Category Archives: Self-Reliance

Articles, commentary, and information on becoming more self reliant.

Stock-up items

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In many ways the shortages we experienced a few months ago are fully in the review mirror. One might be inclined to think we’re out of the woods, so to speak. And yet every time my wife comes home from a grocery run she tells me about one or more items that she can’t find anymore, has to buy a different brand, or has to buy a different way.

For example, today she came home with a #10 can of diced tomatoes. Normally she gets the 16 oz. or 28 oz. cans, but today there wasn’t a single can in sight, except for the #10 can. Not a problem for her–she usually freezes the remains of the 28 oz. cans anyway. But now I have to wonder: is there about to be a total shortage of diced tomatoes? Should she have picked up another can while there still are some to be had?

Well, probably not, because we already have a several-month supply of the usual cans. But there are other things, like the particular brand of peanut butter we love, that wasn’t in stores for at least a month a while back, was back for a few weeks, and now seems to be gone again.

Daisy Luther, over at The Organic Prepper, suggests we should be looking ahead with the idea that more shortages could happen at any time. And with the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases nationally, she may not be wrong. The supply chain was interrupted quite a bit the first time around, when infection rates were considerably lower. Another shut-down of the country could have even bigger impact.

With that in mind, she recommends that we prepare now, by picking up regularly the items most likely to disappear quickly if more shortages comes our way. Every time you go to the store, even if you already have some at home, consider adding more of the following:

You may also want to consider any items specific to your situation, such as baby supplies, pet supplies, or for specific dietary or medical needs. You can also stock up more slowly on other items like paper towels and cleaning supplies (especially disinfectant sprays).

She also recommends saving up some emergency funds, stocking up on supplies for various regular projects (both for work activities and for entertainment), beefing up your home office, and picking up any other items you found yourself wishing you had during the last lockdown. Make sure you have what you need to do most basic repairs around the house.

Wouldn’t it be great if the Coronavirus fades away, the riots end, and the rest of 2020 is free of trouble? Nothing would please me more. But in case it doesn’t, it wouldn’t hurt to not get caught off guard next time.

Life comes at you hard sometimes

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Our neighbors’ eleven-year-old daughter has cancer. I was going to say that I don’t know how they can handle it, but I know better. You do, because you must. You take it one step at a time, any way you can, because that’s what you do.

I recently came across an interview between Jordan B. Peterson and his daughter about his recent recovery from benzodiazepines and how he became dependent in the first place. It’s really a frightening story when you realize this was someone who stood to legitimately benefit from a drug prescribed by his doctor, but it went on a little too long until it was almost too late. It may still be. Life came at him hard, and what was supposed to help just made it exponentially harder.

In both cases there are support systems in place. Our neighbors have family and friends within range to help. They have us–we’ve been cultivating a relationship for years. They know we can and will gladly do anything within our power to make this easier on them. Peterson had a daughter and son-in-law willing to go to incredible lengths to get him help, who quite literally saved his life.

No one wants to need help. But that’s the problem with self-sufficiency. Everyone has their breaking point, where you just can’t cope any more, when doing the most basic of tasks seems pointless. It’s important to have friends, to have that network who care enough to step in and take care of whatever can be reasonably delegated so that you can focus on what’s most important, what only you can do.

No one wants to be a burden on others. On the other hand, people love to feel useful, to be needed, especially by those they care about. I was thrilled today when my neighbor approached me about taking care of something for them over the next couple of days while they’re seeing to their daughter. We have a chance to show them we care and how much they mean to us as neighbors.

This is the reason why I’ve always insisted that self-reliance does not mean becoming a hermit. Some of the greatest satisfaction in life comes from being useful in some way to others. I believe everyone has something to give that at the right time would mean the world to someone. It’s not where the rubber meets the road, but where people meet people that magic happens.

