Dealing with Space Limitations

Homes and Retreats
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by jennyjj01 »

Reading a few posts about how well prepped some members are, I'm driven to realise that some have VERY MUCH superior physical space to employ. I.e. our rural members might have homestead sized homes with big gardens, a local stream, a forest full of 'free wood' and free rabbits and forageable berries, while other members prep in their two bed apartment in the middle of a city... and anywhere in between.

It's not something any of us can easily change, short of moving home.

So, I guess there's value in a topic related to how we can best use the physical space we have and how to use it. [#1]

I'll start with the thought of what to store if you have absolute minimal space. Water? Tins of food? Maybe camping equipment instead? Maybe you only have space for one choice?

If sealed in a small home, then would you want to rely on the taps working and be happy with your ample supply of stored food? Or would you anticipate needing to rely on stored water which took up all the space you could have used for food? How do we plan for totally conflicted scenarios? Beats me, too. :roll:

We don't know the answer, because we don't know what we are going to face being short of. [#2]

I invite suggestions for making the best use of the physical volume available to us. Nothing off the table as far as ideas.

My starter for ten..... Just musings, which I will add to if the mods indulge me
[#1] Survey your space. Look for unusual, usable volume. That might be under the bed, behind the sofa, between the joists under the floor, on top of the wardrobe, behind the kick panels of the kitchen units. Estimate what best would go where. Remember that food and water are heavy and that tonne of tinned food on top of the wardrobe might be a bad idea.
[#2] Assess likely needs. If you live next to a river, do you need to store much water. If you live over a supermarket do you need to store tinned beans?
[#3] Allocate the available space. Have a place for everything, but with consideration of how to access your stuff. If you plan any sort of stock rotation, how will you get to your stuff under the floorboards etc?
[#4] Think outside the box. Can you rent a lock-up? Store stuff with nearby family as a sort of resupply post?

I hope we can collectively come up with some ideas for optimising whatever space we have.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
British Red
Posts: 428
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:45 pm

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by British Red »

For me there are several things that are important here.

Firstly, we can all cast envious eyes to those with more or pitying eyes at those with less. The reality is that prepping is a journey and not a "zero sum" game - in other words other people's preps don't make me less likely to survive - quite the reverse. It's not a competition with a winner and a loser - it should be about mutual cooperation and encouragement. It's also very much not about "stuff". I can certainly cast envious eyes at the seriously prepared. I know one who has more in vehicles than everything we own - but good for him. He worked for it and chose to spend it on an amazingly equipped estate. It doesn't diminish my chances 🙂

Anyway. Done the tight space thing. It's actually very "doable". Of course you can't store as much but, let me tell you what a friend did. Water was her concern. She couldn't store much or loads of bleach, fuel for boiling etc. So she bought a tub of "pool shock" chlorine treatment, and learned how to dilute it. It could make HUNDREDS of litres of a bleach like liquid. She got an "Aquaroll" used by caravanned. Water is HEAVY so she, not being strong, figured out how to move it. Then she used old (1800s) ordinance survey maps to find where wells and springs used to be near her in the town. A little discrete investigation revealed three still accessible nearby.

She was a great inspiration to me, a calm thinker, who always "found a way".
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by jennyjj01 »

British Red wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 12:44 pm Then she used old (1800s) ordinance survey maps to find where wells and springs used to be near her in the town. A little discrete investigation revealed three still accessible nearby.
Inspired.
Wells and springs! we never really think of them in towns. But they may well be just out there nearby.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by jennyjj01 »

British Red wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 12:44 pmIt's not a competition with a winner and a loser - it should be about mutual cooperation and encouragement.
And we have that here. For all my envy of Jansman's poly-tunnels or Yorkshire Andy's torches, They have given so much useful info here. This forum on a memory stick should be in everyone's prep.
She couldn't store much or loads of bleach, fuel for boiling etc. So she bought a tub of "pool shock" chlorine treatment, and learned how to dilute it. It could make HUNDREDS of litres of a bleach like liquid. She got an "Aquaroll" used by caravanned. Water is HEAVY so she, not being strong, figured out how to move it. Then she used old (1800s) ordinance survey maps to find where wells and springs used to be near her in the town. A little discrete investigation revealed three still accessible nearby.
Inspired.
Wells and springs! we never really think of them in towns. But they may well be just out there nearby.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
User avatar
diamond lil
Posts: 9757
Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:42 pm
Location: Scotland.

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by diamond lil »

I went from your first kind of location to the second one - although not a city. Following this thread with interest.
British Red
Posts: 428
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:45 pm

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by British Red »

jennyjj01 wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 1:21 pm
Inspired.
Wells and springs! we never really think of them in towns. But they may well be just out there nearby.
Most towns that have some history were built were conditions for living were good. Access to drinking water being one such criteria. I know several villages and market towns with a "Pump square" or a "paupers fountain" where people drew their water. The springs and wells are usually still there (although sometimes capped - but nothing that would defeat two minutes effort). It's something to think about. Now around here, wells are generally not used although many - including us - have them. Most of the old houses have brick cisterns that are still there and, because of local conditions, they are much to be preferred. Our place is so old that we have both, the cistern was an upgrade in the late 1700s
Vitamin c
Posts: 1070
Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:16 pm

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by Vitamin c »

They are shown on modern ordinance survey maps and of course common sense.
If you know a road or area called spring Lane, spring meadow, spring gardens these are all local names near me surly your on a winner.
Fill er up jacko...
pseudonym
Posts: 4550
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 10:11 am
Location: East Midlands

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by pseudonym »

Two is one and one is none, but three is even better.
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by Arzosah »

pseudonym wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 3:42 pm A quick google of my area:

https://insearchofholywellsandhealingsp ... d-rutland/
There are 3 wells on that in a village 10 minutes away from my house, when I searched my county name, and lots of others further away. None in my town, but the clay soil is so heavy here, when you zoom in on interactive maps, you can see a dozen or so "spring rises" round here. One such spring is formed nowadays by five drainage pipes under school playing fields, a little marsh, a common and a huge expanse of grass that's a curve on a B road.
jansman
Posts: 13623
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Dealing with Space Limitations

Post by jansman »

British Red wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 2:42 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 1:21 pm
Inspired.
Wells and springs! we never really think of them in towns. But they may well be just out there nearby.
Most towns that have some history were built were conditions for living were good. Access to drinking water being one such criteria. I know several villages and market towns with a "Pump square" or a "paupers fountain" where people drew their water. The springs and wells are usually still there (although sometimes capped - but nothing that would defeat two minutes effort). It's something to think about. Now around here, wells are generally not used although many - including us - have them. Most of the old houses have brick cisterns that are still there and, because of local conditions, they are much to be preferred. Our place is so old that we have both, the cistern was an upgrade in the late 1700s
Our village still has that pump. We still have a brick soft water cistern.It has a submersible pump in it for watering the garden.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.