Don't Say I Told You So ...

Here’s a little story for you, it might sound familiar.

When I got home from a weekend out of town, my husband looked at me and said “I was going to get a lot of stuff done, but managing 4 kids on my own was a lot tougher than I thought” I resisted the urge to say I told you so and instead shared with him some of my tips for managing.

Many people who are into prepping (whether bloggers or just hobby-preppers) are proudly proclaiming “I told you so” in light of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. While it does feel good to know that you would have been prepared for an emergency, we feel that it is much more positive to share “I’ll tell you what to do” instead. If you want to help your family and friends (or yourself) be more prepared should something like this happen in the future, here are a few things you can pass along.

Printable Emergency Preparedness Plan
Download this two-sided brochure and print it out or attach it in an email. It walks you through our entire basic emergency preparedness plan. There’s probably not going to be a better time when people are willing to listen, so please share this brochure with family and friends.

If you aren’t able to print or attach the brochure, feel free to send your friends a link to this post by sharing it on facebook, pinterest, or emailing it.

Website Resources

	EPREP Basics: Family Plan It’s a good idea to be on the same page with your family as to what you would do in case of an emergency.
	EPREP Basics: Disaster Kit (72 hour kits) Be sure to have a disaster kit with supplies, 72 hour supply of food, and your important documents in an emergency binder.
	EPREP Basics: Evacuation List Having a good car kit and grab list will help in case of an emergency where you may need to evacuate.
	POWERLESS COOKING Do you have alternative ways of cooking foods without power? Do you also store the necessary amount of fuel to actually use those methods?

Bug-Out versus Shelter-in-Place
A lot of our materials focus on being prepared should you need to evacuate. Obviously that is a very real scenario which we should be prepared for. But often overlooked is the thought of having to “shelter-in-place”. We don’t emphasis this too much because basically if you are prepared with your disaster kit to evacuate for 3 days, you SHOULD be prepared to stay at home for at least 3 days. Here are a few extra considerations should you be stuck at home longer than that:

Have extra food and water stored. Make sure to store it in different areas of your home. For creative ideas where you can store food and water visit our Small Spaces Storage Solutions post.
Protect yourself and your family. If you can’t leave, you need to be able to stay safe at home. The Survival Mom tackles the topic of protection and firearms in a very reasonable way, if that is something you would like to learn more about.
Have a way to charge your electronic devices. Life doesn’t stop just because of an emergency. If you have no way to get somewhere with electricity, you have got to have options at home for power for cooking, communication, work, etc. We like the solar options such as Goal Zero or Humless Solar Generators. (Please note: If you order a Goal Zero from Emergency Essentials before November 15th they will donate dollar for dollar to the Hurricane Sandy relief effort providing solar recharging kits to those in need)

Please remember to share this post or the resources above with your loved ones so that you can “Tell them what to do” rather than hammer home that you “told them so”.