressure on me to work overtime to make ends meet, and we can come out on the other side without having more debt than we started with. ...

Very good!  We've always tried to do something similar.  I think the best way to buy a house, if you can manage it, is to get a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with the intention of paying it off early.  Get a cheaper house than you qualify for, pay some extra towards the principal whenever you can afford it, and if you have an unexpected financial crunch you can go back to making the minimum payments.  We did this back in 1995 when my wife's employer had a bad year and offered "Voluntary Reduction Of Force" (i.e., "Here's some cash, go away").  Instead of panicking about whether she should accept the VROF or risk involuntary layoff, we took it as an opportunity to start our own business.  Cheap house payments were an important part of making that decision possible.  And it didn't kill us when our business failed utterly.

[Adam B.]

Another example of the strange ways my EDC kit comes in handy. I recently added a paracord bracelet and neck knife to my EDC and keep finding strange ways they come in handy I'd never have thought of before.

I went hiking the other night with a group of people up and down the 4,200+ public staircases of the south side slopes neighborhood here in Pittsburgh. We needed to bring flashlights so I grabbed a crummy head lamp out of the junk drawer (that proved to be useless) before I left because I could not find my good one in time.

Anyway, I grabbed a LED light out of my almost every day backpack I bring to work and back, and since I didn't have any pockets on my person the paracord bracelet worked great as a place to anchor the lanyard of the flashlight to so I could just let go of it whenever I didn't want it in my hand. I also carry a tiny keychain LED flashlight that is supposedly the brightest single bulb LED you can buy (its very bright) but never had to use it since I always have enough flashlights to deal. I also have a crank flashlight / usb charger in my backpack if it came down to that.

People sometimes think I am weird when I am gathering up all my EDC crap to head out for a day but then I find that the EDC crap almost always comes in handy at some point every single day, and usually in a way you would have never expected or planned for.

[Call]

Found out when I got to my barber's this morning that the debit card line was down...sorry, cash only. I used the money I keep in my car emergency kit, replaced it later in the day.

[Bradbn4]

Well I did use my prep's today...something simple - a nice couple had got lost just up the hill from where I lived.  I live on a somewhat steep hill,  I guess the combination of low fuel in the tank and the steep hill they starve out their pickup. 

I told them to wait one, walked back home, hoofed up about 3 gals of stabilized fuel and let them get back to nearest gas station about a mile down the road.

[Truik]

I told them to wait one, walked back home, hoofed up about 3 gals of stabilized fuel and let them get back to nearest gas station about a mile down the road.

+1 for providing (and hauling) 25 pounds of fuel up a hill to help out people in a pinch.

Very nice of ya!

[Cordovil]

Yesterday, my wife was baking/cooking in preparation for a birthday party, and she must have been rushing around because she mistakenly grabbed a hot pan and burned her palm/fingers.  Not a terrible burn, but bad enough to hurt, and in a very inconvenient location.

She was still running her hand under cool water (and bemoaning the fact that now she would never be able to finish getting ready for the party because her hand was in pain) when I went to our newly constructed first aid kit, got a packet of that Water Jel Burn Jel stuff (which I had never even heard of before I started prepping) and applied some to her hand/fingers.  She was amazed at how much it reduced the pain, and very thankful that I had bought some (she had never heard of it either).

Stuff like this helps slowly bring her on board with the prepping, which makes everything easier.

[Prepper7]

I was shopping for storage boxes at The Container Store and a shop assistant was a few yards away trying to open a carton. She said to her coworker, "I wish I had a knife". I walked over, flicked open my SOG Flash I, and handed it to her.

Her reply (you know what's coming, don't you?),

"Oh my God, why do you have a knife!?"  The eye roll / head shake was my reply.

[Heavy G]

I was working out this morning in a dark room in my gym.  It's dark so people can watch TV. 

A beautiful woman was on the stair master a few yards from me.  My eyes might have darted over there ... several times.  She got off the stair master and was looking for something she'd lost.  In the dark.

I walked up to her and pulled out my EDC flashlight (Surefire E1B) and said to her, "Here's 110 lumens of courtesy to illuminate your beautiful face."  OK, I didn't say that.  But she used the flashlight to find the ear bud to her iPod headphones. 

So, lesson is that prepping can get you chicks.  (Unless you're happily married like I am.)

[SteveandTracyinKY]

I was working out this morning in a dark room in my gym.  It's dark so people can watch TV. 

A beautiful woman was on the stair master a few yards from me.  My eyes might have darted over there ... several times.  She got off the stair master and was looking for something she'd lost.  In the dark.

I walked up to her and pulled out my EDC flashlight (Surefire E1B) and said to her, "Here's 110 lumens of courtesy to illuminate your beautiful face."  OK, I didn't say that.  But she used the flashlight to find the ear bud to her iPod headphones. 

