Grandpa TJ’s Supply Locator
Grandpa TJ: This page is NOT here to sell you stuff – my goal is for you to be Ready 4 Emergencies! I am not looking for you to spend a lot of your hard-earned cash in order to be able to handle most problems!
But if you want a one-stop-shop to browse, visit Grandpa TJ’s General Store. Its focused on providing cost-effective products that will help you out in an emergency. I’m also never one to turn down a good deal, so you will also find a wide variety of other products there.
Table of Contents
Click the links to jump to that section of the page or feel free to browse down the page…
The information and search engine links listed will help you find the supplies you may need for your job. Although the search engine results will return products for sale, this is not a sales pitch for any of the items you may find in those results.
You may also want to visit Grandpa TJ’s Inner Circle for more information on how to get email support or even schedule a live phone call or video consultation regarding your problem.
Home and Car Lock Out Solutions
Grandpa TJ: If you don’t want to be locked out, have more than just one way to open the door! Having a backup key can save lots of headaches and expense.
It just makes sense to have more than just one key for any place that can be locked up. Where to keep those extra keys should be the only choice you have to make – instead of choosing whether to call a costly locksmith or spending a lot of time to trying to defeat a lock.
Click on the green buttons below for products that allow you to hide a spare key around your house or automobile or to carry with you.
Click here for a video on some other ways to hide a spare key around the house; including ones that your kids can use when needed. Click here for pictures of more ways to hide house keys.
Click on the green buttons below for commercial kits with tools for unlocking your house and car.
Grandpa TJ: Don’t go nuts buying locksmith tools unless you know exactly how to use them! These kits often have little or no instructions included and many of them can be overkill for your needs.
Every Day Carry (EDC) Solutions
Grandpa TJ: I always carry a small, wallet-sized pouch that is always in a pocket or in immediate reach where ever I go – even more so than my phone! It has emergency gear, house and car keys, several small tools, a firestarter and a thumb drive backup of key household information.
So if the front door blows shut behind me as I take out the trash or if I walk back to the car only to discover that my keys are locked inside, it’s only a minor annoyance to grab my EDC and get back in with the spare key. And if something worse happens, chances are that I have what I need with me.
You might even already have everything that you need for an EDC kit around the house or at most, only need to get the right kind of pouch or bag to put it in.
Grandpa TJ: You can also just carry these things loose in your pockets but that means having to search your pockets only to realize that they are in the pocket of the jacket you left at home.
Some items to consider carrying:
- LED Flashlight (keychain size or small tactical type)
- Spare keys (house, car, office, etc.)
- First aid gear (a few bandages, bleed-stop, etc.)
- Firestarter (lighter, permanent match, sparking rods, etc.)
- Small Multi-tool (knife, screwdrivers, pliers, saw, etc.)
- Thumb drive with encrypted copies of your family’s essential documents and files.
- Critical meds like nitroglycerin, blood pressure or diabetic supplies for you or your family
Click on the green buttons below to see some ideas for essential gear and ways to carry with you everyday. Avoid that sinking feeling of realizing that what you need is sitting in a drawer at home!
Plumbing Solutions
Grandpa TJ: Unless you are a full-time plumber, most often you will only need some basic hand tools and maybe some temporary patching materials on hand to handle plumbing problems. Any other supplies and tools can wait until the actual problem presents itself. Then just a hardware or plumbing store run to get specific repair items will be all that you need.
Here is a list of tools that are commonly needed when you are having a plumbing issue.
Often needed:
- Pliers – preferably wide-jaw, slip-joint pliers like Channellocks
- Adjustable crescent or open-end wrenches for threaded joints
- Teflon pipe thread tape for threaded pipes or fixtures that are leaking
Occasionally needed:
Click on the green buttons below to see specific types of repair kits for your plumbing problems.
Locate Your Family and Get News
Grandpa TJ: Apps for finding and contacting your family and getting local news are great. They are easy to have on your phone and as long as the cellular service and the internet is working, that is all you will probably need to get in contact with them.
But what happens when you don’t have cell service or wifi? Having this gear with you may save the day by providing alternate ways to contact your family, find your location and a safe way back home and to know what is happening around you.
Click on the green buttons below to see some specific types of handheld devices which can provide an alternative to your cell phone when the cellular service is down and there isn’t any internet. Grandpa TJ: Save your cell phone’s battery life for voice calls or texting instead.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Family Emergency Contact and Reunification Guides have great ideas for your entire family (free, downloadable documents). If you didn’t already see the NCMEC video about the guides and how to use them, Click Here.
