# Inventory, Inventory, Inventory!



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

A few times a year we try to inventory most of the things that we have. We inventory our food for rotation purposes and it has become a habit that pays off. Every year we find a few items that slipped through the cracks, are getting old or need to be consumed, thrown out or re-purposed. We've almost filled the Bin that contains 2018 "best used by dates" and I found some 2014 and 2015 cans that I'll put in the pantry for use in the next few weeks, our medium and long term stores are in good shape so I'm pleased about our food stores.

My outdoor rain tanks are full and my plan to build a pond in the next year is coming along well so I feel pretty good about water.

Regarding ammo...I called Son 2 today and he was inventorying his ammo which reminded me to do the same. He said he just bought a .40SW semi-auto handgun and after congratulating him...for some reason I had a weird feeling... so when I got home I took some time to go through our ammo stores. Yep, our .40SW was lower than I would like, same with my .357 magnum inventory. So, I made myself a note and will remedy that situation later this weekend using ammoseek.com

Gas, Oil, Diesel and LP also were inventoried and I needed to rotate my gasoline, fill up the 4 wheelers and refill some LP tanks. Also, time to fill up my diesel tanks as they are pretty low too. Firewood is in good shape as are cleaning supplies.

Non-perishables like TP, Toothbrushes, soap, dental floss, bandages, extra socks, extra work gloves, candles, lamp oil, etc were in good shape as are matches, and medicine...which is perishable but we do a good job of rotation. 

Overall I was pretty pleased but by no means totally comfortable. 

Take the time and do a complete inventory of your stuff. You may notice some holes and it may mean the difference in life or death...or comfort and discomfort. 

Damn, my Kentucky Bourbon is getting low...


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## Linedog (Jun 29, 2015)

Are you ever truly comfortable?

P.S. I picked 1000 rounds of 9 today. Probably coulda got a better deal online but I prefer to pay cash.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

I was cleaning up in a garage today (it was 50 degrees here in west PA) and found a box of 243 ammo....


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

Maine-Marine said:


> I was cleaning up in a garage today (it was 50 degrees here in west PA) and found a box of 243 ammo....


It's like putting on your coat for the first time all year and finding a $20.


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## PrepperFF712 (Nov 12, 2015)

Sounds like a very productive day! Funny how prepping changes your perspective on things. I was buying some food today and my instinct was to check the "best before" date on all items. 

Needless to say I've got a few items I know when to consume by.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

On consumables like fuels, i have inventory levels not to go under.
Whatever is used is replaced on a weekly or bi weekly basis and in rotation.
Everything has input date marked with magic marker.
New products are put in the rear of the inventory.
Everything is a lot easier since I retired, have more time to keep up with things.
The 100 pound propane tanks are not used in rotation, there are eight now just held in stores. 
There are two active sets for each use, they are just switched out and refilled as needed then returned to the ready.
Propane does not go bad, no reason to rotate them, The stored eight are new, unused, kept under cover.
The 16 100 pounders will last me five years at the normal rate of consumption, this is on par with all the other preps on hand.
The biggest question is on acetylene, oxy, argon and c25 consumption, how much in a SHTF situation? I hope I have enough.
Then again most scavengers would not be looking for those things.


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## Operator6 (Oct 29, 2015)

On the subject of rotating medicine. 

I used some 7 year out of date Mupirocin (Bactroban) topical antibiotic and it worked great. It had been stored properly. 

Same day I took some 5 year out of date Hydrocodone 10mg tablets and they also worked very well. I had it stored in a pelican case I kept my scripts in my closet. 

I was told by a pharmacist to never use out of date cough syrup. Had a Dr 2nd that.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Thanks slip I do need to do this and I'm in a short term pickle as I now cannot eat anything with gluten or dairy! I have plenty of food I cannot eat and slowly starting to
build up some gluten free inventory with first big shipment arriving a few days ago. It's almost like starting all over for me but rest of the family has even more all the sudden, LOL!


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## NotTooProudToHide (Nov 3, 2013)

Found 2 or 3 rounds of 30-06 in an old ammo can when I was rummaging around the other day. I sold my 30-06 a few years ago when money was tight. No major loss the damn thing wouldn't shoot straight


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

My prepping is about to come to slow crawl for a while. Plumber left a little earlier and gave me an estimate for fixing a broken pipe under the house. Just under 7K if they pour concrete, just under 6K if they don't. This visit today ran me $625. FML.


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

Thanks for the reminder Slippy. I went in and inventoried my spices. I am almost out of garlic and curry. Getting a little low on a few others too.


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## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

I have been having some real doubts in my preps. I have been looking at my inventory a lot, and trying to verify in my mind, what constitutes enough.

I never feel like it is enough, enough T.P. Enough canned goods, Enough Ammo.

When ever I get some cash around I start flaking out about my "stock pile" 

Any thing that can be purchased in small quantity, I.E. canned goods fuel and other things, we have the amount where non preppers would think we have lost it.

And their is a show in GR this week end where I want to go and get more??????


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

Thanks for the reminder Slippy. I try to stay on top of my stores but sometimes life takes over. On average I go through mine about once a month or so.


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## Snocam (May 29, 2015)

We are slowly building supplies. Just got a new generator last month, it will handle more of the house and a hot water tank too. I installed another wood burning stove in the basement that requires no power, and can be cooked on. My wife has been stocking up on food staples such as rice and beans. Today we are under a high wind warning so this is a good reminder to get more fuel. I can always use more ammo of course. This years big project will be a battery bank with some solar panels. I am always concerned about keeping the chest freezer cold, we have a whole Scottish highlander in there. Great to see a thread that isn't political...aahh screw the liberals anyway!


