For years, I’ve used a planner to keep myself on track with preparedness. All those little tasks you forget, like checking and changing batteries, can be remembered when you schedule it. As well, important dates can be noted, appointments, and all the other stuff of life.
I like to make my planner colorful with gel pens, stickers, and other fun stuff, but it’s certainly not essential.
Here are a few of the ways a planner helps me to be better prepared.
Scheduling tasks
I sit down at the beginning of the year and write down a few tasks that I want to make sure I remember. Some examples are:
- Checking the batteries in my preps
- Replacing batteries in my smoke detector and carbon monoxide alarm
- Rotating the foods in my pantry
- Ordering specific things that require replacement (filters for the air conditioner, refrigerator water filter, etc.)
- Scheduling a spring and fall inventory check
I don’t make it overwhelming. I set out to accomplish 3-4 preparedness and home maintenance tasks every month. If you divide your important jobs up over the year, then it’s far less overwhelming.
Keeping notes
Something else that has made a big difference for me is keeping notes each month. I write down successes and failures, as well as what I’ve accomplished. It can really help in the future when deciding which preps are essential and which ones really weren’t necessary.
As well, there’s a good feeling about not just giving myself a “to-do” list but also a “done” list.
I like to keep gardening notes in my planner too, to help me remember what worked well and what did not. When did I plant those green beans outside to produce a huge harvest? Did I plant basil twice last summer? Was there a seed or process I used that didn’t work well at all for me?
I also like to keep track of sales. You’ll find that there are monthly trends of the things you’ll find on sale, as well as when certain foods are in season for a good stock-up. This can help you allocate your preparedness budget to get the most bang for your hard-earned buck.
Master lists
I use some of the pages at the back of my planner for “master lists.” These are tasks that need to be done and purchases that need to be made that can’t be handled immediately. Whether the constraints are physical or financial, you forget about little things you need sometimes if you don’t write them down.
I have a master list for food, gear, and tasks. You can sort nearly everything into one of those categories.
Inventories
A couple of times per year, I like to do an inventory check of my food supplies.
In the spring, I check all my home-canned and dehydrated goods, and any root veggies I have in cool storage. I make a meal plan that will help me to use up these goods before they are replaced with the summer’s bounty. This isn’t wiping out all my preps – I still have other foods that get replenished year-round, such as grains and freeze-dried foods.
In the late fall, I organize my summer canning and preserved foods so that I’ll know where to find what I need. I also check dates on my store-bought canned goods and dried goods to see how urgently they need to be used, and I meal plan accordingly.
How to keep organized, just for preppers
I have years’ worth of these planners put neatly on a shelf. Sometimes I refer back to them so that I can make certain I recall a certain event properly. Other times, I want to check on something that did or did not work out well for me. I love having a tangible look at the things I’ve accomplished and the preps I have acquired over the years. It gives me a sense of satisfaction and groundedness to have these records.
You can use any kind of day-planner for this, but I wanted to create a product just for preppers to help you plan your preparedness tasks and goals. I created The Prepper’s Planner and Almanac for this very purpose.
(Before anyone gets outraged and says, “This is just a sales pitch!” it’s not. You can use whatever format you like. I am just working on something that will make it easier, and you are welcome to grab it or not.)
The first planner is a printable – I wanted to see what you guys found useful and not useful before I commit it to book form. I’m going to release one of these per quarter, and after this first one, they’ll also be in the format of hardcover books you can purchase.
The first quarter is ready to go straight to your printer. Please, please let me know your thoughts on this product after you’ve used it so I can create the best physical product possible for you for Quarter 2.
You can go here to grab your Quarter 1 planner and be involved in helping with the production of the next one!
I really look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Do you keep a preparedness planner?
Do you keep a planner or journal dedicated to your preps? Do you think it would help you to be better organized if you did? Do you have a different way of maintaining your preps? I’d love to hear all your tips.
Let’s discuss it in the comments section!
After prepping for many years and collecting tons of printed information, I decided to edit and compile all of the paperwork into handwritten notebooks. (I tend to learn best by physically writing information down.) A notebook with an orange cover is dedicated to suggested kit checklists, a notebook with a green cover holds information on anything food-related, a notebook with a blue cover holds various prepping notes, and a notebook with a red cover holds all of the suggestions of skills to learn and things I need to purchase. On the inside of each notebook cover, I print out an index of the information topics held within. I keep a binder that holds my all of my inventory sheets and where items are located, and a binder for all things gardening. I’m guessing most people would say it’s overkill, but it’s just the way my brain works when it comes to organizing information. 😁
Wow this is great organisation skills for my Virgo brain. I have taken note and intend to do the same! Thanks for the tip
We keep a garden journal but as the season goes along we sometimes forget to update because we get busier and busier. I have consolidated some info into some composition notebooks like a canning notebook and a baking notebook. I got tired of looking all over the place for information
I have in the past, I use check lists listing everything I consume. Used that to help my shopping lists to replenish my supplies. The planner will help me keep everything tracked. I will be also make a list of things I need to look for in the spring to find at the thrift shops and garage sales.
I use a traditional planner in a smaller 3 ring binder and also have several additional sections -books, church, office etc. I call it “my brain” because it’s a lot harder to forget something that’s written down than just a verbal reminder to myself to process the peppers that are hiding or to defrost the freezer (I remember when I open it, but I’m “busy” at the moment – that’s why I opened the freezer – and then I get busy and don’t think of it till the next time I open the freezer and so the blessing of “my brain” – it gets written down if I just take a second.)
Admittedly, some things get little arrows next to them showing that I didn’t get to it that day and it’s been forwarded to another day, but if it’s written down it’s just much more likely to get done.
I had some homesteading chores in the past but have gotten sloppy and didn’t carry them forward for the past couple of years. So I’m looking forward to enhancing my brain. : )
I will be ordering this week as soon as I get a billing issue corrected with the bank – addresses have to match to make things work.