Quick Survival Tip: Clean Out The Trash to Make Room For Treasure

As often as I can, I wash dishes and vacuum and rub things down with disinfectant until they’re clean. But I recently realized how important it is to clean my spaces of clutter that can hinder me both mentally and physically.

I carry way too many things with me no matter the time, day, or occasion. I’ll pack 12 days’ worth of clothing and supplies for a 7-day trip. Then I win inevitable realize I’m missing some actually vital thing that didn’t even cross my mind.

My luggage will have socks suitable for the three pairs of shoes but no toothbrush. Luckily, I can usually buy whatever the thing is I left behind. However, when it comes to survival and prepping the last thing you want is to realize you have a package of markers and no food.

I’m the type of person who wrestles with sentimental and speculative value. “I could use that for something,” I tell my husband as he dangles random items with no place or purpose in our house over the trash. He shakes his head and places it back on the dining room table.

Honestly? I almost never do anything with those things that I could use for something. They take up space and confuse me when I have to organize mentally. Mentally, I need to establish where things are and why, what to do if I can’t see where I’m going, and how to make efficient use of space and time in an emergency.

When my batteries are mixed in with bottle caps and my shovel is buried behind decorating supplies, I’m in a dangerous spot when it comes time to reach blindly into that box or closet in a hurry. Great, I’ve cut my hand, dropped a box on my head, and am now in need of medical attention. This is a sign it’s time for me to clean out my trash and make room for some treasure (read: breathing room and safe passage in my home).

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Post-apocalyptic ceremonies.

Ceremonies are important- every human culture has them. They mark our passage through life, from birth, through adulthood, marriage, parenthood and death. Without them, your post-apocalyptic society may not collapse, but it will lack cohesion- it will be less of a society, and more of a loose collection of individuals. It’s time to think ceremony.

Now, there won;t be the time and resources to perform the ridiculous, over-ornate and costly ceremonies that exist in the west, but ceremonies will still need to exist. ANd as a leader, you will probably have to lead them, in order to solemnise them and make them seem legitimate in the eyes of your followers. Cermonies have another advantage, one the church exploited in medieval europe- if someone misbehaves, you can restrict their access to these necessary markers, effectively making them a non-person. Cunning, hey?

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