Fun with prototyping

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Storing canned goods is pretty much a given in any long-term food storage program. Storing them so you can rotate them easily, however, is something of a trick. I’ve heard of and seen of can storage racks where you feed them in at the top and they roll down a series of ramps to the bottom so you they’re automatically sorted for rotation. I’ve been thinking for years of how to make some for our storage room, but the thought of trying to figure out all the measurements and angles, rout out perfect grooves, and make sure they actually feed through the system properly has left my head hurting.

Ever since I re-started this blog and got serious about self-reliance again I’ve been devoting a fair amount of mental bandwidth to the problem again. Those gravity-feed can stackers are nice, but they don’t use space as efficiently as they might. But then, neither do most storage shelves. There’s always empty, unused space. And anything I build is going to be a bit pricey. Is there a cheaper way? Is there a way to experiment?

Well, I finally solved the last question. It dawned on me this week that pegboard is amazingly reusable, and sturdy enough to prototyping at the very least. I picked up some materials this weekend and got to work designing a test rack.

After getting the dimensions of several different types of cans I set to work building the frame for a single rack from two 2’x4′ pegboards and some 2″x2″ studs. It didn’t take long before I made my first mistakes. Fortunately they were easily remedied and I was able to move on to the next phase.

Cedar fence boards are my go-to disposable wood. When my wife and I became Cub Scout leaders I was able to design a bird house using 6″ fence boards, and I was able to get two bird houses out of a single $2.00 board (prices have gone up since then). For this project, where I needed shelves exactly 4.75″ wide, which is too wide for most boards, and far too thin for others. But a 6″ cedar board can cut down to size with little waste, and are thick enough to put screws into the side of it.

So after trimming some fence board down to the right width, I started experimenting with properly sizing and positioning the shelves within the frame, starting from the bottom. That shelf would need to slope toward the front. The next shelf above that would need to slope toward the back of the unit, with enough a gap at the back to allow cans to fall down onto the back of the lowest self. Getting the slope right is the main issue. Too shallow and cans don’t roll. Too steep and you take up more space than needed (and could potentially propel cans right out the front of the unit).

Here’s where what I like to think of as the genius of my idea came into play. Using pegboard for the sides I didn’t have to drill a bunch of holes, and could easily see where the shelves were within the frame. I could then use the existing peg holes, and put a screw through the hole into the shelf to hold it in place. If, upon testing, the angle was wrong, I could remove the screw, raise the shelf to a better angle, and put the screw into the board through a different peg hole at the right spot. It’s about as flexible a system as I could contrive with standard materials.

I didn’t quite get as far as I wanted this weekend. My test model only has three shelves, so I have to feed from the back of the top shelf until I get the fourth in place. With a little luck I should be able to get two sets of four shelves in a single unit, but that’s still a ways off. I’m not completely thrilled with how the first run is turning out, and I’m finding some issues with my choice of materials (cedar boards warp REALLY easily) that may account for why the cans don’t roll consistently from top to bottom without getting stuck. The consolation there is that my open design makes it easy to reach in and push the cans when needed.

As I continue to work with my test frame I’ll keep you posted. If I’m pleased enough with the outcome to where I think I’m ready to “mass produce” these I’ll perhaps post some blueprints, or at least more detailed photos.

EDIT: Sneaked out and got a few pics of the test frame:

Just how much DO we need?

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So, let’s talk about toilet paper. It was very much in the news not three months ago, and now we hardly hear about it. How many of us have already slipped back into our old habits of not keeping more than enough to get us through to the next shopping trip?

Ever since we got caught with our pants down (seldom has an expression been more appropriate and inappropriate at the same time!) our household has vowed “Never again!” It’s not that we didn’t have enough on hand, mind you. It’s just that, because of everyone else panicking, we were forced to see just how long our supplies would last, and while it lasted close to a month, we were getting pretty darn close when the wheels of commerce ground to the rescue.

So what have we done since? Well, to start with we had to, like most of America, do be patient. Initially we could get more, but in limited quantites, and not in our usual brand. We were a bit dismayed to find that what we could get, while certainly cushier, was so thick that there was only about a day’s worth on a single roll, perhaps a little more. Just holding the line was a bit dicey.

