Emergency Preparedness - Week One

Guess who has a working computer charger?!  THIS GIRL!!  I'm so excited to have my laptop back!  Going over a week without it has been too long!  Now I can get back into the swing of things :D

With hurricane season upon us my roommate and I have decided to get seriously prepared incase of an emergency.  I know that thinking about it it's hard to imagine anything that awful could happen to you. But just think of those who suffered through hurricane's like Andrew and Katrina.  Not to mention other natural disasters.  No one ever expects them.  And it's important to stay prepared!  So for the next eight weeks I will be sharing my emergency preparedness progress with all of you and hope you will follow along and create your own stash!  Here's a breakdown of what we will be covering:

Week One - Storage

Week Two - Food and Water

Week Three - First Aid

Week Four - Supplies

Week Five - Hygiene

Week Six - Pets

Week Seven - Binder and Cash

Week Eight - Comfort

So now for week one!

Week One - Storage

First things first - we need a place to store all of our supplies!  Depending on how large you want your Emergency Preparedness Stash to be will determine how big your Emergency Preparedness Station should be.  You could use a hall closet, a shelving unit in the garage, a repurposed armoire, anything!  Whatever works best for your family.  My roommate and I have chosen to use a large bottom cabinet in our kitchen since it wasn't getting much use anyway.  We had a few empty boxes and a crock pot that got relocated elsewhere in the kitchen.  Once you have your area picked - CLEAR IT OUT!!!  Nothing but emergency supplies should live there.  So with that in mind, we will not be using any of this material for daily use.

We are all set with our clean, empty space to house our stash!

And what if you need to evacuate or leave your home for some other reason right away?  Unfortunately grabbing your whole stash is not really an option.  And sometimes packing isn't either.  So pick up a backpack for each member of your family to house essentials (we will be packing these along the way!)  Here is what my roommate and I will be using:

We had these bags on hand with no other use for them.  Another money saving option!  If you have bags on hand, no need to buy more.

While we are getting our storage supplies organized go ahead and add tags/labels to each backpack.  Include your name, home address, and emergency contacts.  You never know!  Especially with children!!!  But what good are paper tags if it rains?  Make sure to laminate them!  I just used packing tape for mine but you could get yours laminated "for real" if you choose.

Want these tags?  They are available as a free download HERE

And that is all for week one!  We are taking baby steps to stock up our Emergency Preparedness Stations.  I'd love to hear about your progress and input so please share comments and photos along the way!  And next week we will tackle food and water!