The little things (on a budget)

[jerrymrc]

I have not been around as much as I would like but today I got to thinking about this section again. We have posted many threads and topics and it is kind of all over the map. This thread is about the little things that do not cost an arm or a leg that are items that one might not think about until ya need them.

Many of the items I will put up here are under $10 but nice to have. I keep a couple of boxes put away with these just for a rainy day.

First item. A sewing kit. A couple of the dollar store ones coupled with a couple of large rolls of green, black and one or two other colors of large rolls. This gets ya enough stuff for $5 to put away. A more heavy duty sewing kit. HF has these for around $6 and they come with 4 needles and 180 yards of heavy duty thread. Very handy to have and cheap enough to stick in the box.

A solar shower. Under$10 to $20. A very good way here in Colorado to have hot water. 60-105 degrees in 3 hours. Keeps one from having to use your propane or other fuel to heat water for any purpose.

Window kits. I have many that I buy on season end close out for under $5. These could be very useful in many ways keep a couple on hand.

And last for today. Lighters/matches. I like the long ones. yes, there are 27 million ways to start a fire or light your candles but these are only $1 each and handy to have a few put away.

More later.

[Irving]

I have to second the sewing kit. I bought one of those little cheap ones with a bunch of different colored thread from King Soopers for like $4. I've been supplementing it with some up grades over time as well. A more extensive needle kit, a real (metal) thimble, the thread used for jeans (much stronger), better scissors. I keep the whole thing in a box that one of my old cell phones came in. It is small and fits in any drawer and stays neat and organized. I can't even count how many times I've used it. In fact, I just sewed the fly button back onto my favorite pair of pants yesterday. I have maybe $8 into the whole thing and have fixed all kinds of clothes (nearly every single one of my undershirts for example).

I just went online to www.expertvillage.com and taught myself how to do a few simple sewing things like 1) How to sew a button, 2) how to repair a tear, 3) how to sew two pieces of material together.

It looks like that window kit is probably a better idea than just buying a bunch of clear plastic and taping it to our window frame.

[ronaldrwl]

Good American values. Or did stumble onto a different forum?

[rfizzle]

$5 a week to build a year supply of food:
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/...ntelligence%29

*not totally accurate on prices for some things but a good start on a budget.

[van7559]

$5 a week to build a year supply of food:
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/...ntelligence%29

*not totally accurate on prices for some things but a good start on a budget.

pretty badass concept for the bug out shelter, I have got to build still

[jerrymrc]

More little things on a budget. First up. A bow saw. Ya might not need a chain saw or be able to afford one but having a small bow saw around with a couple of different blades can be very handy. $10-$20

Hot glue gun. about $5-$10 can be run off the smallest inverter (60W) and there are many types of glue sticks for cheap. One advantage is unlike having glues in a tube the sticks never go bad.

And last for today. A pair of bolt cutters. 24-36" are $17-$22 but go on sale for $10-$13 all the time. VERY necessary item. cheap and do not eat a thing.

That's all for today.

[Irving]

Battery cases. It's important to have a way to carry batteries without them touching each other. These battery cases are nice, especially if they are going in a bug out bag where weight may be key. http://www.amazon.com/Generic-Bluece...s=battery+case

If you're like me though, and have equipment that gets used daily, and you go through a set of batteries at rate of every other day, you end up buying batteries in bulk, and find that those containers the batteries come in aren't the most durable, especially as they get empty. Rather than paying $6-8 to store 24 batteries, you can pay $3-4 to store 50. Like so:



I found that while the AAA fit in the same case as the AA, the bullet size that fits AA is long enough that the AAA batteries will come out of their slots if the box is over turned. One could just place two layers of cardboard over the AAA side to prevent this. The cases are a 500 S&W for the AA, and 44 mag for the AAA. I'm looking forward to not having piles of jumbled up batteries in my cup holders any more.

[HoneyBadger]

I find it a little ironic that you demonstrate with Kirkland batteries... which already come in a perfectly suitable container.


But I guess as you empty the container, it doesn't exactly hold up, as you said.

I just put electrical tape over the ends and threw a bunch in a ziplock bag about 4 years ago. Just last week I pulled some out and they have worked just fine in HB Jr's train set for at least a week. not a scientific test.

[Irving]

You think so? I can't see this doing very well riding around in the back seat.



I was forced into this by those AAA, which kept breaking loose of their case and laying in a pile in a cup holder.

[ray1970]

Have you tried a smaller box for the AAA batteries? Almost seems like they might fit into another caliber box better.