Many of us don’t have the wardrobe meant to fight a SHTF event. We don’t want to be wearing our office attire as we protect ourselves from whatever has hit us. If you follow certain tips when stockpiling clothing, you’ll be that much more prepared:

Is Your Clothing Appropriate?

The vast majority of the clothing in most of our closets is there because it is attractive, not because it is rugged. How much of it can you actually wear while hunting, gardening, digging a hole for an outhouse or trenching cross-country on a bug-out?

About the only shoes that you might have which will be appropriate for survival are tennis shoes. I’d want something that would protect my feet — hiking boots or some good work boots.

Buy some rugged clothing and some good rugged boots. Either hiking boots or work boots will do. Make sure that you take the time to break them in, though. The last thing you need to do is head out on a bug-out with boots that you’ve never worn.

And Then There’s the Kids

As we all know, kids go thorough clothing like crazy. They either get holes in it or outgrow it.

Of course, your kids will need rugged clothes and boots, just like you do. You really don’t want your kids trekking through the woods on a bug-out without some sort of footwear that will give them ankle support.

Whatever you buy them, they’ll outgrow. It would seem you’ll never get ahead in this game, yet there is a way to get ahead, especially when your kids are smaller and less likely to complain about their clothing styles.

Here’s what my wife and I did: When our children were still children (they’re adults now), we bought their clothes ahead of time. In other words, we didn’t buy the clothes they needed now, we bought the clothing they would need in two to three years.

Part of what made this possible was that my wife is a world-class champion garage-saler. All of it came from garage sales, at a fraction of the original price.

As they grew older, less and less of their clothing came from garage sales. It seems that the older that kids get, the harder they are on their clothing, especially boys. They also wear it longer, so it has more time to wear out. Nevertheless, we kept the system going, switching from buying their clothing at garage sales, to buying their clothing at whatever sales we could find.

If you’re buying ahead of time, there’s no problem waiting for the sales. You’ll be able to find what you want, at prices that won’t break the bank. Then you can stash it away, in the attic or basement, in boxes marked by sizes.

Running a system like this, you can have two to three years worth of clothing on hand for your kids at all times, without spending a ridiculous amount of money.

Let’s Go One Step Further

If we assume an event that requires long-term survival, your stockpiled clothing probably won’t be enough. In that case, it would be a good idea to be able to make your own.

But learning to sew isn’t all that hard. I recently had to learn how to do it, because I was making a couple of bullet-proof vests. With a little knowledge and a sewing machine, you can make just about anything. Granted, you’ll also need a few other things, like fabric and thread, so you should probably buy some of them, as well (especially thread).

One final point. If we assume a long-term event, then we’re probably going to be without electricity. That means that a sewing machine isn’t going to do you much good, unless you have a means of creating your own electricity. The other option is to buy an antique treadle machine and have that for your survival sewing.

Do you have a system for stockpiling clothing in case of a SHTF event?

Article Source: Off The Grid News