But now that things are getting back to normal, our usual brand is available again and life is good. We also have about three different brands in our growing TP reserves, which we are building up slowly, so as not to appear panicked. And, sadly, some of that reserve still includes some of the one-day rolls. And with a variety of rolls still in circulation, it’s been difficult to measure just how much we’re using.

Solution? White board marker on the bathroom mirror! Every time we change a roll we record the date on the mirror. After a couple weeks we have enough data to start making estimates. It appears that we average a new roll every four days, +/- a day. Divide that into 365 days, and we need about 91 rolls of our usual brand to stock that bathroom for a year. We still need more data on the other bathrooms in our house, but I suspect that even combined they won’t use more than our main bathroom.

So all told, we probably would need 180 rolls to last us a year. Hopefully we would never need that much, but it’s not like TP is perishable. It’s easy to rotate (’cause it goes round and round on the holder, get it?!), so having too much isn’t really a problem, so long as we take our time building up that much. More likely we would start with half a year and see how that goes. But provided we have the storage space (we do) and are willing to keep track, we should be able to rest easy next time the cr– …. uh, the next time people start going crazy.

Check your smoke detectors

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Our upstairs smoke detector has gone off a couple times in the past week or so, most recently on Father’s Day morning, around 5 am. (Grrrr….) Both times there was no apparent issue, and it soon stopped. The second time I pulled it off the way and dumped a stack of quilts on top of it. That should shut it up. The darn thing was probably just getting low on batteries.

This morning I decided to take another look at it and found some instructions on the back of the unit. The signal it was giving off was supposedly the smoke alarm; the low battery signal should be different. And I bought these smoke detectors because they would last at least 10 years. It’s been nowhere near that yet.

Then I read that you should remove all dust from the unit every so often, with canned air, or whatever. I blew it out, and there had been dust in there all right. I don’t know if that was what was causing it to go off yet–only time will tell there–but it was a good reminder. Even if we have a smoke alarm built to last a decade we should still test–and clean–it regularly. It’s recommended we choose a normally-occurring yearly even to help us remember when to check, like Daylight Saving, or your birthday, or something else fairly regular. However you choose to remember, remember! Though house fires are less common than they used to be, they can still happen. Give yourself and your family as much time to respond as you can.

Asking the right questions

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Nick True at Mapped Out Money often has good budgeting and personal finance advice. This episode looks at the questions we ask ourselves regarding money and suggests maybe we’re asking the wrong things.

I find there’s a lot of value in what he says, especially in comparing yourself to others. My wife and I could drive ourselves crazy if we were to compare our grocery budget to others. We’re vegans, which tends to be more expensive for base ingredients, but we don’t eat out very often, mostly because of the expense. On a strict analysis that doesn’t make sense. If we’re really interested in saving money on food, why shell out for vegan food? Or, if we’re so interested in health, why not go even more expensive and buy everything organic? (That’s not why we’re vegan, but that’s another story for another time.) The answer lies with our values. We do value vegan living, and we also value saving money. This is the balance we’re comfortable with.

At the end of the day, if we don’t live in accordance with our values we’re going to be dissatisfied with whatever other choices we make. Granted, values can–and sometimes should–be changed. If your primary value is to live as large as possible regardless of income, then you’re headed for trouble and either need to to not disregard income so much or decide not to live so large. But on the whole, money needs to serve our needs and not the other way around.

How’s your network?

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As often as not I’ve gained employment through other people rather than by going through the whole job hunt/application process. My brother got me in at my first “real” job. The contacts I made there got me into my second one. Even the job I have now I suspect I got partially because I know someone my boss knows.

At the same time, I have to admit I stink at networking. I don’t do enough to keep my network primed, and when I find myself out of a job I feel terrible suddenly approaching people I haven’t spoken to in years. It’s something I know I should work on, but it’s easily forgotten. I’m trying to do better, as the job I’m in now has a built-in end date.

