For the past two years I've been a hoarder

[catmandu57]

Everytime we went to the store I've been buying a little extra dry goods, paper products, personal hygene, just in case.
Just in case the moran* got froggy and decided to jump another country, just in case my funding was cut off, just in case.
I think now, I can relax a little bit, the good thing is now I don't have to buy nearly any of that stuff for a long while anyway.
Anybody else been a packrat?

[EFerrari]

1. After watching Katrina, I laid in stuff for two weeks.

There really is no doubt about it, we're on our own.

[catmandu57]

10. Katrina alone should be a lesson

Yes, we are indeed on our own. here the worst thing we have to worry about is Tornados, there may be power outages from ice storms and such, but, there is enough stored away to outlast any ice storm/blizzard.

[JuniperLea]

2. Our California Earthquake Emergency Kit...

Was most certainly expanded! It now includes much brown liquor in addition to many extra cans of soup! Oh, and lots of canned tuna and dry milk!

[Howardx]

4. where is that liquor?

must be in the garage;)

[JuniperLea]

6. Haha!

You said you put some in there... along with dog food for Jack! Are you saying you drank it already? Sheesh!!

[Warpy]

11. Funnny you should mention that

After the 4 hurricanes of 2004, my pop decided to keep a gallon of bourbon ahead in case of a new disaster.

He said he didn't mind being without power for a total of 22 days as he did mind having the local grog shop shut down for almost that long.

[JuniperLea]

25. The Brown Wonder Tonic

All the war movies and westerns I ever watched held the brown elixir in the most high regard... it was used liberally in all disastrous situations. Now that's a tradition I can live with!

:toast:

It may not cure your ills, but it will make them a little less horrid!

[walldude]

3. Yup... Thank god for Costco

We buy in bulk and we have a pantry packed with dry and canned goods for emergencies. I have about 30 gallons of bottled water, batteries, candles, portable radio, and I also just found this cool little device that allows you to charge your cell phone with a few AA batteries. I did this after the start of the Iraq war, but it's as much for a natural disaster as it is for any kind of attack or police state. When I was single I would have never done this but having kids makes you think ahead.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. The device for the extra charge is good.

The thing is, during most emergencies all circuits will be busy anyway.

[Catherine Vincent]

5. I did during the Y2K thingy.

And continued thereafter. But I stopped since the beginning of summer because I have an additional adult and two kids living with me temporarily. Because of that, I have no extra room to hoard my goodies so I will start back up once they move out.

[MazeRat7]

7. Yes, but in a slightly different manner...

Rather than bringing more "stuff" home, I've been moving my assets overseas and keeping a much higher cash reserve here at home.

MZr7

[Warpy]

9. Only hoard the drugs I'll have to taper off

if all hell breaks loose and I can't get any more of them. There are two that have to be tapered off slowly and which can be fatal if stopped suddenly.

There are a few things I didn't discard because I was so poor I felt even junk would come in handy, and some of it did. I'm not poor any more, so it's being divided among ARC, Aunt Sally, and the trash.

[leveymg]

12. You can never have enough personal hygiene

:+

[EST]

13. We have put away enough canned goods to last about six

months, if managed wisely.

[Broken_Hero]

14. Its a smart thing to do,

to be prepared is good and smart thing to do. You never know when something is going to happen, be it weather, or other action.

[demgurl]

15. Since I power coupon I live that way anyway.

We get so much free/cheap food that we converted one of our regular rooms into an extra pantry. Hubby confined me to that one room as well as the kitchen. We had so much food last year that I added in extra shelving so that the room now looks like a mini mart of sorts.

The items also include Parmalat which is a real milk that lasts months and months. It only really starts to go bad at the expiration date or 7 or so days after it is opened. It does not need refrigeration until opened so I have a very big stockpile of that. We have enough food to last a couple of years. We have enough health and beauty (including razors, feminine protection, toothbrushes, toothpaste, aspirin and cold/allergy meds) to last about a year to a year and a half.

I think we are pretty well stocked up and could withstand a disaster if one hits. But our stocking up is shared with others and not hoarded for ourselves only. Last week I bought over a 100 toothbrushes from Overstock.com. They delivered them to our door for less than $7. (again, I coupon!) These will be donated to a shelter for the Christmas season.

The person who trained me, in couponing, taught me to always stock up if something is cheap or free and it will not go bad in the near future. (or at all) This week, with coupons, I am getting (4) 12 packs of Pepsi products for $4 and Target is giving me a $5 gift card the first time I buy them. All of the following times I make my purchase, the Target gift card will pay for each purchase. In other words, I am making money by getting these 12 packs of Pepsi. You can't beat that.

