How Do I Keep My Family Warm?

Last winter we had quite a few major wind/snow storms. The winds reached 85 miles per hour one night! It was a bit frightening to sit in a quite home in the middle of the night, hoping a tree wouldn’t crash into our window. In the morning that followed, that major storm was over in our town, but across the state, it was still raging. People were losing power where the wind storms had caused massive rolling blackouts. It got me wondering, how in the world are those people staying warm in the middle of winter with no heat? So I decided to do a little research on my own to protect my family from any such disasters. 

First of all, dress warmly to conserve as much body heat as possible. If it is extremely cold, your bed is a good place to stay. Cover up with as many blankets as possible. Sleep with your family huddled together this way. You can also purchase space blankets that are very inexpensive and lightweight. They are made to keep heat trapped under them, and will help to keep your body temperature at a more normal level. 

There are ways, other than electrical heating units, that can be used to warm your home. Safety is extremely important when trying to use alternative heating methods. You should not burn anything in your home larger than an average candle, unless you have good ventilation to the outside. Possibilities include fireplaces, camp stoves, a wood, gas or oil heater, or a gas run hot water heater. 

The best way to stay warm in your home is to confine the heat source to one room. Make sure it is ventilated properly for the heat source you are using. Choose a room on the side of your house that won’t have a majority of the winds blowing on it, and a room with smaller windows. If you have a basement, the earth may act as insulation in the winter.  Keep the doors to your heated room closed at all possible times. Cover the windows with heavy bedding to prevent drafts. 

If you can’t stay warm in your house by following these suggestions, pack up and go! Find a shelter with a generator that can keep you safe. Don’t forget to take your 72-hour kits with you.

Are You Prepared?   
 

If your city’s alarm system went off right now, warning you of immediate danger and requiring the evacuation of your family, would you be ready? If you haven’t thought about that, maybe it’s time that you do. In today’s world there are so many disasters that could strike in a moment’s notice. From natural disasters to a terrorist attack, we should be ready to protect our families by being prepared for these emergencies. 

In an immediate emergency, what do you need to survive? Experts tell us that we should have a “Go-bag” or “72-Hour Kit” ready for each member of our family in case of emergency. Something we can take with us right at the moment, that’s packed with essentials and ready to go. It’s a great idea to set aside a backpack for each member of your family for this purpose. 

There are many different options with regards to what to put in your go-bags. These are some of the basics. First of all, make sure each family member has an I.D. tag in their bag. You would also want to have a card listing their allergies (medication, food, stings) and copies of your insurance cards. If you have members of your family who wear glasses, try to have a back up pair in the bag. Emergency cash, in fairly small quantities is good; especially quarters for phone calls. 

Also in each bag you should include: A flashlight, extra batteries, a whistle, a pocket knife, a local map, a permanent marker and paper, a bit of twine, list of emergency phone numbers, toothbrush and toothpaste, an extra key to your home and vehicle, and some basic food and water. You can purchase food bars that have 2400-3600 calories per bar. They have a shelf-life of 5 years, and are specifically formulated to not cause thirst when eating them. A smart way to pack water easily is to purchase water pouches. They also have a 5 year shelf life, and you can pack one per meal. They are 4.227 ounces of water each, which is exactly the amount the Red Cross recommends you should drink per meal in an emergency. 

Don’t forget to put your go-bags in an easily accessible location. Do not hide them away under all the other junk in your garage. Make sure each family member knows where they are stored, and knows what is inside of them. Go over a family emergency plan. Pick a location to meet at in case you are not all together when the emergency first occurs. There are many other things you can do to prepare your family for an emergency, but this is a great start to help give you peace of mind in these turbulent times.  

The 4 Step Paper Process

One of the questions I hear a lot is “Where do I start?”  Think about starting your emergency preparedness and food storage on paper before you start buying things you don’t need or already have.  There is a 4 step way to get prepared.

