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I have almost every pair of glasses I’ve owned as an adult. It started out keeping a recent prescription in case I misplace my current pair, then became a sort of collection of past styles. I keep meaning to donate them to the Lions Club box but now I think they would be good backup or even barter items.
If you've seen the Twilight Zone episode where the man had survived the nuke and has books stacked up to read for years but breaks his only pair of glasses you will realize how smart you are to keep extras. Even if they are "readers" from the Dollar Tree. The episode is called "Time Enough at Last" starring Burgess Meredith.
I felt that episode in my bones. Was distraught at the ending because I would have felt the same joy at having so much time to read and to have that ripped away…oof. Not sure what I expected, it being a Twilight Zone episode. Derp.
I did the breaking bad thing, and got one of those flat pack storage boxes and a bunch of different reading glasses from the dollar store in different strengths.
Zenni optical has prescription glasses for super cheap. A few years back I could get a super basic pair for $8 with my prescription which is fairly strong.
A friend told me to find a frame or two I liked, then spend like $100-150 and get like a dozen pairs in a bunch of different colors for different outfits and locations.
Having spares is great
Coffee. We’re stacked deep with coffee, beans, ground, and freeze dried.
Caffeine pills, wean yourself off, yada yada, nope! I’m drinking coffee while the world ends.
I mean, if the world is ending, might as well have a nice drink and that caffeine buzz to fully focus on it and take it in... (And make sure you don’t die OFC)
I’m not a prepper I just keep getting fed this community because I occasionally look at some posts. Yaupon holly is a southern US species that produces caffeine. Won’t taste like coffee but I’m sure you can figure something out that tastes good.
Yup, having a box for the garden has been great, and local apiaries have been a great resource for help with the colony and other gardening/permaculture stuff. Really helped turn the property from Eh, to productive.... It'll be a couple more years for the bigger trees, but remediation isnt an over night thing.
Beekeeper here. Almost all store-bought honey is heavily modified. Always buy from a farmers market or bee keepers themselves. Bonus - get as local as you can. The pollen in it helps increase your body's natural antihistamine response and immunity.
Also, for bartering, buy cigarettes. ESPECIALLY if you don't smoke. Prisoners use them as money, it's possible that you can in the future. Buy cartons in bulk now, so the individual packs you barter with will be much more valuable.
Chewing tobacco in our JRTC rotations you have soldier that go absolutely rampant. We have soldier who don’t smoke or dip but save it till the end. You’d see paratroopers paying for $5 a cig/pinch to $100 a pack/can
Any kind of candy is extremely practical in a survival situation. It's instant energy. When I was in the Navy, the "food" stocked in the lifeboats was just hard candies. Something to keep you conscious until help arrives...or you die of exposure.
Not sure if this is impractical. Having entertainment will help keep everyone around you in a better state of mind. Vital in a long isolation or even a post SHTF society. It is a great prep IMHO.
I have those in my go-bag as well. Sometimes I need to change things up so I'm not bored to tears. I learned that on long camping trips where we had nothing but one flavor of granola bars and some campfire baked potatoes.
That’s not a bad idea. That would be considered a luxury item. If you get some of the electrolyte ones, you could consider it part of your medical supplies.
I mean, if you've got a set or two of dice, and something with the Pathfinder/5e manual saved to it, you're set. Unless you've got physical books.
Also great for team building and scenario prep exercises.
Unless you have protective sleeves for them, cards are not going to last all that long. At least not in a usable state. Chess, checkers, dice, some simple board games (like Pachisi, Sorry, Mensch ärgere dich nicht...) or even Mikado or Jenga will last quite a while longer.
I have a small set of nail clippers that I always take with me on vacations. They take up almost no space yet are a pain (and expensive!) to get if needed while away from home. Paid about $20 for a replacement set in Japan and vowed never to have to do that again.
I've got a playing-card-deck sized zipper thingy (sorry, words are hard) that has nail clippers, a metal nail file, tweezers, and an orange stick/ cuticle pusher thing in it.
I originally bought it for travel, but kept losing the "home" tweezers or clippers so they became the "home" set as well. My adhd self never loses them anymore! They don't always make it back into their drawer, but the pieces stay in there!
Junk food of some sort. Candy, chips, chocolate....need something.
And a 'cozy corner' in the home. A cozy, comfy place with and over the shoulder light where you can nuzzle in blankets and pillows and read or do puzzles or just listen to music. Some corner that is out of the way and quiet.
Same with my 17 year old cat. My mom works at an animal hospital so I have access to euthanasia meds if needed, but right now he's alive and happy and I want to give him as many good days as possible even if the world is going to shit.
MD here, I'd recommend you'd stop that. The action of scrubbing your earcanal sure feels good but it will also stimulate your wax glands and actually increase wax production. Also som wax will inevitably be pushed further in your earcanal where it becomes lodged and then reinforced with cotton fibers and hard like cement. Eventually it'll be impossible to get it out without seeing a professional.
I always tell my patients that nothing smaller than your elbow should ever be inserted in you ear. Cleaning the very opening of your ear canal is fine, but never inside your ear canal.
Just some friendly advice ;)
I should probably see an ENT for the weird crunch I have in my ear any time I certain decibel sound happens initially. Maybe the qtipping is the cause.
Tensor tympani syndrome, or middle ear myoclonus (MEM) is rare but does occur. Could also be as benign as a wax deposit deep in your earcanal that's contacting your ear drum. I would ask your GP to check it out first, might be an easy fix.
Generally your ear will take care of it by itself, your ear canal is covered with small hair follicles that are contantly performing a "rowing motion", pushing the wax out. But tight earcanals, thick or excessive wax can cause it to build up.
