7 Day Challenge 2023 Day 6: AMNESIA

Welcome to DAY 6 of the 2023 7 Day Challenge. For 7 days, we are testing our Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage Plans. Each day will bring a NEW mock emergency or situation that will test at least one of the reasons “WHY” we strive to be prepared!

In order to receive each day’s emergency scenario in your email please sign up for the 7 Day Challenge email list or subscribe via text by texting 7daychallenge to 717-788-3663.

REMEMBER: To get the most out of the challenge, don’t be too literal about the scenarios. Modify them to fit YOUR family’s situation. Also, try to actually DO each day’s tasks. Don’t try to justify why you wouldn’t “need” to. The point is to PRACTICE our skills!

GIVEAWAY WINNER:

The winner of the DAY 5 GIVEAWAY is Alisha Shumway who texted me a great idea for powdering dehydrated pumpkin to preserve it. Hope you enjoy your Tattler Canning Lids and can use them for future preservation projects!

DAY 6: AMNESIA (Car Accident)

YOU WERE INVOLVED IN A CAR ACCIDENT AND LOST YOUR MEMORY! Today’s tasks will focus on making sure your family has the information it needs to function should something happen to you. Can they pay the bills? Do they know where important documents are? Do you have a shared family calendar? You are still very injured and can’t do your normal daily tasks today.

PRACTICE:

Today I am assigning you to NOT do whatever household “jobs” you would normally be responsible for in your home because you are injured. The idea is for your family to experience life WITHOUT you today.
Think of whoever would take over your family’s financial responsibilities should something happen to you (typically a spouse, but maybe a parent or an adult child of you don’t have a partner). Have that person complete the next few tasks. If you are married, you should each do this for each other.
Have your partner list all of the bills you normally pay. What account do they come out of? What are the due dates? Do you have access to them online? Is your name on the account with them? – repeat this with your partner’s bills too
Do you have a living will? Does it outline who can make financial and medical decisions for you? Can someone write checks for you if you remain medically unstable? Work on creating starting this process today if you haven’t already done it (learn more about wills here)
Does your partner know where to find your schedule? Are all the kids activities in there? Do they know the addresses of all of their events? If the calendar is on your phone, does anyone else have access to it? Create some sort of joint calendar today so you can all be on the same page.
What are some other household jobs that you typically take care of? If your partner doesn’t know how to do them, teach them how today! (change furnace filters, mow the grass, etc.) – repeat this for your partner’s jobs too
ADVANCED TASK: After trying to write this all down for each other, you should both go back and create a master list of ALL your family’s bills/payments/etc. This should fill in the cracks for any you missed for each other (use my MASTER LIST SPREADSHEET to help you)
Share your experiences in our Facebook Group daily thread

📸 Take a picture of someone else doing one of your “jobs” today and share on social media. 📸

SHARE YOUR PHOTO AND ENTER TO WIN TODAY’S PRIZE: Food Storage Made Easy Book

Post in the Facebook Group daily thread
Do a public post on Facebook and send me a link to it
Share on Instagram #fsme7daychallenge
(tag me @jodi_foodstoragemadeeasy)
Do a short video on youtube or tiktok and send it to me
Text the picture/video to me at 717-788-3663

You must tag me or send me the links so that I can see your entries!

EVALUATE:

Inventory your plans for what would happen if you died or become severely injured/mentally incompetent. Here are a few questions to ask yourself :

Estate Planning: Do you have a will and a living will? Does someone else know about it? Does it outline what will happen with your children as well as your assets? (learn more about wills and trusts here)
Important Documents: Does your family know where to find important documents like insurance paperwork, birth certificates, car titles, etc. (I have an AMAZING binder that helps with that here or you can see my tutorial on how to create your own here)
How-To: Think about household tasks that you or your partner pretty much do exclusively. Even if you don’t start sharing the load, you should at least both know HOW to do them. For example, we have a furnace in our attic, my husband is always the one who goes up and changes the filter. I have never been up there and don’t actually know where it is up there or what filters to buy or anything. I do our family’s taxes including paying quarterly taxes for our businesses. It’s easy for me and I like doing it, but he NEEDS to know how to do it just in case. We will be addressing these and a few other jobs today.

PREPARE:

Print out the worksheets below and add items you need to do, to learn, and to buy as you find holes in your preparedness plans throughout the week. Print multiple sheets as needed. These worksheets will become your road map for improving your preps over the next few months.

I will also be posting a lot on instagram (@jodi_foodstoragemadeeasy) over the next few days as I go through the challenges on my own. Come join the fun there and use hash tag #fsme7daychallenge if you are sharing your own adventures as well.