Listen To This Article:
In this article, I touch on a few Spring Prepper Steps that are easy to forget, just as a reminder of sorts.
Twice a year, we have to transition from a hot season to a cold and then back to hot. As we transition into spring, preppers have their hands full. In this article, I’ll attempt to cover a few spring prepper steps needed to stay prepared and on track.
Tomorrow is the first day of May, and even though we expect a little snow this week where I live in Michigan, spring has sprung. Some areas have already started running their air conditioners.
It’s time to do a little spring cleaning for our preps. I bet you think I will discuss getting your garden going, building your compost, or organizing your pantry, right? Nope. That’s important stuff, but you don’t need to be reminded of major preps like that. Today, we’ll focus on a few ‘easy to forget‘ spring prepper steps.
Update Your Go Bags
This is a great time to empty your get-home and bugout bags and replace the cold-weather gear with something more seasonal. Their purpose has changed from keeping us warm in the winter to keeping us safe and dry in the warmer months. Those changes will depend on your personal location and situation.
I love this part – updating our packs. Replacing the survival rations with new food, trying out a little as I go. 😉 I’m not crazy about washing all the coats, thermal ware, and blankets, but it’s all part of the process. Thermal clothing is cleaned, dried, and packed for late fall. It’s replaced with moisture-wicking clothing and lightweight summer gear.
Batteries – Replace the batteries in your flashlights, headlamps, and radios. Any rechargeables should be, well, recharged. I drop the old batteries into daily devices if they’re still good. If they’re dead, here’s how to dispose of your batteries.
Before I get too far, if you didn’t replace your carbon monoxide and smoke detector batteries when the time changed, now is the time to do that.
Update your medications. I did this just last week and discovered one of my pack’s meds hadn’t been updated since 2019. 😬Want to know something? I dropped those old pills into my current bottles. They may be less potent, but I’m not worried about the safety of my particular pills. If you need to dispose of your meds, here’s how you do it. Please don’t flush them (Unless on the flush list) or send them to the landfill.
NOTE: I already know I will get questions on where to find personal medication pouches like the one above. Unfortunately, I cannot find that exact pouch. It was part of a kit I bought at some point. There are many other options, however. In other packs I’m using these medicatian pouches(Aff link), but I just found these heavier-duty pouches(Aff link) and ordered some myself. They seem more durable with thicker BPA-free clear plastic and easier to open with the ziplock slider feature.
Your Car Kits
Updating your car emergency kits with summer gear. Time to store that foldable shovel and bag of salt. Look at all the extra room for groceries.
Just as the go bags, this is the time to update batteries, replace water and food, and clean and store winter gear.
Of course, none of your efforts will matter if you’re not following basic maintenance and running on bad rubber. Don’t ignore the basics.
Add Something New This Spring
I know you need another project, like another hole in your head. We’re all in the same boat. It doesn’t have to be extreme, but I like to add something to my preparedness level each spring. Whether it’s another layer of preparedness or starting something new, spring is a great time to start.
Here’s my list to give you some ideas:
- Solar setup – I have a few cheap solar panels from Harbor Freight. They won’t run much, but I bought them to run my device charging station when the power goes out. I have another layer (option) by plugging the charging station into my generator with just one cord.
- Watering system – I plan to add an automated watering system to my beds every year. Then I don’t. Truthfully, I enjoy going out and watering by hose, but now is the time to start a project like that.
- Security – I added outside lighting around our home and yard last year. We have sensor lights, spotlights, string lighting, and even a street light I purchased through our power company’s lighting program. This year, my spring prepper steps include updating our door and window locks and changing our outdoor security cameras. Next year I plan to add privacy fencing if funds allow.
- Online safety & security – I just spent a day and a half setting up a new computer. Wow, I forgot how big a job that is. Online privacy and security were priorities, and I still have work ahead. Moving away from cloud storage and backups to an encrypted, password-protected physical method took hours of research.
⭐️ Changing settings, browsers, search apps, email, and password systems can save us a lot of trouble. The phones and apps we allow access to our private lives are critical. Tracking isn’t solely for advertising anymore. It’s a serious invasion and often an actual threat. I’m not an expert, but I know it’s a project worth considering. Finding a doable balance between convenience and security that makes sense for YOUR needs can go a long way.