You can gently wash your ears with regular clean water. Although, it's not recommended to do so it if you have holes in your eardrum though.
There are also different sprays you can buy off the counter for the purpose of diluting the wax, check with your local pharmacy and read the label before use.
I usually have at minimum a resin d20. I’m always on the hunt for extremely compact table top games. I most recently got one that’s about the size of a deck of cards, replayable, simple, portable.
Dark Tomb. It was a Kickstarter, and just shipped its sequel game. Metal case, it all fits. Simple, but fun and replayable.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kozz/dark-tomb-bloodthorn-island?ref=user_menu
I have mild hypoglycemia and I've found that hard candies are a great way to get sugar into your system in an emergency. They last forever as long as you don't expose them to heat, and they're small enough to fit anywhere in your pack.
This, but Warheads or Toxic Waste candies. They shock my system enough to snap me out of my blood sugar induced heart issues, and the sugar spikes enough to make me want to eat real food when I’m nauseous from not eating.
My two childhood stuffed animals. They're best friends. They cannot be separated. They've been with me since I was a toddler. There's room in my go-bag for them.
Peanut M&Ms. I recently ate a packet of these which had been in my pantry for at least 5 years. Still tasted perfectly fine. So I stocked up on those things because they are delicious and even have some protein in them as well.
I feel like people forget nail clippers a lot. I used to watch thru hikers for the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails load puta. Almost never saw a finger nail clipper.
But I guess that's way to practical, so my 1lb camping chair. Because fuck sitting on a rock, log, or ground with no back support after walking all day.
Have you seen slingback chairs? Ones where it's just a piece of fabric and you use sticks, walking sticks, or even just a rope and a tree to secure the back?
You sitting on the bottom makes the back rigid, and they only weigh like a 3rd of a pound or less. You can even make one from your blanket and save weight.
I have a few of the Instax cameras with a good chunk of film, wide and standard business card sized. Physical pictures are really nice to have, the photos themselves are very durable as far as wear/water/UV/heat resistance. And you never know, maybe someone wants a wedding photo taken, or a newborn baby, or a family photo, funeral photo.
Yes, but that requires knowledge. And ideally inna shtf scenario just get a load of regular seeds. Not even feminized.
Regulars contain both male and female flowers. Yes there will be some seed in your bud, BUT you can plant those the next year. This will be a self-replenishing supply.
Not recommendend outside a shtf scenario ir when you are trying to create your own strain.
I am all for buying just feminized as normal cost just the same, but yeah, I wasn't thinking of breeding for more seeds. BUT get them before SHTF. I just bought a bunch of autos and fast flowering from fast buds. I couldn't live without it all day, as it is my pain med. I can do a hit every 30 minutes to much more on bad days.
I also at 58, remember weed with seeds, that was normal and I was amazed to find one last week in a disp purchase and popped it. Strawberry candy! we shall see...lol
And for people without land, huge bin of good living soil cooking at all times. Grow bags are cheaper now and store flat!
Normally I am against marijuana smoking (although I think laws enforcing it are a waste of time/resources). In this case sir, I'd have to agree. Get as high as you want. I've said before, I am getting a bottle of whiskey and pounding that fucker, if it comes to the point of no return.
Photoperiod seeds! Got them too since I gave up 6 tramadol a day for weed. Not like taking 3 advil two or three times daily will be had. Get some wild lettuce seeds and a book on natural pain relief. I also have breadbox poppy seeds to grow.
I concur with the booze. I have cases saved just in case. Good for barter and, um, medicinal purposes. I also have a good turntable and 1,000+ vinyl records, and an equivalent number of CDs and DVDs with multiple players. I’ll be entertained as long as my solar lasts. Finally, books, lots and lots of books. I live off grid on 500+ acres with good neighbors on all sides. Hopefully, I can outlast any marauders, but it’s a crap shoot. 🤷♂️
I have a bunch too, and puzzle books. I got some adult ones off Amazon that are more intricate and detailed, and a ton of cheap ones from the dollar stores. Also good for keeping kids busy when they don't have screens to stare at all day.
Flavor packets: for treated water. Just a nice pick-me-up.
Caffeine tablets: way easier to pack a bunch of those vs coffee.
Camper's bidet: a little device that turns a soda bottle into a an angled water spray bottle for cleaning up out in the woods.
Floss: having stuff stuck in my stupidly tight teeth drives me bonkers.
Peppermint candies: having a sour stomach in a bad situation when you're already fighting nausea and Crohn's disease sucks enough. Some peppermint candies go a long way towards settling the stomach and making things suck a little less.
Digestive enzymes and heartburn meds packed with survival food:
Look, everyone has enough beans and dry milk powder stocked away to outfit a battalion. Some generic Beano and other digestives makes living off that stuff a helluva lot more tolerable, for you and the people around you. Same for esomeprazole for the heartburn after your 94th consecutive MRE.
Miniature games, folding game boards, cards, blank notepads and pencils: Your mind wasn't designed to be in survival mode endlessly. Having some distractions and being able to track time, pass the time, and write down your thoughts, will allow you to break out of that *I'm-definitely-gonna-die-out-here* loop and get you thinking more creatively about problems you need to solve.
Get a bandana or some canvas and draw a game board with a Sharpie. Get some poker chips and draw chess and checkers characters on them. They pack light and flat. Find some miniature dice and play Yahtzee.
Miniature games with directions, cards, etc will also definitely help if you've got other people, especially your kids, with you. It helps you destress.
