Oddly enough the wife and I just did an inventory check of our stock with all our free time at home.
Its all in my head, which means, i dont. Which does cost me, but it is still better to prep, and not keep track eficiently, than not to prep.
It’s all in my head… but old age and the sheer numbers are starting to induce errors in the system. I currently run a hybrid mental/pen and paper system that is working… but needs to be more accurate.
I really haven’t been formally tracking my resources (*hangs head in shame*), but now that you’ve put the idea in my head, I really should set up a spreadsheet in LibreOffice and track stuff.
BTW, does anyone have an empty spreadsheet they’d like to share so the rest of us don’t have to re-invent the wheel? TIA
JWR’s “lists of lists” might be a good spot to start. Just use the part you need.
I was going to say “all in my heat” but realized that wouldn’t be correct. I’m too disorganized to keep track of stuff. Which means sometimes I run out when I shouldn’t or end up with more than I need. And sometimes I forget about things that I’ve “temporarily” stashed somewhere. Found some chicken food I’d forgotten about that the mice had got into. That was a bit of a mess. 🙁 This would be a good time to do inventory as I don’t have to be anywhere.
Once I began collecting stuff and things I found a spreadsheet that offered a lot of detail but most helpful was the qty needed per person so that I could see where I was covered and where I was lacking. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, after all.
But I would advise people to consider putting an innocuous snippet of that data on their mobile or other tool easily referenced while out and about. You never know when you will see a good sale on something and knowing how much you already have is helpful…
Conditional formatting is your friend when it comes to highlighting levels of supplies. A summary page also is a good tool to give an overall feel to areas of your preps. Remember to periodically make hard copies in case of computer crashes. My wife also keeps a dry erase board in the panty room to mark things that are used before they all get updated in the spreadsheets.
Does you have an empty spreadsheet to share so the rest of us don’t have to re-invent the wheel? Or possibly a link to the one you found? TIA
Matter of fact, yes. I started a post with one the other day and it’ll be up later today.
Excel with printouts
As I spend 98% of my time hiding behind the couch, I just keep my book keeping there.
FileMaker Pro because I have it and don’t have Excel and I love the layout tools for reports/screens in FMP..
I have my items recorded by location and container. But with the CoV-19 scare I may get to add more stuff. My wife was never into prepping but the nearly empty shelves we are seeing rattled her enough to come around. Once things settle back down I’ll be adding more of the bulk items.
I make a mental note to buy more of x, and rarely cancel that note in time. That means I’ve got a lot of some things, and only good amounts of others. And with kids, they change their minds about stuff, and I end up with twice the peanut butter than current needs, because they’ve cut way back on eating it….
I haven’t bought ketchup in a couple of years and won’t need to for a couple of years more…. nor miracle whip, but mustard? If we start using it, we’ll run out pretty quickly.
I had an offsite storage area with a bunch of food there, and brought it home for this lockdown. I’ve got a lot more of some things than I realized. I’d frankly forgotten what was there… which was bought in a hurry during the ebola outbreak and then just left alone. That’s not good, but on the other hand, it’s like finding a $20 bill in your winter coat pocket 🙂
n
I put “don’t” but that isn’t really right, some things I do, others not so much. I have an excel sheet of all my ammo and somewhere I have a notebook that lists all the long term (#40 cans and the like) food in my trailer but I don’t have the rice and beans under the stairs indexed anywhere.
Visual inspection and writing lists, sometimes on a pad of paper sometimes on my phone, of what seems low.
Back when I kept a big-ish stockpile of stuff I used Excel, now that I’ve trimmed things down electronic tracking isn’t needed any more.
I don’t keep a record and it will eventually bite me in the butt. OTOH, a record of what w end up using is probably just as important, as this ‘Real World’ is teaching me how my family really uses the resources. What we miss and go looking for. Much like that peanut butter comment made by nick flandrey above. Hardest point so far – picking a food choice we ALL want to eat for next meal (its just body fuel folks, this doesn’t have to be hard !).
We haven’t made hardly a dent in hand santizer – anti bacterial soap stash (yet) and the off the counter meds have hardly been touched at all. Found out the gloves we have are CRAPPY – tear with hardly any use and don’t fit my nor my son’s hands very well. We just keep the pocket size hand sanitizer in pocket and clean often when out in public.