1. Know where you are.  What do you have and what do you need?  Maybe you set up your emergency preparedness supplies when you were single and now you are married with 2 kids.  Your needs change as your circumstances change.
2. Decide what your priorities are.  Do you want to be done and prepared as quickly as possible or do you want to prepare as you can afford it?  Do you have a pet, an infant, or special medical needs?  Your individual needs and priorities will shape your preparedness program.
3. Establish a budget.  Work food storage and emergency preparedness into your monthly budget.  Set aside a specific amount of money each month for freeze-dried food, sanitation supplies, battery-operated lantern, or water containers.  By establishing a budget, you create a path to making your preparedness a reality.
4. Keep a record.  Some of us may think emergency preparedness is important, but when our products arrive, we put the boxes in the basement and forget about it.  You need to keep track of what you have and what you receive so that you can know where you are still lacking.

By taking a few minutes to do this 4 step paper system, you can rest assured that you are getting what you need to prepare yourself and your family members and making every dollar count for what you truly need.

Family Communications Plan

When I was a junior in high school, a natural disaster hit.  Late one spring afternoon, I was at my school at the softball field.  My softball team was having sliding practice since the field was so muddy and the weather was so overcast.  All of a sudden the wind started whipping around so fiercely that large drums that we used as garbage cans tipped over and started blowing away.  Debris stirred up everywhere and the air seemed to fill with dirt and dust.  The sky turned dark and it started to rain.  We all started running for our cars.  My mom was supposed to pick me up about an hour later, but we all just ran to cars and left as quickly as we could.  I jumped in the car with a teammate and we took off.  As we passed the school, the air pressure that had built up resulted in the windows of the school exploding.  Large tree limbs scattered the road and a horrific roaring seemed to be right on top of us.  We had no idea what was happening, we just knew we needed to get as far away as fast as we could. 

We later learned that a tornado had hit our city.  We didn’t live in an area where tornadoes occurred very frequently and we were caught by surprise.  I ended up going home with a friend, and didn’t know if my mom and sister were OK.  A few hours later, we were all reunited since the phones were only out for a short time.  Trees fell on houses and there was substantial property damage to some homes.  We were lucky.  It could have been much worse.  We didn’t have an emergency plan in place and we could have been separated for days, not knowing where our loved ones were or if they were safe. 

I have worked on an emergency plan with my family so that my kids know what to do in an emergency.  If we need to evacuate our house (think house fire or gas leak) we meet at the park across the street from our home.  If we have to evacuate our city, I am in charge of picking up our children from school and then meeting my husband at a local fast food place just off an interstate exit.  We know that whatever may occur, we have a plan in place so that our family can be together.

SIRQ:  Part 2

Yesterday we talked about how a pandemic flu would necessitate a self-imposed reverse quarantine, or SIRQ.  So, how do you prepare for something like this?  You can take simple steps to make your family better prepared.  Talk to your employer about what steps the company has in place if a pandemic flu occurred.  Are you able to work from home and telecommute?  Talk to your city about their plan for maintaining services like garbage pick-up, water, and sewer during a pandemic.  By finding out the answers to questions now, you will be better prepared and may help your city develop a plan to deal with the repercussions of a pandemic.
 

Think about the basics your family needs to survive:  clean, drinking water, shelter, sanitation supplies, and food.  Plan to have at least a 3 month supply of each of these things.  Do you have a water filter to purify water?  Do you have feminine hygiene products?  Do you have diapers and wipes for your infant?  Do you have at least a 90 day supply of food?  If you have what you need in your home, you will not need to go outside and expose yourself to infection.  You can also keep masks like the N95 and N100 on hand so that if you must venture out, you have the appropriate protection. 

Essential items to help prevent the spread of disease like soap, rubber gloves, facial tissues, bleach, and disinfectants also should be a large part of your pandemic preparedness. 

What if you have children and schools were closed for 6 months?  Consider keeping age-appropriate workbooks around.  If you don’t use them, they can become a summer study program.  Have a variety of books on your bookshelf at home covering topics from science to social studies to history to fiction.
 