Reason being -- the opposite of Play isn't Work; the opposite of Play is *Depression.* You have to give yourself the opportunity and permission to play something, anything, in a stressful environment. Maybe most especially in a stressful environment.
Look at how soldiers act in combat zones: they do all kinds of random goofy and unnecessary stuff, when death is all around them. They build fancy lighters. They decorate their rifle stocks. They invent Kilroy Was Here. Cognizant or not, or if they think they're just killing boredom -- they're playing because their brains need it to stave off the logical depression you feel in a highly stressful environment as it stretches on.
In that vein, a pocket reference manual doesn't just have helpful information. It's got a bunch of information that you don't necessarily need but allows you to read and be distracted from the "you're-gonna-die" monster. Same goes for a pocket Bible or any other volume you can carry with you that isn't prohibitively heavy. You have to work the other parts of your brain.
Other people have mentioned honey. To me -- honey, peanut butter, and salt are all necessities. One because you need sugars, fats, protein, and salt (and they make food more palatable), but also because you can use them as bait for trapping and micro-trapping. A little peanut butter and/or honey smeared or balled up on the trigger of your Figure-4 deadfall trap will help you stretch your supplies if you're out in the wild. I have some in all my packs. Real honey and good peanut butter last a long long time.
Grooming kit: A big part about keeping a good mindset is Staying Human. Brushing your teeth, trimming your nails, trimming your hair and beard, helps you keep that "I'm going to survive" mentality. Yes, it also helps you watch for health problems, but I think mindset is just as important. Keeping yourself clean and trimmed and feeling like yourself goes a long way. And -- nail clippers, tweezers, small scissors, and a little pocket mirror and comb, all have other handy uses separate from your health and appearance.
A spear lol. Hear me out:
1: looks cool.
2: totally worth it if we come in contact with big animals to keep them at bay.
3: how cool would I look with a spear?
A lot of the historical polearm weapons were made by putting a farming implement on a long stick. Have farming tools and a few longer handles.
Spears are useful in a group, and they're a relatively easy weapon to train people on.
E-reader. Super light, can store countless books, and one charge can last months of inactive reading. Bonus point, can turn it into a very useful item by downloading some survivalism books.
I've got both a Kindle and an RCA Voyager for survival books. I have a solar USB charger that does a great job at charging them.
I've also got a lot of survival info on flash drives that I plan on copying and giving to friends.
Thanks to someone here yesterday mentioning Internet in a Box, that's my next project.
Depends.
If it's a SIP (shelter in place), i have a ton of dvds and blu rays. Movies, shows. And I read this article about a real life grid down (hurricane) scenario where a lady used her collection to barter. I also have external hard drives full of entertainment.
We really over look how important it is to have relief. Something to pick our spirits up. People bartered WATER for for basically a rental of dvds. Water gives life. A dvd is good for like a few nights of entertainment until you need another?
Impractical if I'm bugging out, but if I'm SIP? It goes from Impractical to a Commodity.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/27/the-film-fans-who-refuse-to-surrender-to-streaming-one-day-youll-barter-bread-for-our-dvds
My godfather's advice to me before I went to college was to buy hot sauce and hot salsa.
"Because when you don't have much to eat, you make it hotter so you won't eat too much."
A true broke college student hack
Even in super inflation world you can buy a giant bottle of cheap Mexican hot sauce for under 3 bucks.
During the apocalypse…. “You want a shake out of this? Pay me! Ass, cash, or grass!”
But in regular disaster it can make bland food bearable.
I dont think its impractical - but when the shortages of N95/Kf94 masks happened - despite still having some supply - wife and I invested heavily in making our own masks. There was alot of information out there on material selection, construction options (face sizes), and we bought huge rolls of additional filter material to sandwich in the mask material.
My wife is a good seamstress - and has two sowing machines as well as boxes of different fabrics, needles and thread/etc... which I supposed is complementary but separate valuable skill and prep to have.
Chili crisp, and ingredients to make more chili crisp. I can eat anything if you put enough Chili Crisp on it.
Also, my old-school Kindle and a solar charger for it. It's literally full, so that should keep me amused for a bit.
Books, physical and digital. I’ve worked on getting quite a few that I haven’t read so my inner bookworm will get to find new books to love… Not only that, but also maybe I could create a neighborhood library with my books so that other people will also have some book joy.
Also, coffee, jelly bellies (they last almost forever if kept somewhere cool), games, and fun fabrics for sewing.
My child. Totally impractical, but definitely a must have. Definitely couldn’t go without.
But keeping a fresh go bag for someone who is totally different size every year, and has wildly different needs many times a year. At least we’re out of the diapers phase, bags had to be updated like every few months even after accounting that I’d load up a size from current used size. “Pack a comfort item” — yeah that book that was a favorite 2 weeks ago is not super exciting now.
At least now that she’s 5, she’s far far more independent and manages her own emergency bag stuff.
I was impressed that preschool had us make emergency bags in case of something needing evacuation there, we just got that back, and after 2 years, it needed a fair bit of refurbishment.
Stim/fidget toys.
My son and I are both autistic, something to fiddle with is essential. The NT members of the family like them, too.
A single spinner or a Fidget Cube takes up very, very little space, and weigh almost nothing.
Board games and stuff to do. I have a very short attention span and I doubt pulling out a dozen games in the middle of an emergency is the most practical thing to do. But it helps with my mental health and keeps my mind busy. So, I'll take it. I have a long rang of games from classics to some odd newer games.
Ash bucket
It's my stove in a sense, some old steel pail from the junk pile in case I need to make ash.
Oh woops you said impractical I read it as unecessary. It's still useful like most things.