How’s your network? It doesn’t have to be large to yield results, but everyone should have one.

Check out the video below. I can’t seem to get it to embed, so… Based on a true story about networking:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2016-12-0003-basketball-got-me-a-job?lang=eng

Home safety: Fire extinguishers

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I was browsing some articles yesterday on a prepper site advocating preparation for the rioting we’ve seen lately to spread even further. They posted a list of suggestions for how to be prepared. One of the items surprised me: fire extinguishers.

What surprised me was that, when brainstorming my emergency preparedness list of things to buy a few months ago, I had completely forgotten about fire extinguishers. We had at least three of them located strategically in our last house, but we only have one here–and it’s located somewhere no one will remember to look!

It’s time I bought some more fire extinguishers. Safety.com recommends an extinguisher for every floor of your home, plus any areas more prone to fires, such as the kitchen, furnace area, workshop or garage. Take time to consider where the fires may start and how to place fire extinguishers where they won’t be on the opposite side of the fire from you.

As for what kind to buy, there are five basic types:

  • Class A – Involve combustibles such as wood, trash or paper
  • Class B – Liquid fires that are spread by gas, oil or other flammable liquids
  • Class C – Spread by electricity or electrical equipment
  • Class D – Metals that are flammable including magnesium, titanium or aluminum
  • Class K – Fires that stem from cooking oils and fats

Multipurpose extinguishers are available that can fight A, B, and C type fires. There are also dry chemical extinguishers that fight B and C fires. There are some that are specifically made for electronics that won’t short out equipment with wet materials, like those using carbon dioxide. Most general purpose fire extinguishers on the market are ABC rated.

One consideration, however, is that for certain types of fires the concentrated blast of chemicals may actually cause the flaming material to splash or scatter, spreading the fire further. For oil fires on your stove, for example, it may be better to keep a container of baking soda or salt on hand to dump on the fire, or simply put a lid on the pan ti deprive the fire of oxygen. In most cases that is all extinguishers do: separate the oxygen from the burning fuel, interrupting the burning process.

Once you have fire extinguishers in place it’s good to check them regularly to ensure they still have sufficient pressure. When starting out business in Boise, Idaho, we learned it was a requirement by the Fire Department to keep a fire extinguisher on the premises, and to keep it charged. We would need to get our extinguisher checked and verified every year.

There may not be any such requirement for domestic spaces, but it’s a good idea anyway. Nothing is worse than a fire extinguisher that doesn’t work when you need it most. And if you’ve ever had to use it, either replace it or get it recharged if you bought a type that is rechargeable.

For recommendations on fire extinguishers, see Safety.com’s page on types of fires and extinguishers, as well as their recommendations for the top 10 extinguishers on the market.

If you’ve never used a fire extinguisher before, or have never had training, go read through this site on fire extinguisher training as soon as possible. When a fire breaks out is not the time to go surfing the web for answers.

My wife and I visited our local fire station a few years back with the cub scouts, and they admitted that with all the safety features included in houses these days house fires are not very common. But they do still happen, and the better you’re prepared and the quicker you can respond the less the damage to your home and belongings.

The pursuit of usefulness

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I’m often on the search for the thoughts of others on self-reliance. One time the search engine showed me an article by Darius Foroux. I’ll probably get to that one at a later date, but in the process I ended up reading another of his articles which I also found quite interesting. In it he proposes that the purpose of life is not happiness, but usefulness. This may sound familiar; it was posited by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

Foroux expands on this:

Most things we do in life are just activities and experiences.

You go on holiday.
You go to work.
You go shopping.
You have drinks.
You have dinner.
You buy a car.

Those things should make you happy, right? But they are not useful. You’re not creating anything. You’re just consuming or doing something. And that’s great.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to go on holiday or go shopping sometimes. But to be honest, it’s not what gives meaning to life.

What really makes me happy is when I’m useful. When I create something that others can use. Or even when I create something I can use.

