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1. Another area to consider when looking for more storage in a small apartment is your furniture. There’s a lot of wasted space under couches, chairs, tables, etc. If you’re at all handy with wood and tools you can build your own furniture with tons of built-in storage – just use your favorite search engine to search for things like ‘diy storage couch’. You could also spend some time researching the work being done with tiny houses – they have tons of clever ideas for maximizing storage.

2. When I lived in high rise apartments in the city they had fairly large storage areas in the basement (large area broken into small rooms by walls of wire fencing framed with 2x4s , with each apartment having a small storage room with a door that could be secured with a lock. The storage room being roughly the size of a large walk-in closet.)

   New York City is more limited on space so I don’t know what they have there but obviously most apartment dwellers need to store a lot of stuff other than survival supplies so one might check with the building manager.

   Apartments with balconies let you store a Coleman camp stove with a grill’s large propane tank (needs adapter hose). If you only need to do the equivalent of boiling a pint of water a day, that tank could let you cook for 3 months or so –without smoke exposing your location. However, a hibachi lets you cook out on the balcony with twigs gathered from the parks.

3. PS Most cities are beside large rivers. A water filter system like the Sawyer All in One plus a 5 gallon bucket would let you screen out bacteria and you could add clorox to kill any viruses in the filtered water. This could give you a water supply in addition to what you store. Used in the Third World.

   Plus water supply systems in cities under stress can degrade (no money to pay employees or buy water purification supplies) and tap water can become contaminated.

   One advantage of the US Army’s old Alice Pack system is that you can put a cargo shelf on the bottom of the pack and carry 5 gallon water containers like the Spectre.

   http://soldiersystems.net/blog1/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2-e1455490002555.jpg

4. For preppers on a budget, rather than buy dehydrated food or MREs, you can simply buy a few more cans of fruits, vegetables and meats. Sure, they’re heavier than dehydrated, and best suited to those who Bug-In, but they minimize waste and can be part of your normal cycle of use.

5. I call it food assurance rather than insurance. And I agree with the buy-more-food-than-you-need concept.
   Props to Steve.

   Thinking back to my apartment days. I learned then than my favorite size boxes were called bankers-boxes. You would see them in places like OfficeMAx purchased for the intention of archiving business taxes or sales-deals etc. I’ve only bought them new-full-retail once and all the rest of my boxes are 2nd hand from business going out of business or moving.

   Keep your goodies in these heavy duty boxes designed for paper, and your friends won’t balk when they help you move as it all weighs the same.

   If you plan to need 3 cans of beans buy 5 every payday cycle and go for the generic brand and pay close attention if there is a sale bogo 10% coupons etc. I usually wipe out a large chunk of the stores inventory of tuna when it drops to .75 a can.

   None of this makes any difference if you don’t have that vision or dream out in front of you. You can do it. Survival is optional and you have what it takes. Stay the course and stay alive.

6. A Water Bob does hold a ton of water, literally. make sure your floor can support a full tub of water.

7. Water BOBs – if there’s no tub, some plywood sheets held together with ratcheting tie-downs can make a “temporary tub” and the plywood lays flat between uses (between bed frame and mattress, or box springs and mattress is good). To get fancy, attach sides to base with hinges, knock out hinge pins to stack the flats (put hinges on outside to avoid sharp edges cutting the bladder). Check how much weight the floor will hold first – 80 gallons of water is 665 lbs.

   Propane/hibachi grill on apartment balcony – most jurisdictions prohibit this by requiring combustibles be used a minimum distance from a dwelling.

   Can storage – ThriveLife.com makes great adjustable FIFO can storage but it’s not as space-efficient as boxes – 12X9X9 box (Staples, $18.50 for 25, free ship-to-store) will hold 24 standard 15.5 oz cans and can be stacked, each is about 27 lbs. Put in 8 protein, 8 fruit, 8 veggie, tape a few P-38s under the lid, fill space between cans with plastic cutlery and it’s a grab-n-go food unit. Date all the cans you bring home, date the outside of the box you put them in, rotate boxes for FIFO. Use several as closet foor, put cardboard or plywood on top. Stack a bunch, cover with tablecloth, plywood sheet on top, call it an end table.

   Amazon has extra-high steel bed frames, they’re surprisingly cheap, assemble quickly and knock apart easily to make them easy to move, even comes with a plastic hammer for assembly/disassembly. 16″ under-bed height allows for std 5 gallon buckets.

   A hollow plywood coffee table, assembled with screws, can hold a lot of stuff, can be disassembled easily for moving, same for hollow end tables. Cover with a tablecloth for decor.

8. One of the mant prepper items I have been reading about in magazines like Recoil, Offgrid, and American Survival Guide is collapsible water containers. Some can be folded up and some, most, can be rolled up. These are not the ones of ‘ol, no these are made with bigger, badder, awesomer plastics that will last a long long long time before they wear out. They in many different sizes. I currently own 20 of them and are part of my water prepping both long and short term. They are very lite, compact, when empty, and very easy to store. REI and Sportsmans Warehouse both have a entire rack designated just for them. I was able to get all 20 with a combination of sales, on line coupons and a couple of in store gift cards, one I got as a B-day gift the other I started my self and half of my recycled cans/bottles money to that way I always have something to buy at least from Sportsmans Warehouse from, all in all I was able to get all of them for almost half price. Oh … and invest in a proper cleaning kit for them with the proper brushes and cleaning solutions to keep them from getting nasty, growing bad thing that can make you sick, and/or if you need or accidentally cross contaminate them. Prep wisely and plan accordingly. Enjoy!

9. Good Job so far!

   Get youself basic skills like basic carpentry by hand, or how operate a forge, This will be beneficial in any post-collapse society.

   Obviously location, location, location; Get out of this city as soon as possibl, for your Physical Health, and Well Being.

   God Bless,

10. *posssible

    Good Luck!

11. Concentrate on being able to bugout,and a location to go to relative/friend/groups cabin/farm/acreage maybe preposition supplies there and use for weekends/holidays/vacations. Think multiuse.

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