Emergency Preparedness is something that I’ve been thinking about on and off over the last year and pretty constantly for the last couple months. Before we had a baby, I kinda shrugged it off, I mean, my husband and I could take care of ourselves. But now we have a toddler and I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to him because I was less than prepared for a major incident.
And I’m not just talking about major apocalyptic type catastrophes. We live in an area that is prone to tornadoes and the side effects that go along with them (flooding, power outages, etc.), gets a crippling blizzard once every 20 years or so (last one was in ’93) that knocks out water and power for several days, and are just outside of ground zero for an army depot that is destroying chemical weapons (which to me, is scarier than tornadoes, blizzards and floods combined…I wish they’d hurry up and finish!) Not to mention if my husband or I were injured or became seriously ill and couldn’t work. How nice it would be to know that we have extra groceries to get us by for a while!
So there is a probability that something could happen that would require us to evacuate our house or be stranded in our house for a few days, possibly without power or water.
Dede’s post about getting her emergency kits in shape only further motivated me to get started.
I decided to set small goals each month to spread the cost of stocking up necessities out over time.
I started with buying the bottled water from this week’s CVS sale. Then while I was at Target today, they had Gerber Pure 1 gallon water on clearance for 58c!
So I have 12 packs of bottled water (which will be great to put a couple in each family members emergency backpack for on the go) and 3 gallons in jugs for use if we are stranded in our house.
My goals for this month:
- Water (have some, but more would be better…)
- Clean out a spot in the garage to start putting this stuff.
- Check closets (and go to thrift stores if necessary) to get backpacks for each family member plus extras for the cars.
- Go through cabinets to see what extras we have that can go ahead and go in our kits (first aid kits, travel size hygiene items, etc.)
No one wants something catastrophic to happen, but I’ll have more peace of mind knowing we are ready if something does.
And since this blog is about being frugal, we will try to do it as frugally as possible!
Some tips for frugal emergency preparedness:
- Keep an eye out for great bargains (like the 58c gallon waters at Target today!)
- Buy extra non-perishables when you can. (Winn-Dixie has canned vegetables 20 for $10 until Tuesday. That’s 50c/each. Buy 20 and put half in your pantry, and half away for your emergency supply!)
- Browse thrift stores for cheap backpacks, duffle bags, tubs and crates for storage.
- Same for a change of clothes, jacket and blanket to keep in your emergency bag if you have to leave your house in a hurry. (Also might be a good idea to have an extra jacket and blanket in the trunk of your car.)
Anyone have any more tips?
And be sure to check out Dede’s blog. I’ll be following along with her progress and hope she’ll help me keep on track!
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