If any of you should want any previous articles or info you can contact me via TNTCrazyLady at gmail dot com.
Now more than ever we all need to "homestead in place" and be prepared!!!!
Good luck and may God bless you and yours always ;-}
TNT
I know I haven't posted much and I am sorry. What with living and homesteading and then COVID - well life gets in the way. Now that Weebly has sold out to SQUARE and Square requires tons of personal information - even when I don't sell anything - I am deactivating my account.
If any of you should want any previous articles or info you can contact me via TNTCrazyLady at gmail dot com. Now more than ever we all need to "homestead in place" and be prepared!!!! Good luck and may God bless you and yours always ;-} TNT
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Sorry it has been soo long since I last posted. Life kinda got in the way.
I have been busy though. I have been attempting to validate all my links to make things a little easier for y'all. Basically there will be an Excel workbook that will be in the "Downloads" section. This will list all the downloads I have validated and their links as of July 2017. The categories are basically the same as what is currently on the Downloads page, just ALL in one Excel Workbook. I will make every effort to update this Workbook as I collect more articles, reports and PDF's of interest. My next step is to clean up the web site a bit and then I will start posting articles, at least once a month. It is quickly approaching harvest season and things will be getting hectic here, but I will do my best to keep this up to date. Until then, keep learning and being self-reliant, eat and stay healthy and keep on Preppin ;-} TNT I owe y’all an apology. Between my health and the learning curve of my non-urban location, I have been remiss in keeping up with my posts. However, I have not been idle.
First, the rest of “Finding Money for Preparedness and More”, I will be posting the completed article as a download link to get everyone caught up. Second, I have discovered that several of my favorite sites no longer exist. I will miss them greatly and am glad that I saved what I did from these sites. To the people who ran those site – I hope and pray that you are well and still living the self-sufficient, prepared life with success. Thirdly I will start the "reconstruction" of this site. The ultimate end result will be fewer links and more “Master Link” documents that you can use to gather the information you desire. I have been validating the links I have posted and the many documents I have accumulated directly from the web, over time, via “File, Print, to PDF” (the PDF converter being the designated printer). In the meantime folks …
May the Creator bless you and yours always, TNT Well my first year out in the boonies has been an eye-opener and as such I apologize for the delay in posting. The harvest is now complete and we have enjoyed our Thanksgiving bounty. Now on with the money saving posts ;-} Ways to Save on Transportation
Next post will be on potential Health, Medical and Dental savings
Fall is a season of change. The plants shed leaves and animals store up food in preparation of the coming winter. No matter if we live urban, suburban or rural, fall is the time to be sure that our homes and vehicles are ready for winter. For those of us who homestead, fall is very busy; what with the harvest, winter cover crops, food preservation and stocking as well as vehicle, equipment and building preps for the tough winter season. Keep in mind that having a well-insulated home, with a strong thermal envelope, that seal of the outer walls that inhibit any air and temperature exchange between inside and outside, is a major money saver! The stronger the thermal envelope, the easier and cheaper it is to heat or cool your home’s interior. Second to this energy saver is having a home with good air flow so the heating and cooling equipment doesn't have to work double time to keep the temperature you want. This means having as few doors, windows, halls, walls and archways (door to double door width) as possible. Once you get your fall to do’s, you can get a head start on your Winter To Do’s
To read the full list of helpful links see Fall Reminders found at my Downloads, General Homesteading page Entertainment Saving Tips
Research free or inexpensive entertainment in your community: Use local newspapers and websites to learn about free or low-cost parks, museums, film showings, sports events, and other places which you and your family would enjoy. o Check out what your town’s parks and recreation board has to offer: My town has several wonderful parks, free basketball and tennis courts, free disc golf, trails, and lots of other stuff just there waiting to be used. You can go have fun for hours out in the wonderful outdoors, playing sports, hiking on trails, or trying other activities – and it’s all there for free. All you have to do is discover it. o Dig into your community calendar: There are often tons of free events going on in your town that you don’t even know about. Stop by the local library or by city hall and ask how you can get ahold of a listing of upcoming community events, and make an effort to hit the interesting ones: You can often get free meals, free entertainment, and