If one is preparing for a disaster scenario, why rely on anything electronic for anything? I also wouldn’t rely on my memory as my head would be full of other stuff in a SHTF scenario.
I have a box of #2 pencils, several pads and several reams of paper for emergencies. Pencils and paper can be used for a lot of things including kindling if needed.
Good point. I have mine on my phone notes, but also written down and with the tubs. The good part is I have a fairly accurate list. The bad part is my storage is small enough to have it this way.
True. I do mine on Excel, but print pages out for hard copies.
And I have pencils and pads as well… Just in case
In a disaster, paper and pencils burn too, don’t they?
I have been making an excell-type spreadsheet of what I have and what I want. Just the medical list is…substantial. Question: About how many items to you have? I mean, as in, 40 items in food list, 20 in medical list, etc. Just in total quantities in general. Not the specific items themselves.
At the moment, Ammo 6, food 34, fuel 2, household 14, Hygiene 12, lighting 6, Medical 14, power 5. But Im adding and subtracting items/categories as I go along.
Just thought I would give a few insights as to how certain of the items that I had in stock that have been used for the Wuhan Flu pandemic worked out.
I found that some of my latex/nitrile gloves had deteriorated in storage. Found out they had weakened/deteriorated with age. Found out when they ripped apart when trying to put them on. Still have enough on hand, but will restock when they come available again. Will automatically replace after two years. Means I need to date my packages.
N95 Masks. Some of my mask straps showed deterioration, again, probably just from age. Fortunately, none broke, but clear deterioration. I also had another box that was fine. All were still in the bag inside the box. Beaning cheap, I am thinking of hot glueing replacement elastic onto the masks where the straps deteriorated. From what I can find online the filtering element does not expire, only the rubber parts (straps and foam seals, if they have them,
Again, this just serves as a reminder to rotate your stocks and to regularly inspect/look at manufacturers expiration dates.
Be safe out there.
Yeah, latex gloves go bad fast. I think you might be better suited with the vinyl gloves.
Oddly enough the wife and I just did an inventory check of our stock with all our free time at home.
Its all in my head, which means, i dont. Which does cost me, but it is still better to prep, and not keep track eficiently, than not to prep.
It’s all in my head… but old age and the sheer numbers are starting to induce errors in the system. I currently run a hybrid mental/pen and paper system that is working… but needs to be more accurate.
I really haven’t been formally tracking my resources (*hangs head in shame*), but now that you’ve put the idea in my head, I really should set up a spreadsheet in LibreOffice and track stuff.
BTW, does anyone have an empty spreadsheet they’d like to share so the rest of us don’t have to re-invent the wheel? TIA
JWR’s “lists of lists” might be a good spot to start. Just use the part you need.
I was going to say “all in my heat” but realized that wouldn’t be correct. I’m too disorganized to keep track of stuff. Which means sometimes I run out when I shouldn’t or end up with more than I need. And sometimes I forget about things that I’ve “temporarily” stashed somewhere. Found some chicken food I’d forgotten about that the mice had got into. That was a bit of a mess. 🙁 This would be a good time to do inventory as I don’t have to be anywhere.
Once I began collecting stuff and things I found a spreadsheet that offered a lot of detail but most helpful was the qty needed per person so that I could see where I was covered and where I was lacking. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, after all.
But I would advise people to consider putting an innocuous snippet of that data on their mobile or other tool easily referenced while out and about. You never know when you will see a good sale on something and knowing how much you already have is helpful…
Relatedly, this is an interesting look at why it isn’t only quantity but quality of caloric intake that can make a big difference in coping with survival requirements…
https://www.mnopedia.org/event/starvation-experiment-dr-ancel-keys-1944-1945#
Conditional formatting is your friend when it comes to highlighting levels of supplies. A summary page also is a good tool to give an overall feel to areas of your preps. Remember to periodically make hard copies in case of computer crashes. My wife also keeps a dry erase board in the panty room to mark things that are used before they all get updated in the spreadsheets.
Does you have an empty spreadsheet to share so the rest of us don’t have to re-invent the wheel? Or possibly a link to the one you found? TIA
Matter of fact, yes. I started a post with one the other day and it’ll be up later today.
