Posted: 12/1/2012 7:24:33 AM EDT
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I've seen and posted in the "Goals for 2013" and "What did you do today..." threads but this is a bit different. There is always a "resolution" thread at the beginning of the year but I rarely see an "accomplished resolution" thread from the previous year. It's logical we can't always accomplish everything we wish to, but we should be proud of the things we do accomplish.
So let's hear what you accomplished from your 2012 goals, and what you didn't, or what you accomplished extra that you hadn't hoped for. I'll start; 1) I wanted to take a 3 day handgun class with a well known trainer, but the class was cancelled and life got in the way of me finding another 3 day class. I did however get into a 1 day class with a local trainer, got my advanced CCW permit (MS has two stages of CCW, normal and advanced, determining where you can carry your firearm, most notably, schools, churches, and airports are forbidden with the normal but allowed with the enhanced) 2) My wife got set up with her CCW and her own dedicated CCW handgun that she carries every single day when she leaves the house. 3) My goal was to get to 175lbs and be active and I achieved this and went beyond, and I am now down from 215lbs to 165lbs and I run and exercise when time and work allow. I would always like to do more. 4) My wife and I moved into our own place and have a budget in place, something we didn't think was going to happen but due to a few large raises we are now able to afford to pay off student loans and have money to use for recreation, gifts, and prepping. 5) We consolidated calibers on our ammunition stash. Back to 5.56 for the rifle, only using 9mm for pistols, and picked up a 12ga. I hadn't really planned on this, but 6.5 Grendel was getting ridiculously expensive to the point where I could only afford to have a few hundred rounds in the house, and was only able to shoot every few months. .38spl was nice, but at double the cost of 9mm it was a wise decision to switch to a common caliber for both primary handgun and CCW. and 12ga is 12ga and is everywhere. So what about you? What did you accomplish that you set out to do? What slipped through your fingers? What did you exceed your goals on? |
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We switched from an emergency food area under the stairs to a room dedicated to food storage and rotation. This has allowed us to switch from counting our supplies in months instead of weeks. We still have lots of empty racks in this new pantry but it has been a major step in the right direction.
I sold a few guns that weren't getting enough use. I've worked hard to reduce impulse firearm purchases and to focus on the "fewer better" concept of collecting. Last, we have started added some PMs to supplement our savings and retirement portfolio. Not that we've cashed in our other accounts or anything crazy, instead we decided that 10-20% of our future savings would be better preserved in gold/silver. |
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1) Paid an extra $60k on my mortgage
2) Tripled my canned food preps out to 2 years 3) Re-stocked reloading supplies 4) Some impromptu firearms/range training with a SEAL team I worked with in the sandbox 5) Bought a generator 6) Put a machine shop in my garage 7) started stocking gas in bulk (for the generator) 8) Put half a beef in the freezer 9) Put 2 hogs in the freezer (not completed yet, they go into the butcher in a week) 10) Sold off a lot of things I no longer use/need to extend my emergency fund 11) Wife is slowly getting it as I've been slipping things into conversations here and there and she is starting to become OPSEC conscious and being careful about what she reveals to others 12) Getting in better shape by exercising I think that covers most of the big things... I plan to, in the next year or so, get set up with enough solar to run my fridge & freezer long term. Combine power draw is less than 5kw-hr/day so I should be ok with a small-ish setup in the $2-3k range including batteries and MPPT charger. I've come to the conclusion that I can manage to get by without power except for my fridge freezer in bugging-in. Those are very important food-storage devices and a large part of my preps is in the form of meat in the freezer so just enough solar to keep those going is my minimum solar setup I have planned. |
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1) Put on an addition and now have a finished and functioning kitchen (opens up a lot of cash flow for financial and material preps, plus its nice to be able to cook at home)
2) Significantly increased food and water stores 3) Bought a generator and bumped up fuel storage 4) Went from building a road and planning to build a cabin, septic, well, etc. at the BOL to buying the house right next to my BOL property (at a steal) when they owner died 5) Finally got around to getting my 30-06 sighted in (never have time to shoot), and then put some venison in the freezer with it 6) Set up and am now in the process of starting operations for a small business (financial preps, will decrease my tax burden) 7) New rubber for the BOV (next week) |
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Got water purification Got a generator Started stocking up on ammo currently at about 2.5k in 5.56 (started at 200rds and 3 mags) Got some pmags for the AR Started stocking up on spare parts/kits for the AR Got another lower to build another AR Re-wired the well to run on generator easily Started stocking up on Kerosene Got another Kero heater Started stocking on gasoline (about 25 gallons on hand) Got the business doing better Made a super-awesome gun range into the side of a hill Used dirt from gun range excavation to re-build driveway Increased garden size approx 4x Created an underground shelter (no basement under the house) More that I can't think of right now. Got a 5th wheel camper ETA: Put some money into savings. Was a good year  . We feel very blessed. |
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Lots of little stuff.
