Organization

[The Stig]

Organization is one of the fundamental skills all preppers should have.

Having a mountain of food, gear and supplies doesn't mean much if you can't find what you need, when you need it.

What sort of tips and tricks do you use to keep your prepps organized?

[LUNCHBOX]

I know that most individuals like the standard tubs (blue, gray, etc) as do I. My advice is to make sure you label everything in the tub correctly and stack them accordingly (access is the key)

[gunbuilder69]

I love the totes/tubs and theyr'e good organizers for quick mobility with vehicles. I label them accordingly for different needs and functions and ANYBODY in the family can read and assess the role of importance based on how I've labeled them.
I also use the hell out of milspec shipping crates,ammo cans,and other sound storage devices.(you should see how unsuspicous a 5 gal pail can be!)

[RedJohn]

The "toolbox" in my trunk is most interesting.

[gunbuilder69]

If I know you,I bet it is!

[Jerry D Young]

I use Rubbermaid Action Packer Totes, 8-gallon and 24-gallon sizes to contain and organize most of my preps that will fit. A few other containers hold some oversize items. The rest are large enough and built so as to be an independent unit. I keep track of everything in an Excel spreadsheet. I'm in the process of reorganizing some things at the moment. When that is finished I'll label the totes in some manner to link the shee to the contents of the various totes.

[gunbuilder69]

I like the excel spread sheet Idea Jerry! I keep all my vital documents copied on a 8g thumbdrive for bug out purposes,so I could definately fit a couples of extra excel cells for say,inventory,dose calculation spreadsheets,invers square law calculations and more.

[RedJohn]

I like the excel spread sheet Idea Jerry! I keep all my vital documents copied on a 8g thumbdrive for bug out purposes,so I could definately fit a couples of extra excel cells for say,inventory,dose calculation spreadsheets,invers square law calculations and more.

All my vital documents are hidef scanned. There is one copy in a secured usb key and another copy is stored in a secured remote site.

[chicom]

Well other than separating the beans from the boolits.

You have to stock non-long term commercial food in a rotating basis. You have to actually like the food that you are storing, and eat it regularly. This will in a small way delay food fatigue. Don't store items you don't like to eat. Don't store only a few types of items in mass quantities, but spread out different foods to mix it up in your diet, or are complimentary to each other.

Rice and beans get old, so does spam.

Have complete sets of gear, food, water, weapons, clothes, and other necessities separate from your larder that are grab and go capable at a moment's notice. Change out expendables, foodstuffs, and water monthly, and replace from your rotation stocks.

Even better, have such equipment pre-positioned in dispersed site(s).

Budget for your preps.

Have a go to pistol and long-arm ready to go. Have the necessary amount of mags or stripper clips for each (you decide the amount, but don't overdo it) sitting right next to them. I like bandos for this purpose, whether shotgun or rifle. Easy for quick acquisition.

Separate your ammo by type for each container, and make them easily recognizable. Different size or shape containers would work.

Have a plan, a backup plan, a backup for the backup, and so forth. Be redundant in your thinking. Never allow one implement or situation be your only recourse between success or failure, life or death. The more options you have, the better you're off.

As far as expendables, and the little things that make for a better life, buy them in pairs or threesomes, and store them separately from each other. Don't put them all in one drawer. As an example, one in your house or BOL, one in your vehicle, one in your BOB.

I'll think more on this.

[wolfracer]

We try to keep everything Prep related in 1 general area. So if we have to round things up we are not chasing all over the house to gather gear. Another thing we do is to mark the calendars for refreshing bags and first aid gear that way stay current.

[x-cop]

i label all my stuff

If i get hit or am just not here and the wife needs to use it she won't have to guess what is ammo and what is water.

[bacpacker]

I'm currently trying to reorganize my stuff as well. Like Jerry, I'm loading a spreadsheet with everything and trying to come up with a easy way to match the sheet to the container. For most stuff I'm using totes/tubes, other than the bulky, heavy stuff. Labeling the containers makes it super easy to find what your lookng for.
Most of our stuff is currently in the house, but I'm thinking about building out an area in the basement to store most everything. We park there as well and it would be much easier to load quickly in case of a needed bug out. Plus it helps with OpSec when bringing in supplies.

[TEOTWAWKI13]

I like the spreadsheet idea, now that I have this handy dandy SHTF laptop, I am going that route with my food and other stuff. I have a good little gun/pawn shop where I can get all of the ammo cans I want, so I plan on getting a bunch of those soon for ammo (duh), but also comms stuff, and other odds n ends.

I have the Rubbermaid tubs in good use. Camping gear in one, tools in another, etc. So far so good. My garage is a project getting through all the crap my wife bought to decorate each of the houses we've lived in together. Gonna sell a bunch of it. She's thrifty and spends most of her money on that crap though, so it's all good by me.

I really want a canned goods shelving unit that rotates the food as you use it, shelfreliant.com I think sells them.

My SIL is an OCD organizer. I'm taking lessons from her.

[bacpacker]

I've started working on a small closet in the basement to start holding at least some of our stores. The room is under our steps so half of it is only 4' hiigh. That part works well for storing 5 gallon buckets. Totes work there as well.
We also use it for our canning equipment and spare jars, plus camping supplies. Hopefully a roll around shelving unit will work well for canned good and maybe more totes. I'm working on a design for the shelving unit now.

[JustAPrepper]

When we first got in to prepping I was spacing out our purchases of certain items and buying things as money allowed. Each week I'd Food Saver and/or Mylar things I had purchased and put them in totes. Over time I realized I had things spread all over. For example, I had several canisters of Cocoa in about three different bins, each with different expiration dates. Eventually I had to go back through all our bins and re-organize. Now I have specific bins for Baking Items, Spices, Home Dehydrated stuff, etc. and everything is dated with the original expiration dates or at least the date of purchase or preparation. This way, when I need a can of Cocoa I can go to the Baking Items bin and find the one with the earliest expiration date and so on.

**ETA: I use Blue Painters Tape on everything, including the bins to identify contents. As I pull something from the bin I can easily pull the tape off and add a new piece with the new inventory amount.

[ladyhk13]

Another thing we do is to mark the calendars for refreshing bags and first aid gear that way stay current.

That is a really good idea.