Excel with printouts
As I spend 98% of my time hiding behind the couch, I just keep my book keeping there.
FileMaker Pro because I have it and don’t have Excel and I love the layout tools for reports/screens in FMP..
I have my items recorded by location and container. But with the CoV-19 scare I may get to add more stuff. My wife was never into prepping but the nearly empty shelves we are seeing rattled her enough to come around. Once things settle back down I’ll be adding more of the bulk items.
I make a mental note to buy more of x, and rarely cancel that note in time. That means I’ve got a lot of some things, and only good amounts of others. And with kids, they change their minds about stuff, and I end up with twice the peanut butter than current needs, because they’ve cut way back on eating it….
I haven’t bought ketchup in a couple of years and won’t need to for a couple of years more…. nor miracle whip, but mustard? If we start using it, we’ll run out pretty quickly.
I had an offsite storage area with a bunch of food there, and brought it home for this lockdown. I’ve got a lot more of some things than I realized. I’d frankly forgotten what was there… which was bought in a hurry during the ebola outbreak and then just left alone. That’s not good, but on the other hand, it’s like finding a $20 bill in your winter coat pocket 🙂
n
I put “don’t” but that isn’t really right, some things I do, others not so much. I have an excel sheet of all my ammo and somewhere I have a notebook that lists all the long term (#40 cans and the like) food in my trailer but I don’t have the rice and beans under the stairs indexed anywhere.
Visual inspection and writing lists, sometimes on a pad of paper sometimes on my phone, of what seems low.
Back when I kept a big-ish stockpile of stuff I used Excel, now that I’ve trimmed things down electronic tracking isn’t needed any more.
I don’t keep a record and it will eventually bite me in the butt. OTOH, a record of what w end up using is probably just as important, as this ‘Real World’ is teaching me how my family really uses the resources. What we miss and go looking for. Much like that peanut butter comment made by nick flandrey above. Hardest point so far – picking a food choice we ALL want to eat for next meal (its just body fuel folks, this doesn’t have to be hard !).
We haven’t made hardly a dent in hand santizer – anti bacterial soap stash (yet) and the off the counter meds have hardly been touched at all. Found out the gloves we have are CRAPPY – tear with hardly any use and don’t fit my nor my son’s hands very well. We just keep the pocket size hand sanitizer in pocket and clean often when out in public.
If one is preparing for a disaster scenario, why rely on anything electronic for anything? I also wouldn’t rely on my memory as my head would be full of other stuff in a SHTF scenario.
I have a box of #2 pencils, several pads and several reams of paper for emergencies. Pencils and paper can be used for a lot of things including kindling if needed.
Good point. I have mine on my phone notes, but also written down and with the tubs. The good part is I have a fairly accurate list. The bad part is my storage is small enough to have it this way.
True. I do mine on Excel, but print pages out for hard copies.
And I have pencils and pads as well… Just in case
In a disaster, paper and pencils burn too, don’t they?
I have been making an excell-type spreadsheet of what I have and what I want. Just the medical list is…substantial. Question: About how many items to you have? I mean, as in, 40 items in food list, 20 in medical list, etc. Just in total quantities in general. Not the specific items themselves.
At the moment, Ammo 6, food 34, fuel 2, household 14, Hygiene 12, lighting 6, Medical 14, power 5. But Im adding and subtracting items/categories as I go along.
Just thought I would give a few insights as to how certain of the items that I had in stock that have been used for the Wuhan Flu pandemic worked out.
I found that some of my latex/nitrile gloves had deteriorated in storage. Found out they had weakened/deteriorated with age. Found out when they ripped apart when trying to put them on. Still have enough on hand, but will restock when they come available again. Will automatically replace after two years. Means I need to date my packages.
N95 Masks. Some of my mask straps showed deterioration, again, probably just from age. Fortunately, none broke, but clear deterioration. I also had another box that was fine. All were still in the bag inside the box. Beaning cheap, I am thinking of hot glueing replacement elastic onto the masks where the straps deteriorated. From what I can find online the filtering element does not expire, only the rubber parts (straps and foam seals, if they have them,
Again, this just serves as a reminder to rotate your stocks and to regularly inspect/look at manufacturers expiration dates.
Be safe out there.
Yeah, latex gloves go bad fast. I think you might be better suited with the vinyl gloves.