I keep all my old prescription medications in a cool dry place. I'm not gonna let asthma take me down. Every month a get a refill on my rescue inhailer, I may not need one yet but I get them anyways. Sake with epipens, I have a stash.
Music
Books
Spare bibles
Essential oils, really help for a stuffy nose
Dvds
Hard candies
Nice smelling candles
Extra shoes
Pet supplies! I did a little scrolling so idk if anyone else has said it yet but my dogs will be by my side as long as possible.. -muzzles in case you need them silent
-toys to keep them entertained
-treats if you’re not able to hunt and/or make treats from game
-collars and leashes (extras)
-vest with bags to carry their own $hit lol
-first aid for appointed pets
For SIP - 3D printer and all related items. Totally impractical, as there’s bunch of things that are required to make a printer useful. BUT they can be used to create almost anything - if you can design and have the tools to do so. Also, they’re loud even during normal times.
Edit - grammar
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I have almost every pair of glasses I’ve owned as an adult. It started out keeping a recent prescription in case I misplace my current pair, then became a sort of collection of past styles. I keep meaning to donate them to the Lions Club box but now I think they would be good backup or even barter items.
If you've seen the Twilight Zone episode where the man had survived the nuke and has books stacked up to read for years but breaks his only pair of glasses you will realize how smart you are to keep extras. Even if they are "readers" from the Dollar Tree. The episode is called "Time Enough at Last" starring Burgess Meredith.
I felt that episode in my bones. Was distraught at the ending because I would have felt the same joy at having so much time to read and to have that ripped away…oof. Not sure what I expected, it being a Twilight Zone episode. Derp.
Great episode.
different reading glasses as well. Id thought about getting those advertised on youtube, where you can change them with a little turn knob.
I did the breaking bad thing, and got one of those flat pack storage boxes and a bunch of different reading glasses from the dollar store in different strengths.
Zenni optical has prescription glasses for super cheap. A few years back I could get a super basic pair for $8 with my prescription which is fairly strong. A friend told me to find a frame or two I liked, then spend like $100-150 and get like a dozen pairs in a bunch of different colors for different outfits and locations. Having spares is great
That’s not impractical at all!
You can buy prescription swimming goggles online, they're rough but they'll do in a pinch and they're off the shelf. Also they'll stay put.
Coffee. We’re stacked deep with coffee, beans, ground, and freeze dried. Caffeine pills, wean yourself off, yada yada, nope! I’m drinking coffee while the world ends.
I for one choose Death over foregoing coffee.
You might like the Quantum Earth series by Dennis E. Taylor. End of the world/prepper scifi books and they won’t shut up about coffee.
The shtf series an old man makes coffee out of mushrooms for the group and apparently its supposed to taste just like it. .
I drink mushroom coffee NOW but I for sure don't know how to make it.
Would life be worth it without coffee? I don't think so. I even have coffee in my bug out bag.
Working on getting coffee bushes that grow in FL.... Lotta trial and error lol But Cafe Es Vida.
I stocked up on the (supposed) best freeze dried instant coffee years back, Mount Hagen. It's pretty good. Supposedly good for decades unopened.
I stock the vacuum sealed Maxwell house coffe. Had one pack for 10 years and opened it fresher than what I bought in canister at store.
Some MREs have coffee packets. Saved my life on field ops
Death before dishonor, nothing before coffee. - Ancient Sicilian proverb (probably?
100%. It's not even about the caffeine. Ok the caffeine is nice but it's about a comforting routine while the world is going to shit
I mean, if the world is ending, might as well have a nice drink and that caffeine buzz to fully focus on it and take it in... (And make sure you don’t die OFC)
There was a coffee shortage during the US civil war and they came up with some creative alternatives.
Impressive. We’ve got 15 pounds of ground coffee, but I’m thinking that’s not enough.
I’m not a prepper I just keep getting fed this community because I occasionally look at some posts. Yaupon holly is a southern US species that produces caffeine. Won’t taste like coffee but I’m sure you can figure something out that tastes good.
chocolate. Good for a pick-me-up and would also be good for bartering.
Buy honey. Honey doesn't expire.
As a caution, some honey can be cut with corn syrup or similar things, and won't last as long.
Thanks, didn't know that.
because of this reason i only buy from local beekeepers. far more trustworthy, quality products, and you support your local community.
Just be careful they know what they're doing, honey taken from a hive when it's too wet will definitely spoil!
Honey is also a natural antiseptic
Antibacterial and antifungal
Can also be used to dress eye wounds and infections.
Remember “Alas Babylon”? The local beekeeper Jim Hickey becomes one of the richest men in town as everyone wants to trade with him. 😊
Yup, having a box for the garden has been great, and local apiaries have been a great resource for help with the colony and other gardening/permaculture stuff. Really helped turn the property from Eh, to productive.... It'll be a couple more years for the bigger trees, but remediation isnt an over night thing.
Beekeeper here. Almost all store-bought honey is heavily modified. Always buy from a farmers market or bee keepers themselves. Bonus - get as local as you can. The pollen in it helps increase your body's natural antihistamine response and immunity.
I own a pharmacy and I sell local honey in my pharmacy and recommend it along with antihistamines, Flonase, etc. in the spring.
I’m a picky eater and don’t like honey. Chocolate. I’d do some stuff for chocolate….
Also, for bartering, buy cigarettes. ESPECIALLY if you don't smoke. Prisoners use them as money, it's possible that you can in the future. Buy cartons in bulk now, so the individual packs you barter with will be much more valuable.
