By Brian Meyer
Some people think of prepping as something that has an end point, an act that can be mapped out with a completion at the end. In actuality however prepping is not an act or even a group of acts; it is a lifestyle. Prepping is a mindset that you get into and use to guide your actions in everyday life and as such, some act of prepping should be taken every day.
You can do something every day to prep, all it takes is a little focus and with small daily steps you can build your prep into something you can rely on when the SHTF. While your schedule can be different, we planned out a single activity to focus on each day to help you get your prep in order and stay up to date. Other activities will obviously be added in, but having an activity planned each day can help you stay on track and get more done. By following a similar schedule, if anyone asks you “how did you prep this week” you can have a pretty huge answer.
Monday – Check your Lists
You should have a list for all of the major parts of your prep. From food stores, to the age of your water, to the amount of ammo on hand, to your latest bug out plans, lists are definitely your friend. Take a little time to review your lists each week to see what needs added to them, what needs removed because it’s done, and where you can improve.
Tuesday – Rotate Food Supplies
Food prepping isn’t a static activity. To keep things fresh and to make sure your body is used to the food you have saved up, you need to rotate food out on a regular basis. Not doing this means you’ll have expired food in your basement when the SHTF or that you’ll be throwing food away when you finally get around to checking it.
Take a little time this day and rotate food from your prep into your pantry and check expiration dates on both food and water.
Wednesday – Make Sure Gas Tanks Are Full
To be as ready as possible to leave on a moments notice, you should always have as much fuel in your vehicles as possible. If you’re not low enough to normally fill up, use this day as an excuse to do so and go top your tank off.
Check other fuel tanks this day too so you always know how much you have. Make note of any that are low and schedule a fill immediately.
Thursday – Check Home Security
This day might be the most important one of the whole week. Take 30-60 minutes and walk around your home and property to review your security. Check for broken windows, doors that may have been forced or attempted to be forced, and any cleaning or maintenance that is needed. Keeping things clean around your house is an important part of security, as it shows people you’re regularly in that area, so they should try somewhere else.
Go outside with your keys and try to break in. Check each window and door to see if any budge or could be easily broken. Doing this weekly helps you spot problems immediately and resolve them before someone else can use them.
Friday – Practice One Skill
A major part of prepping is learning new skills like starting a fire, building a shelter, or others like canning and sewing. Use this day to practice one of these skills or at least learn more about them. Devoting an hour or so this one day per week will give you a specific piece of time where you are solely learning and nothing else.
By doing this you’ll get far more done that you would imagine and ideally have many new skills if you ever end up needing them.
Saturday – Check Sales and Stock Up
Grab yourself an early edition of the Sunday paper and check for sales on anything you need for your prep. Look for food, water, camping equipment, and even ammunition and other sporting goods. These can all come in handy and probably already have a place on one of your lists.
When you find a few good sales, go out and do some shopping. Saving money means you can do more prepping, and more prepping means more security.
Sunday – Review Plans
For your day of rest, sit back and relax while checking your plans over. Like your lists, your plans should be reviewed weekly so you know what happens if a disaster strikes. This can include reviewing maps, weather, and overall plans for bugging in as well as bugging out.
If you have a family/children that you’re prepping with, this is a great time to review plans for fire drills and what to do in an emergency. Not only does this help your prepping, but it can help your family to know what to do in other emergencies as well, like fire and robbery.
Wrap-Up
What it all comes down to is taking small steps every day so by the end of each week you have succeeded in doing far more than you ever could in one day, even of you dedicate the entire day to it.
This list may not work for everyone, as we all have different work and family schedules, but make a schedule for yourself and stick to it. Following a daily schedule like this can help you build your prep and get things in order so you’re ready for whatever the world throws at you.
Brian Meyer is a technology nut who loves craft beer. Still a Boy Scout at heart, he believes in always being prepared. Brian believes the most important tools you can have when the SHTF are your brain and the ability to keep a level head, no matter what the situation is.