Advice and Beans

After you have changed something in your life, whether a longtime habit, an ugly couch or a way of doing things, have you ever said ‘why on earth didn’t I do this sooner?’  When I worked in the corporate world, one of my duties was efficiency studies, where I would examine a process in an effort to find a way to improve it.  Often, I could evaluate an old process and find ways to cut the time necessary to perform it in half, and sometimes even eliminate it or fold it into something personnel were already doing.  I find myself a little red-faced, because while I regularly did that for my former company, it has taken me a long time to do it for my own.  Not only that, when I started prepping for this post (pardon the pun), I noticed that many areas of life, whether business related, personal, or among social groups (including Survival Club, our prep group), could use a good going-over to figure out where the inefficiencies are.

It used to be the most painful part of my job, though one of absolute necessity, was printing labels for our outgoing shipments.  We used Paypal for many of our labels, and the process was downright frustrating.  It would take over two minutes to process each.  Only 8 weeks ago, I spent over 3 hours a day to process labels, reprint labels I did wrong, or print labels for re-shipments.  I never stopped to think, until recently, what a huge burden that was…mainly because all the work was still getting done.  As we looked at moving to our warehouse and possibly hiring a full-time employee, it finally dawned that I needed to fix it.  What flipped the switch for me was the thought of an employee wasting as much time as I was doing essentially nothing (because the label printing process was more waiting for Paypal screens to load than actually doing anything).  After only a few hours of research, I was testing a couple of new pieces of software that would replace our entire label process.  We are using one of those today, and the process that once took hours now takes 20 minutes or less per day.  It does cost $100 per month, but with an estimated 90 hours of time saved, I would only have to be worth $1.10 an hour for us to break even, not even minimum wage, a feat I hope I can manage!  To be honest, most of those 90 hours are being spent with my wife, who had been living with me working 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week for the past year or so.  My only regret, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, was not doing it sooner.  I can’t begin to explain what this one change has meant for my family life, my anxiety level, and my enjoyment of the business we have created.

A similar situation arose with our prep group recently.  We have been working (sort of) hard trying to finish up the water project I’ve mentioned a few times on the blog.  Until it is done, every monthly meeting is being spent on completing it.  One of our members pointed out that often, almost every meeting, we didn’t have all the fittings, tools, or parts we needed to do the day’s work, and we would have to send a member to the store.  Meanwhile, the rest of the group would sit around waiting at the bottom of the valley we are working in, often freezing our tails off.  Finally, recognizing this, we decided that the week prior to our meeting, we would have a brief email exchange regarding the goal for the weekend, and one person would be assigned to pick up whatever was needed.  For about 15 minutes of effort emailing, and another hour for someone to go to the store, we saved the entire group 10 man-hours worth of sitting around, for a savings of over 7 hours…not to mention the decreased frustration level.

While my wife and I haven’t decided yet if we’ll change anything, we have decided to expand this theme and examine our food, water, medical and other family preps, and I think for everyone it is a good idea to do the same every so often.  What worked for us 5 years ago when we started prepping might not work today, but we will never know it if we assume all is well and don’t take stock of our situation.  Those who have prepped for a modest period of time (2-4 years) probably have the most to gain from a prep-audit.  The knowledge base one has in that range is likely to have improved enormously with even a decent amount of planning and reading.  One big example for us was finding out my wife was gluten-intolerant…with us having stored 400 pounds of wheat!  Another was determining we didn’t really like the pinto beans we had stored.  For the first problem, we laid in a couple hundred pounds of gluten-free flour (which we use and rotate every 12 months or so), and for the other we switched the types of beans we had stored to ones we enjoyed more.  I’ve heard many people say that if a true long-term emergency did happen, ‘we’ll use it if we have to’.  While true, why set yourself up for a miserable dining experience on top of what would already be a stressful situation?  If we are spending all day clearing brush, pounding fence posts, or chopping wood, the last thing I want is to come in to a meal I won’t enjoy!

So if you find yourself thinking there is something in your life that just doesn’t work well, you’re probably right.  For me, preparedness has always been about making some modest changes to my life to put myself in a position to better handle any challenges that come my way, whether they are personal, business-related, financial or social.

