Preparations Update

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Now wishing we had an Aldi here too in our small country town we moved to but we go into town once a month for DH's doctors appointments and we can go to Aldi there if we need anything @Amish Heart. We did stock up on 21 tins of smoked chicken there before Christmas as it seems the other supermarkets have stopped stocking this flavour.
 
Oh boy so much to catch up on what we have done since I last posted in here which is -

- Bought a new to us existing home on a 1.21 acreage that has tank water in 3 large tanks, town water and a creek behind which we own half of that we can pump water out of if necessary. Paid a 40 % cash deposit on it and I paid all of the bank loan fees and charges and solicitors fees either straight of the loan or in cash to reduce the interest we will pay on the loan.
- Paid an extra 50% payment on our mortgage before even the first payment is due.
- Collected overflowing rain water from our tanks in buckets to fill drink bottles and jerry cans, flush toilets, water fruit trees.
- Using grey water from washing our laundry with to water the grass in the house paddock and flush toilets with as we are on severe town water restrictions here.
- Put away a years worth of land rates, 1 yrs worth of car rego for DH's car and a years worth of water rates for the home in our bills account.
- Took our life insurance on the 2 of us so if one or the other dies and remaining spouse can pay off the house mortgage.
- Took out house, contents and accidental damage on the home for a year.
- Took out extra insurance on the trailer to cover new for old replacement for $10 per year.
- Purchased an extendable house ladder to reach the gutters here to clean them out.
- Bought 3 garage shelving units to store our equipment on in the garden sheds.
- Purchased a new 122 pce auto tool kit we can use in the house and for car repairs.
- Bought a new 28 pce screwdriver set.
- Bought 4 x 5 shelf units for our food storage room to store food on, they are now almost full.
- Used one of the older 4 shelf units we had in the laundry to store laundry detergents, vinegar, ammonia, dishwashing liquid and pegs on.
- Purchased a backpack hedge trimmer, lawn edger and pole chainsaw in one unit so we can trim the hedges and trees around the property.
- Topped up on 2 cartons or 16 x 1kg packets of powdered milk, 1 carton or 10 packages of pure cocoa powder, 1 carton or 12 tins of lychees, 1 carton or 12 tins of mangoes, 2 x large containers of hydrolyte powder, 2 x containers of mosquito repellant, 1 x 1 lt bottle of sunscreen, 8 bottles of sparkling apple juice, 1kg of ham, 4 hot chooks on special which we broke up for meals for the freezer and likewise we will do with the ham.
- An electrician friend came and fixed up all and replaced the dodgy power points in the home (2 he said were running hot and could have burned down the house) and added 2 more power points, a tv antenna and booster for tv reception and new cords. He charged us a discount mates rate to do this for us savng us hundreds of dollars.
- Cut back shrubs so they are not touching the house, cut down a bogainvillea shrub over 2 days that was impeding on both the house and our side driveway.

All of these were bought on special saving at least $1000 or more and networking with friends for trade work also saves us hugely on most things we need doing around the home that we are not qualified to do.

I am sure there is more but with my fuddled we just moved brain and the fact we are surrounded in boxes we haven't got to yet this is all I remember at the moment.
After reading all that I'm exhausted. You've been busy!
 
Too busy @Terri9630 but now having today and tomorrow off as DH had heat stroke. He has never liked putting on sunscreen but now he has been sick he is slopping it on if he has to go out in the sun as it is really hot here at the moment. The last few days have been a lot cooler though.

With hydralytes and lots of water he is a lot better this afternoon and not looking as white as a wall and is now keeping food down where it is supposed to be.
 
Too busy @Terri9630 but now having today and tomorrow off as DH had heat stroke. He has never liked putting on sunscreen but now he has been sick he is slopping it on if he has to go out in the sun as it is really hot here at the moment. The last few days have been a lot cooler though.

With hydralytes and lots of water he is a lot better this afternoon and not looking as white as a wall and is now keeping food down where it is supposed to be.

Sewing I'm glad he is ok, that can be very dangerous.
 
