Week 11

Stay on schedule by completing the following this week:

1. Inventory your bedrooms. You should have this drill down by now. Open all doors and drawers and shoot away. Be sure to continue to make special note of anything that is of value, an heirloom or an antique. Check under the beds!

2. Add a multi purpose tool to your adult 72 hour kits. These should have 10 or more functions to be really useful. Purchasing a tool with a sheath will enable you to wear it on a belt or strap it to the outside of your back pack making it easily accessible.

3. Compile a list of handicapped or elderly neighbors who may need help evacuating during an emergency. Create a list of their phone numbers and contact information for their family members. If you are being told to get out, their family may not be able to get in to help them. Remember your Home teachees and Visiting teachees! Do you have family contacts for them in case you needed to be in touch with them?

4. Gather your first aid supplies from around the house and in your vehicles. We will be working on first aid supplies in the next few weeks. Inventory what you already have on hand.

5. Purchase one large bottle of cooking oil, 1 large bottle of your favorite vinegar, one jar of mayonnaise, and one jar of salad dressing.

6. Play “What If” as a family. Discuss as a family what you would do if there were an emergency and you were away from home. In other words what is your family plan. What if dad were at work and you had to evacuate? What if there was an emergency while the kids were at school? Discuss a meeting place for the family, who children should go home with if mom and dad can’t get to school to pick them up, and who your family contact person is and their phone number so everyone can call them and check in. Even if it is just you and your spouse you should know the answer to these questions and have a plan. Good segue into step 7 for the week.

7. Make emergency information cards and include them in all your 72 hour kits and also in school backpacks and car kits. Cards should include: name, address, home phone number, work numbers, cell phone numbers and an emergency contact person with their name and phone numbers. Be sure your children understand they should call your emergency contact if they can’t get in touch with you. Explain that you will call this person also and get messages. Also include; the name and phone numbers for clergy, doctors, dentist, optometrist, police, fire and hospital. List any allergies and medications currently being taken on the cards also. You would not list medications that are temporary such as an antibiotic. For children you would also want to add parents names and if there is someone you do not want your child to be released to also include that name and information as to why, such as a court order, on the card.

Good Luck!

Week 10

Now is a good time to seriously think about alternate vacation plans and allocating the money you save to food storage and emergency preparedness.

For this week:

1. Inventory the living room, dining room and laundry room. You really will be surprised how much money you have invested in the laundry room. If you have the spring cleaning bug this would be a great time to check how much is really in those bottles and get rid of the near empty ones and make a list of things you need to buy because they are almost used up.

2. Contact at least 2 of the people who are on the list you made last week. Remember? The friends and family who may have an item or talent who can help you prepare. Let them know of your goal to prepare and become self reliant and ask them if they would be willing to share with your family. Offer to trade…if you have neighbors who have fruit trees and you know they don’t have the time or skills to can ask them for fruit and offer to can a case for them.

3. Add an extra set of keys to the top of your adult 72 hour kits. You will want keys to everything you own and to your office, safe deposit box, mail box and anything else you may need to access. It is very important you keep these where they are easily found just in case you need to evacuate in a hurry.

4. Add 1 can of fruit and 1 can of vegetables per family member to your food storage. Don’t forget canned potatoes. They are great in casseroles and soups. Remember variety is the spice of life.

5. Inventory your food storage. Place the inventory in your binder.

6. Make foil dinners with your family. It’s fun and great practice in case of a power outage.

7. Make a list of items you will need to gather in order to care for your pets for 72 hours.

Week 9

There is no season for disasters. In past years Katrina occurred in August, Southern California fires in October, tornadoes in the south in February, blizzards and power outages in December and January. Of course we are not JUST preparing for natural disasters. Job losses continue to pile up. If you are tempted to give up please don’t. Can’t get to all the seven steps each week? Just do a few. With the prices of food skyrocketing now may be the time to concentrate on that, but don’t forget the others.
This week:

1. This is the week to add food to your 72 hour kit. I suggest using high calorie energy bars rated for extended shelf life, 3-5 years. These will remain good long past these dates. I recommend you ask around or experiment as some of these taste like cardboard and some like cookies. Children will eat anything if you call it a cookie and it tastes like a cookie. If you want “real food” I suggest MREs. These are light weight, come in lots of varieties, and last far longer than the 5 years they are dated. Do not add salty foods such as jerky, chips, and salted nuts to your kits. Water will be limited and you do not want to increase your thirst. Don’t store instant foods for the same reason, no water to rehydrate them. NEVER add foods in glass to your kits, one fall could spell disaster. I would not add canned foods because of their weight.

2. Inventory bathrooms, office and family room. Be sure if you have books, CDs or DVDs that you take photos that enable you to read the titles. If you have any collector books open them to the copyright page and take a picture of that also. Be sure you open all doors and drawers and “shoot” the contents.



3. Invite another family to a photo shoot. Have the other family take group photos of your family, including your pets. Also take individual pictures of each family member. You will need these if you are ever separated during an emergency. The individual photos may be given to rescue workers and the family group shots will establish your relationship when you are reunited. Now return the favor and take pictures of the other family. Add these photos to all 72 hour kits and place a copy in the envelope to be mailed to your out of state contact.

4. Copy health and life insurance policies. Place a copy in adult 72 hour kits and place one in the envelope to mail off.


