You cannot assume the bank will be open when you need your documents – emergencies happen at all hours, on holidays, and on weekends.   

I learned to have food storage and emergency supplies on hand from my grandmother, mainly as backup due to unemployment (her husband was a miner, and strikes were common in her day) and natural disasters such as storms and floods. My husband sometimes rolls his eyes at me, thinking “How are we going to use all this food?”  or  suggesting that I am paranoid because I want to expand into long-term storage of grains and freeze dried foods now that I have 6 months supply of food on hand.  However, there are ways to get them to see the light.  Just discuss the news.  Nearly every day there is a disaster: Katrina, tsunami in Japan, floods or power outages from storms in the local area, etc.  There is also the current unemployment rate.  Just discussing in positive terms these issues gets them thinking.  For example, if a story about a storm hitting the power grid came on TV, you might say “Aren’t we lucky that we have a 72 hour emergency kit already set up?  If our power goes out for three days, we don’t have to worry about it – we just open our emergency kits! (smile).”  Or you can use some of your food storage and show the kids how to make their own mixes (“Gifts in a Jar” is a good book for this), and say “A cookie mix at the store costs $X, but we made ours for only $Y.  That saved us $ that we can use for something else, like clothes or a toy.”  You can even make it a game.  Show them coupons and have them total up how much you saved per can using a double coupon.  All you have to do is get them thinking!  They come around quicker than you think.

I am very thankful for the site and the posts that I have read, very informative.