Part of surviving any kind of disaster is having the right mindset.  If you have the peace of mind that comes from being prepared and knowing that you have done everything within your power to protect yourself and your loved ones, you are more likely to have a positive attitude even in the face of extreme adversity.

SIRQ

OK, so I wanted to talk a little bit about pandemic flu.  The flu happens every year.  Because some people have immunity to various strains of the flu, it doesn’t infect everyone.  But a pandemic flu is a worldwide epidemic.  Virtually no one in the world is immune to pandemic viruses, meaning that many more people become ill and die during a pandemic than during a yearly outbreak of the flu.
 

Pandemics occur about three times every century and we are due for one.  Pandemics are a naturally occurring phenomenon and there is little we can do to prevent one.  But we can take steps once we know a pandemic is out there to protect ourselves and our loved ones. 

The way it will happen is that the CDC will make an announcement that pandemic flu has been confirmed in the United States.  At this point, the flu is already out there.  Estimates are that it took only a couple weeks for the Spanish flu of 1918 to spread across the country and we are obviously much more mobile that in 1918.  Scientists cannot even predict how quickly a pandemic would spread. 

Your best strategy for staying healthy is SIRQ which stands for self-imposed reverse quarantine.  During a quarantine, ill people are separated from the healthy population, but in a reverse quarantine, the healthy are quarantined.  The government may take action such as closing schools and church meetings as well as large public gatherings.  Once the news is out that a pandemic flu is in the country, it is too late to go grab a few gallons of milk or run to the store to stock up on toilet paper.  You need to be able to stay in your home with no contact with others for about 3 months.
 

Tomorrow we will focus on what we can do to prepare for a pandemic and the consequences of one.

Recession and Stimulus Checks

The news seems to be full of doom and gloom when it comes to financial matters.  Headlines scream about possible recession, the mortgage crisis, and whether or not attempts by the government to avoid a recession will work.  I am not a financial guru, so I am not sure about how stimulus checks will impact the economy. 

But I do know how the stimulus checks will affect me personally.  My husband and I sat down several months ago as the new year approached and laid out a financial plan for our family that included paying off credit cards, paying off our car loan, building up an emergency fund, and beefing up our food storage.  While we have been very fortunate to keep this plan in place in spite of the bad news about the economy, we have also realized that money in the bank does not equal food in our fridge. 

I have seen news reports about the skyrocketing price of wheat and rice as well as the never ending climb of gas prices.  We have seen less money in our pockets as a result.  But we have also realized what is truly important.  We don’t need to see another movie, but I do feel that having a year’s supply of food is essential.
 

As an insider to the food storage and emergency preparedness industry, I have also come to see that just because we want something doesn’t mean it is available.  While The Ready Store usually ships orders in 2-3 days, we are seeing that due to increased demand as well as conditions on a global level, we are seeing up to a 2 week delay on shipping of some of our freeze-dried items.  This is a lesson that things may not always be available when we want and need them.  That is why it is essential to prepared ahead and be ready before an emergency strikes. 

So, my advice is get your priorities in order.  If you have $600 from the government burning a hole in your pocket, use it to prepare yourself and your loved ones.  We live in turbulent times and I truly believe that we need to make preparations now to prepare for the challenges of tomorrow.

We don’t want to think that bad things will happen and the thought of our children being scared or hurt is a painful thought to parents.  But you can prepare your children by discussing possible scenarios and how they should respond.  Our children mirror our own emotions.  If we are upset and panicked, our children will be too.  If we are calm and thoughtful, our children will act the same way.

Do regular drills.  We try to do fire drills at least twice a year as well as earthquake drills since we live in earthquake country.  We remind our children never to return to a building that is on fire as well as our family emergency plan.

Play the “what if” game.  Ask your kids, “What if there was an emergency and you were stuck at school?  What would you do?”  Or, “What if you came home from school and mom wasn’t there and the house was locked?  What would you do?”  Talk about family rules and who they can go to if they are in trouble. 