He goes on to explain that it’s what we are doing each day, in large or small ways, to make a difference is what life is all about. Whether it’s taking on a little extra work, unasked, for your boss, writing an article sharing something important you’ve learned, or building a piece of furniture, it’s all useful in some way to someone. It’s nothing big, necessarily, but a life built out of these small things adds up to a what we could consider “a good life.” Or, as Thoroux puts it:

The last thing I want is to be on my deathbed and realize there’s zero evidence that I ever existed.

He’s not advocating changing the world in any big way, necessarily. Just do something a little outside yourself, a little more permanent:

One day I woke up and thought to myself: What am I doing for this world? The answer was nothing.

And that same day I started writing. For you, it can be painting, creating a product, helping the elderly, or anything you feel like doing.

I think his last piece of advice must have been aimed directly at me:

Don’t take it too seriously. Don’t overthink it. Just DO something that’s useful. Anything.

Who is this really for?

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I recently came across an address by Robert D. Hales that shared valuable insights into money and how we perceive it. I thought I’d share some of it here.

All of us are responsible to provide for ourselves and our families in both temporal and spiritual ways. To provide providently, we must practice the principles of provident living: joyfully living within our means, being content with what we have, avoiding excessive debt, and diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies.

…

How then do we avoid and overcome the patterns of debt and addiction to temporal, worldly things? May I share with you two lessons in provident living that can help each of us. These lessons, along with many other important lessons of my life, were taught to me by my wife and eternal companion. These lessons were learned at two different times in our marriage—both on occasions when I wanted to buy her a special gift.

The first lesson was learned when we were newly married and had very little money. I was in the air force, and we had missed Christmas together. I was on assignment overseas. When I got home, I saw a beautiful dress in a store window and suggested to my wife that if she liked it, we would buy it. Mary went into the dressing room of the store. After a moment the salesclerk came out, brushed by me, and returned the dress to its place in the store window. As we left the store, I asked, “What happened?” She replied, “It was a beautiful dress, but we can’t afford it!” Those words went straight to my heart. I have learned that the three most loving words are “I love you,” and the four most caring words for those we love are “We can’t afford it.”

The second lesson was learned several years later when we were more financially secure. Our wedding anniversary was approaching, and I wanted to buy Mary a fancy coat to show my love and appreciation for our many happy years together. When I asked what she thought of the coat I had in mind, she replied with words that again penetrated my heart and mind. “Where would I wear it?” she asked. (At the time she was a ward Relief Society president [ed. leader of the church’s women’s charity auxiliary] helping to minister to needy families.)

Then she taught me an unforgettable lesson. She looked me in the eyes and sweetly asked, “Are you buying this for me or for you?” In other words, she was asking, “Is the purpose of this gift to show your love for me or to show me that you are a good provider or to prove something to the world?” I pondered her question and realized I was thinking less about her and our family and more about me.

After that we had a serious, life-changing discussion about provident living, and both of us agreed that our money would be better spent in paying down our home mortgage and adding to our children’s education fund.

These two lessons are the essence of provident living. When faced with the choice to buy, consume, or engage in worldly things and activities, we all need to learn to say to one another, “We can’t afford it, even though we want it!” or “We can afford it, but we don’t need it—and we really don’t even want it!”

My wife has often been my backstop on financial issues, questioning the criticality of some of my desired purchases. I may not always have appreciated it at the time, but I do appreciate her keeping me grounded. I’m grateful for the partnership we’ve built through the years around managing our money. I do the bulk of the management and bill-paying, and she the bulk of the household shopping. This works well primarily because we share the same goals and we continually communicate.

Of course you don’t need a significant other to establish and maintain financial discipline. One of the key skills is to learn to distinguish between needs and wants, and when considering wants, understanding the root of that want. Developing the ability to police yourself and say, “I may not want this thing for the right reasons” is invaluable.

The bottom line with money is that either we learn to master it, or our money will become our master–or rather, those to whom we end up owing money. The more control we gain over our finances the greater freedom we will enjoy.