Fact: Most of us have too much stuff to begin with. For example, my father has in his basement roughly 8 bazillion coffee mugs. Most of them are freebies he received here and there. He doesn’t need them, doesn’t use them, but the mere suggestion that he part with at least some of them is met with outright hostility. He also still has every stereo he’s ever purchased, as well as umpteen different sets of dishes, silverware, and I couldn’t begin to guess how many pieces of framed art that date back to when my mother sold Home Interior products in the 80s.

With the weather finally getting nicer, this is a great time to start purging your home of unnecessary clutter.

Start small, just do one room or even just one closet at a time.

For clothing, if you haven’t worn it in the last 18 months, it goes away. The only exception for this might be hunting or other specialized gear. But, jeans, dress slacks, shirts, jackets, all of it goes into the “Goodbye Forever” pile.

Get rid of the knick knacks and junk that is cluttering up the basement and closets. If you haven’t displayed it in the last year, and it holds no deep sentimental value, add it to the pile.

Old cassette tapes for which you no longer own a player, get rid of ‘em. Same goes for VHS or [shudder] Beta tapes. Hold on to the LPs though because they are just cool.

Old sets of dishes and tableware can go, unless you are saving them to pass along to a child when he or she gets their first apartment. But really, no one needs 8 different sets of plates.

Be vicious about this process. If it has been sitting the basement or attic for the last 6 years and you’ve never once even looked at it, do you really, truly NEED it to begin with?

If you are so inclined, try unloading the stuff at a rummage sale. I’ve heard of people making pretty good money with them, though my own experiences have been lackluster at best. What doesn’t sell goes to a thrift store. Then, in a month or so, go back to the store and chuckle at the prices they put on your stuff….

The idea here is to make room for the GOOD stuff, the things that you may actually need at some point. Plus, it is just nice to have a little more breathing room.

The gist of the topic was, “What would you do if…?” The premise centered on being herded into the stadium in New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina hit. There were a few practical suggestions as to what to do. Then, there were a ton of responses along the lines of, “That’d never happen to me! I wouldn’t allow it!”

Do you see the irony here? How many times have we heard that from sheeple. Yet, these are survivalists and preppers who, one assumes, argues about being better prepared for various potential catastrophes, yet are adamant that some things will just never happen.

As survivalists, we should look toward being prepared for EVERY eventuality, at least as best we can.

None of us has the inside track on what the future will bring.

Granted, many bad situations are the direct result of poor decision making and we should do what we can to think things through and plan for the most likely scenarios. But, who’s to say circumstances won’t force you into holing up at some sort of emergency shelter? If you are absolutely confident such a thing could NEVER happen to you, all I can say is you lack imagination.

Don’t ever think “It will never happen to me.” Fate has a decidedly wicked sense of humor and might decide to test your theory.

Plan ahead to make food acquisition easier!

You should already have a good idea of the types of wildlife that lives in the area. Do some work now to attract the critters so you won’t have to work so hard to find them later.

Some time ago, we talked about guerrilla gardening. Use this same idea of deliberately planting edibles out in the sticks to attract potential food sources.

For example, many animals will routinely visit berry bushes. Plant a few here and there and invite them to snack.

Routinely scatter birdseed here and there to attract our feathered friends. Set up feeders as well. Do the same with squirrel feeders and try to keep them reasonably stocked with corn and such.

Learn what the local critters like to eat and set them up for a feast.

You should be visiting your bug out location on a regular basis anyway, right? Might as well take just a little time during each visit to make the place more inviting for future dinner guests.

It isn’t something I carry on my person all the time. It just sits in the bug out bag, waiting for the day it might be needed.

However, in many states a pry bar could be viewed as a burglary tool.

I am fairly confident though that being the pry bar is in the same bag as things like emergency blankets, water purification tabs, and other items that are obviously emergency gear the pry bar won’t immediately lead to arrest if I were to be stopped and searched for some reason.

I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, of course it could. But given the prevalence of prepping and survival kits in the mainstream media and such, I think I could make a pretty good argument against the presence of a mere pry bar being indicative of criminal intent.

Of course, it might not be the worst idea in the world to put the pry bar in a tool box with wrenches, screwdrivers, and such rather than in the bug out bag. Give some thought to doing that instead.

Related to this is the suggestion some make to have a set of lock picks in the bug out bag. First, this is truly a dumb idea unless you first learn how to use the tools properly. Picking a lock is as much art as it is science and takes a fair amount of practice. Second, unless you are a licensed locksmith, odds are it might be illegal for you to possess a set of picks, regardless of whether they are in your bug out bag or your toolbox. If you are considering purchasing a set of these tools, I highly suggest you look into the applicable laws for your area, just to be safe.

Common sense would seem to dictate that if you found yourself stranded on the road somewhere and decided to hoof it, strapping your bug out bag on your back, if the lock pick set were found by a member of law enforcement, you’d likely have some explaining to do.

Today, I wanted to highlight one of these bits of knowledge. One item that should be present in all of your survival kits is a sheet of plastic. Tarps are heavy and cumbersome but a sheet of heavy duty plastic, say 3 feet square, won’t take up much room nor weigh a ton. Yet, for the small size and weight, having it will prove to be handy in many ways.

For starters, you can lay it on damp ground for a place to sit. If you’ve ever been out in the field and sat down on wet ground, you know well just how cold your butt gets in short order. A 3 foot square won’t be enough to lie down on for the night but it is plenty of space to sit and rest your legs.

