September is National Preparedness Month as declared by FEMA. I’ll take it anyway. It’s like a month long celebration to being a prepper. They make a big push to get America more prepared. When the gov does something good even an anarchist like me will admit it. Anyone spreading the message of preparedness is good with me. For those just getting into prepping they have a lot of resource at their Ready.gov site. I have my own way of celebrating it. Sorry I won’t be recreating my previous years month long giveaway. Well I do have a few things so keep your eyes out. No for me National Preparedness Month means taking stock of things.

National Preparedness Month

There are many things we need to take care of yearly. At least. Check expiration dates. Make sure batteries still work. Take stock of your supplies and fill gaps. I prep year round. 24/7. I write about it and think about it daily. I still have things I put off. This month I focus on more intensely. It’s a month to go back to basics. We as seasoned preppers get cocky. We think we know it all. This is where mistakes happen. Does the battery in your bug out flashlight still work? Have you raided your First aid kit and not re stocked it? Check all that.

National Preparedness Month

Rotation

National Preparedness month is a great time to check your dates. This goes for food, batteries and services. Once a year I like to do the painstaking task of logging all my food. I write down in a notebook that it is and how many calories. I then add up the total calories. This gives me a rough idea of how long my food will last. While going through all my stores I check dates. If any are out of date I either donate them or eat them right away. I’m not very worried about the dates to be honest. If you find any dented or damaged cans toss them.

With batteries check the dates and condition. If the batteries look corroded get rid of them. Check them for charge too. If they are dead replace them. If they are low on charge begin to use them to squeeze out the last drops of power. Take note of your stocks too. Make a list of what you need to get. Same applies to battery banks and cars. Last national Preparedness month I replaced my car battery. It was getting old and did’t have a great charge. Going into winter I want to be dead sure my battery is good. The same applies to any other car work including tires. Better to replace them now than when snows on the ground.

Testing

If you can plan a mock bug out during National Preparedness month that would be great. September is a great time to get out. Take those bug out bags out and test them. Get used to your gear. I don’t like gear in a package it needs to be used. If a knife is going to break better it be on a mock bugout. You can also do a mock bug in or power outage. Flip the power breaker off for a period of time. You will either want to keep power going to the fridge and lock it up or run a generator. This will quickly shore up any shortcomings in your plans. It’s also a test for your family on using the preps. I had a roommate and one day while at work the power went off. I tried to explain to her how to hook up the battery back up. She was in the dark and scared. Later I showed her for the future.

Plans

Do you have plans in place? Are they up to date? Has any of your information changed since you made your bug out documents? National Preparedness month is a great time to review all those questions. I’ll be making up an all new document binder soon and will share that with you all. Plans are not as flashy as some preps but are just as important.