If you had to start all over again...

How are you preparing
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SaintJimmy671
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Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 1:29 am
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

If you had to start all over again...

Post by SaintJimmy671 »

Well, I've just sold my bug out bag. I feel like crying! :cry:

It was necessary, because I'm moving to the US to be with my fiancée in a few months, but it got me thinking - because I'll have to start all over again when I move - if you had to start all your preps again, would you do it any differently?

For me, as far as the BOB is concerned, I'd probably get the same stuff, but try to get things bought in the right order. I'd get knife and machete first, then maybe firelighting equipment next, then tarps etc. After all, you never know when something will happen, so surely it's best to start with the most useful items.

So anyway; what would you do differently, if anything?
"The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog" - Mark Twain
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 9030
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

SaintJimmy671 wrote: I'd get knife and machete first, then maybe firelighting equipment next, then tarps etc. After all, you never know when something will happen, so surely it's best to start with the most useful items.

Your home catches fire you escape with your BOB to the nearest hotel.........

how will a machete, box of matches and a tarp help your plight?




money, spare clothing, medication, toiletry's, copy of house hold insurance policy/ bank details/ passport/ visa, friends and family's phone details. local power outlet phone charger,
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
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SaintJimmy671
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 1:29 am
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by SaintJimmy671 »

The BOB I've sold was more of a major catastrophe type bag. In the event of something more mundane (and likely), I have a different bag, and that's getting re-homed but not sold. But that wasn't my point, I'm just asking if you'd do anything different.

Also, consider it a compliment that as soon as I sold the bag I went straight here to UKP for consolation! You lovely people, you. :lol:
"The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog" - Mark Twain
metatron

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by metatron »

I'd probably be less of a cheapskate and invest in quality from the start and not upgrading as things failed.

Good (not cheap)
Fixed blade (full tang)
Folding blade
Touch
Head touch
First aid kit
Sleeping bag
Bivi bag
Self infating roll mate
Pots

And such.
Ivarr Bergmann

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by Ivarr Bergmann »

SaintJimmy671 wrote:Well, I've just sold my bug out bag. I feel like crying! :cry:

It was necessary, because I'm moving to the US to be with my fiancée in a few months, but it got me thinking - because I'll have to start all over again when I move - if you had to start all your preps again, would you do it any differently?

For me, as far as the BOB is concerned, I'd probably get the same stuff, but try to get things bought in the right order. I'd get knife and machete first, then maybe firelighting equipment next, then tarps etc. After all, you never know when something will happen, so surely it's best to start with the most useful items.

So anyway; what would you do differently, if anything?

I think you'll find that once you get to the US a lot will change. I thought i was on the right track when I lived in the eastern US, however once I got to Alaska a whole new world opened up. Not just in terms of the legal scope of the freedoms involved but having the vast wilderness as my training area. There really isn't much Id change other then getting here a few years earlier.. I use to live in Austria and from there, to the eastern US and finally to Alaska its like three different lives in terms of freedom to really train and get anything done without dealing with social and political stigmas involved with survival..


Good luck in your move.
Arzosah
Posts: 6450
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by Arzosah »

metatron wrote:I'd probably be less of a cheapskate and invest in quality from the start and not upgrading as things failed.
Me too ... for everything, not just equipment, but food, weirdly. At the very beginning, I bought cheap stuff to store (Basics teabags, ug!) and now, I've taken to heart the whole "store what you eat, eat what you store" and rotate everything. I just didn't understand what that catchy little saying meant :)
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 9030
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

SaintJimmy671 wrote:The BOB I've sold was more of a major catastrophe type bag. In the event of something more mundane (and likely), I have a different bag, and that's getting re-homed but not sold. But that wasn't my point, I'm just asking if you'd do anything different.

Also, consider it a compliment that as soon as I sold the bag I went straight here to UKP for consolation! You lovely people, you. :lol:

Sorry if you miss understood me I did the whole Rambo run for the hills bag initially then reality set in then prepped for the "more day to day disasters" ;)


But as above better quality kit saves money on the long run

Lots depends on the area your off to.. Tornado ally vs hard northern and east coast snow falls / winter
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
7 lives
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 6:57 pm

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by 7 lives »

SaintJimmy671
Best of luck with the move-let us know how you get on and what if anything you do differently prepping wise :lol:
filsgreen
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:04 pm
Location: Liverpool

Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by filsgreen »

Arzosah wrote:
metatron wrote:I'd probably be less of a cheapskate and invest in quality from the start and not upgrading as things failed.
Me too ... for everything, not just equipment, but food, weirdly. At the very beginning, I bought cheap stuff to store (Basics teabags, ug!) and now, I've taken to heart the whole "store what you eat, eat what you store" and rotate everything. I just didn't understand what that catchy little saying meant :)

I'd second your opinion Arzosah. I bought Tesco's own baked beans and thought I would rotate them....until I tried some. Now I'm going to just use them in an emergency and when they come to the end of their shelf life I'm going to bin them.

Phil
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Decaff
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Re: If you had to start all over again...

Post by Decaff »

filsgreen wrote: I'd second your opinion Arzosah. I bought Tesco's own baked beans and thought I would rotate them....until I tried some. Now I'm going to just use them in an emergency and when they come to the end of their shelf life I'm going to bin them.

Phil

Bin them??? Bin them??? Nooooo!!!!! You need to think outside of the box, actually make that tin! Add them to a shepherds pie, using less meat but making it cheaper and just as filling, add spices to them, think curry powders and pastes and serve on toast, add ketchup to them to make make a stronger flavour, wash the sauce off and add to chilli con carne or a soup, put in a dish and stir in chorizo sausage then crack in a couple of eggs and top with breadcrumbs and bake in the oven till the sausage has flavoured them but please don't bin them!!
Behind every great man is an even greater woman. She carried you, raised you and made you who you are.