Especially in times of recession or depression, it’s good to do an annual inventory of all your possessions. There are several very good reasons for this.
1. It gives you a chance to know exactly all you own. In today’s society, we accumulate a lot of stuff. So much is available for free or nearly free that if you dumpster dive, do roadside rescues, recycle, freecycle, and so on; that stuff adds up much quicker than you expect. It’s also too easy to acquire duplicates if you “stash” things for later or “just in case”.
2. Once you know what all you have, you can sort through it and pare it down to what you need. You can resell it, freecycle it, or set it aside for bartering purposes.
3. It gives you a chance to stock up on the things you actually do use because you’ll see what things you’re running low on.
4. It gives you a chance to fill the gaps in the things you need and want, from a better TV to a manual grain mill.
5. You can use the time to do minor remodeling and redecorating. You don’t have to live spartan and deprived just because society is in a depression/recession. Remember, this depression will be a weird one – people won’t be lacking in Stuff, they’ll be lacking in confidence, in cash, in pay raises, in mobility. We’ll have Stuff out the wazoo, we’ll have communications abilities far exceeding any previous generation, we’ll have internet capabilities, and we’ll be able to acquire an amazing amount of skills and access people who will barter their skills for ours.
6. You’ll be able to document all the major household maintenance you’ll need to do, and maybe even get a good start on them.
7. Completing the inventory will be good for insurance purposes, too.
And while you’re at the home inventory, consider inventorying the contents of your car. Many people don’t realize how much accumulates inside the car, especially if you have children. Tools, mail, school supplies, food containers, music, DVDs, clothes – it should all be sorted, inventoried, cleaned, and put back where it belongs. Keep only the barest essentials in the car. If you need to evacuate, you should have it clean enough to pack quickly with your complete bug out kit. In fact, practice packing your car for an evacuation so you know exactly how long it will take you and how much you realistically can take with you.
When you’re cleaning and inventorying your home, you should tag those items you want to take in an evacuation so you can grab them quickly. Most of the time, you’ll have hours to evacuate, but sometimes, you may have only minutes. Use the clean up and inventory to practice your survival skills.
