What have you done so far this year to prep and any suggestions to do it cheaper?

[610Alpha]

avg 10-30k per acre here.....more with homes,.

And I complain that land is averaging 6K/acre but I have seen some corn fields go as high as 12K/acre. The piece I was looking at was listed at $4,500/acre, oh the days when land was $1,200/acre.

Hind sight is always 20/20 :)

[heyman]

our main task(s) of the year has been to teach our children about the days of old....Hand washing, canning, shooting, fire starting, dehydrating, vehicle repair, backwoods camping, animal butchering and prob more that i cant think of. Some things are new to them some are refreshers and some are the next step. The biggest this year was backwoods camping as our youngest is now 3 we can hike further without having to carry her.

[Bull]

Bought a clamshell style sealer, lots of Mylars and O2 absorbers, filled them with a pretty good variety and amount of food, sealed them and stored them.
Continued to make nice strides in building the armory, and storing additional ammo. Lots of range time.
Picked up and used a variety of camping and hiking supplies including sleeping bags, tents, back packs, BOBs, really good boots and hiking shoes, water filters, fire starting devices, knives, 550 cord, etc, etc.
Got a silver generator and a bunch of silver, in order to make calloidal silver for treating water, and medicinal purposes.
Assembled a nice stock of heirloom seeds. Unfortunately I am gone from home about 8 months a year so I can't start a garden, but I will be providing my folks with some for the winter garden and their next summer garden so we can evaluate the ones I have.
Picked up many good reference books and manuals. Have done a lot of research, learning, and planning.
Have been searching for and looking at land in various places to find a good BOL, and eventual homestead.
Trying to get friends and family informed and on board.
Probably a good bit of other stuff I can't think of right now.
I'll be buying a BOV in the next few weeks, and then outfitting it how I want.
I need to:
spend more time at the current property and set it up better.
Find a good survival medicine school of survival class that actually coincides with my schedule, and take it.
Get survival meds.
Get in better shape.
Spend more time outdoors camping, hiking, and making it more difficult by roughing it more, and relying on the fire starter rather than a lighter, the water filter, etc, etc. Need to take longer journeys to camp, hauling everything on my back instead of the trunk.
And on, and on.

[Firestorm]

Well work is hit and miss but I am getting ammo one box at a time. Extra 20lbs bag of rice each payday. With extra TB / socks / undies / tshirts and things like that everother payday. Trying to get the things that will not be around once the SHTF and the store shelfs are empty. All ready off the grids and working on our gardens. Trying to find the others that are in the know around us before the shoe drops. Other then that just about ready. NOT! :)

[Pop_45]

I've been trying to get food stored. I've been buying lots of mid term shelf stable foods. I've started to do some of my own caning, or jarring if you will. I've also taken up the art of candle making. My foray into gardening was not a resounding success, but just a minor success.

I've read the book Patriots by JWR and thought is was a good read. I'm reading the book Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker, and I have the book, Atlas Shrugged waiting for it's turn.

I've added more ammo, and another rifle.

Like every one, by largest problem is money. Never seems to be enough to go around, but I still manage to spend about 150 a month on preps.

God bless and happy prepping.

[kappydell]

wow. over a year, i would not have space. in a nutshell: maintained my 18 mo food supply for two by rotation and use; bought a house free and clear, installed a fence, bought new freezer to supplement & back up old one; paid off credit cards, started using cash only for expenses, saving checks for mailed bills only; started canning meat supply heavily (i like beans & rice, but meat is nice too); working on landscape in new place heavy with edible landscape items; located nearest public parks' forage food patches; learned how to make (illegal) fish and game traps (quieter than shooting & attracts less attention); etc.

[Grinnan Barrett]

This year has been more of a replacing stuff year. Adding to my food reserves and better equipping my grown kids. I watch for sales but more important, I watch from whom I buy. If I buy quality and from trusted sources I don't have to look back with regret. I know I say it too often but when you buy from someone like JRH you know you are getting the best from the best. I have gear I bought from JRH in 1998 still in great shape. I also try to buy US made products whenever I can. support your friends and they will support you. GB

[PJaster]

Well, I am living now in a 27 foot 1 Ton Dodge chassis Motor Home. Doing so, I cut my rent in more than half. Utilities are lower as well, I am running 12VDC system, and soon will have that of grid X 2 ways.

The cross over to RV living was tempered by my long time indoor use of 12VDC power, and that has been an ongoing item in my life since 1979!

I have occurred expenses in doing this, I had figured the break even point to be 3 months originally, but had to alter that to a more realistic 5 to 6 months.

As far as other items, I had incorporated PREPS into my expenses long ago, I feel I am prepared as possible for the time, and will add to this later on...

[SCinPNW]

I realize this is an old thread but thought it best to ressurect it rather than start a new one.

I have not been posting as much lately as I have been busy with life. I am very close to my mylar bag packing weekend. I have spent the past month an a half (or so) gathering bulk foods to pack into mylar bags and buckets. Just this week I ordered wheat berries. Here is what I have to pack so far:

50 lbs. Pearl Barley
75 lbs. brown lentils
75 lbs. pink lentils
50 lbs. rolled oats
100 lbs. rice
100 lbs. flour
50 lbs. sugar
25 lbs. salt
several containers of spices
several containers of tea
13+ lb. bag of baking soda

Will soon have:
50 lbs. of hard red wheat
50 lbs. of hard white wheat
50 lbs. of soft white wheat
50 lbs. of mixed grain berries

The other things I have been working on for preparedness purposes is I have been working out faithfully every day for about a month now. I am finally feeling like I am starting to get back into shape. Yay, I can do 10 plank push ups before I fall on my face. It has been quite a few years since I was able to do that. LOL!

Also, last week my daughter had her spring break and I took her shooting for the first time. She did great! I rented a 22 revolver and in no time she was loading and unloading on her own. Plus she kept 95% of all her shots within the circle of the target--not bad for a first timer. ;)

Anyway, that is what I have been up to. Oh, and of course, gardening! I have moved all of my tomato and tea plants outside--yay! Now I just need to re-pot them. Plus we have finally passed the dangers of frost so I can plant my garden any time now.

Cheers,
SC