Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: January 6 ~ 12, 2019

[ReneeT]

I must be getting old - these new weeks just keep sneaking up on me...

On the plus side, I did write 2019 every time I had to write the year yesterday at work, so maybe I'm at least acclimating to the new year

Garden seed catalogs are starting to come in, and I'm looking forward to my next couple of days off so that I can spend a bit of time paging through them. No other major prep plans this week other than keeping an eye on the sale ads and trying to organize at least one shelf in the upstairs pantry - I know I need to re-stock the canned meat shelf from the long term pantry. Thinking about putting a lock on the door so Hubby will stop just shoving stuff in there willy-nilly...

Ugh - there's my 7 minute warning alarm; time to go drag on the scrubs and head to town a few minutes early - it's donut day and my favorite Doc is working today so I want to make sure I have enough time to pop into the store!

Take care all; stay safe, and have a blessed week!

 

[Deena in GA]

We stocked back up on toilet paper today thanks to a great sale at Walgreens. Hubby rotates out one stash of tp once a year, and it's that time of year. That's a stash of 16 12 packs of Scott that we never touch. Then we have another stack that is what we use. We try to always keep a good stock of that.

We found several great buys at Goodwill yesterday that we can use for next Christmas - brand new, never been opened. Score! We have such a large family that we have to watch for sales all year to get gifts. I'm not complaining about that at all!

This week is supposed to be very nice weather-wise after having nothing but rain in what seems like forever. If it is, I'm hoping to get the raised beds cleared out and plant some potatoes there. Youngest son is moving wood to be split and reloading the wood on the porch also.

 

[prudentwatcher]

Didn't really have anything planned, but found that Publix had some deodorant on clearance this morning when I went shopping, so I bought them out and have enough for the rest of the year. I used to stock more, but I like the gel kind and they kind of "melt" after a while and aren't any good anymore.

 

[ReneeT]

The past few days, I've stocked up on chocolate - the candy bag in my locker was getting pretty sad, Walgreen's had a couple different sales, and there was a total of $42 in the magnetic clip on my locker door at work - my work peeps will snag candy and leave $ Saturday after work, I picked up 30 assorted Mars/Dove/Skittles/Starburst candy bars @ 3/$2 = $20; I used 5000 points (= $5); paid $15 and tax out of pocket; got a coupon for spend $20/get 5000 points. Sunday after work, the sale was Hershey products @ 79 cents each; I bought 32 assorted Hershey candy bars = $25.28; used 5000 more points ($5); used the Spend $20/Get 5000 points coupon, paid $20.28 plus tax out of pocket, and got the 5000 points from the coupon loaded on my card. Monday, I reloaded the candy bag in my locker; then that night after work, I picked up 5 'Family Size' bags of Christmas M&Ms that were $4.29 bag/75% off = $1.07 each or $5.35. Used the 5000 points I'd received from the coupon, and used the last of the change from the $42 I'd found in my locker to cover the 35 cents plus tax cost. The bag of mint M&Ms will be mine to nibble on; the other 4 bags are plain M&Ms in a red/white/green color mix - those will be sorted by color and used in Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day treats. With money from the grocery budget, I also picked up 4 - 5 oz cans of pink salmon at 4/$5 on both Sunday and Monday nights while I was at Walgreen's; if they have any in stock when I go back to work on Thursday, I will pick up 4 more then.

The grocery store in the town where the pool is has some okay sales on this week - canned pasta, dry pasta, soups for $1; larger cans of soup 2/$3, and my older grandson's favorite cereal as well. The canned pasta is on the Blessings in a Backpack list (schools send home 2 days worth of food on Friday with kids they deem at risk) so I snagged some of that; plus stocked up on some of the other soups for Hubby to put in his Mama's pantry - he goes there 4 days a week to eat his lunch/check on her, so may as well have it on hand. The other grocery store ads didn't show up in the mail today as they usually do, so I will have to wait until tomorrow to peruse them.

I circled around from the pool town to daughter's town to drop off some coffee that same store had on sale. While I was in town, I hit the thrift store with a $10 bill in hand to pick up some more shirts for the clothing pantry at work; have to admit that a pretty turquoise and white print top made it home with me as well. Ah well, I'd rather pay $2 to brighten up my wardrobe than whatever a new top costs at the store these days...

Guess I'd better go out and get the bird feeders filled - we're under a wind advisory but it seems to have settled down a bit so it should be safe to be out under the trees as long as I'm watchful. I'll text Hubby when I go out and when I come back in so he knows to check on me if I don't text the second time. I'm finding lots of deer tracks in the yard around the feeders; and Hubby said that there was a deer on the sidewalk by the front door when he came in from work the other evening - I'd put some cracked corn out for the doves. Sure wish the neighbors wouldn't fall plow, but can't say much since the boys plowed down our bee plots to replant this fall too. I am looking forward to seeing a half acre of sunflowers where I took up the old frames from my raised bed gardens this coming summer - that should make the doves happy and give the deer a few more places to hide

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Today's chore is going thru all the OTC medication in the medicine chest.