By talking to our children and giving them information, we give them the power to make smart choices in whatever situation they may face.

I often ask parents what their child’s school emergency plan is and I am shocked that most parents don’t know if the school has one, never mind what the safety plan actually is.  The same goes for the workplace.  Do you have a safety plan at your place of employment?  If your school or work doesn’t have a plan, volunteer to help set one up.

Does your city have an emergency plan based in scenarios most likely to occur in your area?  If not, go to a city council meeting and bring it to the attention of the mayor and city council.  Coordinate with the police and fire chiefs to help your city develop a realistic plan to help all its citizens.  You will need to take into account the various businesses such as nursing homes and preschools to make sure that everyone is accounted for and assisted to the level they need.

Talk to your neighbors about their plans and what assistance they may need.  Partner with a friend so that if you aren’t home when a situation occurs that she will care for your children and commit to do the same for her children.  You can lessen the impact the disasters will have on you by taking the tine to get involved in planning for the inevitable.

Doing inventory can help you use your resources more effectively when you are preparing for emergencies through emergency preparedness and food storage.  Do you buy the same things over and over while other sections of your preparation are lacking?  Do you have a dozen emergency blankets, but not a first aid kit?  Do you have a way to heat your home, but no plans for sanitation?

The best way to do an inventory is to sit down and pull everything out.  I know this may seem like a daunting task, but if you don’t know what you have, you don’t know what you need.  I did this recently with my sister and brother-in-law.  While they were pleasantly surprised by the amount of things they had in their 72-hour kits, they found they were lacking in some areas.  They had a portable potty lid and bags, but needed toilet chemicals.  They had several tools, but no matches and no 115 hour Ready candles.

Once you know what you need, you can break it down into categories such as light and communication, food storage, first aid, etc.  Then you can figure out what you need in each area and make a plan to acquire those items.  With a little time and effort, you can make sure you are ready for whatever circumstances you may encounter in an emergency situation.

Water is the most essential thing you can store in times of emergency.  Let me say that again, water is the most essential thing you can store.  You can live for weeks without food, but only about 3 days without water.  Think of the ways you use water every day:  to brush your teeth, to wash your hands, to flush a toilet, to wash dishes, to run your washing machine, to fill a pot for dinner.  We use water and we use a lot of it.

It takes about 35-40 gallons of water to fill a bathtub and we use about 5 gallons a minute when we shower.  Because water is so accessible and so cheap, it is often hard for us to imagine a time when water might not be available.  In areas that have had to enact a boil water order due to an emergency situation, it takes about an hour and a half for bottled water to sell out.  Make water storage a priority.  30 gallon drums, 5 gallon stackable water containers and filters such as the MSR miniworks are great ways to get your water storage going.

We need to store a minimum of 14 gallons per person in our household which equals out to a 14 day supply.  Half of that is set aside for drinking water and the other half is for things like bathing, laundry, and food prep.  Take steps to make water storage a priority and make this essential resource a necessity for your personal preparedness program.

Many of us work on our emergency preparedness and food storage a little at a time. A first aid kit here, some freeze-dried fruit there. But often we fail to properly inventory and track what we have and we often fail to think about how much food we really need and set a goal with a due date. So, I guess my challenge to everyone is to first, truly assess what you have and what you still need. Do you have a dozen flashlights, but are missing essential sanitation supplies like a portable potty lid with chemicals and bags? Do you have a 72 hour kit, but need to put one in your car? Do you have MREs for your 72-hour kit, but are lacking in longer term food storage? So now that you know what you have, you can better determine what you need.

My second challenge is to set a goal. If you are just now starting, set a date to have your 72-hour kits completed. Then when you have that done, turn your attention to having a 2 week supply of water. Finished with that? Look at the needs of your family. Do you need to stock up on freeze-dried fruit or do you have a bunch of dinner choices, but no breakfast options stored? Set a goal and stick to it. We often think that food storage is a good idea, but how often do we make it a priority and say, “I will have a year supply of food by June 30^th?” We have to make it a goal, make it a priority, and then take steps to make it a reality.

