Category Archives: TOOLS

everything which you need to make or repair things, UNLES it would fit better somewhere else. example would be hemostats which are good for small part handling, medical and fly tying.

Tracking Time

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Keep a Track of Your Time

I know this is always a difficult thing to accomplish; however, not everything that you do is straight forward. It’s forward some and then back some then forward again. So, we need to know where we are right now, before we can go on.

The best way to do that is to keep a time log of what you are spending your time on. Once you know where you are, then you can make plans on were to go from here. Fill out the Time Log for the week, the best way to do this is to have it on your desk if you work in an office. If you work at home, put it in the kitchen, that is where most of your time is probably spent. If you work outside put it in your front pocket along with a pencil. Be as accurate as possible, it will guide you better in the long run. This seems like a waste of time, but when you see the results you probably will find out that you spend more time doing things that don’t matter much in the end than you thought. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, every half an hour just jot down what you have done in that time. You can just do this with a sheet of paper, you don’t need a set up page.

When you go to bed, take the list with you. Are you waking up in the middle of the night and having a difficult time going back to sleep? Add up the hours that you sleep. Are you getting enough sleep? Or is it too interrupted? Are you making up for lost sleep at night by napping during the day?

How is your morning routine with eating breakfast and getting dressed and out the door?
Are you running around the house looking for your keys and the report that you need today? Do you get your shirt or dress out of the closed just to find out that it needs ironed? Do you pour a bowl of cereal and then look in the refrigerator to find out that there is no milk?

Just looking at your time log is usually enough to know what you need to change in your routine. Are you going from one activity to another without finishing the first activity? Are people disturbing you in the middle of projects? Do you look at your cell phone a million times a day?

What do you do when you get home in the evening? Do you sit in front of the TV for 4 to 5 hours every night? Do you spend your evening in front of the computer checking your face book or playing games for hours on end? Is it 11:00pm before you know it and past time to go to bed? Then you ask, where did the time go?

On the weekends, do you sleep till noon and then drag around for another couple of hours before you are ready to mow the lawn, or fix your car? When it is Sunday night do you find out that you have not completed anything on the weekend you wanted to do?

Get your Time Log done and then we will work on making better use of your time so that you can get your preps done.

Are You Prepared?

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Are You Prepared?

 

How do you answer these questions?

 

  1. Do you have a first aid kit in your home? And car?
  2. Do you have enough food, etc. in your home to be able to not go out to the grocery store for 3 days?
  3. Do you believe if there is a disaster in your town that the government will be there to help you within 3 days?
  4. Do you have a meeting place away from home planned and every member of the family knows about it.
  5. Do you have a list of the drugs you are taking and know what they are for?
  6. Do you  know where a copy of your mortgage or lease agreement is and can you get to it within 5 minutes?
  7. Do you have copies of every family member’s birth certificates and can get to it within 5 minutes?
  8. Do you know the phone numbers of family members if your smart phone goes dead?
  9. Do you have a place planned to go inside your home (or outside if a mobile home) if a tornado were to strike your home?
  10. Do you have change on you when you go out to use a payphone if your smart phone goes dead?
  11. Do you have enough money saved up for 6 months if you were to loose your job?
  12. Do you have enough medication to last for a month if you could not get a refill  before then?
  13. Do you have entertainment in your home if the power was off and you could not leave your home for 2 weeks?
  14. Do you have enough food for your pets for a month if you could not get to the store?
  15. Do you have enough water in your home if you could not get water from the faucet for a couple of weeks?
  16. Do you know the emergency preparedness plan for your workplace?
  17. Do you have extra food and water at work if you have to shelter in place there?
  18. Do you have comfortable shoes at work and home if you should have to walk a distance?
  19. Are you mentally prepared if there were a disaster to strike your town?
  20. Have you mentally prepared you children if there were a disaster to strike your town?
  21. Do you have copies of your mortgage and birth certificates and titles of vehicles at a place not in your home?
  22. Do you have a living will?
  23. Does  your family know your wishes to be or not put on life support?
  24. Do you have all credit card name, numbers and phone numbers written down in case your wallet gets stolen?
  25. Do you have all of your financial information in one place so your family knows what is due, etc. if you were in the hospital and could not pay them?

