Welcome! 
Welcome to week #25 in the “72 Hour Kit Ideas: A week by week approach” series.
This series is all about making it simple and do-able to get a 72 hour kit put together for you and your family.
Creating such a kit can be overwhelming and financially difficult to do all at once. But through this series, I’ve broken it down for you into 26 small steps! You can see all the steps here. Just take one small baby step each week and in 6 months you will have a well stocked, personalized kit!
You can even go through the series a few times over a year or two adding just the most basic supplies the first six months and then a few more “extra” supplies each time you cycle through it again.
Want even more help?
This series is also available as an e-book. Purchasing the e-book gives you a few additional benefits over just reading the free series:
- Additional details and tips
- The ability to print the entire book!
- Pictures of my own kit showing just how I pack each week.
Download “Your Own 72 Hour Kit Plan” E-Book Now!
* Some links in this post are affiliate links meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may get a small commission if you make a purchase. Some links (those to Thrive Life) actually provide you with a discounted price. Thanks for your support in this way!
Last Week:
I hope all of you were able to organize and pack your kit last week.
Week #25: The List
So you now have three days’ worth of STUFF in a relatively small pack / bag. You likely will only open this pack occasionally to rotate through stuff. This will make it difficult to remember everything that is in it and just where you put it.
In the event that you actually need to use your survival kit in an emergency situation, it is likely that time will be of the essence. You may need to locate a certain first aid supply quickly or get a clean diaper or wipe for your child. Your family will be hungry and you don’t want to dig through / remove everything in your kit looking for the oatmeal packets you think you included!
So this week’s challenge is simple: make a list of everything in your kit!
Create an overall “master” list and note where each category is in your pack (front pocket? At the bottom? Near the top?). Then, put that list either at the very top of your pack or with your important documents folder.
How About You?
What thoughts do you have about creating a list for all the items in your kit?
Skip to:
| Week #24: Organize and pack | Week #26: The List | Week #1: Packaging Your Kit | Series Into: Survival Kit Series, A Week |
Becky is a wildlife enthusiast and pet and livestock care expert with a diploma in canine nutrition. With over a decade of experience in animal welfare, Becky lends her expertise to Simple Family Preparedness through insightful info about pets, livestock, bee keeping, and the practicalities of homesteading.
Thanks to your weekly series, I’ve completed kits for my family of 3 – and in half the time! I am blessed to have the resources and budget to have been able to tackle 2 weeks of the series at a time, getting our kits together in 13 weeks or less. Now I’m going to move on to longer term emergency planning, and have my husband building me shelves in my garage this weekend!
Thanks for the guides Misty!
Way to go Anne! Whoo HOo!
I need to make a master list with expiration dates and what I still need to purchase. I did get a big item today that I am so excited about. It is a jetboil “Sumo” https://www.amazon.com/Jetboil-Personal-Cooking-System-Orange/dp/B005EM37S6/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1366244916&sr=8-9&keywords=jetboil . Yeah!!!
I am lagging behind but summer is coming soon so hopefully I can catch up!
I use sample products in my 72 hour kit and when I get BOGO one goes in my pantry and one goes to my stock pile, hardest part is putting the dollar bills aside I put the $10.00 in quarter fine it’s just the bills gets borroorowed all the time.
My kit is a work in progress…it’s gets a little better a little at a time. I have a list of wants and yeah rights but maybe someday 🙂 Are you going to do your series again? It helps!!
Yes, I re-publish it every 6 months! Starts over today actually. (-:
I’m still working on a master list of all the stuff with columns for the house, both cars, and both Go-bags. I may add one for work. The challenge is deciding which items to duplicate and have in multiple places and where to put things you only have one. With one master list I can prioritize future purchases and make sure at least the essentials are covered in each location.
I’m glad you included this post in the weekly line-up, I was thinking about making a list of contents just because my kits are slightly different than any of the suggested kits I’ve seen, but it will also help to know what food items we need to replace every 6 mths or year. I like the idea of knowing exactly what is in there and where (what pocket) it’s located in! After 6 months it’s sure to be a guessing game! Thanks again!
BTW I loved Andrea’s comment about keeping 2 copies of lists and including
(I’m jumping back into the swing here) I do not have lists in the bags per se, but I have lists that I laminated in my grab & go binder. I also have the bags color coded for each child too.
Also, with a recent cast requirement, do you have a place to add some plastic wrap and grocery product bags to the first aid kit? I’ve found them to be great for covering a cast for bathing (wrapping in plastic wrap, adding some tape then bag and tape again.)
I do have grocery bags in mine Gertrude. I think they are under the “extra tools” section of the series????
Awesome! trying to catch up. 🙂
My kit is nearly finished. There are just a few things I still need to add. Thank you so much for this series! It has been such a wonderful help!!!
Glad to hear that Angie!
I LOVE lists! Excel is my favorite program on the computer 🙂
I just got started with my emergency kits, so I’m a little behind. Can’t wait to start at week 1 again!