[earth mom]

17. What coupon site do you recommend? Do you mind sharing your info?

I have been meaning to stock up-especially since Katrina.

The biggest problem that's kept me from doing so is spare cash, so coupons are really a must. Storage is also an issue in this small house with few closets. However, if Hubby builds me a long shelf for the laundry room and I clean out the linen closet and put that stuff elsewhere, we could probably get a 2 or 3 months supply in.

TIA! :hi:

[demgurl]

22. I do not mind sharing at all.

I have my own coupon site with TONS of tips if you go to my profile. I took great care to provide everything in minute detail so do not be overwhelmed when you first look at it. I will also shoot you off a PM in a little bit. (cover a couple of things not covered on my site)

I learned how to coupon from www.mycoupons.com. There was a wonderful member called Sammy and she taught me how to power coupon. The site has gotten a lot snippier and if I may go out on a limb - people seem a lot more greedy like the site was invaded by freepers. There are some people there who boast about cleaning out the shelves and not leaving a thing for other people. Do I coupon and stock up? Yes, but I never clear an entire shelf and I do not boast about clearing shelves when other people on the same board may go there and find the shelves empty so that they can not get in on the deal.

I have my own coupon group as well but it is only for people from my state and I made sure they were spread out so that no one has to worry about others in the group grabbing their deal up.

Sadly because of a lot of greed a great many people left My Coupons. I left them a long time ago as did Sammy and a few other professional couponers. I mainly stay within my own group so I am not sure what is a great web site any more. When you get to my level you only have to coupon and power shop once in a blue moon. You do not have to stay on top of every deal.

Read my site and PM me if you have questions. I would be more than happy to help you in any way.

[conscious evolution]

27. FYI

Pqarmalot is good to take to demonstrations.It will nuetralize pepper spray in the eyes.What is good about Parmalot is the non refridgeration aspect of it.You dont have to worry about it going bad if it is hot or if you are there for several days.

[demgurl]

28. I had no idea about the pepper spray aspect.

Thank you very much for alerting me to that fact. DU truly rocks.

[conscious evolution]

30. A lesson learned the hard way

:evilfrown:

[seabeyond]

16. i have been with the things i don't buy... but have found i hand out

cash much more often, when i see someone come up short ect.... i figured it is probably balancing out with amount i dont spend. i a good with that

[AngryAmish]

18. Neat trick I learned on the Military Channel

Nuclear submarines go a long time without restocking so they have to pack away as much food as possible. So they stack canned goods on the floor in boxes and walk on top of them.

In my apartment I have about three feet of canned goods stacked. I can almost touch the ceiling and I'm ready for any attack.

[slackmaster]

19. I live in Earthquake Country and have been prepared for many years

Keeping a supply of drinking water, food, medication, and anything else you might need is a no-brainer in California.

[Lex]

20. We had a Hurricane here 10 years ago that wiped out electricity

for several days, then about 4 years ago we had a big ice storm that did the same thing.

Since those 2 things happened, I have in the basement

lots and lots of bottled water
flashlights and an enormous amount of batteries of all sizes
an emergency radio/tv (uses batteries)
dry goods
canned goods
matches, lots and lots of candles
campstove coffeepot & other campfire cooking equipment

[Howardx]

21. remember condiments

hot sauce, ketchup salt pepper etc, eating out of cans will probably get pretty old without something to liven it up

[Mugu]

23. Be sure to pack plenty of soap, chlorine bleach, and paper products.

They don't cost much and can be very important. You should probably be careful of who you tell about your preparations if you don't wish to provide for them if the bottom falls out. You could end up in the unpleasant situation of deciding rather to feed them or fight them when they come to you for provisions.


Regards,

Mugu

[Robbien]

24. I wouldn't stop the hoarding if I were you

In fact, laying in supplies should be SOP these days.

[Mugu]

26. The way you store your provisions can make all the difference on shelf life.

For dry goods I like the old one-gallon glass jars with metal lids. The jars work better than plastic for airtight storage, but the jars are getting difficult to obtain. Old military ammo cans are very good if the rubber gasket is in good shape.

If things were to get really ugly, ammunition will be better than money for commerce. A few boxes of .22RF and 12 ga. shells, even if you don't own any weapons could be used for barter.


Regards,

Mugu

[RebelOne]

29. I started hoarding just before 2000 when we had

the Y2K scare. It took me a long time to eat all those cans of tuna I bought.