free stuff just by paying attention – even better, you’ll get in touch with what’s going on around you.o PaperBackSwap.com allows you to list books you’d like to swap with other members. They boast over 4.5 million available books, and books are mailed to you for free. o It doesn’t get much better than Amazon.com . They have just about every book imaginable, and you can buy almost all of them used. o Check out thrift stores for used books o Swaptree.com has a cool service that allows you to trade your books, CDs, and DVDs with others online. The service is free, the only expense is the shipping cost of your item. o SwapADVD.com is similar to PaperBackSwap.com, but it’s for DVDs! Watch your favorites and discover more with this simple DVD exchange service. The cost is just about as low as you can go. Get rid of unread magazine subscriptions: Do you have a pile of unread magazines sitting around your house? Likely, it’s the result of a subscription that you’re not reading. Not only should you not renew that magazine, you should give their subscription department a call and try to cancel for a refund – sometimes, they’ll give you the prorated amount back. I’ve had to cull my subscriptions in the past, but I’ve never regretted it. Subscribe to magazines that are must reads. If you must have a certain magazine each month, subscribe. Subscriptions offer substantial savings over the cost at the newsstand. Update: Amazon offers some great deals on personal finance magazines . Cancel unused club memberships: Are you paying dues at a club that you never or rarely use? Like, for instance, a gym membership or a country club membership? Cancel these club memberships, even if you think you might use them again someday – you can always renew the membership at a later date if it turns out that you actually do miss it. Cut down on your vacation spending: Instead of going on a big, extravagant trip, pack up the car and see some of America some years for vacation. One of the best vacations I’ve ever taken was when my son was an infant – we just packed up the car and drove around Minnesota, eventually camping for a few days along the north shore of Lake Superior. For a week long relaxing vacation, it was incredibly cheap and quite memorable, too. Eliminate some cable service: Note that I’m not recommending getting rid of cable completely, although that’s certainly a way to save money. If you must have cable, take a look at all the charges on your cable bill and consider getting rid of some of the service. Try it for a month and see if you really miss those last 500 channels. o Give up premium cable channels or better yet, cable all together. It's a lot cheaper to rent one film a week than watch one on premium cable channels that may cost more than $500 a year. o Slow down your internet service: A friend of mine went to the slower internet service option with their cable company and saved $15 per month. He claims he hasn't noticed a difference when surfing the Net.
Next time we will cover Ways to Save on Transportation ;-}
This year for National Preparedness Month at least define what in your area puts you at risk. Yep another year has passed and we are looking at another National Preparedness Month (NPM). It was first sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2004. Its stated purpose is to encourage American citizens to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, schools and communities and is but one part of a governmental effort to strengthen the United States' preparedness capabilities. The US national preparedness architecture encompasses prevention, protection, response, and recovery efforts to prepare the United States for all hazards – whether terrorist attack, human caused or natural disaster. It is funded through various annual “budget bills”, such as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), as well as from the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior, to name a few. Each year there is a different theme to try and get people involved. This year (2015) it’s: Don't Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today. For what it’s worth, the government’s primary site for National Preparedness is at http://www.ready.gov/
What are the various risks and hazards that we might see? Or in essence, what are the odds of various things occurring where we live? Obviously there are some areas more prone to certain types of risks, hazards or crises than other areas. The “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific Ocean is more likely to see volcanoes and earthquakes, as well as Tsunamis. The desert southwest is more prone to drought, flash floods and dust/wind storms. We all know about the central US and central-southeast states and their potential for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms with straight line and micro/macro wind bursts. The Eastern coastal areas (Atlantic and Gulf), and to a lesser extent the west coast, are known for their hurricane and tropical storm potential and storm surge. The Great Lake states are known for Nor’easters and Lake Affect severe storms, both snow and thunderstorms. While other states are known for sink holes and others still for wildfires and landslides. What crises are we most likely to be a close part of during our lifetimes?
