If your anything like me, after a while your preparedness supplies become an unorganized mess. While some people are better than others with organization, it’s inevitable that things get moved, used or expire.

Over time our priorities also change. This could be because of the changing current events, or it could be because we have learned (or not learned) new skills. Because of this, it’s important to reassess our situation and do a preparedness checkup.

SPP233 Doing a Preparedness Checkup

We tried to make this a helpful show for people just getting interested in preparedness, as well as people who have been at it for a while. Regardless what level you’re at, it’s always a good idea to take a long hard look at your situation, and see where you stand.

If you are just starting out, it could be that you don’t realize how prepared you actually are. As you do an assessment you get a better idea about your preparedness, and uncover the areas you should focus on first.

If you’ve been prepping for a while, it never hurts to reassess your situation. Our situation changes over time, and it’s important to know how prepared we are, not just think we are prepared.

Topics From the Show…

In the show I talked about inventory and rotation, and the worksheets I use for this. This video will explain how to use them, and here are the links to the downloads.

* The Food Worksheet

* First Aid/Hygiene Worksheet

* Misc. Supplies Worksheet

Each one of these worksheets have ideas included, but if you want to start with a clean slate, just delete everything and start your own personalized list.

Challenges That Come Up…

Too Much Clutter: Over time we buy stuff we need, stuff we want, and stuff that we thought we needed. Over time things get moved around, and pretty soon we don’t know where anything is.

Inventory and Rotation: If we aren’t paying attention to our supplies, things can get out of hand quickly. This is why doing inventory and rotation are so important.

Complacency: At one point or another everyone of us have fallen into the complacency trap. This could be because we do really good with preparedness and let off the pedal, or finances could get in the way.

Unfinished Plans: If you are anything like me, you get really excited about something, and then somewhere along the line it fizzles out. If this is the case, it could be time to tie up some loose ends.

Overwhelm: This is a huge problem for people just getting interested in preparedness, but it’s also a challenge for people who have been at this for a while. When we focus on too many areas of preparedness we become a jack of all trades, master of none.

Reassessment and Initial Assessment

Whether you are just getting into preparedness, or have been at it a while, doing a personal assessment is basically the same. As a matter of fact, it may be a little easier at first because you don’t have as much. Here are a few ideas about assessing your preparedness plans that we talked about in the show

List Your Priorities: Over time our priorities will change. This could be because of current events, or changes n the family structure. As we learn new skills and our preparedness level changes, our priorities may change as well.

List Your Strength and Weaknesses: This is especially important as you are starting out,