Be Prepared - Organise Day #1

 Yesterday's first tasks included organising a space to store a stockpile / emergency gear and to declutter to make space for such a space.

As I mentioned yesterday, we have had a stockpile for at least the last 5 years. But prior to that I had always worked on 1-up philosophy. We always had 1 extra of whatever we used, i.e. pasta sauce, mayo etc. I just did this as a matter of course as it was what my mum's family had been raised to do by my grandma. But we initially started our stockpile as a frugal measure. We had just bought our first house and were keen to pay our mortgage down as quickly as we could. So if I saw something we ate on sale, then I would stock up on it.

Then I had an allergy child. Not only was I a SAHM but what he ate was/is so limited, that I needed to have it on hand if we ran out. I cant always just run out to the shop and hope it is on the shelf. Plus he was so sick in the early days, I would have been lucky to even get out. So my stockpile grew.

But back to organising a space for your stockpile / emergency gear. We have always kept it in 2 shelves in the linen cupboard plus 1-up on a single kitchen shelf. Granny B had already taken this idea on board and it has been replicated at her house for the last few years. So yesterday I had no need to declutter, instead I just reorganised the pantry and noted what we were low on.

Which resulted in an afternoon of jam making :-)...I made 6 jars of pear jam after seeing some ripe pears at a local farm stall. As this is something I cant buy and the only jam Little B can eat, it doesnt hurt to have a few in the cupboard.

Floods :-(

As so many, I have been really affected by all the stories coming out of Queensland about the floods. But this hit even closer to home on Friday as the floods hit north west Victoria. My dad lost his house to the flood early Friday morning. His house was completely flooded and unfortunately it is mud brick - the house started to melt almost immediately and now has massive cracks through the walls, ceilings, not to mention mud throughout. He has been very brave through it all and says "if it can be fixed by money, then it's not a problem", but I know he is heartbroken as most of his belongings have been ruined as well and the flood has not peaked in the area yet. He just missed out being flooded in the September floods.

The most amazing thing though has been the community spirit. Neighbours turned up to try and help move things to higher ground (which was impossible in the middle of the night, knee deep in water). They have again been trying to help salvage anything.

So in the community spirit, I've decided to join in Gavin (from Greening of Gavin) & Bec's (from Eat at Dixibelle's) "Be Prepared" challenge.

They are running the challenge over 4 weeks and using the OARS principle - Organise, Acquire, Restock & Rotate & Spread the Word.

As Bec says:

"Together we are hoping to help other people, and ourselves, to increase our preparedness for short term emergency situations".

Here at the House of B we like to be prepared anyway as we live in a bushfire prone area, and our trusty stockpile held us in great stead when Mr B was between jobs a while back. Plus it never hurts to be prepare just in daily life. But I love the idea of this challenge and cant wait to see what their tasks involve :-)