Dollar Tree Bargains for Prepping

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Dollar Tree Bargains for Prepping

 

I went over about things from Dollar Tree to put into your First Aid Kit, now I want to talk about other things from Dollar Tree that you can put into your Preparedness items.

Yes, you can get these items elsewhere, but at how much more. Maybe you should compare purchasing at Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree. Even if Wal-Mart has an item that you really want, but that would limit the amount of items that you can purchase at this time, it may be more beneficial to purchase more items at Dollar Tree so that you at least have the items and then after you get enough, then go back and purchase better quality items and replace what you had purchased and put into your backpack.  For example you would really rather have a $10 flashlight from another store, but you don’t have many items at all in your backpack for emergencies.  It may be wise to purchase 10 items at Dollar Tree, one of which is a flashlight.  Then after you have most of what you need in your backpack go back and purchase better quality items, but in the meantime if something happens you at least have something. Go to www.DollarTree.com some of those items that need to be placed in your backpack are:

 

Flashlight

Batteries

Duck tape

Large black trash bags

Different sizes of ziplock bags

Rope

Screwdrivers- Phillips and flat head

Hammer

Fork

Spoon

Knife

Aluminum pie pan (to use as a plate)

Plastic coffee travel mug (you can use for hot drinks, soups as well as water)

Large tongs (for moving fire wood around when hot)

Kitchen knife

Cutting board

Set of Funnels (use to put water or food into coke bottles)

Hot pads

Washcloth for washing dishes and dishtowel for drying

Tablecloth large size

Clothes pins

Seasonings

Pencils

Pencil sharpeners

Colors

Coloring books

Tape

Glue

Writing paper

Scissors

Play dough

Puzzles

Bath soap

Shampoo

Razor

Washcloth

Hand towel

Tooth brush

Dental Floss

Paste

Lotion

Chap stick

Food – Ramen Noodles, tuna or chicken salad with crackers, peanut butter, cheese crackers and peanut butter crackers, soups, granola bars, some hard candy, etc

Deodorant

Comb

Assorted rubber bands

Assorted safety pins

Sewing Kit

Bobby Pins

Candles

Matches

Dishwashing liquid

Aluminum foil

 

With being able to get all of these products for only $1 then you can spend more on your higher ticket items such as the backpack you want to use, knives, hatchets, etc. If you want to go back and spend more on one of the items above then you can do that after you get all the items that you want into the backpack first.  And each member of your family should have a backpack.  If you have a baby, put their items in a separate backpack, so that you can take turns carrying it or the baby, but this keeps their items separate and easier to get to than if they are among your items. Having these items together and ready will ease the stress level when the day comes that you have to evacuate your home.

If you have trouble finding some of the things, ask to talk with Lorane the manager [if you are in her store] and she will help you. ALSO wish her a Happy Birthday if you are in there next week. ;]

Ready? or not

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a bit taken from the book

Ready-Not-Things-WILL-Happen Quick start survival guide.

http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Not-Things-WILL-Happen/dp/1496022947/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395604161&sr=1-1&keywords=Richard+Calton

FIRST AID KIT TO INCLUDE:

  • Olive Oil,
  • First Aid Manual, or NOLS First Aid Handbook,
  • Aromatic Spirits of Ammonia,
  • Water Purification Tablets,
  • Table Salt,
  • Baking Soda,
  • K+ (Potassium),
  • Aspirin or ibuprofen (for both children and adults),
  • Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline),
  • Diarrhea medication,
  • Laxative (mom or colace),
  • 30 days of Prescriptions,
  • Safety Pins,
  • Adhesive and/or paper tape,
  • betadine,
  • Bandages,
  • Gauze Roll,
  • Coban elastic bandage (or Ace Bandage),
  • Heavy String,
  • And you may need Tetanus immunization every five years.

see also www.preparesurvivethrive.us

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/a-time-for-travel-the-christmas-project/

surviving rising costs

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Manager’s Guide to Cost Reduction by Czaplewski, Janice (Feb 5, 2014)

 

This book is for managers to get the overview and understand the process. Order the full sized, full color companion workbook for the people that will be doing the projects.

If you have an questions or comments, feel free to contact Janice Czaplewski at Janice@entire360.com.

 

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/a-time-for-travel-the-christmas-project/

earning a living- surviving divorce

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This is part of our Earning a living series.

 

Janice’s next book is out. Find it on Amazon.

