James,
Thank you so much for your blog site. I’ve been a reader for nearly five years and have learned so much.
Regarding the post of items to have to implement a micro store when and if there is a TEOTWAWKI event, he was well thought out and quite thorough.
It will be wise for us all to not only be as prepared as we can be for ourselves, but to think about being prepared for those around us.
If we all prepare this way, there will be a lot of duplication. However, as you have said many times, there can’t be too much preparedness.
So, I searched my mind and my supplies and came up with a few other items that I think could easily be added without too much space.
1) Small sewing kits
2) Full size spools of thread
more needles
big needles and stronger threads, cordage for the big jobs
3) Paracord
4) Patches of all sizes and strengths
5) Knives: kitchen, folders, fixed blade
6) Sharpeners and/or equipment for a sharpening service
7) Soap
8) Bag Balm, great stuff
9) Zip ties
10) Duct tape
11) Viagra, I’m not kidding
These are just a few things that could be added that are space efficient that I have in my supplies.
I’m sure all of your readers could probably come up with hundreds of more items.
May God bless you all during this Christmas season, – K.R.Y.
James Wesley:
I really enjoyed this article. I think this scenario could be possible in a small well prepared community where food storage/gardening has already been taken care, letting people focus on some of the “niceties”.
I have a few ideas I’d like to add:
I would suggest having maybe a dozen diaper covers (old school plastic pants style, like by Gerber). People will run out of diapers fast, and while the absorbent part can be made out of just about any cloth (old baby blankets, towels, dish rags), the part that holds the mess in is rather specific. You may be able to find them at your local Wal-Mart, online, or see if there’s a local cloth diaper store nearby. They will run about $4 for 2 (on clothdiaper.com), although you can often find them used online. And by used, that generally means someone tried them once and didn’t like them.
And if you stock these, you could also print out a few copies of instructions on how to fold a flat panel diaper for people to reference, as well as instructions for infant potty training (again, just look on the internet for both of those instructions. I hope to post more about IPT and cloth diapers later)
Handkerchiefs and flannel wipes may be useful to have a few of, but probably not too many, since most people could probably find something that would work around their house.
Crayons and Coloring books would be another great thing, for family/child boredom, or as a post-disaster gift. Crayons can be had anywhere during back-to-school season for 3/$1, and coloring books are $1 new. Get a dozen or so of these too.
It may be handy to have a package of hair rubber bands. These things are so easily lost or broken, and will only cost a dollar or so
If you stored a few rolls of Duck Tape, you could trade it by the foot or yard (wrap it around a pencil for easy transport)
A box of Q-tips might be nice for a while, although eventually we may have to learn to do without these.
Feminine items would be nice to stock, but realistically the reusable ones are fairly expensive (diva cup $25, cloth pads $9-to-$14 each) or take special material to make, so those who don’t prepare may just have to go back to the old way of dealing with it,
Hope this is helpful. – Sarah M.