More Spring Prepper Steps To Consider
Just to offer some ideas, here are a few options from the top of my head. I’m resisting the urge to go on all day with this article, so I’ll limit these to just a few ideas. If you have more to add, please leave it/them in the comments below.
- Family communications – Whether H.A.M. radio, GPRS, or something entirely different, having an alternative to cell phones or yelling into a megaphone might be a good idea. Don’t forget to establish a family SOP so everyone’s on the same page. Yes, I’m a geek.
- Portable toilet and sanitation 🚽 – How ya gonna go potty if the water and sewage stop? There are options as easy as a 5-gallon bucket with plastic bags and a pool noodle or as elaborate as a portapotty or an outhouse.
💬 As a side note, I did some web design work years ago for Porta John Industries Inc. (Porta John®), and I believe he used to sell used (and clean) portapotties to hunters. I should get in touch and see if that’s really an option. How cool would that be? - Build a trauma kit – Building a trauma kit is one of those preps we hope never to use, but I can’t imagine needing it and not having one close by.
- You’re gonna die – Yep, the one SHTF event that every living thing on Earth will eventually experience. Short of living healthy, being safe, and getting right with our maker, there are a few prepper steps we can take. We can prepare for our departure’s impact on our loved ones. (That sounded like it’s straight off a life insurance brochure, right? It wasn’t, but I have that twisted gift. 😏)
We can ensure we’re adequately insured, build an end-of-life binder, and put a serious death plan into our preps. Does your family know where to pick up where you left off? Does someone know how to access your accounts and what your wishes are? Do you have a will? What about all those preps? - Add another layer to your food storage skills – Prepping and this prepping community has taught me so many skills, and I am grateful for that. Some of those learned skills involve food storage, including home canning, storing store-bought, food rotation, blanching, freeze flashing, freeze drying, dehydrating, bulk food storage using O2 absorbers in airtight containers like jars and mylar, fermentation, etc. Adding another food storage skill this year might be worthy for many preppers.
Spring Prepper Steps From Our Community
I asked our fellow preppers in Todd Sepulveda’s Exclusive Email Group to share some of their spring prepper steps, and, as always, I wasn’t disappointed. I’ll include the responses below when I asked for the spring prepper steps they are working on.
- Growing some of my own food.
- Making my own sustainable ‘fertilizer’.
- Compost isn’t ‘sexy’ but important to food independence.
- Making the garden more handicapped accessible. (⬅I love this!)
- Working on the rabbit hutches and boxes.
- Pasteurizing of straw for mycelium (mushrooms) production.
- Serious cleaning and reworking of the prep racks in the house.
- Spring cleaning and spring organization.
- Hatching spring chicks out to add to the flock for the coming year.
- Water-glassing eggs for the coming winter.
One More Thing – Live Life And Don’t Become Obsessed
I think the challenge is wisely assessing your situation, what risks are legitimately more likely to occur and then wisely think about how you will go about “building” your layers. I think it is important that in building your layers we need to be wary of “keeping up with the Jones” or trying to mimic the layers of someone who is impressive but whose circumstances are also different than our own in critical ways.
Quote from one of the smartest Preppers I know
This came from a prepper buddy, and it’s solid advice. We have lives to live, and going in too strong can get in the way of that if we’re not careful. That advice inspired a future article I will write on prioritizing risk and our solutions.
Call To Action
I invite you to my list. It’s free, and I don’t overwhelm you with daily emails. It’s not a newsletter. It’s a way to get these articles sent directly to your email or when I have something important to say. Check it out.
I hate not having the money to do more buying of long term food. Being a recipient of social insecurity leaves one paying bills and not much else. I do trade and barter for things, goods and services, but it isn’t much, I can tell you that.
We do the best we can and keep going.
I hear you. It’s tough when we’re working within a limited budget. We’re pretty fortunate right now, but we’ve been there. You deserve a lot of credit for doing what you can. Many would put their hand’s up and say forget it. Growing your own food is one method, and it looks like you’re doing that.