this is an emergency…
I’m sure if you reside in the PNW, you’ve seen this article cross your social media feed as of late.
I’m a bit of a nervous nelly when it comes to natural disasters – I didn’t need this story to get me fretting! Living in an earthquake zone that has not “seen the big one” yet makes you kinda think sometimes. Not to mention the lovely Mt. Rainier that we can see from our front yard that could blow her top any day now. Oh and/or a zombie apocalypse. OK, so maybe not real zombies, but some sort of health/medical disaster. Ugh. My mind can be quite morbid at times.
But at the same time, I’m not one of those ultimate preppers who digs a bunker in their backyard and stockpiles large amounts of food. I like to think of myself as self-sufficient gal who could take care of her family for a week without outside help if need be.
So here’s how I break it down:
We have a small emergency kit that lives on the top shelf of our coat closet. It has the things we’d need the most – first aid kit, flashlights, etc. Stuff that we’d take on a short trip or would need in a power outage.
The main emergency kit proudly sits on the floor of this same closet and has just about every single little survival thing imaginable in it. I chose this location as it’s right by the front door, easy to grab on the way out and IF the house collapsed, (hopefully) easy to dig out.
Kit includes:
- Large first aid kit
- Flashlight
- Headlamp
- Tarp
- Crank radio
- Water Bob
- Garbage bags
- Small, plastic bags
- Work gloves
- Small shovel
- Emergency blankets
- Ponchos
- Duct tape
- Hand warmers
- Waterproof matches
- Hand pump
- Bungee cords
- Rope
- Zip ties
- A basic toiletry kit
- Pen and paper
- Deck of cards
- Glow sticks
- Emergency contact information
- Copies of important documents – printed and on a password locked zip drive
Phew! It’s no joke people. We are also avid campers so I count those as necessary emergency supplies too. A tent, camp stove, propane and portable shower are just a few items that could be useful if our house falls apart. And duh, a BBQ is a great thing to have too. I don’t want all of that freezer meat going to waste!
What do you do to be prepared? Are you crazy nuts like me or would you rather not worry about it? I suspect you’d have far more free time on your hands if you are the latter!
