going room to room - organizing a house full of pack rats

That's it. It's official.  I live in a house full of pack rats.
I knew going in that my 10yr old son was the biggest pack rat in the house, however, I mistakenly thought he was the ONLY pack rat.  Oh contrare.

A lot of "prepper" sites, books, whatnot will offer you list after list of what you need to get along.  My advice is - Kathy Harrison's advice. Go room to room, figure out what you have and what you need.  Just In Case (How To Be Self-Sufficient When The Unexpected Happens) (good book - on my shelf) Harrison offers a few "kit" lists in her book.  I've reviewed them for my personal needs and have cut items and added items along the way. She, like others, stresses the need to store not only goods, but knowledge.  Stashing away thousands of dollars worth of items in your basement is great - but if you don't have the basic knowledge of building a fire, patching a pair of jeans or baking a loaf of bread, all the money in the world won't do you a dang bit of good.

This is the process I set forth and it is working very well for me. I created a list - month by month of the room I would inventory, the supply list I would create, the items I would start looking to purchase, and the skill I would dedicate the month too.  It sounds more involved than it really is.

For example, for the month of February:
-Inside - Revisit my laundry room, small pantry.  Do these rooms have upkeep needs? (painting, repairs, supplies?)  What is my inventory downstairs for these two rooms? What level of inventory am I at in these areas?  1 month, 3 months, 12 months? Use budgeted $100* to purchase supplies toward one year supply needs.
-Reading: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
-Skill: brush up sewing skills, tackle mending pile, see if scrap tote has enough to start a braided rug yet. Sew 5 new pairs of boxers for each of the three males in household. (these are easy and can be knocked out faster than you think!)
-Outside: confirm gardening plan for year. place seed/plant order.

Sounds like a lot doesn't it?  It's really not.  I have a big notebook that I keep my storage inventory in.  I have a master supply list, but I've also broken it down by area of the house.  It's a bit of work to get started, but it's incredibly handy.  I can walk into any room in my house and within a matter of minutes know exactly where I'm at with supplies and what I need to keep my eyes out for. I also have a section for skills we (the entire household is included on this) what to learn, and even master. Obviously the skills need to be age appropriate. But don't be afraid to let the kids challenge themselves from time to time.  There are numerous skills that overlap.  I've spent a month with each member of the house teaching them the basics of sewing up to each of them being able to follow an easy pattern to create something that they would use. To be honest, my kids are much more trainable than my husband, but I feel better knowing that I've taught him how to patch his own jeans and he's taught me how to change my oil.

If there are skills that you'd like to learn but not sure where to start. Check out your local county extension office, or community college.  You'd be surprised how many low-cost classes are out there on a wide range of topics from sewing to canning to basic carpentry. You just have to be willing to look for them.  If there is something you can't find a local class for, or if the cost is just too much, your local library has an amazing potential to make anyone that walks through it's doors an instant millionaire. (think of just the simple dollar value of all the books in your local library - now, how many of them could teach you something useful - saving you a TON of time and money)

*oh, budgeting.  It's a biggie.  Here's what I came up with.  I'm the bookkeeper in my household anyway.  So I went back 12 months and totaled our "dining out" monthly average. I then added Prep on my budget.  I took the total and gave 25% back to dining out, and the other 75% to Prep.  I spend $100 each month on my focus area(s) (if needed, any left over is added to the food storage total), I set aside $75 each month for my more expensive long term supply desires (well hand pump, new cook stove with hot water reservoir, etc.) and the rest is spent on food storage. Understand, all my trips to the grocery store are taken first to the pantry, the cupboards upstairs are restocked 1-2x per month, as needed. So I am slowly but surely building up toward my one year goal.
Another big goal with budgeting is debt reduction.  I will NOT build my storage by incurring one more dime in debt.  My husband and I want to be completely free of everything except the mortgage, living expenses and one car payment by the end of 2010 - WHILE building our storage. It was daunting at first, but when I sat down and conscientiously looked at how we spent money every month - I was appalled. Here I thought I was thrifty - wrong!