Share or Save This

Do you have an emergency preparedness plan for your family? It’s not as hard as you think. In fact, here are 5 simple things you can do now.

I turned off the news, because I couldn’t take it anymore.

Yet another story of a terrible thing happening to a perfectly innocent person.

I felt totally helpless.  These people went about their day just like it was any other day.  They couldn’t possibly have known what would happen to them.

How could they prepare for something like that?

Slowly, I began to realize that, while I don’t have control over much (the only thing that helps with that is lots of prayer!), there are some things I can do to be prepared for an emergency.

I got right to work.  I was surprised to find that there are a lot of things you can do right now using what you have on hand.

5 Simple Ways to Start Your Emergency Preparedness Plan Today

These are things you can probably do right now in your own home.  They don’t cost much to do, and won’t take as long as you might think.

1. Water

You can buy bottled water, or just run some from the faucet into pitchers or other food safe bottles.  You can even use a cleaned out milk jug.

The recommended amount to have is at least one gallon per person per day for your chosen length of time.  Choose the longest time you feel able to handle now.  Any preparation at all beats nothing.

Store in a cool place.  Do be sure to change out this water every six months or so.

[et_bloom_locked optin_id=”optin_12″] content [/et_bloom_locked]

2.  Learn Something New

These days you can learn just about anything on the internet.  Think about skills that would be valuable if you couldn’t leave your home.

Do you remember your First Aid or CPR skills?  Can you sew a simple patch or button on clothing (and do you have a small sewing kit to use)?

Do you know how to use simple tools?

Everyone could stand to learn something new.

3. Gather Light Sources

Find your flashlights, lanterns, and emergency candles. Keep them in an easy to find place.  If you lose power after dark, you won’t want to be searching for lights.

• You probably already own flashlights.  But if you never know whether they will work or not, invest in Life Gear flashlights for  reliability and longevity.  My husband loves his ThruNite flashlight, which is small but can amazingly light up an entire room.  Keep extra batteries on hand.
• Candles (be careful with these, especially around pets and young children)
• I have two of these lanterns, which put out a lot of light.  I keep extra lantern oil on hand.
• This motion sensor battery operated lamp is great for nighttime in a power outage.  That way, the kids have a night light, but it doesn’t run constantly and kill the battery.  We’ve used ours for years and it works perfectly.
• Don’t forget to collect matches and lighters.

[et_bloom_locked optin_id=”optin_12″] content [/et_bloom_locked]

4.  Make a Contact Plan

Make a plan with family or close friends.  Where would you meet in different emergencies?

Consider a place for disasters like a house fire.  But also think about what you would do in a more wide spread emergency.

During the day, the kids might be at school, a spouse at work, and maybe Mom is at home.

If you couldn’t communicate by phone, where would you meet?  Come up with a secondary place in case the first place wasn’t an option.

It’s also a good idea to have an emergency contact who lives a state or two away.  If you can’t communicate with your family, you might be able to make easier contact with someone away from the emergency area.

5.  Make a Home Plan

You might not have the time or money to put your plan into action right now, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start to think about it.

Things to consider:

• Keeping plenty of food on hand.  If you aren’t sure how to make that work in your space or budget, you can learn everything  you need to know to make it work right here.
• Non-electric ways to prepare your food.  (We love our Coleman stove, but you’ll need to keep extra propane on hand, too.)
• If you have a grill, do you have an extra propane tank?  We got one from Walmart recently for far cheaper than anywhere else we shopped.
• How would you stay warm?  Try some of these methods.
• Do you have extra necessary medications or first aid materials?
• Consider beginning a bug out bag.  (I found a bag for $2 at a yard sale and put items in it from around the house that a person might need if they had to leave a scene quickly and walk for a while to safety.)

These things take more thought, time, and money.  But with a general plan in place, you can do these things slowly as life allows.

Pin me!

Get started on these 5 tasks now and help your family be prepared for an emergency today.

I still can hardly stomach watching the news.  But doing these things has given me a small sense of security.  And that’s certainly worth a day of preparing!

Use these cheap meal ideas and stretch that grocery budget.  (So you can stock up on more emergency foods!)

Do you already prep for emergencies?