Tuesday, January 20, 2009

72 Hour Emergency Kit Updates

I got together with a couple of friends last week and we hashed over our emergency kits. So now I've added a couple of things: mini scriptures, sunblock, purell (hand sanitizer), and some cash. I put all my liquid/lotions/soaps in snack size baggies to protect against leakage.

I also updated my medications. Before, I had 20 year old meds all thrown together in one little bottle, but realized this is not a good or safe method of keeping medications, so I put new medications each in their own snack size ziplock and wrote what medication it was, the lot number and date of expiration on the bags. I was surprised to find that half the meds in my cupboard are expired! Guess I'll need to be getting some fresh stuff . . . Don't forget your sharpie! :)Another thing I will be adding was mentioned in the comments section of my emergency notebooks post. I picked up a couple of flash drives at WalMart for $5.00 each and am scanning important documents and putting them on the drives, then putting the drives in my kits (see the emergency notebook post for a list of suggested documents).

One of my friends suggested shrinking the house down and getting one of those carpet bags like Mary Poppins has . . . anyone know where we could get a carpet bag like that? Maybe we could get a group deal on them . . . :)

5 comments:

Melonie said...

My hubby loves those little thumb drives and such. During my trip back to the States my stepdad got me a portable hard drive that is about the size of a wallet and will hold everything on my computer and then some. YAY! I feel like I should carry it everywhere in the diaper bag - just cuz I can. lol

Good update. I try to check our OTC medications every few months just because we don't use them frequently - I can never remember what was "almost done" and what wasn't.

Emily said...

You are totally overwhelming me and making me feel even more unprepared than I am.

Angela said...

Emily, you don't need to get overwhelmed! Just take one thing at a time. This was a kit my mom put together for me when I was a teenager and I've just altered it over the years. Don't go crazy trying to do it all at once--I'm trying to get Sharla un-overwhelmed also! A little at a time beats doing nothing at all :)

Something Marvellous said...

Hey - thanks for all your great tips! I was googling "self-reliance" and came across your blog. It is just full of useful information that I am sure I will be referring back to often. THANK YOU!

Angela said...

You are very welcome. Glad to help! :)