When I started this blog, my intent was to give the very basics in terms of advice.  Meaning, exactly what should one do to prepare, and in what order.  Over the 2 years we’ve been here, I hope I’ve at least mostly done that.  Because we have had several thousand new folks stop by in the last couple of months, likely do to an increased awareness of preparedness (thanks to shows like Doomsday Preppers, Doomsday Bunkers and Independence, USA), I want to revisit these basics.

At the lowest level, a good preparedness plan includes both information and resources.  Information preparedness includes ‘what will me and my family do if there is X’, with X being whatever scenarios you consider important to prepare for.  So for example, if X = Tornado, then you and your family need to know how the weather service and your town will announce a Tornado Warning or Watch, the difference between the 2, and what you should do in the event of either.  These types of scenarios can be as few as you feel are probable in your area, such as:  Blizzard, Tornado, and Wildfire.  Or they can be as complex as some of the ‘Doomsday’ shows are highlighting, such as an EMP, Economic Collapse, Legions of the Undead, or Nuclear event.

Other items in the information category include a fire safety and evacuation plan for your home, knowing and securing your important documents, and a communication plan to ensure everyone knows how to get in touch.  Something simple like making a laminated list with every important phone number your family can have is something you could do in the next couple of days to increase your families level of preparedness.

When it comes to resources, I’ve stuck to 5 principal categories:

1:  Water

2:  Food

3:  Shelter

4:  Fire

5:  Light

Again, as this is more of a refresh, how much you keep in each category depends on what types of events you are preparing for.

For the first category, I recommend at the very least what FEMA does, which is at least one gallon of water per person, per day for at least 3 days.  So for a family of 4, you need at least 12 gallons of water on hand.  Preferably, you would have on hand as much water as you can reasonably store, plus the knowledge and ability to make more potable water, whether through boiling (pasteurization), filtration, or use of bleach (sodium hypochorlite/pool shock) or iodine.  Or, as many in the preparedness community, having all of the above available let’s you use whichever is most appropriate for your circumstance.  Having all of the above methods available is really not that expensive; however, make sure you use each method ahead of time to avoid confusion and stress in a time of need.  Sodium hypochorlite, for example, comes in several purities, and knowing how much to use is vitally important to prevent underutilizing, which can lead to drinking bad water, to overusing which can cause poisoning.

In the second category, food, I would also recommend at least 72 hours worth of food that can be eaten and enjoyed without cooking, whether that is MRE’s, canned meats and fruits, or something as simple as peanut butter and crackers.  There is a whole category of ‘survival food’ that can set you back a pretty penny, but if you are only looking to be able to survive a long weekend, avoid the expense and pick yourself up some cheap canned goods.  If you choose to move into medium and long term food storage (part of the reason many folks find their way to the blog), check this post first, as its been the most popular post on the blog since very early on.

In many (or most) cases #3 on the list, shelter, will simply be your own home.  Those events which displace us from our homes are also the most devastating.  There is an entire blogging industry dedicated to the ‘bug-out-bag’, so type it into Google and spend a week reading.  Any good car bag or 72-hour kit will have some sort of portable shelter, which can be as simple as a tarp, bivy sack, or tent.  Shelter can also be a friend, neighbor or family member who has agreed to take you in should something occur.  While we may assume our in-laws will be thrilled to have 4 additional family members in the house, it’s still a good idea to broach the subject of what would happen during a personal disaster so you know where you will and won’t be welcome.  To ease shelter concerns, also keep a few hundred dollars in cash on hand in your 72-hour kit or vehicle so you can potentially stay at a hotel temporarily as well.

Fire, as everyone from the caveman on can attest, is man’s most powerful discovery.  Knowing how to safely build, use, and put out a fire is a critical skill every man, woman and (depending on how early you teach your children things) child should know.  For those who think children shouldn’t know how to build a fire don’t understand that boys at least, will learn either the easy or hard way.=)  While a fire won’t come into play in every disaster scenario, knowing how to cook, boil water, and use one for warmth will be very handy during many.

