Welcome to month two of building your 72 hour kit in a year! I hope your kits are coming a long. Emergency Preparedness is so important as we have mentioned.
I am reminded of the story of the 10 virgins from the bible. Now, if you are not a religious person--that is OK. You don't need to be to see the symbolism in this story.
Watch below to hear the story:
This is such a wonderful example on being prepared. We do not know when an emergency will come like we do not know when Jesus Christ will come again. It is so important that we are prepared and taken care of. It is wonderful to have the feeling of comfort and peace, and your entire families needs are met and taken care of when disaster hits. Let us remember to always have more than enough 'oil' to give us that reassurance.
This month we are putting in a few simple items that will get your kit off to a good start. In month one we made sure we had water. If you missed month one click here.
Let's take a look at month 2:
Paper Towels: This may not seem like a need or a necessity, but it will be greatly appreciated when you have messes to clean up or need it for something else. Determine whose packs need it. Like I mentioned before your pack will have things your kids pack will not, and your kids pack will have things your pack does not have. Make sure to get the smaller rolls and not the double, huge rolls. We are putting a lot of stuff in our packs, and we don't need a roll of paper towels to take up half of it.
Can Opener: The Dollar Tree is a great place to get things like a can opener. You don't need to go all crazy expensive for what we are putting in our kits. I hope you never have to use your pack anyways. Get stuff that will get the job done, but not break the bank. We are sticking a can opener in mine and my husband's pack.
$10 Cash (money): You need cash in your kit. In an emergency where ATM and Banks are not open, cash will be more useful than your plastic card. Keeping your bills small such as ones and fives will be helpful as you may not be able to get change for your money. We are putting $10 cash into all of our kits. However, if that is too much for you and/or your family, just put $5 into every kit. Some months that we put cash in, you may be able to do more, some less. Do what your family can afford.
2 Cans of Tuna Fish (or a canned meat of your choice): We can't leave out food, right? we are putting two cans of tuna fish into everybody's pack. There are other canned meat if you do not want tuna fish. Also, if you are vegetarian or vegan, look into what your options. We will be putting various foods into our kit throughout the year. You know you and your families needs/allergies/food preferences, etc. Each month we put food in the kit, think of what is the best option for your family and each individual.
Check out the video for a recap and some extra info:
We hear all the time we need to be prepared, but what happens when a natural disaster hits us? We all rush to the store and clean the shelves out. Soon there is no water, bread, eggs, etc. Then we, whenever the disaster is over, return whatever it is we bought because we rather have the money back. This will then just repeat itself when the next panic comes about.
I love how the Church I am a part of provides many means by which we can be prepared. They encourage us to have a food storage and in more recent years, urges us to have a 72 hour kit. Unfortunately, Glenn and I never really were able to have either. We got married when we were poor college students (which is not an excuse). Once I graduated, we worked hard at getting Glenn the rest of the way through school. We also had a major goal to be completely debt free by the time he graduated. We reached our goal and continue to strive being debt free! It is a blessing. However, with living in a small space and not having a whole lot of money, we did not jump on the food storage and 72 hour kit bandwagon. Even then, it was important to have a few extra cans of something here and there for those days we may truly need it.
Now we are out of college and making more money than we had ever seen in a single pay check before. We are now finally getting our food storage and 72 hour kit in check. However, it can be intimidating seeing all those pre made packs for food storage and 72 hour kits. Some of the things I probably would not even use, even in an emergency. They also cost a lot of money to straight up buy them. So here I am giving you tips to build a 72 hour kit in a year (personalized for you and your family's needs). My plan can even help the people with not much money at hand along with those who do. The thing you must decide is how important it is for you to have a preparedness plan.This is a perfect way to be able to set aside a little money each month to get a few more things to add to your kit, instead of dropping a leg and an arm buying a completed set that you probably don't even know what half the stuff is you are getting.
I wanted to share month one a couple weeks back, but I got hit hard with cold and allergies. The cedar blew in, and it has been bad. I am actually feeling somewhat better now, so here I go. About middle of February, I will share month 2!
We started setting aside money each month last year in preparation for starting our 72 hour kits. Each month we will do some sort of emergency preparation and add a few items to our 72 hour kit.
Month 1 Items:
72- hour-kit containers: Each member of your family needs their own bag, including the small children. Each month we will be adding suggested items for the bags. Put items into each individual bag as appropriate. For example, you probably should not add matches, knives, etc. to the children bags. Some items will go into your children bags as well that probably will not go into yours. We bought these bags pictured (and showed in the video at the end of this post). We like the idea of having sturdy backpacks (bigger than the regular school bag). You can use anything from backpacks, duffel bags, plastic totes, etc. I preferred the backpack route because they are more comfortable and easy to carry if needed.
Smoke Detectors--Escape Routes--Emergency Plans: Next on our month 1 preparedness is checking our smoke detectors or any other home detector you may have. Replace the batteries if needed. Teach your children what it means when they hear that sound and what to do. That brings us to our next items of business--practice escape routes and have an emergency plan. It is important that not only you as an individual or parent know your escape routes, but that your children (if you have them) are aware and comfortable with it too. Creating an emergency plan with your family is also important. What are some important numbers you and your children need to have on hand? Where will you all meet if you need to evacuate your home? These are only a couple questions to ask when preparing this plan. I will be having a blog post in the next month or two all about creating a family emergency plan. But in the mean time check out this very helpful link: https://beprepared.com/emergency-preparedness-plan-for-your-family/
Have a family night where you practice and make plans together. Make it a fun and informative night for you and your kiddos.
Flashlights: We will be adding flashlights to our kits in a later month, but right now we are not only starting our kit preparation, but we are preparing our home too. We like to have a flashlight located in various locations throughout the house. We keep one in our room, one in our kids room (let them know where it it, how to use it, and when to use it). We also keep one located down stairs. It is also handy to have a lantern some where you can get to. We keep ours in our closet. Make sure to check the batteries!
Water! Water is the first thing we are putting in our packs. The Red Cross recommends 1 gallon per person per day. However, water takes up a lot of room in a pack. We decided to put only one gallon into each pack (in water bottle form). We are storing the rest in a sturdy tote that would be easy to grab as well. We bought Glenn and I a total of 6 gallons and only bought the kids 3 gallons between them. I have a two year old and a 2 month old, so they do not go through nearly as much water as us adults. Decide what is best for you and your family. Keep in mind the water will not only be for drinking but also cleaning and cooking. It is also recommended to have two week supply of water stored in you home in case clean water is not available.
Check out the video below to see this months 72 hour kit in review!
Stay tuned in a couple weeks for next months items!
