Organizing your Prep (Information) Materials

[FireDance]

(This post was originially in response to the "list thread.")

I have all my prep info in files under "general" and it's not doing me a bit of good. It's not easy to find things and certainly not portable.

Does anyone have binders set up and if so, can you share what tabs you set up for this?

THEN you have sub-dividers:

Food Storage (main tab)
Canning
Dehydrating
Dry storage
Pests

Medical (main)
Herbals
First Aid

Firearms (main)

Hunting (main)


Well, the list just goes on and on. If one were to keep all the tab making materials at hand, when you printed something out, you could just make tabs as you go. You wouldn't be apt to just "stick it in a book" - your system needs to be set up so it's easy to file right away. I imagine that it's going to depend on how you organize personally as to how you would set this up. But surely some general ideas would apply to all.

So how do you organize all your material?

 

[Peanut]

I have separate binders. All have a theme and are color coded. Gardening, recipes, nuclear issues (has Kearny's book in it...all 250+ pages, never thought that would finish printing lol), electricity issues, and the list goes on.

All the binders are on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in this room for easy access.

 

[Para36]

Minimal files

I like hanging file folders because of their flexibility but also because I have several 4 door metal file cabinets from a business we once had. But I really try to keep only the barest necessary information. ......that which I don't use everyday and could be critical in an emergency. To the extent that I can I have simplified my lifestyle and incorported those "emergency condition" elements into my everyday lifestyle. These subjects change ocasionally but my current ones read:

Emergency ( mostly nuclear related and including my personal disaster contingency plan ...in here is also my where/how much prep inventory )
Flu
Gardening
Medical ( all medical related except flu )
Nutrition
Recipes ( nothing gourmet here...just some basic recipes from prep essentials )

Mostly though I have a number of basic reference books I expect to rely on including Where there is no doctor, Where there is no dentist, the PDR, Merck Index, Nuclear Survival Skills , the Ball canning book, and the homesteading /gardening related books by Carla Emery and John Jeavons.
Para.

 

[Todd]

I use 4" three ring binders. Each binder has a general category with a table of contents in pencil so I can add and move stuff and still find it. I have several survival CD's as well as blueprints for stuff like wood gas generaltors and these are placed in pockets in the appropriate binder.

We also have tons of books since we've been doing what is now called prepping for 30 years. It's how we've lived in the boondocks.

Todd

 

[idelphic]

I like hanging file folders because of their flexibility

This is a great idea. However,.. how easy is it to transport loose papers in hanging folders?

Paper can be damaged. Has anyone done anything to protect the fragile paper from getting wet?

Del

 

[strudel nut]

Sometimes to protect a couple of sheets, I have put them in a sheet protector. More pages than that and I have put them in ziploc bags.

 

[twincougars]

I just have most everything on computer, and backup CDROMS. All I need to do is a file search for the topic I need. Magazines I keep in order, and use the anual index issues to search for what I need.

 

[eXe]

What I do is keep 2 large binders with printed out material as WELL as Cd's with burned material on them.

What I print I put in a "To be burned to CD folder" once that folder gets rather large I burn it to CD and delete it.

This way I have not only paper backup but CD backup as well.

I also separate items like NBC, Food, Water, Basics, Firearms... and so on