:: Be Prepared Challenge :: Acquire - Step Two ::

Thank you for joining Gavin, myself, and everyone participating in this challenge. Here is the original post, outlining the challenge. Over 4 weeks, we hope to inspire you to find out more, and take on tasks to help you get more prepared, using the OARS method - Organise, Acquire, Restock, and Spread the Word. It’s about creating awareness, and finding motivation to do it!

Week Two - Acquire - Posts So Far

Acquire - Step One (Task 1 - Consider what you will need)

Hopefully the list of questions on my previous post didn't scare you! I know when I first started considering all this, it was overwhelming. You worry about having everything, how can I get ahold of all this, can I afford it, where will I put it, what if it isn't enough, how do I learn to do all this? Hopefully by doing your preparations as a 4 Step Guide (OARS), you are finding it easier? I will tackle the answers & options to those questions I posed in the last post this week, for now though, let's finish some of the organising we started last week.

Remember, you don't have to spend alot of money to get prepared & set up (of course, you could spend ALOT of money doing this) as you may have suitable items already in your house, garage or shed... and you can look for things on Freecycle/ Yoink!, or local secondhand stores, newspaper or online classifieds, community or work noticeboards. Plenty of ways to be frugal, be green and get prepared (check out my previous post about this topic!)

Set up your Storage area (shelving, cupboards etc.)

OK, so we've already thought about suitable areas for your emergency gear and stockpiling, maybe even decluttered that area already, and possibly set it up with shelving/ storage ideas, but let's recap:

• garage - one of the cooler walls could have shelving or boxes stacked against it, or put up some 'drop-down storage' (something like these)
• laundry, with cupboards, or space to put shelving
• space under the beds, or in top of wardrobes
• spare room, or a place to put a bookshelf
• a shelf or two in your pantry
• hall cupboard, or coat cupboard
• just add extra items to the places you usually keep these items
• if you don't have something suitable, you could buy new or secondhand shelving, cupboards, bookshelves etc.

What to store things in?

• plastic lidded boxes
• empty suitcases
• heavy duty cardboard boxes
• milk crates
• baskets
• buckets
• foam boxes
• old backpacks
• new garbage bins
• unused esky
• washing basket

We have set up an area in our garage, because we have space there, it is handy, I like to keep as much in the one place as possible for easy access, and we like to see what we have. I am thinking of moving the shelving with food to be against a different wall, which would be cooler. We bought 2 of these shelving units from Bunnings (you can get similiar units from $89 up to $210) which are strong & sturdy, easy to put together, and hold alot. You could find similiar things at secondhand stores or recycling centres, but check they will be sturdy when ladened. Or make your own? Perhaps you might secure them to the wall, if possible.

The above photo was taken recently, and it has extra supplies on it than normal, as I was attempting to only go to to the supermarket once a month, but go to farmers outlets weekly/ fortnightly. We also had some 'Christmas/ party' food we normally wouldn't! This is where we keep most of the food, as the pantry cupboard in our kitchen is small & taken up with other 'everyday' things! But you can see that they hold alot (there is one more shelf above, not shown in the photo, which has suitcases on it), but still easily see all that is on the shelves. To make it easier to stock/ restock and organise, I have labelled the shelves and boxes. I try to put the items in packets inside of plastic lidded boxes, to protect them from pests. The jars & tins are stacked in similiar food groups too. The other lot of shelving has other items, like bulk water, non-food emergency gear etc. and we are making room for our grab bags.

Gather What you Have (& Make an Inventory)

Once you've got your storage area set up, and bought/ reclaimed or made appropriate shelving, now we can start to put stuff there. It's exciting, even just putting items there, from what you already have! Now, from last week, you may have looked at some of the lists I posted, to get an idea of what you might need, so when you were decluttering/ sorting things out, you've put aside potentially useful items. Gavin talks about making an inventory here. As you gather more items, you can work out how you like to keep things organised. I tend to like knowing what I need first, and make lists of these items, even if I do have some things from it already. I can then check things off the list, as I bring them to my storage area & arrange them on the shelves. This leaves what I still need to acquire on the list. You might also like to work out your budget first (covered later in the week) but again, I like to know what I need first, so  I can then work out how I am going to pay for things, or how much I might need to get free, or secondhand.

Whichever way you like to do it, go for it!

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This week I will also be covering:

• Stay at Home Supplies
• Emergency kit gear
• Stockpiling Food
• Refine your Needs lists & Make shopping check lists
• Work out your budget