 

 

                       

 

And Then There Was One: A funny guide to surviving divorce by Czaplewski, Janice (Feb 5, 2014)


If you are wondering, “What in the world do I do now?” “How do I find time for myself” “Do the tears ever stop?” “What do you mean tomorrow? I can’t even hold onto today!” this book will help you. If your self-esteem, credit, morale, and sanity have taken a hit and your head is reeling, it helps to know there are other people out there that have been through what you are going through and they have survived. Let them light the candle that holds the darkness at bay. Let them lead you by the hand and pull you out of the black waters of despair. When you want to cry, let them help you find the humor in the absurdity that your life has become so you can’t help but laugh. Join me as I introduce you to some wonderful people who will all help you to understand what is happening and figure out ways to turn your life into what you want it to be.

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/a-time-for-travel-the-christmas-project/

Earning a living – book

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A new and practical book from one of my favorite authors.

 

Cost Containment Workbook: Complete Guide to Material Cost Reduction and Containment by Czaplewski, Janice (Feb 4, 2014)

 

As any business owner or CEO knows, manufacturing costs are constantly rising and you have to fight the battle every day to guard your profit margin.

If you are using a Catapult to fight rising costs and your competition is using a Howitzer, you need to read this book.

In this economy, if ever there was a time to use a howitzer to attack the castle where the profits are stored, this is it. Well, maybe it’s not quite that serious, but you certainly can’t sit back and just hope it gets better. The only way it will get better is if you are proactive, and the sooner you start the more impact you can have.

This book will help you evaluate your situation to see if you need to do a cost reduction project, help you choose the project, walk you through the steps of a project, and even take it to the next level with cost containment. After you have done the work to reduce the costs, you want to make sure they don’t creep up on you after the project is complete.

There are some really good tips to make the process easier and at the end of the book there are even “Excel Hints” to help you with the spreadsheets.

Just remember that if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. Are you ready to do something different? If so, try these proven methods – today!


There are two books in this set. One is for the managers and [this] one is a full color workbook for the people who will be doing the cost reduction projects.

 

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/a-time-for-travel-the-christmas-project/

Forming a GOOD habit

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Forming a good habit is more difficult than forming a bad habit. Usually a bad habit has its own rewards, however a good habit you have to reward yourself until the habit is formed then you realize the benefits of the good habit.  For example forming the habit of Journaling, exercise or eating healthier you will not realize the reward until you do these for a while. What habit do you need to form to further your preparedness? Remember when a disaster happens you will need to be in pretty good shape to survive. Do you need to lift weights to become strong? Do you need to start walking or running to become more fit or to lose weight? Do you need to change your diet to incorporate eating wheat? Do you need to work on projects to get ready? Do you need to walk with your backpack to build up your endurance? Whew, I get tired just thinking about all of that. Let’s talk about the steps we need to take to get to our new habit.

The first step is to identify the one habit that we need/want to make. Only work on one habit at a time. The habit needs to be somewhat specific like walking every day at a certain time. You may want to use one of your S.M.A.R.T. goals and make it a habit. Decide on how far you want to be able to walk without a break. Then you can add carrying your backpack with 10 – 50 pounds of equipment in it. And last but not least, how much time will it take for you to be able to accomplish this?

Give yourself a little more time than you think it will take.

Next, write down the benefits of starting this new habit. Taking the habit above the benefits would be when a disaster happens you will be able to evacuate to a certain point in a certain time limit. You will also be in better physical condition & healthier, and hopefully you will have your backpack filled with what you will need for the trip.

The next step will be to commit your self to starting the habit. Is the habit something you can accomplish? Do you have the time worked out that you can do the habit everyday? Decide on how you are going to keep track of the times that you do the habit. Will you mark it on the calendar? Will you make a sheet that has blocks to check off? It is widely accepted that it takes 21 days to make a habit stick, so decide when you have everything in order to be able to start.

The next step is to set your goals and what type of reward you will give yourself along the way of the 21 days. And it is better to make the rewards more often. You may want to set a goal of after the first 2 days you will be able to walk ½ of a mile without stopping and you will reward yourself with watching a particular movie that you have been waiting to see. Then in 2 more days you should be able to walk 1 mile and your reward will be taking your friend out for coffee. These are just examples, make yours particular for you and something that you normally don’t do. If you are not able to walk that distance you may need to change your goals, but at least you did walk every day. If you don’t walk a day, then you will start back over to the first day of developing the habit.  You have 52 chances in a year to start a new habit, and don’t beat yourself up because you failed.  Just start over again. When you are writing everything down, write the habit or goal on a piece of paper or on a 3X5 card and post it in a few places in your apartment or house. Post it where you will see it everyday, this will remind you of the habit and increase the likelihood of you accomplishing it. After the 21 days and your habit is established, you can start a new one.