We don’t know when a disaster like a flood or earthquake will hit or when a personal disaster such as a disability or job loss can strike, but we can take steps to prepare ourselves and our loved ones so that we can be ready for whatever may come our way.

I sometimes have people ask me why they should store food. “Why should I store a year’s supply of food? Isn’t that a bit much?” The truth is a number of situations could occur that could cripple the food system in our country. By taking precautionary steps, you can feel secure that your family will survive in times of need.

A drought like the one that occurred during the Dust Bowl could lead to a famine. It’s hard to imagine since for many of us we have always seen fully stocked grocery store shelves and never a lack of food to buy. But various situations from trucking strikes to a pandemic to crop failure could lead to a lack of food. How long could you survive with the food you have in your home right now? A few days? A couple of weeks? A month or two? We have become so far removed from our food since it is shipped to grocery stores in brightly colored packages that we may not realize that crop failures can directly impact us.

I see food storage as a type of insurance plan. I don’t know if we will be hit by a massive earthquake, a flood, or a worldwide pandemic, but I do know that I have taken steps to care for my family if any of those situations occur. I am a mother and am driven by a mother’s need to care for her family. The thought of my children calling out, “What’s for dinner?” or pleading with me that they are hungry, and knowing that I have nothing to feed them, that we have no food, is a horrifying thought to me.

By eating out one less time a month, I can put an extra can of food in our food storage. By making small changes, I know that I can take steps to prepare my family and ensure their safety in times of distress.

The number 3 is a magic number when it comes to emergency preparedness. You can survive for about 3 hours without shelter, about 3 days without water, and about 3 weeks without food. So, to keep with the magic number, we should try to find 3 ways to deal with each of those situations.

For shelter, there may be circumstances where we can shelter in place and use our home as a shelter. Other times we may be stuck in our cars. Keeping some basic items in our car in case we need to use it as a shelter can be life-saving. Some water pouches, survival food bars, hand warmers, emergency blankets, a Ready candle, and waterproof matches can help us keep warm in a winter storm situation. And what if a major earthquake made sleeping in your home impossible? Consider a backpacker dome tent or even a tube tent plus emergency sleeping bags.

Next is water. You can store a lot of water in your home by using the 30 gallon barrels and then adding the water preserver so you only have to change the water every 5 years instead of every year. You can also think about portable water in case evacuation becomes necessary. The 5 gallon stackable water containers are great for this purpose. And what if you had access to water, but it was contaminated? Think about potable aqua and an MSR miniworks water filter. The miniworks can filter up to 500 gallons of water, so it is a great tool to invest in.

Last is food. Survival food bars are compact enough to store in your car or even in your desk at work. You can store MREs and freeze-dried pouches in your 72-hour kits. And the #10 cans of freeze-dried food are terrific to store in your home for longer term food storage.

Emergencies and disasters don’t always happen how we plan, so by taking steps to resolve these 3 essential issues in at least 3 ways, you can feel secure in your emergency preparations.

Sometimes we may have a plan for evacuating or dealing with issues like the loss of utilities.  But sometimes those plans are not feasible in an emergency situation.  A friend lost power and heat for several hours during a major snowstorm.  Her husband was trying to make it home during the inclement weather and she was at home with their 2 daughters.  While she was prepared and able to care for her children, their family emergency plan was that they would stay with family in the nearby area who still had utilities if a situation like that was to occur.

The problem was that they were unable to follow the emergency plan since roads were impassable.  So, what is the back-up plan?  They didn’t have one as most of us don’t.  Luckily, the power outage only lasted a couple of hours before the lack of heat became a real concern.  Play a “what if” game and see what kind of scenarios you can come up with.  What if a trucking strike meant grocery store shelves were empty and we didn’t know how long it would last?  What if there was a local natural disaster and grocery stores were damaged?  What if there was a power outage and gas pumps didn’t work?  What if there was a chemical spill and we had to evacuate?