5. Make a list of friends and family who may be able to help with some of your preparedness needs. This is a great dinner activity. Children have great ideas and they also know what their friends’ families may have. Think about those who garden, can teach you to sew, can, or repair a lawn mover. Is their a contractor who make have scrap lumber to build a food storage shelf or to use as firewood? Empty nesters may have canning jars they no longer use. Think Creatively! When you have completed that list begin a list of things you can offer in trade to someone else. Take inventory pictures for an elderly couple, teach someone to can, fix a computer problem…..


6. Purchase 1 can of protein per family member. These may include canned tuna, chicken, beef, salmon, chili, hash or peanut butter.


7. Add small toys, books, crayons, or other items to your children’s 72 hour kits. It is also important for adults to have items in their kits to help pass the time or calm nerves after a long stressful day. Add books, cross word puzzles, travel size games and scriptures.

Are you getting discouraged because you haven’t done all 7 steps each week? DON’T BE!!!! Are you further ahead now than you were 9 weeks ago? Then you are succeeding!!! If you have not already done so, run off a copy of each week’s steps and place them in your binder. Assign each area of preparedness a color (red-72 hour kits, blue-food storage, yellow-important documents, green-family training….and so on) now take a highlighter or colored pencil and mark each step you have completed with that color. You will be amazed just how much you have done!

Week 8

Can you believe we are already at week number 8? This is another catch up week. It’s a great week to begin assessing what you will need for spring.

Watch for sales on vegetable and flower seeds. If you are planning to have a special event at your home this summer or are planning to sell your home now is the time to plant flowers or flower seeds.

The next weeks and months are the time to plant fruit trees. If you have the room consider adding at least one this spring. Remember trees need a pollinator so plant two or plant a variety a neighbor also has. Bees do not worry about the fence. They will happily visit your yard too.

It’s still frozen food month so now is a great time to stock up. This is also a great week to save some money on dinners that you can then use to purchase those mylar blankets or other items you may need from past weeks.
Have a great week and get caught up!

Seasonal Sales Save Money!

Everything goes on sale! So be patient. Some sale are seasonal , learn what they are and budget accordingly and you can save lots of money.

January: Sheets, pillowcases and blankets, computers and any other high tech electronics, workout and sports gear, storage containers, and winter clothing, hats, coats and boots.

February: Furniture, jewelry, housewares, red fabric (great for Christmas projects) and chocolate.

March: Jackets and raincoats, luggage, gardening tools, seeds, and frozen foods. Yes, this is frozen foods month.

April: Spring clothing, Kosher foods, eggs, paint, and of course candy.

May: Everything summer, outdoor furniture, barbecue foods including sauces and dressings, swim suits and sandals.

June: Summer clothing, fix-it tools, camping gear, charcoal briquettes, electronics and it’s dairy foods month!

July: Major appliances, picnic foods, craft supplies, Christmas fabrics and fresh produce.

August: Linens, outdoor furniture, barbecue grills, fall clothing, summer clothing blow outs, fresh produce and school supplies.

September: Canned foods, homes and school supplies. Purchase just enough school supplies for the beginning of the school year in August and then take advantage of the bigger sales in September, and stock up for next year. Next year you can wait until the big September sales to stock up again.

October: Candy, winter sports equipment and cars.

November: Fall clothing blowouts, blankets, all those traditional Thanksgiving foods.

December: You name it! Baking supplies, spices, wrapping paper, clothing, everything except the electronics everyone wants for Christmas gifts. You’ll have to wait till January for the best buys on those.

Week 7

Did you know that grocery stores commonly store only enough food to cover 2-3 days of customer needs? What that alarming fact means to us is that in the case of a truckers strike, natural or man-made disaster which closes roads, or a pandemic, we are in real trouble if we don’t have our own food supply in our homes. Anyone who has lived through a disaster knows store shelves empty very fast and of everything! A disaster in a port town or in areas that house the large food distribution centers will affect everyone they supply for hundreds of miles.

1. Purchase two frozen items for your food storage.

2. Make three copies of the following important papers. As you have done in the past, place one copy in adult 72 hour kits and place another copy in the manila envelope to be mailed to your contact. The items for this week: Social Security cards, pink slips for all cars and trucks, and passports.

3. Add to your food storage: 2 pounds rice, 2 pounds flour, and 3 pounds of pasta.

4. Begin a household inventory. Friends recently lost their home to a fire. They were unable to receive any money from their insurance company until they submitted a complete list of everything they lost. They had one shot, no do overs, which means if they forgot to list something, tough luck. It took them months to try to recreate from memory what was in every cupboard, closet and drawer in the house. Inventories are soooo important. This week take your digital or video cameras and go through the kitchen and master bedroom. A video is great because you can document the importance of an items as you film it. For photos you can go back later and make notes about any family heirlooms or other valuable items. If you use a digital camera, download the pictures and email them to yourself just in case. When we have finished our inventory we will put it all on a disc for our 72 hour kits and mail a copy to our contacts.

5. Purchase mylar blankets. You will need one of every 72 hour kit, at least one for every car and a few to be used during power outages.

6. Add hats, safety pins, and sun glasses to your 72 hour kits.

7. Hold a family fire drill. Discuss stop, drop and crawl. Remind family members to feel a door before opening it and if it is hot do not open the door. Find another way out of the room. Determine a meeting place outside of your home and then hold a surprise drill.

How is the cash in your change jar? Do you understand better just how much toothpaste and cooking oil you really need for a 3 month or a year’s supply? If you have a question please let me know.