So the world is a very scary place all of a sudden.
All of this conflict going on in the Middle East/Africa/everywhere else really hit home with me this weekend. I don't know why, but it all just kind of suddenly sunk in.
I'm not usually very reactionary, but everything just kind of got me thinking that I need to start really focusing some time and effort into emergency preparedness, so over the next several months I will be blogging a lot about my plans to convert our crawl space into a make-shift emergency bunker.
On the to-do list:
1. Clean out the junk/storage in the basement. Christmas decorations are cool, but do I really need to store old clothes down there? Nope.
2. Purchase/Make/Attain the following supplies:
Toilet Paper in bulk
Water Purification equipment (we live close enough to a major source of fresh water that storing water isn't nearly as necessary/possible as purifying the water source will be)
First Aid kit and common household Meds
Bulk food and canning equipment
Soap/hygiene supplies
Gasoline
Batteries
Generator
Candles/Kerosene Lamps
Seeds and Planting Supplies
Bulk Foods (rice, beans, potato flakes)
Canning Supplies
Blankets
Digitized Copies of important documents/photos
Alternative Fuel Vehicle
72 Hour Kits
3. Retrofit my crawl space with all of the supplies and set up a sleeping/living area for 4-6 people
4. Grow, grow, grow my little garden
I know that this may seem a little over the top, but in the end even if I never end up having to rely upon my emergency plan, I'll sleep easier at night knowing that at least I have something set up for a worst-case-scenario type situation. If you live (and/or plan to live) in Utah County and you'd like to possibly work something out as far as sharing the expense on some of the more expensive emergency supplies (such as the generator, medical equipment etc), feel free to contact me.
And in the mean time, what's your worst-case-scenario plan?
3 comments:
Just fyi, with Jake's EMT license he gets medical supplies for super cheap at those places that you can only make purchases at if you are in the medical field. Just sayin'.
Also, way to go on coming up with an emergency plan. I keep getting started with the whole storage and getting organized thing and then we move before I can really put it into effect. I need to get more serious about updating/restocking our 72 hour kits and building our food storage back up.
When we lived in Arizona, our bishop was hard core serious about getting everyone as prepared as possible, so we had lots of classes (in church and in the evenings once a month) on the subject. One thing that someone pointed out once was that a good source of water in an emergency is your water heater. In fact, he was saying his family purchased a second water heater and just hooked it up piggyback to the first. It doubled their water storage in case of an emergency. I thought it was a sound idea, just one I can't put into effect while we're in an apartment.
Also, the same bishop had a few families go one week without using any power or doing any shopping (after giving them a couple of days to prepare), so that they could report back on their experiences. Having been forced to live off our food storage a few times in the past couple of years and not go to the store, I have learned a bunch about what kinds of things are good to have on hand and what isn't so practical, as well as what my family will and won't eat. I think everyone ought to try out living off their storage without going shopping for a prescribed amount of time. It's the best, fastest way to figure out how to make your food storage more effective.
Just some ideas.
My worst-case scenario is flying to my mommy's house. What's that you say? The airports are closed because it's an emergency? Uh oh.
We have no food storage and very little emergency supplies. I'm horrible. I want to get at least a couple of 72-hour kits set up. I don't have the financial resources to buy a lot right now, but I can get at least get some water, candles, etc. I just can't fathom being without running water. I have gone on pioneer treks, but I'm such a creature comforts girl. And being sick makes it even harder. Something to consider is to have copies of prescriptions and, if possible, extras of all of your meds in case of emergency. I take several pills that I would get very, very sick without, so that's something I need to do!
I think it is also important to have cash stashed somewhere. Living overseas we get lots of advice on how to creatively be prepared and the number one piece of advice is to be able to pay your way. ATM machines may not work and banks may be closed...
I don't think it is too different in America. You never know when you might need that extra something.
Or in the least, you need to be able to have money in the bank to withdraw should there be an emergency. I think that is why I get so worried for people who think that buying cars and houses is important enough to put EVERYTHING into it that they have and even more than they do have...because backup funds are so important too! Maybe more-so. I remember leaving for Oklahoma during a hurricane and being so grateful we had enough money to pay for our gas, hotel room and food and realizing that a year or so prior we would not have been able to do so (especially since we were buying a house at that time and YEP! putting everything into it!) It was a humbling moment...especially knowing that we were barely able to do it then...and realizing that the house that was SOOOO important to us would probably be crushed and had the hurricane come sooner we wouldn't have even been able to leave and would have had to be in that house while being crushed. I learned a lot. Savings is so important and so is realizing that we don't always "need" the things we think we need. Because I would have rather rented for another year than not have any money to leave if I had been faced with having to make a choice between having a house or having means to escape.
But I digress...living overseas, the most important thing to have is money in an emergency and in America money was important during a natural disaster as well. That is my long-winded point! hahaha.
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