I had the same idea as Deb C when I started this process. I’ve got an excel sheet that I printed out that I listed the things I need, quantity, and a box to check it off. 🙂
I have a master list, but need to break it down for each pack now that I’ve completed one whole series. Looking forward to starting all over again next week!
As unpleasant as it may sound to address, especially in this environment we are in now, I think one thing that should be included in every adult’s kit, and only adult, is a firearm. While usually expensive, you can find decent revolvers cheaper than, say, a glock, or even a hi-point for a couple hundred would work, though I personally would be skeptical of them. Reason being, if you find yourself out for more than 72 hours, you may need more food. A firearm could get you that (a bolt action rifle for hunting can go over 1000 dollars, but can be as cheap as 125-150 sometimes). And people aren’t always nice. If you find yourself in a survival scenario, there are probably others in that same scenario, and they may not be as prepared for it as you. Of those people, it is almost certain that a small percent of them is willing to take what you have by force or intimidation. A gun would at least provide a chance at preventing that. Of course with the gun goes responsibility, to take safety courses if available, to lock it when it is not on your person, etc. If my family were surviving in the wild with me for 72 hours, I would not want all our supplies to go to a few thugs who outnumber us or who may be a lot stronger than me. I have enough rifles that my wife and I can both have one, and will soon have 2 pistols, same reason. Of course, a desirable scenario is that you never have to use it. My pistols never leave their holster/lockbox, and we do not have to survive long enough to run out of food and need to hunt to live. The possibility, however, is always there.
This series is brilliant. Thank you for all the time it took to put it together. I’ve shared your site with the important people in my life!
Just out of curiosity have you thought about a map of your local area? For instance you could be camping or hiking and get lost. Having a map with your compass would surely help. I’m meaning one of the paper ones in a plastic envelope. We always got told to have them when we went orienteering. Which was part of P.E in England. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series. Yesterday our town flooded and our area is in between the sales and the moors so can be quite dangerous if your out on them.
Yes Stephie. I think it is in the week about “random tools” I know it is somewhere, I’ll have to go double check!
I have a list (in a plastic sleeve) in my front zippered pocket that lists what should be in each pocket. I also have a laminated card and dry erase marker of items that “would be nice to get” if time allowed. These are things that I personally cannot keep next to our bags, and are not necessary for survival. For example, photo albums… if we needed to permanently leave our home for whatever reason, and we could leave by car this is something I personally would like to have. I have other things on it like our propane stove, and portable toilet (I have heat cells and fire cookware in my emergency pack). Again I just use it for things that would be nice, but are not necessary. In an emergency, the dry erase marker would help me to keep track of what I put in the car, in a stressful situation I may be forgetful.
This site has come in handy since Hurricane Sandy has wrecked havoc on our East Coast. I will be trying to create a binder over the next few months for my family in case of a bad winter or another storm like Sandy ever hits us again. Misty, I didnt see the purse list from Deb C. When are you going to post that? If it is already posted can you send the link to where I may find it. Thanks!
I’m glad it has been helpful! My heart goes out to those on the East Coast right now.
As for the list from Deb C, it talk about it in the post above. She just keeps a prioritized list of things she still needs in her purse instead of just leaving the list at home. That way, if she is out and sees things on sale, she has her list with her.
Love how everything is broken down! It is very overwhelming knowing that you need everything, and this is a great way to get it all! Especially being a young student on a tight budget.
Thank you!
Welcome to the site Willow. I’m glad you’ve found it helpful!
I keep an ongoing list in my phone under the notes section of things I think of that I want to put in my bag, or even the things I want to upgrade. This allows me to easily see what i need when I happen across sales or some extra money.
Smart Brandon! Thanks for sharing!
We actually typed up a list and laminated it then tied it to the top of the packs. We also keep our packs in the front closet with another list posted on the inside of that door with the contents and expiration dates listed on it.
Fabulous Meredith! Wow.
Just found you via Pinterest. Love all the information and advice… especially the emergency binder printables and suggestions. Thank you! I’m a fan and will be back regularly!
Glad to have you here!
I just discovered your site and am excited to have found it right before you start week 1 again! Though I have food storage, my 72-hour kit is sadly lacking. It will be our family FHE project for the coming months.
If you’ve got food storage you are far ahead of many! Good work!
slowly but surely putting together a survival kit. Added a couple of items this weekend, and planning on updating my list tomorrow.
Sounds great!
I did not start at week #1. I am making a list of things that I missed and also everything that I already have. Hoping the next go around I will have everything! Have started making my Christmas wish list also from the blog of things we need for our kits. Again, thank you for this blog, it really makes this simple!
I’m so glad Lyn. Simple is the goal!
I need to reorganize as well as rotate and make a list. I think perhaps I need to find a different bag.
We will be going over bag options today during week #1 Leigh! Check back in an hour or so!
I just finished rotating the items from my kit. I found that a few of the small cans were crushed when in a bad spot in my car. I will definitely be changing where they are stashed! So glad that you reminded me to rotate! That could have been really nasty!
Glad you caught that!