The woodpile I have is a result of finding a use for the scrap lumber that was in my garage and it'd be way to reduce heating costs.
The garden plots are worked up, covered by a mulch now and I have a compost pile. The main purpose of having a garden and learning how to preserve foods is to reduce food costs.
When I was married, my then wife and I were into couponing and we'd buy in bulk what was on sale and for what we had coupons for. We had shelves in the basement well stocked with canned goods, cereal, fruit juices, ketchup, mayo, mustard, coffee, bags of flour and sugar, laundry detergent, soap, cleaning products, dog food, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels and such. Combining the coupons with store sales, we had much more but spent much less. I'd like to get back into couponing again. A by product of this is a well stocked pantry with enough provisions that would last me for some time in case of an emergency. But the main goal of buying only what is on sale and what I have coupons for, as with the garden, is to save money and not be prepared for a disaster.
There's a small gas grill in the garage, left by others who lived here, which I decided to keep instead of tossing. It uses hand torch cylinders for fuel. I figured I might grill every so often in the future and I do have a full torch cylinder. There's my emergency stove if need be. Maybe tomorrow I'll clean it up and put my bottle of gas on it, light it and make sure it works properly.
The idea about the aspirin is a good one and I do have a bottle of such in my medicine cabinet in the bathroom.
It's entirely possible that by this time next year or earlier, I could last for months without gas, electricity, running water and without having to acquire extra food. Not because I wish to be a cammie clothed survivalist with guns ( I do have two bolt actions rifles) but because my efforts at living frugally just made it possible.
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