By planning and discussing possible scenarios, you will be better prepared to deal with the stress and complications that can occur during a disaster situation.  By taking steps to prepare now, you can meet challenges before they arise.

After talking to several friends and neighbors, they shared what they learned from the severe winter storm we experienced that knocked out our power for several hours while the snow and wind howled ferociously.  Communication was key.  Many people only had cordless phones that were rendered useless when the power went out.  Many relied on cell phones, but dead batteries were a problem for several people.

Most of the families were women at home with their children while their husbands tried to get home from work, often spending hours in their cars to only get a few miles.  While the mothers felt safe, they worried about the safety of their husbands.  One wife spoke about how they have a kit in the family car, but they had failed to put one in the car the husband used to commute to and from work-a situation they care now rectifying.

Another lesson was the need to keep your gas tank at least half full.  Many motorists ran out of gas waiting in traffic, forced to abandon their cars on the side of the road.  The next rule applies to everyone, but is especially important for women.  Often when people ran out of gas, they were forced to walk a considerable distance to reach shelter.  Having a pair of sturdy walking shoes is essential.  It can mean the difference between teetering in high heels in several feet of snow and walking with winter boots.  Take into account the area where you live and what disasters are most likely to occur as you make plans for your personal preparedness.

We often don’t think about the challenges we will face when a disaster strikes.  We may think about the basics, but not realize what we will need specifically.  The area where I live in encountered a severe winter storm that knocked out power for several hours, right before dinner time.  While we were prepared, we realized a few things.

While we have the GE Krypton lantern and used it, we could have used a couple more.  The lantern worked great while we were all sitting at the dinner table eating, but when our kids wanted to read books and play games in different rooms, we realized what a pain it was to hold a flashlight the whole time.  I also will get a headlamp so that I can see better to do tasks like wash dishes and change a baby’s poopy diaper without trying to hold a flashlight at the same time.

Due to the conditions of the storm as well as several car accidents, it took my husband over two hours to drive the 12 miles from his office to our home.  While I knew where all the emergency supplies were and how to use them, my husband was stranded in his car.  He has a basic kit, but he has started carpooling recently and has 2 additional people in his car.  I realized that I needed to add some water, emergency blankets, and survival food bars so that if they were trapped, there would be enough for everyone.

My husband and his co-workers made a stop at our house to use the restroom before attempting to head home.  I realized that we need to be almost overly prepared, so that if we had to care for additional people that it wouldn’t be a huge drain on our resources.  By having an extra 72-hour kit, some additional water, and extra flashlights, we would be able to assist people who were caught unprepared.

Consider doing a disaster dry run.  Shut off the power, don’t use any faucets or the toilet.  By doing this for even a few hours, you may learn that you need more  entertainment items like a deck of cards and some board games or that the batteries you have for your flashlight are the wrong size.  By practicing your preparedness skills, you will discover any problems before the real things occurs.

One of the thing we often fail to do is practice our emergency plans.  So by practicing, you can figure out what works and what doesn’t before a real emergency arises.  Gather your family together and recruit a neighbor to help.  The neighbor will knock on the door and say that you must evacuate the area in 5 minutes.  A railroad car has overturned, leaking toxic gas in the area.  Set a timer and tell everyone that they must be in the car in five minutes.

What did everyone bring?  Did you remember the 72-hour kits but forget your daughter’s allergy medicine?  Did everyone head for the kits and no one remembered to grab Fido and his pet carrier?  Did you think to call your elderly widowed neighbor and see if she needed a ride?

And what if you had to walk out?  How far can you carry your 72-hour kits?  Do a practice session and try seeing how far you can walk before they become heavy.  Can you load up a wagon or stroller and pull your drinking water?  Practice makes perfect.  By practicing your emergency plans, you will be more likely to remember them and your children will be better able to handle their stress and fear since it is a task they have preformed before.