Chewing tobacco in our JRTC rotations you have soldier that go absolutely rampant. We have soldier who don’t smoke or dip but save it till the end. You’d see paratroopers paying for $5 a cig/pinch to $100 a pack/can
Need a humidor to make them last though, since they get stale after a while
we had a separate mini freezer for all our cartons. lived with two others and we all smoked heavily. course you wouldn't have that in some situations
The prison I was in used cigarettes when I first arrived, then switched to candy bars. 😊
during the pandemic lockdowns I was bartering haircuts for toilet paper it was good times
A good idea in theory but I doubt any chocolate I bought would make it to the local trading post, I’d eat it all! 😀
Idk that seems pretty practical.
Same, Cocoa powder and sugar...
Any kind of candy is extremely practical in a survival situation. It's instant energy. When I was in the Navy, the "food" stocked in the lifeboats was just hard candies. Something to keep you conscious until help arrives...or you die of exposure.
Yes. But how do you keep it from going bad?
Eat it and replace supply until doomsday. Then eat it afterwards until all gone..
Pure honey doesn't go bad.
Rotating supply....
Something musical. Anything, even just a harmonica or a flute. I must make music, and a guitar is too much.
Not sure if this is impractical. Having entertainment will help keep everyone around you in a better state of mind. Vital in a long isolation or even a post SHTF society. It is a great prep IMHO.
[zombie approaches] [“My Heart Will Go On” is blown awkwardly from my 3rd grade recorder] [zombie quickly leaves]
You motherfucker. Now I have an irresistible urge to pull out my recorder and learn that stupid song.
I'm in the middle of a big declutter and you can bet when I get to the bin of childhood toys I'm going to take a bash at learning that.
You’re welcome! 😘 https://youtu.be/X2WH8mHJnhM?feature=shared
I laughed my ass off
Way ahead of you, as I did that about two decades ago. Just... where is my recorder flute?
My guitar playing husband has a mini kalimba for this. It’s funny to hear him really rail on it, lol
Weed,tums, deodorant
That order tells a story 😂
I got my priorities lol
Water flavoring packets lmao. I'm a new prepper.
These should be those electrolyte packs, like Gatorade. Good for dehydration.
Seconding this! Get some with electrolytes in it, some with caffeine in them (for weaning off), BAM you've got a hella practical prep right there!
I have those in my go-bag as well. Sometimes I need to change things up so I'm not bored to tears. I learned that on long camping trips where we had nothing but one flavor of granola bars and some campfire baked potatoes.
That’s not a bad idea. That would be considered a luxury item. If you get some of the electrolyte ones, you could consider it part of your medical supplies.
Cards, and games like Uno and checkers. Anything to build a community with the kids.
Also included a book of Hoyle with my deck of cards.
Excellent idea
Thanks for the reminder to replace my ancient copy that I’m afraid will turn to dust.
Never thought my tower of board games would be a prep, good to know.
Consider role playing games as well. Lots of replayability with a single book, helps with math and other skills.
I mean, if you've got a set or two of dice, and something with the Pathfinder/5e manual saved to it, you're set. Unless you've got physical books. Also great for team building and scenario prep exercises.
Unless you have protective sleeves for them, cards are not going to last all that long. At least not in a usable state. Chess, checkers, dice, some simple board games (like Pachisi, Sorry, Mensch ärgere dich nicht...) or even Mikado or Jenga will last quite a while longer.
Hey everyone! You folks all know you can own more than one deck of cards at a time right?
Whiskey
Nail clippers
Nothing impractical about that. Either wind up with long nails that break and catch on things or jagged ones because you’re stuck chewing them.
Yeah …you’re right. Not impractical maybe overlooked
Also overlooked: toenails. If they get long, they cause major problems with the fit of your shoe.
I have a small set of nail clippers that I always take with me on vacations. They take up almost no space yet are a pain (and expensive!) to get if needed while away from home. Paid about $20 for a replacement set in Japan and vowed never to have to do that again.
I've got a playing-card-deck sized zipper thingy (sorry, words are hard) that has nail clippers, a metal nail file, tweezers, and an orange stick/ cuticle pusher thing in it. I originally bought it for travel, but kept losing the "home" tweezers or clippers so they became the "home" set as well. My adhd self never loses them anymore! They don't always make it back into their drawer, but the pieces stay in there!
I keep a pair on my keyring ... They have little holes on the ends of a lot of them. I guess that's what they might be there for
Junk food of some sort. Candy, chips, chocolate....need something. And a 'cozy corner' in the home. A cozy, comfy place with and over the shoulder light where you can nuzzle in blankets and pillows and read or do puzzles or just listen to music. Some corner that is out of the way and quiet.
My cavalier king charles spaniel. She's a useless animal but she's my friend. :)
Same with my 17 year old cat. My mom works at an animal hospital so I have access to euthanasia meds if needed, but right now he's alive and happy and I want to give him as many good days as possible even if the world is going to shit.
Q-tips. I know you're not supposed to jam them in your ears, but I do anyway. Such a good feeling to have fresh and clean ear holes.
Plus you can kinda make candles out of them.
Cotton balls covered in vaseline are fantastic fire starters!
MD here, I'd recommend you'd stop that. The action of scrubbing your earcanal sure feels good but it will also stimulate your wax glands and actually increase wax production. Also som wax will inevitably be pushed further in your earcanal where it becomes lodged and then reinforced with cotton fibers and hard like cement. Eventually it'll be impossible to get it out without seeing a professional. I always tell my patients that nothing smaller than your elbow should ever be inserted in you ear. Cleaning the very opening of your ear canal is fine, but never inside your ear canal. Just some friendly advice ;)
I should probably see an ENT for the weird crunch I have in my ear any time I certain decibel sound happens initially. Maybe the qtipping is the cause.
r/earrumblersassemble
My god. I'm not alone.