Since I last posted we have topped up on -
- 2 x containers of mosquito repellent.
- 2 x containers of hydrolyte powder.
- 24 x AA & AAA batteries and 4 x D cell batteries.
- 1 x 90 cm dual fan oven on special to replace our old one here.
- 1kg of triple smoked shaved ham from the deli on super Christmas Eve special for $3.60 per kg.
- 4 x roasted chooks on special for $4.50 ea. Both the ham and roasted chook we broke up and or froze in meal sized portions for the freezer. The freezer is full and we won't have to shop for meat or anything else until February now.
 
Still cleaning out cupboards in the pantry/ storeroom and rotating stock.

I've been watching doco's on the Great Depression and Venezuela and then I look at my supplies
and I don't have enough.

I'm having to make some decisions on how to get the most bang for my pension buck food wise.
If I'm going to get serious about my tomato growing, which is a very large part of my kitchen
economy, I'm going to have to buy sheets of reo mesh and steel fence posts to make trellis with.
We don't have cattle panels here in Australia so we have to make do with what we've got.
2 light gauge full reo sheets + a bundle of 10 165cm star pickets + delivery = $243.05.
That leaves me a hair under $72 left out my next pension.

I'll cut the reo sheets in half long ways with a pair of large bolt cutters to make them the right size and it's how
I made my snow pea trellis. It'll be certainly tall enough for tomatoes.

I need more jars, lids and a tomato mill.

*sigh*

I need more of everything and time is running out.
 
@Tank-Girl as we say in our household we can only work with what income we have and do our best. Like us just keep plugging away and we will get there as our budget permits.

I know we are not where we want to be storage wise either but have to buy more shelving to accomplish more storage. It is a vicious circle but we can see the progress we have made and it is substantial over a short period of time.
 
Still cleaning out cupboards in the pantry/ storeroom and rotating stock.

I've been watching doco's on the Great Depression and Venezuela and then I look at my supplies
and I don't have enough.

I'm having to make some decisions on how to get the most bang for my pension buck food wise.
If I'm going to get serious about my tomato growing, which is a very large part of my kitchen
economy, I'm going to have to buy sheets of reo mesh and steel fence posts to make trellis with.
We don't have cattle panels here in Australia so we have to make do with what we've got.
2 light gauge full reo sheets + a bundle of 10 165cm star pickets + delivery = $243.05.
That leaves me a hair under $72 left out my next pension.

I'll cut the reo sheets in half long ways with a pair of large bolt cutters to make them the right size and it's how
I made my snow pea trellis. It'll be certainly tall enough for tomatoes.

I need more jars, lids and a tomato mill.

*sigh*

I need more of everything and time is running out.[/QUOTE
Pace yourself
 
I am gearing up for gardening season.
Checking my various master lists:
Gardening output
Gardening Input
Canning supplies: jars(pints,quarts, half pints,jelly) lids,rings sugar free sure jell, pectin etc.
Will need more lids, flats,rings on pint jars
These things I buy a few a month till I get what i think need for the coming season.
Need to buy cattle panels to make hoops for garden area.
I cut the cattle panel to make sturdier tomato cages, when not using the for tomatoes, use them for peas,pole beans,cucumbers etc.
Instead of round cages , have square much better use of cattle panel for my usage.
 
Do what you can. It's better than not doing anything. Our son made tomato trellis with sticks and twine last year, and they worked well. And it didn't cost him anything. He needed trellis for the kiwanos and we had 3 old dead trees from a prior frost. He used the trunks of the trees for the kiwano vines. He uses old pallets for a ton of stuff. I don't have a tomato mill either. So I can salsa, chunked tomatoes. I dehydrate tomatoes and make tomato powder. Then I don't need a mill.
 
I am gearing up for gardening season.
Checking my various master lists:
Gardening output
Gardening Input
Canning supplies: jars(pints,quarts, half pints,jelly) lids,rings sugar free sure jell, pectin etc.
Will need more lids, flats,rings on pint jars
These things I buy a few a month till I get what i think need for the coming season.
Need to buy cattle panels to make hoops for garden area.
I cut the cattle panel to make sturdier tomato cages, when not using the for tomatoes, use them for peas,pole beans,cucumbers etc.
Instead of round cages , have square much better use of cattle panel for my usage.
Have you tried using concrete wire for your cages? I used a roll probably 15 years ago, maybe 20. They are just now needing replaced. I think itll be much cheaper and go father.
 