Suspending it above you will keep the rain off. Again, not enough to really cover your whole body but if you’re sitting in a shelter, it will prevent you from getting soaked. To tie it off to something, take a small rock and put in a corner of the plastic. Roll the corner over the rock a couple times, then tie your cordage to it. Repeat with the other corners as necessary.

If you don’t have any large containers for water storage, dig a hole and line it with the plastic. It might not be transportable that way but you’ll have a supply of H2O with you in camp.

A solar still could be made if you do have a container to use for the water.

Roll up your wet clothing and wrap it in the plastic to keep the rest of your gear dry until you reach camp.

So many uses for this inexpensive piece of kit!

I don’t want to give it all away but I did want to share one tip I’ve gleaned that y’all might find useful.

It should go without saying that being able to stay in communication with separated family members or people in your survival group is very important.

Having some sort of formal plan to cover this will be very beneficial. Given that no one may know ahead of time exactly what the crisis might be or what limitations there may be on the ability to communicate freely, here is one way to plan ahead.

In your survival plans, have it set up such that after a member of your team or family has made initial contact, they will attempt further contact during a designated time window, say the first ten minutes of each hour. It should be understood that those at home should not attempt to contact the individual but that he or she will make contact, if able, during that time frame. This allows the individual the freedom to turn off their cell phone or whatever in case they find it necessary to go “radio silent” as they make their way home. Those at home should concentrate on monitoring for received communications during that time window and spend the rest of the time implementing any other survival plans that may be necessary.

Not only does the Waka Waka Power have very bright LED lights, it can charge your cell phone, all just using the power of the sun. Let the built in solar panel rest in a window or outside for a day (8 hours or so) and it will store that power for about four months. At a full charge, it will take an average smartphone battery from darn near dead to almost full strength in just a few hours. There will even be enough power left over to operate the LED lights for about several hours, all off ONE 8 HOUR CHARGE!

Few people take the time to charge their cell phone batteries on a daily basis. Instead, they let them sit in their pockets until they hear a low battery alert, then scramble to find an outlet. With the Waka Waka Power, that outlet goes where you go. Not too much larger than a deck of cards, it is very convenient and portable.

It will also give you some extra power for your tablets, a couple of hours worth at least. Plenty of time to send out some emails letting folks you are ok or that you need assistance.

If you’re just looking for some extra light, the Waka Waka Power handles that too, giving you about 40 hours of good light on a single solar charge.

Not only is this device great for emergencies, you can take it hiking or camping with you so you always have a way to charge your cell and light the tent.

Hands down, this is one of the best pieces of survival and emergency gear I’ve seen in some time.

While keeping in mind that every ounce of weight adds up when the pack is on your back, there are several options available for little things that can help keep boredom at bay.

Decks of cards are often among the first choices to carry. They are small, lightweight, and there are thousands of games you can play, including roughly a bazillion versions of solitaire. You could even go a step further and find one of those specially made decks that have wild edibles or other survival information printed on the cards.

Dice are another popular option. While there’s always bar dice, you could also add in a few sheets of Yahtzee playing forms and a golf pencil.

If you come across an old Tiddly Winks board game at a rummage sale or thrift store, the chips are great for playing checkers or even chess. Use a marker to make an X on one side of half of them for checkers. For chess, mark the chips with the various chess pieces. You could just scratch the board layout in the dirt or, if you end up someplace out of the breeze, use playing cards to make the grid.

For the readers out there, toss in an unread novel. A survival manual would be a great idea too.

On occasion I have readers contact me, inquiring about survival type projects that would be fun and suitable for kids to do. While most of us are probably familiar with making fire starters from cardboard egg cartons, wax, and dryer lint, here is a variation of that sort of thing that might be of interest.

Each of these little bricks will burn for several minutes, plenty of time to get the kindling going in your campfire.

For this project, you’ll need the following:

–Paraffin wax (old candles or crayons work fine)
–Sawdust
–Cotton balls
–A mold (Altoids tin would work)

First, melt the wax. The way I do this is to take a small saucepan and fill it about 1/3 with water. Bring it just to a boil and simmer. Fill a tin can (washed out, of course) about 2/3 with broken candles or crayons and place it into the saucepan. Use a small twig or something to stir the wax around as it melts, breaking up chunks as they soften.

Once the wax is completely melted, take several cotton balls and fray them out a bit, then drop them into the wax. Stir it up so the cotton is mixed into the wax, then add sawdust until the mixture thickens to almost but not quite a putty.

Carefully pour the mixture into your mold. Depending on what you’re using for the mold, you might find it to be a good idea to line it with wax paper first.

Once the mixture has cooled and hardened, remove it from the mold. Use a sharp knife to cut it into smaller pieces, say about an inch wide.

When we visit my in-laws, we invariably go on a hike through the woods adjacent to their home. My father in law usually has a selection of handmade walking sticks for us to choose from. He loves to find just the right size and shape branch and whittle it into a cool looking walking stick.

Walking sticks aren’t just for hiking either.

They are one of the very few “weapons” you can get away with almost anywhere. There are several places in our modern society that it is almost impossible to remain armed, such as courthouses and airports. Now granted, those places are typically swarming with guards and security so, in theory at least, you should be safe. However, have you ever really looked around at the areas typically surrounding those places? My day job takes me to several different county courthouses and many of them are in rather questionable areas. Not all, mind you, but an awful lot of them. Airports too generally don’t have the greatest neighborhoods around them. So, even though within the building you may feel marginally safe, just getting to the entrance might be dicey.

A decent looking cane, provided it isn’t concealing a sword or something (and yes, they may very well send it through the X-ray machine to be sure), will usually be allowed by any security guard. While it isn’t as effective as a firearm, of course, it does provide you with a level of protection.