Prepper To-Do List Time!

Because I’ve been stuck at home with nowhere to go, I decided to dust off my prepper to-do list this past weekend. Surprisingly, I hadn’t bothered to do anything on my list since fall of last year, which is much longer than normal.

No matter. I’m glad I have some time on my hands to get things done. What have I done thus far?

Well, I actually spend an hour or two replacing batteries in almost everything that takes them, including smoke detectors (one of which wasn’t working when I tested it), my NOAA weather radio (this is the newer model to what I have), every flashlight I own (including those in my bug out bags, vehicles, jacket pockets), emergency pocket radio… you get the idea. Heck, I even checked the batteries in my television remotes; they were still good, by the way.

I also took some time to replace and treat water in two of my water barrels. I actually had to clean the insides with my power washer because I noticed some gross stuff growing in there that clearly didn’t belong. I also swapped out water in my vehicles, which I try to do once a year as well.

I spent some time charging things like the jump starter power pack in my wife’s car, the several portable chargers I keep acquiring for some reason (most were fully charged already), my upgraded keychains lights, the solar lantern that I keep in my power outage kit, and I can’t remember what else anymore.

A few other things I did:

• I began to replace some of the stored gasoline I keep on hand, but I still have more to go. I couldn’t replace any more cans because I’ve really been trying to keep the cars filled up lately.
• I swapped out my dog’s bug out food and water as per my own guidance here.
• I checked that all the outside lights worked, including my battery-operated motion lights. I also checked that the bushes and whatnot weren’t terribly overgrown for general safety concerns. I suspect we’ll be outside soon enough cleaning up things and I’ll fix any problems then.
• I checked that all fire extinguishers were showing “green.”
• I updated my smartphone offline maps app files, Google Translate files, and a few other apps.
• I cleaned my Berkey water filter thoroughly; here’s what I did.
• I checked that we had plenty of the stuff we tend to use regularly, including hand soap, toothpaste, pills we take, laundry soap, and so on. Overall, we were good, which I already knew.
• I checked that my SHTF stored preps were in good shape, including my solar panels, camping gear, long-term food storage foods, and the like.
• I checked my firearms and ammo supply.
• I backed up my laptop files to a portable hard drive which is something I try to do every few months even though many files are in the Cloud now.

I still need to:

• Swap out the clothes in my kids’ bug out bags because my youngest has been growing like a week lately, as well as the food, water, and medications in all of our bug out bags.
• Plus, I’ll just look things over in our bags (and vehicles) to ensure nothing appears damaged or missing and I’ll take a moment to ensure my bug out plans are still viable.
• Chop some firewood and kindling for next winter which, if I’m being completely honest, is a bit more ambitious and *may* not happen just yet.

Overall, these tasks didn’t take too much time and having them finished helps ensure my family and I are as ready as we possibly can be. Considering just how crazy things are right now, I’d suggest you work on your own list if you’re stuck at home too. You’ll be glad you did!

And if you’ve got anything useful that I might have missed (even though I didn’t list everything on my prepper to-do list) I’d be grateful to hear your thoughts below.