A bug ran thru the house and come to find out just about everything in the cabinet is out of date by a few years. Yes they're just OTC meds but think about what all of them cost if bought at the same time? Now think as a prepper of those little extra OTC med items that go out of date like the temporary tooth filling stuff we picked up at Wal-Mart? If the SHTF I want options even for the Dentist, even if it's only temporary. It could buy time while like a flu with high CFR burns it's self out. It all adds up to a ding to the budget.

 

[Digger]

We paid for a new nuk of bees to replace part of what we lost. I am reading about making a split from our remaining hive and plan to try it this spring too.

We pruned and sprayed all our fruit trees. I think we are going to plant a few more on the new property we bought. It already has two young apple trees. They are big enough to produce, but we do not know the variety. I saved so sour cherry seed that I need to plant in a bed. I would like several of them.

We have the day off from baby sitting today. We plan to work around here. There is still fruit tree limbs to pick up. Hubby is trying to Bush hog all the pastures again. We have brush to get on the burn pile too. Work never ends, but it is the kind I enjoy.

I cleaned out some old soups. They were just too old. Some had started to leak. We mostly eat homemade soup. And neither of us need all the salt in canned soups.

 

[Illini Warrior]

Today's chore is going thru all the OTC medication in the medicine chest.

A bug ran thru the house and come to find out just about everything in the cabinet is out of date by a few years. Yes they're just OTC meds but think about what all of them cost if bought at the same time? Now think as a prepper of those little extra OTC med items that go out of date like the temporary tooth filling stuff we picked up at Wal-Mart? If the SHTF I want options even for the Dentist, even if it's only temporary. It could buy time while like a flu with high CFR burns it's self out. It all adds up to a ding to the budget.

not a bad practice to hit the med aisle of your $1 store in the fall - do a stock up before any flu crap gets a start and get ahead of the sheeple rushing in for the emergency ....

 

[Deena in GA]

We just went through the meds too and had to throw away some that were a couple of years out of date.

We also hit up Walgreens this week - but for Christmas presents and wrapping paper for next year. Was able to get 19 gifts and 10 large rolls of paper for $84 after tax. Pre-sale price was just over $320. Woo hoo! It's one of our forms of prepping.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I, too, need to clean out my medicine cabinet of old and outdated OTC meds. I also need to make a check list for all my essential oils as well. Some are getting low.

 

[prudentwatcher]

When I went through my OTC meds, some were 10 years out of date. Obviously, these are ones I bought for emergencies and we really don't use a lot of OTC meds. It's like insurance. I did restock on antifungal foot sprays, pepto, immodium, generic benadryl, generic tylenol, and generic aleve, with some nose spray and lots of generic cough meds thrown in. Between the dollar store and Sam's, the cost to restock wasn't really that bad.

Today I used some coupons and sales and bought some vitamins and some Colgate mouthwash. Things I use every day, so I like to keep a good supply on hand. Sales here haven't been to good. There needs to be a good sale on toilet paper soon--I'm getting below a 2 year supply and I'm getting nervous

 

[SouthernBreeze]

When I went through my OTC meds, some were 10 years out of date. Obviously, these are ones I bought for emergencies and we really don't use a lot of OTC meds. It's like insurance. I did restock on antifungal foot sprays, pepto, immodium, generic benadryl, generic tylenol, and generic aleve, with some nose spray and lots of generic cough meds thrown in. Between the dollar store and Sam's, the cost to restock wasn't really that bad.

Today I used some coupons and sales and bought some vitamins and some Colgate mouthwash. Things I use every day, so I like to keep a good supply on hand. Sales here haven't been to good. There needs to be a good sale on toilet paper soon--I'm getting below a 2 year supply and I'm getting nervous

I hear ya on the TP! I try to keep about a year's worth of TP stocked, but I also have a big collection of soft wash cloths in the event something happens, and I run out. They're reusable.

I keep the basic OTC meds, like you. I also have Vick's Salve, eye wash, alcohol, peroxide, Epsom Salts along with your basics, too. I use Tea Tree Essential Oil for anti fungals, and make my own cough syrup. All of my vitamins, I buy at Sam's in large quantity bottles when they are on sale. It will be another week, before I can make a Sam's and Wal Mart run, so I've got my list made. My local health food store carries a great selection of Essential Oils, so I've got a list for them, too.

ps.....Another alternative to storing lots of toilet paper is to buy cases of baby wipes or those moist toilet paper wipes. Even by the case, they don't take up near as much storage space. In the event they dry out, just add a little water to each package, once opened. Sam's Club has both.