So, lesson is that prepping can get you chicks.  (Unless you're happily married like I am.)

  Love it!

[Orionblade]

I am building a fire in my fireplace. With wood we cut over a year ago. To stay warm during a thunderstorm. Oh right, a thunder*SNOW*storm.

WTf.

[KellyAnn]

Heading back home after a sports event, got to the parking lot and saw a car with it's hood up and one person looking under the hood while the other was looking around as if hoping someone would help.
Asked if she needed help, they had a dead battery.
The nice guy that parked next to them was waiting by his truck, but didn't have jumper cables.
Got the cables out of my husbands car, handed them to the truck owner (he wanted to hook them up and I wasn't going to argue) whipped my flashlight out of my purse to provide some light where he was working, and we had the car jumped in about 5 minutes.

My husband thought I was a little silly when I told him he had to buy jumper cables when he got his car.  "Every car should have them" I said, "even if you think you'll never need them".  As we were heading back home, he admitted it was pretty cool that we were able to help them out.

[loyalty4eva]

Well me and the wife kinda used our preps today, we tryed out some of the mountin house pouchs of food they wernt bad thats for sure. So now we are looking into buying a few more probebly.

[Adam B.]

I think the REAL WORLD (not apocalypse 2012, zombie takeover BS) examples of how preps come into play are the best ways to convince the general ding dongs otherwise known as the "average American" that it's a good idea.

The other day, we bought a used car from someone and since nobody had a wrench to swap the license plates, it was cool to have a tool kit in the toolbox behind the back seat of my Jeep to make an otherwise PAIN IN THE ARSE incident something that took about 30 seconds of my life to do instead.

LOL

Keeping water in the toolbox in 2 liter bottles has come in handy more times than I can count in the last 6 months. I have to keep bringing the empties up and full ones back down almost weekly. At first it was all "Why do you have all these 2 liter bottles stored... blah blah blah..." (when the obvious answer is "um... you need WATER")...

The one item I have back there I can't wait to save someone's day with is a camping grill LOL... I have 3 camping grills (and I took the metal racks out of an old oven and put them in my camp gear, so that makes about 6 or 7 grills for camping now...

Anyway, I can't wait for the day someone says something like "Dang, we have all these hot dogs and no way to cook them."

I really keep it in the tool box because I have forgotten to pack one for camping and that is the reason I had 3 of them now. I'll never forget one again.

[Hootie]

one of my friend was starting to sneeze from allergy, while at a party. had Claritin in my car first aid kit. problem solved

[Spav96]

Yesterday, 3-2-12, with the expected bad weather, I decided I would work from home.   As I sat at the computer, it started raining and the wind started blowing hard.  I figured it had to be a small thunderstorm, cause the big stuff was not expected until later.  Reaching over, I turned my scanner on on, and the first words sounds out of the scanner, was debris and trash blowing across the road.  Which with the wind, that seemed reasonable, but  next words really got my attention.  Tornado on the ground, less than a mile from my house, moving toward my house!  I jumped up, grabbed my boots, and jumped into my semi safe room, also know as a closet.  Pulling the door closed, I realized I had nothing really with me, a quick patting of my pocket reminded me I had my EDC.  As small as my EDC is, knife, light, and Zippo, it reassured me I had something. 

I was very lucky and the storm passed harmlessly by, at least for me., unfortunately, not all my neighbors were so lucky.  I did learn a few things from this experience, first off do not depend on the storms expected time of arrival.  Do not depend on a tornado warning to become more vigilant. I learned I need to be more active in my own weather monitoring, I do not need to relax and let someone else protect me.  The people protecting us, do a great job, but they are not perfect, who is.  No one saw this tornado before it was on the ground, and the sirens, they sounded, only after I was in my shelter.  One other thing is, get a scanner and program it with your local emergency frequencies.  The police and spotters reports gave me a play by pay as the tornado marched up my road.   If I had depended on the TV or radio for my information, and that storm was 100yards more North I might not be sitting here. 

Thanks,
Spav

[Orionblade]

I used my preps yesterday.

A friend of mine got shafted to the tune of 200 bucks regarding her electric bill - and was short on food after a recent move.

She came over expecting a beer and a piss and moan session - pretty much what friends are for.

She didn't expect that I'd open up my pantry and expose nearly 2 years worth of food, some of which was coming up on expiration dates in the next few months.

I dumped about three pounds of rice, a couple of crock pot meals (chili, soup, etc.) and a bunch of sundry items.

She's going to be eating really well for the next two weeks until her paycheck hits next Wednesday.

I also have more space to bring in fresher preps from the garage, so it worked out for both of us!