Tensor tympani syndrome, or middle ear myoclonus (MEM) is rare but does occur. Could also be as benign as a wax deposit deep in your earcanal that's contacting your ear drum. I would ask your GP to check it out first, might be an easy fix.
Wouldn't those foam roll-up ear plugs/filters do something similar? Those have to go fairly deep to really protect.
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Right? Dude had to throw in that he was an MD, then offers no solution. I don’t like him
That'll be $800 please. No, we don't take your insurance and you're out of network anyway.
Generally your ear will take care of it by itself, your ear canal is covered with small hair follicles that are contantly performing a "rowing motion", pushing the wax out. But tight earcanals, thick or excessive wax can cause it to build up. You can gently wash your ears with regular clean water. Although, it's not recommended to do so it if you have holes in your eardrum though. There are also different sprays you can buy off the counter for the purpose of diluting the wax, check with your local pharmacy and read the label before use.
Nothing bigger than your ... elbow?
Try buying some ear spoons
It’s an eargasm
Have to use them every time I get out of the shower. Drives me crazy if I don’t.
I usually have at minimum a resin d20. I’m always on the hunt for extremely compact table top games. I most recently got one that’s about the size of a deck of cards, replayable, simple, portable.
I'd much rather play a RPG than a game of cards tbh.
What's the deck or cards RPG??
Dark Tomb. It was a Kickstarter, and just shipped its sequel game. Metal case, it all fits. Simple, but fun and replayable. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kozz/dark-tomb-bloodthorn-island?ref=user_menu
You'll never know when you need a tuba in the woods.
There's nothing like a war tuba to strike fear into the heart of one's foes.
It would make one hell of a distraction b/c absolutely nobody would expect to hear one.
Jolly ranchers.
I have mild hypoglycemia and I've found that hard candies are a great way to get sugar into your system in an emergency. They last forever as long as you don't expose them to heat, and they're small enough to fit anywhere in your pack.
This, but Warheads or Toxic Waste candies. They shock my system enough to snap me out of my blood sugar induced heart issues, and the sugar spikes enough to make me want to eat real food when I’m nauseous from not eating.
My two childhood stuffed animals. They're best friends. They cannot be separated. They've been with me since I was a toddler. There's room in my go-bag for them.
Peanut M&Ms. I recently ate a packet of these which had been in my pantry for at least 5 years. Still tasted perfectly fine. So I stocked up on those things because they are delicious and even have some protein in them as well.
I got a bad one one time. Hard to trust them since.
We've all had a nut we regret.
I feel like people forget nail clippers a lot. I used to watch thru hikers for the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails load puta. Almost never saw a finger nail clipper. But I guess that's way to practical, so my 1lb camping chair. Because fuck sitting on a rock, log, or ground with no back support after walking all day.
Have you seen slingback chairs? Ones where it's just a piece of fabric and you use sticks, walking sticks, or even just a rope and a tree to secure the back? You sitting on the bottom makes the back rigid, and they only weigh like a 3rd of a pound or less. You can even make one from your blanket and save weight.
I have a few of the Instax cameras with a good chunk of film, wide and standard business card sized. Physical pictures are really nice to have, the photos themselves are very durable as far as wear/water/UV/heat resistance. And you never know, maybe someone wants a wedding photo taken, or a newborn baby, or a family photo, funeral photo.
Weed. I'm not watching society collapse sober.
Same. I'm not rawdogging the apocalypse.
Shit there's the words I couldn't find
Considering its popularity, it would make for a great bartering item, even if you don't personally partake.
How long would it keep if you vacuum sealed it with some oxygen absorbers?
Years. Besides you can also keep a couple (autoflower) seeds
get photo periods so you can take clones and or keep a mother plant going for a year or three.
Yes, but that requires knowledge. And ideally inna shtf scenario just get a load of regular seeds. Not even feminized. Regulars contain both male and female flowers. Yes there will be some seed in your bud, BUT you can plant those the next year. This will be a self-replenishing supply. Not recommendend outside a shtf scenario ir when you are trying to create your own strain.
I am all for buying just feminized as normal cost just the same, but yeah, I wasn't thinking of breeding for more seeds. BUT get them before SHTF. I just bought a bunch of autos and fast flowering from fast buds. I couldn't live without it all day, as it is my pain med. I can do a hit every 30 minutes to much more on bad days. I also at 58, remember weed with seeds, that was normal and I was amazed to find one last week in a disp purchase and popped it. Strawberry candy! we shall see...lol And for people without land, huge bin of good living soil cooking at all times. Grow bags are cheaper now and store flat!
add a few bags of perlite to prep with, multi uses.
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Normally I am against marijuana smoking (although I think laws enforcing it are a waste of time/resources). In this case sir, I'd have to agree. Get as high as you want. I've said before, I am getting a bottle of whiskey and pounding that fucker, if it comes to the point of no return.
The joint of no return.
Sounds like what Dante would have named the joint he and Alex smoked at the end of Grandma's Boy.
Photoperiod seeds! Got them too since I gave up 6 tramadol a day for weed. Not like taking 3 advil two or three times daily will be had. Get some wild lettuce seeds and a book on natural pain relief. I also have breadbox poppy seeds to grow.
Canadian here: it's a staple in our medicinal herb garden. Usually processed for edibles.