The biggie, is my wife and I made a commitment to our health. We both realized the biggest thing we could do to prep for the future was get healthy. We started crossfit in Febuary and cleaned up the way we eat. I'm down ~50 pounds, and stronger than I have been in a lot of years. My wife is down ~35 pounds, and just today competed in her first Olympic weightlifting competition. It was low key, but she got first. We both will be harder to kill than we would have been a year ago. 
Edit: I've always considered myself a Christian, but I read the New Testament front to back for the first time this year as well. I consider that a prep. 
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1) Bought a generator
2) Picked up about an extra 30x #10 in freeze dried food 3) Put back about another month in canned food. 4) Increased my first aid and long term med stuffs by a considerable margin 5) Paid off the pickup and put a topper on it. 6) Picked up another 1,000rds of .223. 7) Sold off all but a very few specific firearms 
8) Got my VGLI set up. Slipped through the cracks... 1) Didn't pick up more ammo before the election. 2) Haven't paid off the car yet. |
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Quoted:
enrolled in an EMT-B course. Hopefully I graduate on the 16th. Paramedic is the ultimate goal. Nice! I'd wish you luck, but you don't need luck. I've read enough of your posts over the years to know that you've got this. If becoming a paramedic is your goal, then you will become a paramedic…end of story
As for myself, my biggest prepping goal for 2012 was to vastly improve backup comms for myself, my family, my friends, and neighbors whom I care about. I built two UHF GMRS repeaters-one fixed and one portable. After searching for several months I was able to find a suitable site to lease cabinet and tower space. Within the past two months I was also able to negotiate backup power for the repeater, and I now lease a percentage of the LNG genset that is on-site. After installing a small automatic transfer switch my repeater will now fail over automatically from grid power, to AGM battery backup, to genset power when needed. I can also control and configure the repeater remotely, so I don't have to be in front if the machine to make changes. Problem solved, problem staying solved. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Accomplished:
- completed bulk water storage (660+ gallons) - finished out building w/living quarters - almost finished bulk fuel storage (500gallon tank w/working pump, setting it this week to fill the following week) - lots of firearms training - 2nd generator - HAM license - HAM antenna on the house - portable HAM emcomm box and two HT's - major progress on HYST - helped several friends get started with prepping Didn't Accomplish: - small solar setup (w/battery bank) - getting wife's HAM license - replace wife's Blazer (getting high milage) |
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Guns...check.
Food...check. Water...check. This year, I made an effort to work to improve holes in my long term plans I got rid of a few pistols that did not fit in with my goals or that don't get used. I bought a few pistols that I needed for spares. I spent more time improving my shooting skills at the gun club where I am a member and I was successful getting my family involved with improving their shooting skills. I bought all the tools needed to learn the skill of reloading and began reloading 5.56, 6.8 SPC, 9mm and 45 ACP. I helped several family members realize the need for food storage and rotation. |
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I paid off ALL my credit cards and my truck. The only major bills now are the mortgage and the wife's truck.
Started a saving account. Also, stashing some funds at home JIC. Got a greenhouse and put it up. Next year, we'll see how well it works. Got Worked All States on 3 bands SSB and 3 (so far) JT65. I also have Worked All Continents on 4 bands, all digital. I just need to get the application verified for those. I'm sure I missed something(s). Those are the big ones, though. |
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Brother got the multi-bag military sleep systems from an auction. Gave me 6 complete sets.
Put up wheat in mylar popcorn in mylar Increased ammo stores Put ammo in 50 cal cans Rotated gas all year Exchanged 4 old style propane tanks Got 6 free old style propane tanks, one almost full! Ran generator each month lit up propane fridge 9 out of 12 months Tested camp stove/oven- cooked pizza, muffins, baked chicken, etc Filled one pound bottles, learned a ton Built a propane shelf for barn made homemade tortillas Canned a mess of green tomato relish Canned beef chunks Another Big Buddy 10 new 1 pounders from CVS for ~$1 ea. Increased canned meat and canned vegs Rotated coffee all year Booked family cruise vacation to the Mayan apocalypse Rotated UHT milk Tested UHT milk to 6 months out of date-found 2 months out of date is good to go made a garden sprayer shower half dozen paks of mantels three All American Steuby can openers (gave one to my daughter, one in storage, one everyday use) threw away POS S-A-W brand that I will never buy or utter, again put all preping on hold except rotations and maintenance until after the move |
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1. Moved from an apartment to a house
2. Added roughly 30 quarts and 45 pints of home canned things to the storage 3. Added a chest freezer and 160 lbs of turkey to it. 4. Bought 3 additional guns and lots of additonal ammo 4. Bought a nice gun safe to hold my collection 5. Added about 100% to my knowledge of local wild edibles and have eaten most of them in home cooked meals 6. Maintained a healthy weight and activity level 7. By theend of dec. I'll have a solar set up purchased though maybe not quite assembled yet. |