;-)

[endurance]

She didn't expect that I'd open up my pantry and expose nearly 2 years worth of food, some of which was coming up on expiration dates in the next few months.

I dumped about three pounds of rice, a couple of crock pot meals (chili, soup, etc.) and a bunch of sundry items.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about.  Class act response to a friend in need.

[Dainty]

This one happened a couple months ago, but figured I'd share anyway...

We were driving along a highway after midnight when I noticed an unattended lit candle as we passed by a makeshift roadside memorial. It was in the forest and a fairly rural location with the nearest house about 1/2 mile away. I was hesitant to disturb the place but felt an obligation to check it out and extinguish the flame if there was any chance of danger. So we turned around and pulled over at the spot. The (very bright) flashlight I keep in my purse was used to investigate and it turned out the flame was carefully surrounded by a few feet of gravel and should be okay, with nothing nearby that could blow over it and catch fire. I still felt a bit nervous leaving it burning, but there was evidence of it being done safely several times prior and it was clear whoever was doing it had taken effective precautions, so ultimately I felt satisfied that we were able to leave things as they were.

Had a flashlight not been available, or simply not bright enough, the conclusion likely would have been to blow it out "just to be safe" which, while justified, wasn't necessary in this case and wouldn't have been appreciated.

[Orionblade]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about.  Class act response to a friend in need.

I figure it's good for a favor at some point in the future. She spends her days fixing big diesel engines, and almost made the US olympic team for skeet/trap. I figure she's an asset worth feeding once in a while.

 

[PrepperJim]

I have had to use my preps a few times. What I find the most is people don't have a cell phone charger so I offer mine up. At least three times either at a conference or while on the road for business, they don't have a way to charge their phone. One time, the person depended upon their computer and a USB cable and left their computer at security. (Duh!) Another time, it was at a conference and their battery ran down taking video. Lastly was my wife who lost her car charger. Luckily, I had a battery pack and she had a USB for her iPhone. So, she has that battery pack in her car all the time now.

It is funny how a cell phone has become a critical device. That is why I have at least three ways to charge my phone at all times with at least one way not reliant on the electrical grid. That is, I have a battery pack in my back pack as well as a small solar charger in my car. This is in addition to a car charger and an additional wall charger and a USB cable to charge from my laptop battery. Yeah, that is a lot of ways, but a dead phone battery eliminates the most critical survival device I have.

[cheryl1]

I have used some medical preps lately. First, I stabbed myself with a HUGE splinter. Okay, maybe it wasn't that big, but it was dirty. I was walking around a piece of plywood up on sawhorses and caught my thigh on the edge. I got stabbed about 1/2 inch deep. 2 days later, I have a hard, red circle of spreading death on my leg about 3 inches across. I cleaned the wound, opened it up, drained out the pus, cleaned it again, and started myself on a 10 day course of tetracycline. Now it's all better.

Second, my 6yo got the stomach flu. When she starts puking, she pukes, and pukes, and pukes, and pukes. My doctor is a great guy who prescribes things ahead of time I might need for the kids. So I have melt-in-your-mouth Zofran on hand for nausea. After a couple doses, she's back to normal.

So prepping saved me two doctors' visits and 2 trips to the pharmacy. 

[Dainty]

Avoided an ER trip this morning using some meds I EDC and that thing between my ears.

I was drinking some juice, the same kind I've had plenty of times before without issue, and was surprised to notice a very distinct burning sensation in my throat as it went down. Odd. I took a few swallows of water to wash it down and went to rest, and I noticed my throat still felt funny. Then I began vomiting, and the burning sensation worsened, and I realized my throat was swelling.

The standard medical practice at this stage is to use an epipen and call 911, but due to some complex medical issues I'm under alternative advisement from my allergy specialist. Thankfully I accessed my other medications in time to safely bring down the reaction without resorting to such measures, even though in that timeframe it did worsen to the point of my voice becoming quite hoarse.

One thing I'm realizing is that just like physical preps can be convenient as well as lifesaving, so it is with mental preps. The fact that reactions like these hardly phase me makes my life a lot easier. This one surprised me, sure, but my protocols for dealing with such situations are so well established and rehearsed that even dangerous circumstances can present as more annoying than alarming. So once everything has been handled my day continues on as normal with hardly another thought. It often doesn't even occur to me to mention it to people outside my medical team, a characteristic that drives some people up a wall because they consider the incidents major drama. Whereas me...well, I debated posting this because I don't want a big fuss made over it. (Or even a little one. Really.) Just wanted to share another side of how preparedness can improve things, from saving your life to sparing you the inconvenience of experiencing the full emotional impact of a potentially traumatic event.