Have you tried using concrete wire for your cages? I used a roll probably 15 years ago, maybe 20. They are just now needing replaced. I think itll be much cheaper and go father.
Don't think the Farm supply store up the road carries that but will check.
I can cut through alleys carrying a cattle panel, not sure about carrying concrete wire.
Cattle panel is $20 for 1, only need 1 so far this year.
Wouldn't have needed the 1, except mine walked away when I was in hospital last July having knee surgery.
 
Have you tried using concrete wire for your cages? I used a roll probably 15 years ago, maybe 20. They are just now needing replaced. I think itll be much cheaper and go father.
When I had a plot in a community garden, there were several of cages made this way. It seems before I got my plot, there had been a work project to make them. They were the best tomato cages I have ever seen. The rest of us coveting them and when people left the garden, selected people got to have them.

I happened to have gotten some of that as a giveaway recently. I need to cut it and make myself some cages. IMHO, strong cages are well worth the investment.
 
Your right Weedy. I've tried a lot of different ways to cage maters and the wire holds up better than anything else. Plus they last for years. Mine are getting in rough shape, but I could cut a layer or two off the bottom and use them for a few more years, just shorter. That actually works for some types of maters like Romas and such that don't grow as tall.
Sometimes the plants get so tall and top heavy they will fall over. But 2 fence post and a run of twine thru the row takes care of that.
 
Changed bedding in the chicken coops, fired up both generators to make sure they started easy enough, stepped up my running miles to 12.5 each run, organized my food stores and medical supplies a lot better and narrowed the immediate preps into 2 totes ready to go. The rest of the food stores in the garage have been organized for awhile. In a bug out situation it would be tough to get all of it to BOL, particularly in the winter in interior AK. Immediate plans are to bug in anyways. This is the last night for the Great Prepper to make his choice as he selects between Halloween and New Years. He's not like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny where you only have to be ready one night. I can feel it this is my year to be prepper of the year and win the big pot of gold filled with your most pressing prepper needs.:woo hoo: Everyone have a Happy New Year.
 
But I want to win!

You've got some competition on this forum, musketjim
I hope you had better luck than I did this year, no candy bar with a golden ticket under my pillow this year. It was probably somebody from the Ozarks, Appalachians or the American Redoubt. They live at their BOLs so that gives them an advantage I suppose. But wait until next year. Next year his eyes will be amazed in wonderment at all I'm going to accomplish. He'll have to give it to me then. But I'll be keeping my eye on you Amish Heart.:coffee:. Hope everyone has a happy and prosperous prepping New Year and thanks for all the excellent ideas I steal from everyone here.:green man:
 
Been thinking deeply about my systems and what I lack.

And the huge gaping hole that I missed is water storage.
Thinking about my garden and how dry things have gotten brought it home to me.
No water, no garden, no food.

I'll be looking for food grate IBC's because there's no point have tomato trellis if I don't
have water to keep tomatoes alive.
 
IBC's come with all sorts of stuff in them. I had one full of glycol but any liquid is likely to be available in them. If you are going to use it for drinking water you need to make sure that the contents were edible.
 
One group that I'm on FB posted this. O dont know this guy, some say he is credible and others are saying he is selling fear. What do you think?

Screenshot_20190104-072746_Lite.jpg
 
One group that I'm on FB posted this. O dont know this guy, some say he is credible and others are saying he is selling fear. What do you think?

View attachment 10010


I went searching for his twitter account and and Twitter has removed his account.

From those who retwittered the post it would seem that the general consensus is that the guy isn't a panic button
or given to flights of fantasy. A sober levelled headed guy from all accounts.

I'd prob. do as he says. In fact, even though I'm here in Aus. I'll take him at his word and follow suit.

The only way I would say this isn't on the level is if his account got hacked but what are the chances of that?
 

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