Someone has a voodoo doll of me today and is stabbing pins into my joints so I didn’t get far with the pantry room, but I did manage to organize my little emergency lighting cabinet.

I like redundancy so I have a wide variety of candles, lanterns, oil lamps, as well as plenty of lighters, matches, extra wicks, kerosene etc. all over the house but when the power goes out do you think I can find what I need when I need it??

Well, actually I can because I have so many things to choose from. I don’t have to go far to find something to light the way. 😄

Most of it is usable, except a couple of my oldest antique oil lamps like that little miniature one at the top of this post. It’s from the mid 1800’s and while I probably could use it, I don’t want to. It’s just for decoration.

Everything else is fair game and I don’t worry too much about using them, I just make sure I stay ahead of my kerosene and have plenty on hand *just in case*. I don’t want to deprive myself now just because someday I might need these things in a crisis. I’m all for living in the moment, too.

I do have a cabinet filled with things I’ll only use in an emergency, though. Today I put fresh batteries in everything that needed them including these little electric tea light candles…

I can’t even tell you how much I love these. Two weeks ago I put some in my bathroom and they’ve been burning for the entire time and are still going strong!

I left them on this entire time on purpose in order to test the battery life and I’m amazed at how long they’ve stayed lit up. Of course they aren’t as bright as the day I put the new batteries in, but they are bright enough for a nice night light glow still and just knowing I can rely on them puts my mind at ease.

There were a dozen in the box so I have them scattered all over the house but I made sure to leave extras, just in case, and then labeled the box so when I put it away it’s easier to find in an emergency.

Yes, I’m a bit OCD about organizing my emergency supplies but the thought of needing something, knowing I have it, but not being able to find it doesn’t appeal to me much. I am pretty sure the entire point of being prepared is being able to use the things you gather to get through a crisis. 🙂

Hopefully my joints will calm down soon so I can tackle the pantry room because it’s causing me major anxiety now, but mostly because it’s starting to overflow into other rooms and unlike my excess candles or oil lamps, that just doesn’t work for me.

Because we have such different food tolerances, a lot of what I’m stocking up on is for my hubby and kids. My stuff is in there, too, but I need to organize it all better so I can get to all of the “safe” ingredients I need to survive without digging through things that will kill me faster than whatever it is that causes us to need to dig into our stash! 🙄

I also need to make room for everything I’m canning and preserving from our upcoming harvest as well as just fresh, healthy food I’m stashing away from the farmer’s market and store. So I’m going to need a lot more space.

Maybe another room.

Or a whole new house!

A bunker in New Zealand would be nice but I hear those are already spoken for…