Light is one of those items not found on every real prepper’s list.  However, from a well-being standpoint, I consider light crucial to maintaining some semblance of normalcy in otherwise stressful circumstances.  At our house, we have several on-demand light sources such as Mag-lites (and a box of D-batteries neatly stashed right next to the flashlight) and a hand-crank flashlight, as well as candles and several oil and propane lanterns/lamps.  You can pick up some nice oil lamps at many tag sales for a dollar or two, so never pay retail for one.  My wife had a run of about a half-dozen tag sales where she came back with over a dozen, several of which we ended up giving away!  With new LED technology, you can also get some great light sources now that use very little in terms of battery power.

While there is a ton more that goes into preparedness, from storing your irreplaceable documents to learning how to prepare for an extended event, having the above in place will give you something to build on.  Most importantly, it gives you something simple that you can (and should) DO RIGHT NOW.  Do not get stuck in ‘research paralysis’ land, which I have watched many people do.  In order to not do anything wrong, I’ve seen some folks not do anything at all, and that is a shame.  If you have this type of paralysis, many times it will go away as soon as you do something.  Pick up a couple of gallons of water, some long-lasting food, a good flashlight, and some cool stormproof matches tomorrow, and realize that preparedness is just another part of life, like going to the gym, paying your bills, and going to school.  If you don’t over-complicate it, you might even enjoy it!

Good luck y’all!

I mentioned my favorite bug-out bag in a previous post.  I wanted to toss up some photos about how one of my friends (A nurse) has outfitted his.  For its size, he’s hauling a lot of cool stuff!

Hey, just a couple of quick notes.  I had quite a few folks drop a note about my reference to potentially outsourcing the blog.  Since everyone thinks that is a universally bad idea, even if I am pretty sporadic, I’ve decided that option is off the table!  I’ll just have to invent a time dilation device that allows me to fit 30 hours into a day!=)

2nd, a new survival forum is running a little contest and decided to give away a small kit from the store at Discount Mylar Bags.  To help out, I’ve decided to toss in 4 free 50′ lengths of paracord as well.  All you have to do is go to PrepperLog and sign up and at the end of the week all new members will be entered into a drawing for the prize.  (The fine print: I am not any way affiliated with PrepperLog.)

Finally, while I hope I am not being over-dramatic, I just wanted to mention that with sales being way up across the industry (we’ve more than doubled our shipments since mid-January), supplies are tightening up and there has been some price inflation.  Last March/April there was a pretty big shortage of all sizes of oxygen absorbers in general and several sizes and types of foil bags.  If this spike rides into the spring and we have a double-bump, things could become pretty scarce.  I’m putting in double and triple orders with our manufacturers and suppliers to ensure we’re as stocked as possible, so hopefully all of this will be invisible to y’all.  (I will admit that as of this second, I am not satisfied with our inventory position and you may see some sporadic out-of-stocks, but I am working overtime trying to remedy that.) However, if you are counting on putting up some food shortly, you should probably get your supplies earlier than later, whether you shop with us or with any of the other good vendors in our industry.

Keep prepping y’all, thanks!

My wife and I are in the midst of some fairly signficant changes to our lifestyle and how we run our business.  The increase in sales since mid-January has stretched our available manpower, inventory, warehouse space, and workspace to the limit.  (For those thinking about ordering, yes, we still get orders out same day!)  However, we realize if volume stays up, we’re going to have to move the operation to an office/warehouse, and potentially hire a warehouse person to help us keep pace with the growth.  We are currently managing it, but only through the hours we are putting into it.  We are somewhere around 13-14 hours a day, 7 days a week right now.  And while we are glad to do that for a short, or even medium period of time, I am very aware those types of hours over the long haul will lead to burnout.  So look for a future blog about us moving the business into new digs!

While I was picking up inventory at the warehouse for the 3rd time last week, I remembered something one of my most respected mentors told me when I started this business.  I met Mark (name changed to protect the innocent) when I was working at Dollar General, in 2003 or so.  He was a supplier to my department, and for many years, was the ‘go-to guy’ whenever DG made a ridiculous or impossible request (for example:  Hi, I’m Mr. DG and it’s Friday at 5pm, can you please print me 100,000 brochures and have them in the mail on Monday morning?); most of the time, he delivered where many, many other vendors dropped the ball.  His advice to me, (as a businessman who eventually sold out for enough for him and his family and their children and grandchildren to never work again, if they so choose) was ‘Work out of your basement for as long as you can.’

