Earlier I told the story of why I started prepping. Here's the refresh:


Other examples include:

I have an anxiety disorder. I have medication on me for that.

Lip balm is always handy. I always have some on my person.

One situation did not happen to me; it happened to Mom. Mom stepped out of the house just to get something from the car. Therefore, she did not have her cell phone or anything of that nature on her. She stepped off the porch and somehow her footing wasn't right. She twisted her ankle and landed on the grown. Thinking no one inside could hear her she didn't even attempt to yell. It was at night and, though there's a street light at the corner, it was unlikely anyone could have seen her. Mom did manage to limp back inside. Because of that I bought a Fox 40 and kept it in my pocket since.

In my last several years in Dallas an unexpected overnighter was actually expected. I kept an 8 oz. bottle of water (that I could refill) and some food in my bag.

I had one friend who did not have water in her house because she was in a really bad situation. I have another friend who had her water cut off twice because she forgot to pay the bill. I did not have water to wash my hands with when I went to either of their houses so I began to carry those individual hand wipes.

What experiences have taught you to prep and what did you do to face that situation?

Jeanette Isabelle

Always have at least a shovel in your vehicle, preferably augmented with a buck saw and/or light ax or hatchet. Learned about the saw, ax utility on an expedition to Mexico when a downed tree prevented our vehicle from reaching our camp. Had to gnaw through the darned thing with a machete - took hours.

I had to build a tree stand for hunting and was kind of too lazy to take a saw, a hatchet and a folding shovel from the car. A few days later wind threw a tree over the road. The tools came in handy and are car equipment ever since. In winter a snow shovel joins in. It´s much more comfortable than shoveling snow with a hub cap (modern day hub caps are not likely to survive that anyway).
I started preparing on other people´s experiences (if it could happen to me, I at least thought about changing my equipment). I aquired tobacco and Altoids tins and put in stuff that might help in case of mishaps. I decided to follow the advice to determine how much I would be willing to carry and taylored the kits accordingly.
A review on whistles on ETS inspire me to buy a couple and add it to various carry item (e. g. backpack, a lanyard around the neck, key chain).
Apart from that I attended courses that might give me valueable knowledge (e. g. first aid, fire fighting, vaious emrmengcy response topics). The courses had some influence on my carry items too.

What did you put in your tins?

Jeanette Isabelle

Stainless steel wire, a couple of matches, fresnel lens, small pocket knife, sewing kit, small aligator clamps, safety pins, magnets, duct tape, a pencil, fishing line, a scalpell blade (sterile), a razor blade, a mini bic, a pair of tweezers, a small ferocerium rod with a piece of hacksaw blade as striker and some cotton as filler(and maybe tinder). The bigger ones also contain a tealight candle and a BCB wire saw and a few Micropur tablets. Around the tin are a couple of rubber bands cut from old tire hoses.
I used to carry sutures but eventually ditched them as the they are contraindicated in most cases when I could use them.

I have immigrant parents, who never really learned the lauguage, mechanical things, electronical things, nor had much money.

So as a child i did there tax forms, did the repairs at home, constructed IKEA furniture, setup electronics, fixed my own bicyle, etc. Since i could not rely on my parents to help me, i just learned things my self and prepare for any events that might happen.

Bicycle:

I had a large hole in a tire and had to walk my bicycle back over 5 miles. I now Cary a spare tube and small portable pump. I also switched my tires to one's with Kevlar banding.

Carrying a bicycle specific multi tool after trying to help someone on a trail.

Wearing full finger gloves after a fall without gloves gave me a minor cut up palm. The full finger gloves saved me when I got into a more serious accident later and a glove had serious road rash instead of my hand and fingers.

Blinking red light for bike and bag after a close call with a car.

Flashlight:

Before cell phone apps I used to EDC a mini mag in a covered holster. I needed a light when the power went out at work in a large windowless space. The head had turned and the battery was dead. I now keep a Pico light on my keys, a headlamp in my laptop bag and a flashlight app on my phone's home screen. I am always within steps of at least two of those three light sources.

Car:

After having the battery die in the middle of nowhere I picked up a battery jump starter. I charge it monthly because pressing the battery test button shows it drains enough each month to need a recharge.

Keys and spare alarm battery after losing a key and after having the alarm battery die in the winter.

Kitty litter after getting stuck on an icy Street.

When I used to have a full size rear wheel drive car I used to put a large bag of salt in the trunk to better distribute the weight. Anyone who has had the back kick out in the winter knows the feeling. I now won't consider buying a car without AWD or 4WD.

Rotating the tires every other oil change. If you have aluminum rims the tire can, (and did), seize to the hub. The emergency fix is to loosen the lug nuts and drive slowly a short distance. Rotating the tires frequently should stop this from happening.

Vacuum bag things you keep in your vehicle that can be damaged by a leak. After having a bottle develop a hole and soak my stuff I bagged everything except tools. It has saved me when it has happened again. Use Zip lock freezer bags if you don't have a vacuum sealer.

Cell phone charger. Not me, but too many people I know have said they had a low charge. $5 charger to not have this problem.

Yeah punture resistant tires are a great thing! Also a spare quicklink can be handy if you break your chain.



I really like those small foldable plastic traxion plates. Works really well in snow/ice and sand. In in my trunk year rond.

I never really had issues with the back kicking out. But I do always make sure i have proper tires for the conditions and drive slowly. I also think west europeans roads might be better cleared of snow and ice...



Happens to steel rims too! The solution, put some proper anti-seize on the mating surface between the hub and rim. (do NOT put on the bolts). I change out the rims with tires twice a year from summer to winter and vise versa.

I always thought, why, I live near a 24-hour supermarket and a 24-hour Walgreens. I don't need to have much bandaging material because I can always make a quick run even in the middle of the night. WRONG!!! It sort of sucks to drive to the store when you're bleeding. So now I'm stocking more materials for dressing than before.

Also, for certain kind of bandaging materials (like Tegaderm -- very useful!) it can be much cheaper to stock up beforehand than to buy locally at the last minute. Like up to three times cheaper.

It has been my experience that Murphy is more likely to be there if you can't access a store or if there are no vending machines that have what you need.

I took just one class at the MacGyver School of Engineering.



It was on vending machine items.

Jeanette Isabelle

Improvise,
Utilize,
Realize.

I take my four year old daughter and her friend hiking every week, and a few weeks ago we had our first "I have to poo!" in the middle of nowhere emergency together.

Experience to the rescue right?! Wrong! I lived and learned through this exact emergency before, when my son was little. After that, I carried a trowel for just such an occasion, but it was removed from my day hike pack some time ago and not replaced. DOH!

Thankfully I had toilet paper, wipes and plastic bags this time! My day hike bag trowel has now been replaced and I've double-checked that there is one in the family BOB. Lesson re-learned.

Camping toilet paper is another thing I'm considering as I rebuild my EDC. We've all been in the situation in which the public restroom is out of toilet paper.

Jeanette Isabelle

Toilet supplies are a top priority when you've got little ones, especially if they aren't potty trained yet, but I'm with you, Jeanette Isabelle, they're a good thing for all us to be prepared with.

There are several makes of adult wipes. Charmin makes one for instance.

Leaves and bark, the ultimate outdoor experience.

Cones, if you are very careful.

Because TP don't grow on trees, LOL