Not sure what to do? Check your binder.
Before we begin today I wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who send comments and who have joined our facebook page. Feedback is so important to be able to understand what your self reliance challenges are. Please keep sharing here and on facebook. One comment two weeks ago concerned our spiritual preparedness. I agree that should be our number one concern and I am grateful there are so many great writers here at Meridian helping us to do that. My role here is to help all our readers prepare for the temporal needs of their families. The more the world changes the more I realize just how important those preparations are. Please share your concerns, experiences and successes. We can learn so much from each other.
Last year you were challenged to begin developing a preparedness binder. I hope you have done that and you will continue this coming year. I had intended to write this week outlining things for you to do the month of February to expand your preparations one day at a time. Since my last article I have decided to post daily, six days a week, challenges on the Totally Ready Facebook page Each week we will complete these challenges so please like our page and join us each Monday. These tasks will be small and easy to accomplish in a few minutes or in a small number of cases, a few hours. Some will require a financial commitment and some will not. We have had feedback letting us know a small challenge is what most people need as a grand plan becomes too overwhelming, consequently, we have made each challenge doable for all.
Now let us instead discuss the experiences shared in “Let us Not Sleep as Others Do”.
“We piled under layers of blankets and sleeping bags on the floor, we ran a generator for a few hours at night to drift off into a warm sleep. But when morning came, we were chilled to the bone.”
“The electrical grid is way more fragile than I thought.”
Right now the east coast of the United States and many areas in Europe are experiencing extreme winter weather. It is cold, very cold and power has failed in many areas. It is terrible to be cold for days. What can you do to help your family stay warm? Look in your preparedness binder and you will find many suggestions. Nothing there? Then now is the time to run off a copy of the following:” Our Power Outage Wakeup Call” and “Emergency Preparation for a Power Outage During Winter”
“Our teens lost all of their school books and supplies in the flood. They just got their report cards, and they’re not doing very good. It’s hard to study when you have to go home to a destroyed home.”
Children react to disasters in ways very different from adults. We need to remain aware of these feeling and calmly deal with them. We can begin by involving our children and grandchildren in our preparedness planning. Make them a part of the weekly challenges we will be posting on facebook. Teach them a skill such as Dutch oven cooking that may be needed after a disaster. Let them help with planning a garage sale whose sole purpose is to raise money to purchase food storage or other self reliance needs and then take them with you to purchase those items. Be sure they pack and maintain their own 72 hour kits. Also, add the article: “Calming a Child’s Fear After a disaster” to your binder.
“If you do not have water stored up you are in trouble. A couple of cases of bottled water is “NOT” water storage.”
How true! Please remember water, any water is valuable. I have often heard “we needed to throw out our water because it had things floating in it” or “ we couldn’t use it because there was algae in it”. Never discard water. Water not fit for drinking may be used for flushing the toilet, watering the vegetable garden, washing clothing, or to dilute bleach for cleaning. Water is an easy way to get children involved. Save hard plastic juice bottles and bleach bottles and have the kids fill, label and put them away. Copy the following and add to your binder: “Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink”
“Fill your freezer. Not only does a full freezer stay cold longer, but by freezing as much water as you can in advance, you will have a nice supply of very solid blocks of ice to stash and use for water.”
Just one more way to store water.
“You eat a lot more food when you are cold. We should have stored more”
“All the food storage in the world means nothing if your kids won’t eat it. You might be prepared to take care of your children and their needs, but what about when the neighborhood children start to show up at your door? Although neighbors can be a great resource, they can also be a huge drain on your emergency storage.”
Yes, food storage is still the foundation of a great self reliance plan. Please recommit or begin now to build a great food storage, or as we call it, your General Store, the place you go to meet all your needs. We have spoken of this many, many times. Store a three month supply of the foods you normally eat and then rotate.
“Think of the things that are your comfort, your escape, a cup of hot chocolate, a glass of milk and a ding dong before bed. Stock up on those too. You will need that comfort after day 3.”
Be sure to include desserts and snacks in your General Store plan. Review the following articles: “Food Storage Myths What You Don’t Know Could Hurt”, “The Right Food Storage for your Family” We are currently working on publishing our food storage week by week plan which was highlighted on our Totally Ready facebook page the past three years. Watch for that to help your planning.
One final word from a survivor: “Yes it can happen to you! I didn’t believe it either but I do now.”
All articles listed are available here at Meridian Magazine!
Like The Totally Ready facebook page, leave comments, ask questions and prepare with Carolyn and the other members there.