While my wife and I have taken that advice literally for just about 2 years (I can’t believe Advice and Beans/Discount Mylar Bags will be 2 in April!), that 11-word phrase encompasses so much more than  just the literal, many of which we apply to our prepping and personal lives as well as our business life.

One of the most obvious meanings is ‘Pay cash.’  My wife and I have done that since 2005 (and I started it in about 2003), except for our mortgage, and we are doing our best to pay that off as well. (though it will likely be another 5 years or so at least)  On one of the survival forums I frequent, there is a recurring thread which basically asks ‘Should I max out my credit cards or 401(k) to buy preps?’  I will always offer a vehement ‘Heck No’ in answer to that question.  Prepping is a lifestyle akin to the one many of our grandparents lived:  practically living within their means as a choice, because it was the smart thing to do.  We run our business with the same principle in mind.  I read of businesses (locally and nationally) that go out of business every day.  Many that do fail do so not because they have a poor business model or bad product, but because they are over-leveraged with debt and their cash-flow can’t keep up.  I hate to say it, but many of our business schools teach debt as a method of starting and running a business, and while I am probably less sophisticated than the average professor, on this we’ll just have to disagree.  The most successful small businesses I’ve known personally have only grown as quickly as their cashflow allowed.

As I’ve thought about Mark’s statement, there are a lot of other meanings it can have that relate both to our business and to our lifestyle.  When we had the conversation where he told me that, he specifically mentioned ‘Don’t pay for overhead if you don’t have to.’  Have you ever bought a power tool, cooking appliance, or other gadget that did nothing but sit and get used maybe once a year?  Bought a bigger house than you needed or could afford?  Bought a new car instead of a good used one?  Many businesses do the same thing, and you can often find brand new or nearly new items at foreclosure auctions for pennies on the dollar.  When we prep, the same criteria should be applied.  Do I really need that new $200 backpack when my old Kelty is paid for and can do the same thing?  Am I buying a $500 gardening apparatus because I think its cool, or because I will really utlize it?  I am all for buying quality things if your budget allows and calls for it and you are going to use it.  Our business needed to be more mobile, so we bought a decent enclosed trailer last year (in cash).  We also needed a vacuum sealer better than the little hand-helds we were using, so I bought one I found at the packaging show for 30% off what I could find it for on the Net.  Always do your research and take your time, and you will save a lot of money.

The statement ‘Work out of your basement as long as you can,’ also has an implied flipside that needs examining.  That flipside is ‘When you need to grow, do it.’  And that is where we are at.  It’s going to be difficult to offer our customers continued excellent service and more products if we don’t have some more space.  And while the thought of the red tape and paperwork to hire someone scares me, without some help my blogging will go from an already meager once a month to every 3 years.=)  Plus, I really want to devote some time to the ‘extras’ I keep talking about wanting to offer here.  I also have a hobby fiction novel in the back of my head, but very little time to put word to page.  As Dave Ramsey says, I need to go from ‘owning my job’ (a great thing in any world) to ‘owning a business’.  The same goes for our preps and lives in general.  If you are comfortable having a decent food storage in place, maybe its time for some gardening and canning.  If you garden and can, maybe having some chickens or a goat would provide some additional peace of mind.  My wife and I very much want to move to a more rural location someday, as she definitely wants some chickens!

Finally, while the growth we’ve experienced is a blessing, we also realize that anything can be temporary.  I am going to look for a small enough warehouse space that if the business slowed back down, we wouldn’t go broke keeping it until the end of the lease.  I own a little condo that my wife and I used to live in before we moved to our house; currently we rent it out.  One of the main reasons I keep it is because it acts as a ‘just-in-case’ mechanism.  What if my wife or I became disabled and couldn’t run the business?  What if the market tanked and sales went to $0?  Recognizing that things can change is why we advocate on living on less than you make, and saving for a rainy day, and paying cash…those things our grandparents used to do.  Having a very cheap place to live to fall back on could be a potential lifesaver.  Sure, it would be hard going from our house back to the little condo, but it would be a great step up from being homeless.  My wife and I recognize every day how blessed we are, but also realize that all things can change.

Being adaptable and flexible is one of the core tenets of being prepared.