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

txmarine6531 said:


> It's like putting on your coat for the first time all year and finding a $20.


Yo, leatherneck; can I borrow a coat?


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Auntie said:


> Thanks for the reminder Slippy. I went in and inventoried my spices. I am almost out of garlic and curry. Getting a little low on a few others too.


Reminder Auntie.....come SHTF, prepared One is swinging by my place as he (hopefully) gets out of Houston and we are heading to your BOL. We like jalapenos, sausage, tacos, pickled eggs, barbeque .....anything smoked.....and Hawgs place is just to damn far to make a run for it!


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## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

A Watchman said:


> Reminder Auntie.....come SHTF, prepared One is swinging by my place as he (hopefully) gets out of Houston and we are heading to your BOL. We like jalapenos, sausage, tacos, pickled eggs, barbeque .....anything smoked.....and Hawgs place is just to damn far to make a run for it!


Well we have a cord of apple and about a quarter of cherry wood. If you bring some mesquite we can do mouthwatering smoking.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Slippy said:


> A few times a year we try to inventory most of the things that we have. We inventory our food for rotation purposes and it has become a habit that pays off. Every year we find a few items that slipped through the cracks, are getting old or need to be consumed, thrown out or re-purposed. We've almost filled the Bin that contains 2018 "best used by dates" and I found some 2014 and 2015 cans that I'll put in the pantry for use in the next few weeks, our medium and long term stores are in good shape so I'm pleased about our food stores.
> 
> My outdoor rain tanks are full and my plan to build a pond in the next year is coming along well so I feel pretty good about water.
> 
> ...


Be careful building that pond, the EPA and the BLM and Army Corps of Engineers and a few other ABC agencies might take excepting.

I also do an inventory twice a year. And a baby inventory every month just before we do our big shopping day where we get 10% senior discount.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Well, we didn't win the Lottery Jackpot (didn't Play) but I did have a pleasant surprise.

So this morning I was bragging to Mrs Slippy about my inventory yesterday (she was out sitting with her Mother) and how I found some stuff and made some discoveries where we had "holes" in our inventory etc etc. When I told her that I needed to place an order for some specific calibers she asked me, "did you count that box in the guest bedroom closet"?

My immediate reaction was, why is an ammo box in the guest bedroom? I figured it was a box of 50 rounds or something like that. So I walk into the guest bedroom, open the closet and there in the corner is a Cabela's plastic ammo can with the the numbers 22 and the letters LR written on it in my handwriting. The whole time Mrs S is telling me she told me a few times to take it down to the basement and get it out of her way, so when I didn't, she dragged it to the guest bedroom to get it out of the way!

My heart is beating and I scoop up the ammo can like a moonpie at a Mardi Gras parade and the damn thing weighs a ton! YES! Christmas morning in January!!!

There staring back at me were bricks of .22LR marked in a sharpie with dates from 2011 and 2012! One still had a price tag of $25.99 for a brick of 525 rounds. Lucky me! (I wonder what else Mrs S has hidden away???)

View attachment 14311


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## Linedog (Jun 29, 2015)

LOL now that beats $20 in a coat pocket all day long!


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## phrogman (Apr 17, 2014)

I was watching tv a couple of days ago and during a commercial I happen to scroll over my supply list on my phone and noticed quite a few items that were due for rotation. Looks like I had been slacking on my inventories.😳


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

Pikes!?! For the love of god please tell me you have plenty of your own Slippy brand pikes!!!!


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

Since its been so cold here,we rotated canned goods yesterday.vienna sausage sure doesn't taste like it used to to me.it was not that old even.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

MI.oldguy said:


> Since its been so cold here,we rotated canned goods yesterday.vienna sausage sure doesn't taste like it used to to me.it was not that old even.


I can't remember the year, sometime in the early 1980's...I lived one whole month on crackers and vienna sausages trying to save money to move to a nicer craphole of an apartment. If memory serves, you could buy 5 cans of vienna sausages for a $1 and a box of store brand saltines for .79 c. Ahh the good ole days...


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## SecretPrepper (Mar 25, 2014)

Slippy said:


> Well, we didn't win the Lottery Jackpot (didn't Play) but I did have a pleasant surprise.
> 
> So this morning I was bragging to Mrs Slippy about my inventory yesterday (she was out sitting with her Mother) and how I found some stuff and made some discoveries where we had "holes" in our inventory etc etc. When I told her that I needed to place an order for some specific calibers she asked me, "did you count that box in the guest bedroom closet"?
> 
> ...


You know (of corse you don't I haven't told you) this happened to me a few months back. I pick up a box of this and that here and there. When I walk in the house I set it on the counter with the idea of putting it up later in the evening. Some times I go to put it up and it's gone. Asking Mrs SP she says "I put it up". Great thanks hunny. Well a few months back Mrs SP says "come get this box of bullets and put it up" in that tone. I said ok hand it here. Thinking it was a single box of what ever. She says "I can't pick it up come get it". She had been putting the single boxes of ammo from the counter in a medium size box in the cabinet under the counter. In shock I ask where did this come from? She says it's all that crap you leave on the counter. I said thanks and put up 20 some odd boxes of long and short action rifle ammo along with a few different hand gun calibers. After I counted this newly found box of goodness (and putting it up) I asked what else have you been hidding from me? That was a good day.


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