[steeltownknight]

Been sick in the hospital for a long time now.  I was  repairing an old coldwar bunker...missile silo.   I am letting a friend and his family move in temporarily.  (contract)    They will continue the repairs. The company he worked for moved to mexico.

[steeltownknight]

Had to ad this info from  a previous post of mine.

I was out of gas in the middle of nowhere.   Luckily  I saw a small bait n tackle shop near a marina.  took me a while to get there. but making a long story shorter.   I payed in silver  ounces. It was all I had in a secret pocket.  thanks to a  slip into the water. all my cash was  ruined.lost  I bought fuel and food.  Prepping  is a good thing.

[YoungGunsPrepper]

Well after a long day at work I decided to go to the casino with some of my buddies to unwind and relax and try to win a little money (which never happens) but we still had fun. On our way out of the casino I noticed a young woman (well about my age I am young as well. 21) trying to push her car out of a parking space. She had left her lights on and her battery was dead. I always keep a pair of jumper cables in my car next to my BOB and that day they came in handy. I was blown away at how many people were stopping to help her but had no cables. There not expensive and you just never know when you may need them.

[Adam B.]

That reminds me I need to make a set of emergency gear for our 2nd car we just picked up.

There was one time recently that even though the person I had to jump HAD jumper cables, we still needed to use my cables because his were not long enough to reach out of the garage where the car was being kept to my battery (and his rear brakes had seized up keeping him from being able to push it out).

We ended up daisy-chaining the jumper cables together to make one set 2x as long. As long as you don't drop the clips in water or something like that on the ground it worked great.

[endurance]

We ended up daisy-chaining the jumper cables together to make one set 2x as long. As long as you don't drop the clips in water or something like that on the ground it worked great.

Water isn't half the problem of dropping them against the side of your car and getting a nice arc-welding burn in your paint job! 

After being in a similar situation where we didn't have two sets and couldn't get to the front of the car, I'm leaning toward upgrading all the cars to a PowerPack/Jumpbox as money becomes available.  We have one already and I really do prefer it, especially since it's also a compressor, inverter, and USB charger.

As for my new story of the week, our boiler/hot water heater (combined unit) failed last Thursday and while the new unit just arrived, it needs to be plumbed into the system which might take until Thursday night.  So we've been testing our alternative heat sources all week.  Actually, we've been lucky.  While the first night got down to 15F, the rest of the week has been very mild with lows around freezing and highs 50-60F.  So the fireplace has been called into duty every evening, we tossed a fan in front of the glass doors and I wake up once or twice a night to stoke the fire and maintain the temperature of the house between 65-70F. 

Hot water has been a different story.  For the first day or two it was sponge baths and pouring water from the stove over my wife's head to wash her hair, but by Saturday night we both were feeling pretty grungy and we opted for a hotel that would take the dogs.  Given the price and the inconvenience of not being able to feed the horses without driving the 20 minutes home and back to the hotel, that wasn't a great solution.  So after some head scratching and poking around on line, I decided to splurge and get a portable on-demand hot water heater that uses 1 pound propane bottles (one bottle heats 40 gallons at about 1.6gpm to 100F).  It's self contained, has it's own pump so you don't even need water pressure (or can be hooked to a hose with an aftermarket attachment) and we bought the aftermarket shower head for it.

I thought about whether I'd ever use the thing again and we decided it would be useful washing the horses, washing the dogs, and longer hunting trips would make it a prep worth having, 'even if nothing goes wrong.'  That said, I love my hot showers.  I love them a lot and if the SHTF and I can't get a warm shower once in a while, it's just another level of suck that I don't want if it can be avoided. 

So, we added the Coleman on demand hot water heater to our preps and I'm smitten.  Two nights in a row now I've bathed in the luxury of hot water.  My wife is a happier person, I'm a less smelly person, and both of us are content, even if we're going without heat for another couple of nights.


Yes, it's sitting on the stove so I could moderately safely use it with the exhaust hood without having to run the hose into the shower from outside.  Lazy, but apparently effective with the fan running.

Cheap? No.  Essential? No.  But for a remote cabin, bug out location, or just a convenient way to wash the dogs on the patio, it makes sense for some.  I'll try to do a full review sometime soon.

[Orionblade]

That's reasonably inexpensive when you consider it's capabilities, and the fact that an average under-the-counter hot water heater (electric) will run you upwards of 250-300 bucks, and that's without hiring the electrician or the plumber to rig it up.

Try fitting a 10 gallon electric hot water heater in your car and running it off an inverter... *chuckle*

Definitely not cheap, however, when maybe a campfire and a good metal watering can might do the job? :-p

I'm going to have to look into this some more and I'll look forward to your review. Maybe you could shoot some video on how easy/not easy it is to operate?

*high five*