Tell your family and friends that you have started the habit. It will make you accountable to other people, because they will ask you how your habit is going.

Use this guide to help you start good habits that are essential in your preparedness.

10 Essentials part 5

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3. Insect repellent (or clothing designed for this purpose)

Bugs can all but ruin a trip. So protection must be taken. Your most effective options are: 1) Lotion or spray repellents containing DEET, and/or 2) Clothing that has been treated with permethrin.

 

4. Signaling devices, such as a whistle, cell phone, two-way radio, satellite phone, unbreakable signal mirror or flare.

A whistle is a compact, lightweight, and inexpensive way to signal for help. Although a person cannot shout for a long period, he can whistle for extended amounts of time. Moreover, the sharp sound of a whistle travels over longer distances than the human voice, and provides a much more distinct sound. Although environmental factors such as wind, snow, and heavy rain may drown out a voice, the sound of a whistle is clearly distinguishable in the field.

A cell phone, two-way radio, and satellite phone  offers a way of communicating with the outside world should you need assistance. While these are all limited to signals, the sat phone is by far the most reliable of the three.

A signal mirror can be used to signal airplanes or other hikers by reflecting the light from the sun.

 

5. Emergency Shelter such as a plastic tarp and rope.

The shelter is targeted at day trippers. (Most overnight wilderness travelers already carry a tent or tarp.) The thinking is, if getting lost or injured leaves you stranded in the back country, something is better than nothing if you have to deal with wind or rain or snow. Options include an ultra-light tarp, a bivy sack, an emergency space blanket (which packs small and weighs just ounces), or even a large plastic trash bag.

 

So…

 

Of course the trip that you will be taking will determine how much of the essentials are actually needed. A short day hike may only require a few of the items, while a full day of hiking may require more. An overnight trip should encompass all of the essentials.

 

Some of the items are recommended to keep on your person. Some wear a lanyard around their neck with a few of the items attached to it. As it is though, it is your hike, so hike it how you want, but know that these items are listed for your safety. They will not require much room or add much weight, and if you need them you will be very glad that you have them!

10 Essentials part 4

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Some other items that are recommended and can supplement the 10 Essentials are:

1.  Water treatment device (water filter or chemicals) and water bottles.

A water treatment device (filter or chemical treatment) makes water potable. All water, including that from streams, lakes, or pools, needs to be treated for bacteria and viruses in order to ensure safety. Most back country travelers carry a water filter: low end models are inexpensive and provide protection against many pathogens, but not viruses. Some more expensive filters and improved chemical treatments get rid of most health risks, including giardia and other protozoa and viruses. Treating the water reduces the likelihood of gastrointestinal diseases. Since some chemical treatments such as iodine or chlorine may leave a bad taste, many suggest mixing in a flavor to hide the taste. These include powdered lemonade or fruit drinks, Tang, Gatorade, or Crystal Light.

Water bottles are useful for transporting a water supply. You can use the filter to pump clean water into the bottle, or use a bottle to scoop up water and then add the chemicals (drops or tablets). Most any kind of bottles can be used. The Aqua Fina bottles are a popular bottle that backpackers carry. It is cheap, and light and easily replaceable.

2. Repair kit, including duct tape and basic sewing materials.

If you carry a self-inflating mattress or tent, you need to carry a repair kit for it. Many sleeping pad and tent manufacturers sale these kits to accommodate their particular product. Here’s a classic tip for carrying the basics of a poor-man’s repair kit: Wrap strips of duct tape (the universal fix-it product) around your water bottle or trekking poles so you can repair who-knows-what in the back country. A basic sewing kit is recommended to repair any clothing or backpack or other type of material that may become damaged and require a quick fix.

 

3. Insect repellent (or clothing designed for this purpose)

Bugs can all but ruin a trip. So protection must be taken. Your most effective options are: 1) Lotion or spray repellents containing DEET, and/or 2) Clothing that has been treated with permethrin.