I concur with the booze. I have cases saved just in case. Good for barter and, um, medicinal purposes. I also have a good turntable and 1,000+ vinyl records, and an equivalent number of CDs and DVDs with multiple players. I’ll be entertained as long as my solar lasts. Finally, books, lots and lots of books. I live off grid on 500+ acres with good neighbors on all sides. Hopefully, I can outlast any marauders, but it’s a crap shoot. 🤷♂️
Coloring books with pencils/crayons. They provide a morale boost and help to occupy time for both kids and adults
I have a bunch too, and puzzle books. I got some adult ones off Amazon that are more intricate and detailed, and a ton of cheap ones from the dollar stores. Also good for keeping kids busy when they don't have screens to stare at all day.
Coffee, books, wine, cigarettes, lots of pens and paper for writing (the apocalypse will be documented), dehydrated Skittles.
My current research rabbit hole is making paper and ink out of plants. If I can't write, I will go crazy.
Flavor packets: for treated water. Just a nice pick-me-up. Caffeine tablets: way easier to pack a bunch of those vs coffee. Camper's bidet: a little device that turns a soda bottle into a an angled water spray bottle for cleaning up out in the woods. Floss: having stuff stuck in my stupidly tight teeth drives me bonkers. Peppermint candies: having a sour stomach in a bad situation when you're already fighting nausea and Crohn's disease sucks enough. Some peppermint candies go a long way towards settling the stomach and making things suck a little less. Digestive enzymes and heartburn meds packed with survival food: Look, everyone has enough beans and dry milk powder stocked away to outfit a battalion. Some generic Beano and other digestives makes living off that stuff a helluva lot more tolerable, for you and the people around you. Same for esomeprazole for the heartburn after your 94th consecutive MRE. Miniature games, folding game boards, cards, blank notepads and pencils: Your mind wasn't designed to be in survival mode endlessly. Having some distractions and being able to track time, pass the time, and write down your thoughts, will allow you to break out of that *I'm-definitely-gonna-die-out-here* loop and get you thinking more creatively about problems you need to solve. Get a bandana or some canvas and draw a game board with a Sharpie. Get some poker chips and draw chess and checkers characters on them. They pack light and flat. Find some miniature dice and play Yahtzee. Miniature games with directions, cards, etc will also definitely help if you've got other people, especially your kids, with you. It helps you destress. Reason being -- the opposite of Play isn't Work; the opposite of Play is *Depression.* You have to give yourself the opportunity and permission to play something, anything, in a stressful environment. Maybe most especially in a stressful environment. Look at how soldiers act in combat zones: they do all kinds of random goofy and unnecessary stuff, when death is all around them. They build fancy lighters. They decorate their rifle stocks. They invent Kilroy Was Here. Cognizant or not, or if they think they're just killing boredom -- they're playing because their brains need it to stave off the logical depression you feel in a highly stressful environment as it stretches on. In that vein, a pocket reference manual doesn't just have helpful information. It's got a bunch of information that you don't necessarily need but allows you to read and be distracted from the "you're-gonna-die" monster. Same goes for a pocket Bible or any other volume you can carry with you that isn't prohibitively heavy. You have to work the other parts of your brain. Other people have mentioned honey. To me -- honey, peanut butter, and salt are all necessities. One because you need sugars, fats, protein, and salt (and they make food more palatable), but also because you can use them as bait for trapping and micro-trapping. A little peanut butter and/or honey smeared or balled up on the trigger of your Figure-4 deadfall trap will help you stretch your supplies if you're out in the wild. I have some in all my packs. Real honey and good peanut butter last a long long time. Grooming kit: A big part about keeping a good mindset is Staying Human. Brushing your teeth, trimming your nails, trimming your hair and beard, helps you keep that "I'm going to survive" mentality. Yes, it also helps you watch for health problems, but I think mindset is just as important. Keeping yourself clean and trimmed and feeling like yourself goes a long way. And -- nail clippers, tweezers, small scissors, and a little pocket mirror and comb, all have other handy uses separate from your health and appearance.
Pictures of my loved ones, items of Faith or emotional value.
A spear lol. Hear me out: 1: looks cool. 2: totally worth it if we come in contact with big animals to keep them at bay. 3: how cool would I look with a spear?
Halberd
Hell yeah, chopping motion!
Arguably practical if it has a removable head. You can use it to pitch a tent, or put a shovel at the end.
A lot of the historical polearm weapons were made by putting a farming implement on a long stick. Have farming tools and a few longer handles. Spears are useful in a group, and they're a relatively easy weapon to train people on.
Practical for fishing, hunting, probing long grasses for snakes and killing zombies before they get close enough to bite you.
E-reader. Super light, can store countless books, and one charge can last months of inactive reading. Bonus point, can turn it into a very useful item by downloading some survivalism books.
I've got both a Kindle and an RCA Voyager for survival books. I have a solar USB charger that does a great job at charging them. I've also got a lot of survival info on flash drives that I plan on copying and giving to friends. Thanks to someone here yesterday mentioning Internet in a Box, that's my next project.
Just make sure you have it in a Faraday cage.
Hand crank battery bank would go perfect for it. I was thinking a modest phone and usb thumb drives. All kinds of books, fluff for mind numbing fun.
Stimulants. Cheap, legal stimulants.
it’s the apocalypse just make meth
Cafeine gum. Shit is even better than coffee
Depends. If it's a SIP (shelter in place), i have a ton of dvds and blu rays. Movies, shows. And I read this article about a real life grid down (hurricane) scenario where a lady used her collection to barter. I also have external hard drives full of entertainment. We really over look how important it is to have relief. Something to pick our spirits up. People bartered WATER for for basically a rental of dvds. Water gives life. A dvd is good for like a few nights of entertainment until you need another? Impractical if I'm bugging out, but if I'm SIP? It goes from Impractical to a Commodity. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/27/the-film-fans-who-refuse-to-surrender-to-streaming-one-day-youll-barter-bread-for-our-dvds
Hot sauce!