Hence, it goes without saying that the first step to ANY preparedness plan is to figure out just what your area is most vulnerable to. Now there are some places that can give you “quick views” or “dashboards” and such to keep you posted on these types of hazards, including the National Weather Service’s Weather Radio. Some even offer text and email messaging of alerts and warnings. A good rule of thumb it to utilize multiple information and notification sources. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) The Earth Observatory Global Maps National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Earth Observatory is part of the EOS Project Science Office located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, tracks things like ambient air and ocean temperatures, the ozone layer and such. The Disaster Center The Disaster Center provides online coverage of disasters in the United States, compiling and providing links to disaster related statistics and studies, on all kinds of natural and human-caused disaster threats. Nature's Fury NaturesFury.net is a premier Internet source for natural disaster preparedness and research, education, alerts, warnings and other resources and news. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) Space Weather News and Information about the Sun-Earth Environment Global Incident Map GlobalIcidentMap.com Tracks And Maps Terrorism Incidents And Other Suspicious Activity, Hazmat Situations, Amber Alerts, Gang Activity, Major Drug Interdictions, H1N1 Swine Flu, Plane Crashes, Threats To The President/White House, Forest Fires, etc.. For a fee and subscription to the site, you can receive full map details, alerts and warnings. Other sites will deal with particular types of crises, like crime, invasive species or crop blights.
Keep in mind most crises are not like hurricanes where you have days to prepare, the average “crisis” won’t give you much more than a 15 minute notice! Hence the need to Be Prepared no matter where you are. On top of that, governments are so bureaucratic and hence cumbersome, that getting help quickly is a bit of a stretch. In the US, it’s a wonder that organized help arrives within 5 days, yet alone 3! Which are other reasons why I prefer a Needs Based Preparedness Plan vs a Crisis Based Preparedness Plan. If you want more info on this see Building a Needs Based Preparedness Plan vs a Crisis Based Plan If you do nothing else for preparedness this month, at least find out what your area is at risk for and make some contingency plans to hold you and yours safely through at least 5-7 days without governmental or outside organized help. To help you with this task, check out the rest of this article, which is filled with graphics and links. For the overall odds of a particular crisis occurring that can cause injury or death (from alien invasion to various work & play incidents like dying from a drinking straw), see the following tables: What Are the Odds? Odds of Occurring in Percentages per Lifetime or Century; This table is in % per average Lifetime (75 years) or Century What Are the Odds? Odds of Event Occurring “1 in” Per Lifetime or Century, This table is the “1 in” odds per average Lifetime (75 years) or Century Both of these tables are sorted by the most likely to occur to the least likely to occur. What Are the Odds? General Number of Recorded Occurrences and or Mortality Information; This table contains general information on the occurrences to date, of most of these various events What Are the Odds? Risk Maps (graphics only) from Amber Alerts to Zoological, for all of us ‘visual’ type people is a bunch of charts or graphics arranged kinda by date, on all kinds of things from risks, crime rates and trust, to cost of various past events, taxes, mortality causes and general economy; what state gets the most government funds, Federal Court districts, as well as time zones and the like:
I know all these tables are kind of “dry” and “dull”, so I have broken them up with some related graphics. Through all of this keep in mind that research has rarely, if ever, been known to be quick or easy. I’m helping you out here by sharing the results of all of my research to date. Again, if you do nothing else this month, take the time to check out these documents and determine what kind of risks your area is susceptible to. Next week we will get back to our Finding Money for Preparedness series, covering entertainment savings Until then Keep On Preppin' Sorry for the delay, we had some unexpected busyness ;-}
Ways to Save with Family and Friends
o FreePrintable.com lets you print out all kinds of goodies to help you save money including cards, calendars, worksheets, coupons, and more! It’s fun to print your own products, give it a shot! Next week we will cover entertainment savings Potential Clothing Savings
Next week we will cover ways to save with family and friends Finding Money for Preparedness and More - Ways to save around the House and with Utilities7/19/2015
Therefore, if you have fixtures that pre-date 1992, you might want to replace them if you're not sure of their flow rates. - Be aware: Those “luxury shower towers” or pie-plate-sized, monsoon-downpour-imitating fixtures are major water-wasters; they can use as much as 20 gallons of water per minute! - Using ultra-low-flow showerheads will also save you money on your energy bills, by reducing the demand on your water heater. According to the WaterSense program, a household could save 300 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power its television use for about a year.
Home Usage Audit Worksheet
Home Contents Audit Worksheet
Next week we will cover potential clothing/wardrobe savings |
TNTCrazyLadyI am a 60 Something, no longer so urban or in NM ;-}; Former 60's Flower Child; don't believe in taxpayer subsidized special interest groups (political parties); DO believe in the Constitution and Bill of Rights (1st 10 the most); Long time Independent & Informed Voter; I believe in World Citizenship NOT world government; Lover of the outdoors and firm believer that History Teaches - if only we will listen! Archives
July 2017
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