Home, Car and Individual First Aid Kits
Grandpa TJ: Watch out for those “fancy” first aid kits that a lot of folks advertise. Often they are big on talk and little on supplies – 60-piece kit only $20 they say… Well you can bet 40 of those pieces are simple Band-Aids – cost you a buck and a half at the drug store! You can build a much better kit that is customized for your family for far less!
Your local drug store, super stores and sometimes even your grocery store often have everything you need for a good first aid kit. And if you do some price-comparison shopping and watch for specials or coupons, you can put together an identical (or often superior) kit to the commercial ones for a fraction of what they want to charge you. Not to say that all commercial kits are ridiculous, sometimes they have specialized gear at reasonable prices!
Click on the green buttons below to see some recommendations for building kits and training for each situation and some commercial kits that are good to go or which add-ons will complete.
Road Safety Solutions
Grandpa TJ: The key to staying safe is to see and be seen. Staying aware of traffic and making sure that they see you are the most important things to do when broken down on the road. Many tragedies have occurred due to people walking around or working on their cars, oblivious of where they are standing or of the traffic that is approaching! Always watch your back!
Your local auto parts store will often have everything you need for a good road safety kit. Road flares for rainy or foggy days, reflectors for at night or orange cones for sunny days and, of course, safety vests for anyone getting out of the car and being near traffic are the key items to find.
Click on the green buttons below to see some suggestions for your kit.
Car Overheating Solutions
Grandpa TJ: Watch out for seemingly easy fixes for radiator problems. Formulas or powders that promise to plug up leaks may work in the short term but will often fail at the worst possible time. Evaluate your options before putting you engine’s cooling system at risk.
Your local auto parts store will often have everything you need to repair cooling system issues. The most obvious is getting enough of the correct coolant for your car. Basically there are two types identified by color: green and orange and two formula’s: premixed and concentrate. Premixed is easier to use because you just pour it in until the reservoir is filled to the correct level. If you decide on the concentrate, follow the mixing instructions provided on the bottle. The auto parts store will also have many of the repair parts you may need such as hoses and gaskets.
Click on the green buttons below to see some
Car Flat Tire Solutions
Grandpa TJ: Those instant-flat-fix, cans of air that you find are great in an emergency if you have the right kind of flat. But if the air leak is on the side of the tire, a can won’t help – for instance you have a blowout to the sidewall or the rim is bent after hitting a curb. For my money, it is far better to get yourself either a manual or a 12 volt, portable air compressor! You can keep adding air to tire with a slow leak as many times as you need until you can repair or replace it.
Your car manufacturer should have provided everything you need for an emergency tire change. But there are several items which can make the job much easier which can be found at your local auto parts store. Road safety items, gloves, portable tire inflation tools, better car jacks, easier-to-use lug nut wrenches, tire leak plug kits and cans of air can be found there.
Click on the green buttons below to see some
My Car is Stuck
Grandpa TJ: Some people look forward to getting their car or truck stuck. Even if you aren’t looking for that kind of fun, you should know the same methods that they use to get unstuck and make sure you have the tools you may need with you!
Your local auto parts store may have some of the tools you will need to get your car unstuck such as traction pads but you may need to go online or to a specialty store for more advanced, vehicle recovery items like snatch straps and portable winches.
Click on the green buttons below to see some
Disaster Preparedness
Grandpa TJ: When most people think of disaster preparedness, they imagine those big – and unlikely – disaster movies where the world is ending due to an asteroid or volcano. But true disasters occur every year: hurricanes, tornados, floods and wildfires. It is those emergencies for which most people are totally unprepared. Don’t be like them… Be Ready4Emergencies!
There are many sources for disaster preparedness tools and supplies but there are also those who would sell you thousands of dollars of “stuff” and tell you this is what you need to be ready.
But remember… It’s not the gear that you have which makes you ready for emergencies… It’s knowing what can be done with what you do have that will get you through an emergency!
Click on the green buttons below to see some
Preparedness Pantry
Grandpa TJ: It isn’t hard to have a fully stocked pantry and it can really save the day in a wide variety of situations. If you have just lost your job or a critical source of income, Maybe there has been a run on the grocery store due to a natural or man-made disaster. Having enough for your family to eat can remove a big burden from you at exactly the right time.
Your local grocery store will be your first avenue for building a well-stocked pantry. When you buy canned or dry goods, check the expiration dates – you may be surprised to find that many have very long shelf lives. For those that do, double up on your purchase – if you need 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, buy 3 or more instead – instead of 1 package of noodles, buy 2. This method is easy on your budget and helps you quickly build your panty with long-term food supplies.