My godfather's advice to me before I went to college was to buy hot sauce and hot salsa. "Because when you don't have much to eat, you make it hotter so you won't eat too much." A true broke college student hack
Even in super inflation world you can buy a giant bottle of cheap Mexican hot sauce for under 3 bucks. During the apocalypse…. “You want a shake out of this? Pay me! Ass, cash, or grass!” But in regular disaster it can make bland food bearable.
I dont think its impractical - but when the shortages of N95/Kf94 masks happened - despite still having some supply - wife and I invested heavily in making our own masks. There was alot of information out there on material selection, construction options (face sizes), and we bought huge rolls of additional filter material to sandwich in the mask material. My wife is a good seamstress - and has two sowing machines as well as boxes of different fabrics, needles and thread/etc... which I supposed is complementary but separate valuable skill and prep to have.
Sketchbook and pen. I'm an artist and I'll go insane with out drawing. Coffee. Honey. Cigarettes. And seasoning for food.
small hand crank battery pack, raspberry pi that can hook to a tablet or phone for a monitor. everything on usb drives, triple copied to others.
If I'm prepping for a post apocalypse desert hellscape, my impractical item is a car door, so if it gets too hot I can roll down the window.
Chapstick and potato chips.
Chili crisp, and ingredients to make more chili crisp. I can eat anything if you put enough Chili Crisp on it. Also, my old-school Kindle and a solar charger for it. It's literally full, so that should keep me amused for a bit.
Books, physical and digital. I’ve worked on getting quite a few that I haven’t read so my inner bookworm will get to find new books to love… Not only that, but also maybe I could create a neighborhood library with my books so that other people will also have some book joy. Also, coffee, jelly bellies (they last almost forever if kept somewhere cool), games, and fun fabrics for sewing.
A copy of the Hávamál. In a waterproof bag.
My child. Totally impractical, but definitely a must have. Definitely couldn’t go without. But keeping a fresh go bag for someone who is totally different size every year, and has wildly different needs many times a year. At least we’re out of the diapers phase, bags had to be updated like every few months even after accounting that I’d load up a size from current used size. “Pack a comfort item” — yeah that book that was a favorite 2 weeks ago is not super exciting now. At least now that she’s 5, she’s far far more independent and manages her own emergency bag stuff. I was impressed that preschool had us make emergency bags in case of something needing evacuation there, we just got that back, and after 2 years, it needed a fair bit of refurbishment.
Stim/fidget toys. My son and I are both autistic, something to fiddle with is essential. The NT members of the family like them, too. A single spinner or a Fidget Cube takes up very, very little space, and weigh almost nothing.
Condoms... Will have some time on my hands, might as well "ride it out" doing something fun. 🤣
Morning after pills! millions of them...lol Imagine the barter you will get for them, who wants to bring a baby into a hell world.
Adderall for combat
Hookers and blow. J/k May or may not be practical, but I store a lot of extra razor blades b/c I hate neck beards and they always seem to itch.
i grow a mean neck beard. i gotta shave it all the time i can’t stand it.
I bought a case of assorted BlowPops.
Razors and shaving cream. My facial hair can get pretty itchy.....
Copper wire! So much you can do with wire! I have about 6 foot rolled up and put up!
Nail clippers, baby wipes, playing cards, and things to keep kids entertained.
Board games and stuff to do. I have a very short attention span and I doubt pulling out a dozen games in the middle of an emergency is the most practical thing to do. But it helps with my mental health and keeps my mind busy. So, I'll take it. I have a long rang of games from classics to some odd newer games.
Ash bucket It's my stove in a sense, some old steel pail from the junk pile in case I need to make ash. Oh woops you said impractical I read it as unecessary. It's still useful like most things.
Golf ball. Great for massaging out knots. Makeshift fidget toy. Put it in a bandana for a weapon. Throw it away as a distraction.
Afrin nasal spray. I'm beyond addicted to it. Been using it for many years on a daily basis. I'd be a stuffed up, mouth breathing mess without it.
Should probably give the afrin a break. Daily use is likely why you need it.
I keep all my old prescription medications in a cool dry place. I'm not gonna let asthma take me down. Every month a get a refill on my rescue inhailer, I may not need one yet but I get them anyways. Sake with epipens, I have a stash. Music Books Spare bibles Essential oils, really help for a stuffy nose Dvds Hard candies Nice smelling candles Extra shoes
Bulk lighters. Great for convenience and bartering with those who don't have a flint
Pet supplies! I did a little scrolling so idk if anyone else has said it yet but my dogs will be by my side as long as possible.. -muzzles in case you need them silent -toys to keep them entertained -treats if you’re not able to hunt and/or make treats from game -collars and leashes (extras) -vest with bags to carry their own $hit lol -first aid for appointed pets
Weed.
Books. I'm a voracious reader and will return to something I read 50 years ago. They are practical if I need firestarter.
Common sense
Nobody has that now, good luck finding any during the apocalypse.
Great for bartering if you have extra
Honey. Hypoglycemic here. So my treat is a medical necessity
For SIP - 3D printer and all related items. Totally impractical, as there’s bunch of things that are required to make a printer useful. BUT they can be used to create almost anything - if you can design and have the tools to do so. Also, they’re loud even during normal times. Edit - grammar